{"id":19202,"date":"2017-10-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-11T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-022\/"},"modified":"2017-10-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-10-11T05:00:00","slug":"the-coming-kingdom-022","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-022\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coming Kingdom 022"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[85],"series_event":[470],"sermon_service_type":[474],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19202","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-matthew","series_event-the-coming-kingdom","sermon_service_type-wednesday-evenings","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"The Coming Kingdom 022","sermon_date":"20171011","sermon_month":"10","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":5025,"sermon_slides":5026,"sermon_mp3":5032,"sermon_id":"1011171837122","series_or_event":470,"service_type":[474],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":85,"chapter_and_verse":"16:18","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Coming Kingdom\n\n10-11-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Matthew 16:18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 22\n\nIf you guys can open your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew,\u00a0 chapter 16 and verse 18. \u00a0I want to thank Alex Garcia for filling in last week, I trust you all enjoyed his ministry. I was in Minnesota, a little colder out there than it was here.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, my wife called me and she said we\u2019re going to have a cold front here in Texas, it\u2019s going to be 80.\u00a0 And I told that to the people in Minnesota and they thought that was funny.\n\nLet\u2019s open our Bibles to Matthew\u2019s Gospel, chapter 16 and verse 18.\u00a0 We\u2019re continuing to go through the Scripture and study the whole doctrine of the kingdom.\u00a0 And if you\u2019re following along with us in the book that I wrote, called The Coming Kingdom<\/em>, we\u2019re in chapter 11, and if you didn\u2019t get one of these see me afterwards because we want to give you a free one.\u00a0 And to review at this point would take me half a class to review because we\u2019re already on lesson 23 so I can\u2019t review the way I used to but before we pause for the summer recess we were dealing with what does the Bible say about the kingdom and we basically travelled through the whole Old Testament to develop the subject of the kingdom, Eden, Abrahamic Covenant, Mosaic Covenant, Divided Kingdom, Times of the Gentiles, Old Testament Prophets, Post-exile, so by the time you get through the Old Testament you start to see that the kingdom has a very real definition.\n\nAnd this is the problem that people run into when they study the kingdom in the New Testament, they just read the New Testament word and pour into it whatever meaning they want.\u00a0 And the Bible is not designed that way; everything in the Bible builds on prior revelation.\u00a0 So when Jesus shows up in the New Testament and says \u201cRepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,\u201d which is what we call the offer of the kingdom, He was offering national Israel, on a silver platter, the geopolitical reality of the kingdom.\u00a0 In other words, what He was offering them is what we call today the earthly millennial kingdom.\u00a0 So if they had responded to that offer of the kingdom the earthly kingdom would have manifested itself on planet earth.\u00a0 Everything the Old Testament reveals about the kingdom would have become a reality.\n\nBut sadly the gospel, particularly Matthew\u2019s Gospel explains that what did national Israel, in the first century, do with the offer?\u00a0 They rejected it, and remember what chapter that happens in?\u00a0 Matthew 12, that\u2019s the hinge.\u00a0 In fact the hinge verse is Matthew 12:24 where they attributed Christ\u2019s miracles, the leadership of Israel, to the devil.\u00a0 [Matthew 12:24, \u201cBut when the Pharisees heard this, they said, \"This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.\u201d]\n\nSo the moment that happens the offer is withdrawn and it\u2019s off the table, and it\u2019s not going to be offered again until a future generation of Jews in the tribulation period receives it.\u00a0 So God cuts off one generation and He\u2019s going to work with a future generation. \u00a0And if you know your Old Testament well you start to see that God does that a lot.\u00a0 You remember the folks that came out of Egypt and they were going to enter the Promised Land and they saw giants in the land and they fell into fear?\u00a0 When they fell into unbelief God cut that whole generation off and He began to work with the young kids and Joshua finally entered with that second generation.\n\nSo this is sort of common related to how God deals with Israel.\u00a0 One generation is in unbelief, they\u2019re shut off so He\u2019ll work with another generation.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what\u2019s going on in Matthew 12.\n\nBut until that future generation arises what we start to study is during the time period when the offer of the kingdom has been removed Jesus begins to describe an interim age of time.\u00a0 It\u2019s an age of time that had never been before disclosed, up to that particular point in time.\u00a0 And the interim age, when the kingdom is not here and the offer of the kingdom has been taken off the table, to understand this interim age, what is God doing in the meantime, until the kingdom comes,\u00a0 you have to understand 2 areas of the Bible.\n\nThe first thing you have to understand is the Matthew 13 interadvent age parables.\u00a0 We\u2019ve already gone through those, haven\u2019t we?\u00a0 We\u2019ve spent several weeks on those.\u00a0 Jesus discloses the course or progress of the present age through eight parables.\u00a0 And when you take those eight parables and put it together you develop a realistic mindset of what God is doing today.\u00a0 God is clearly working today but as we went into detail these parables never indicate that we\u2019re in the kingdom now.\u00a0 \u00a0We went through all eight parables and what each parable contributes and you have to understand eight of them all together to get a glimpse of what God is doing in the interadvent age.\n\nThe second thing you have to understand, and this is the direction we\u2019re going to start to go in tonight, is you have to understand the church age.\u00a0 The interadvent age overlaps the church age.\u00a0 The interadvent age starts in Matthew 13 and goes all the way through the tribulation period to the second advent of Jesus at the end of the tribulation period.\u00a0 And within that is a tighter box called the church age, the body of Christ.\u00a0 The body of Christ did not start in Matthew 13 and goes until the end of the tribulation period; it\u2019s a little shorter of a distance.\u00a0\u00a0 The church age, as I\u2019ll be showing\u00a0 you tonight, started in Acts 2 and goes until the rapture which takes place before the seven year tribulation period starts.\n\nSo here\u2019s the interadvent age and the church age is a little bit tighter within that framework.\u00a0 So we\u2019re moving away from Matthew 13 and we\u2019re now looking at what the age of the church is.\u00a0 And this is important because there are a lot of people out there trying to argue that the church is the kingdom.\u00a0\u00a0 So I\u2019ll be explaining to you what the church age is and what it is not.\u00a0 The body of Christ concept is a time where God is doing significant things but it should not be confused with the kingdom, which will be received by the nation of Israel at the end of the tribulation period.\n\nSo this is the section of the Bible, people always want to know what part of it concerns us and this is the part of it that most directly concerns us because if you\u2019re a believer in Christ from the day of Pentecost until the rapture\u00a0 you\u2019re part of the universal church or the body of Christ.\u00a0 We\u2019re not going to cover all five of these sub points tonight but tonight and in the subsequent weeks to explain the church age we\u2019re going to try to look at five things.\n\nNumber 1, the definition of the church, what is it exactly.\u00a0 Number 2, the beginning of the church.\u00a0 There\u2019s a ton of confusion on this, when the church started.\u00a0 Number 3, the purposes of the church. So if we\u2019re not the kingdom what are our purposes?\u00a0 And I can\u2019t tell you how fundamental this is, to understand this, because many churches today are confused as to what their mission is because they mix church and kingdom.\u00a0 They spend a lot of their time talking about social justice type issues and social gospel, and they believe that they\u2019re bringing in the kingdom through all of these causes.\u00a0 And that relates to a fundamental misunderstanding of what the nature of the church it.\u00a0\u00a0 The church is not the kingdom; the church is not called to bring the kingdom to the earth.\u00a0 The kingdom will not come until Israel receives the offer of the kingdom in the tribulation period. \u00a0So if we are not the kingdom what in the world are we supposed to be doing?\u00a0 So I\u2019ll briefly give you the purposes of the church.\u00a0 I\u2019ll explain to you as clearly as I know how to do it that the church is not the kingdom.\n\nAnd then a related subject is the fact that the church is not Israel.\u00a0 A lot of people will tell you that the church is the new Israel, and I could not disagree with that more\u2014the church is NOT Israel, the church is of a different character and quality than Israel entirely.\u00a0 So we\u2019ll be going into that.\n\nLet\u2019s start with the definition of the church.\u00a0 What exactly is the church.\u00a0 Here\u2019s kind of a working definition.\u00a0 The church consists of all people, whether Jew or Gentile, it doesn\u2019t matter, who have trusted in the very Messiah rejected by first century national Israel.\u00a0 So in the gospels first century national Israel, particularly its leadership, rejected the offer of the kingdom.\u00a0 And so God began the interim work which He always knew He would do.\u00a0 And one of the things He did in this interim is the church, or the body of Christ, and the gospel is preached by Peter on the day of Pentecost, and of the over a million Jews in the land of Israel at that time, 3 thousand in Jerusalem responded by faith to the message of the gospel and that\u2019s when the body of Christ started.\n\nSo the church started off all Jewish; everybody in the body of Christ, or the church, is Jewish.\u00a0 You don\u2019t even have a Gentile convert in the church until Cornelius in Acts 10.\u00a0 And then by the time\u00a0 Paul, in Acts 13 moves off into his first missionary journey into southern Galatia the ethnic composition of the church starts to change dramatically from a primarily Jewish group to a predominantly Gentile group.\u00a0 And it\u2019s grown, over the last 2,000 years and here we are in the year 2017 still in the age of the church and its membership is primarily Gentile. Occasionally Jews get saved in this age but it\u2019s really not the norm.\n\nSo the church is not, unlike Israel, the church is not a nation or a race or a people.\u00a0 It basically consists of all races and all people, all languages, who have trusted in the very Messiah that national Israel rejected.\u00a0 So when Israel rejected their king God took lemons and turned into what?\u00a0 Lemonade!\u00a0 Through that transaction they turned Him over to the Romans for execution, as we have studied; through that transaction the sin debt of the world is paid for.\u00a0\u00a0 And His resurrection from the dead proves He was who He claimed to be.\u00a0 So everyone who has trusted in that rejected Messiah is now part of this new man, a unique entity that God raised up called the church or the body of Christ.\n\nAnd just a few verses on this; over in the Book of Galatians, chapter 3 verse 28 He says, of the church, he (Paul) says, \u201cThere is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Over in the Book of Ephesians, chapter 2 and verse 14, Ephesians is the key book to understanding the church and its nature, Paul says in Ephesians 2:14, \u201cFor He Himself is our peace, who made both groups\u201d now what would \u201cboth groups\u201d be?\u00a0 Jew and Gentile, because you go all the way through the Old Testament and it\u2019s the nation of Israel that\u2019s the preeminent servants of God.\n\nSo if you wanted to learn about God you had to learn about Him through the nation of Israel.\u00a0 And if you wanted to grow in God you had to become a proselyte; if a Gentile wanted to grow in God they had to become a proselyte or a convert to the nation of Israel.\u00a0 In fact, probably the most famous proselyte in the Bible is someone named Ruth.\u00a0 Do you know anything about Ruth?\u00a0 What was Ruth\u2019s nationality?\u00a0 She was a Moabitess and remember what she said to her mother-in-law, Naomi?\u00a0 \u201cYour people will be my people, your God will be my God.\u201d\u00a0 [Ruth 1:16] So she came under Israel to grow in knowledge and her faith in Yahweh.\n\nNow what Paul is saying here is that\u2019s not how it works any more in the church age.\u00a0 There is no preeminent nation, there is no preeminent people group, Israel is not elevated over others in the age of the church because it says here, \u201cFor He Himself is our peace, who has made both groups into on and broken down the barrier of the dividing wall.\u201d\u00a0 Romans 10:19, a verse we\u2019ll come back to a little bit later (most likely) says that the church is not a nation.\u00a0 [Romans 10:19, \u201cBut I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First Moses says, \u2018I WILL MAKE YOU JEALOUS BY THAT WHICH IS NOT A NATION, BY A NATION WITHOUT UNDER\u00adSTANDING WILL I ANGER YOU.\u201d\u2019]\n\nSo the church is a spiritual man of spiritual quality that cannot be confused with Israel, which was an actual country or a nation with borders and a capital.\u00a0 So anybody that has trusted in the Messiah that Israel rejected is, as we\u2019re going to be explaining, baptized (positionally) identified positionally into the body of Christ.\u00a0 \u00a0And something else to understand about the church, and this is a term that Lewis Sperry Chafer uses, he uses this phrase, intercalation.\u00a0 Richard knows about it because he\u2019s read Lewis Sperry Chafer\u2019s volumes a couple of time.\u00a0 And intercalation is basically an interruption.\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s what an intercalation is.\u00a0\u00a0 And I\u2019m glad we\u2019re doing this teaching alongside the teaching we\u2019ve been doing on Sunday mornings concerning the seventy weeks of Daniel, because if you\u2019ve been tracking with us on Sunday mornings what you\u2019re learning is we\u2019re living in a gap.\n\nGod, as we studied on Sunday mornings, gave to Daniel a 490 year stopwatch.\u00a0 As we\u2019ve looked at it 483 of those years have transpired, starting with the decree of Artaxerxes in Nehemiah 2 and going all the way to Palm Sunday.\u00a0 And the moment you hit Palm Sunday, which is the famous story of Jesus formally presenting His Messianic credentials to the nation of Israel, the moment Israel turned down that offer is the moment God\u2019s finger moved from the start button to the pause button.\u00a0 And His finger has been on that pause button for two thousand years.\u00a0 And one of these days His finger is going to move off the pause button back onto the start button and the final seven years of the 490\u00a0 years, 483 elapsed, 7 remain.\u00a0 The final 7 years will take place. And as we\u2019ve studied on Sunday mornings it\u2019s the decree, or the treaty between antichrist and unbelieving Israel yet future that starts the clock again.\n\nBut if all of that is true what is God doing in the interim?\u00a0 That\u2019s where we come in; we\u2019re living right after year 483 has ended but before year 484 of the prophecy starts; we\u2019re living in this pause.\u00a0 And so Lewis Sperry Chafer uses the expression, an intercalation or an interruption in God\u2019s past work and future work with Israel.\u00a0 So that\u2019s basically what the church is.\u00a0 The church is living right there in that gap of time.\u00a0 And we really don\u2019t know how much longer this gap of time will continue.\u00a0 I have a suspicion things are winding down but I can\u2019t prove that and I don\u2019t know that for sure or else I\u2019d be guilty of setting dates, which I won\u2019t do.\n\nBut until God finishes everything in this intercalation we continue to live in it.\u00a0 So we are the unique\u2026 and by the way, one other thing, I\u2019ve mentioned this before, we are not plan B.\u00a0 People malign the view that I\u2019m trying to describe to you; they say oh, you believe that the church is plan B and nothing could be further from the truth because the Book of Ephesians, which describes the age of the church better than any other book, in chapter 3 and verse 11 tells us that the church is part of the eternal purpose of God.\u00a0 [Ephesians 3:11, \u201cThis was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.\u201d]\n\nGod always knew what was going to happen; He knew that Israel would reject the offer of the kingdom.\u00a0 He knew that He would put His finger on the pause button and He knew that He would raise up a new entity called the Church before the final seven years of Daniel\u2019s clock continues.\u00a0 And so it\u2019s not revealed, as I\u2019ll be showing you.\u00a0 There is no information in the Old Testament about the church.\u00a0 In fact, Jesus hardly even makes reference to the church.\u00a0 If we didn\u2019t have Paul\u2019s writings we would know almost nothing about this unique period of time that we\u2019re living in.\n\nSo even though the plan is unrevealed to humans in the Old Testament God always knew it would happen.\u00a0 We are part of God\u2019s eternal purpose so when people say well, your teaching of the church is plan B, that\u2019s a misrepresentation.\u00a0 We\u2019re not teaching that the church is plan B at all.\u00a0 We are part of the eternal purpose of God; it just had not been revealed.\n\nSo because we are an intercalation or an interruption in God\u2019s plan for Israel, the church can\u2019t be the new Israel.\u00a0 The name Israel is used about 73 times in the New Testament and guess what it means every single time.\u00a0 It means Israel; never once is the church called Israel.\u00a0 Even in the famous Galatians 6:16 passage what Paul is doing there when you study it grammatically is he is singling out believing Jews within the church; he\u2019s not calling the whole church Israel. [Galatians 6:16, \u201cAnd those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.\u201d] \u00a0So we are not fulfilling Israel\u2019s purposes right now; we\u2019re living in this pause when God is not specifically working through Israel.\n\nNow this model that I\u2019m trying to describe is very different than what you get in most mainline denominational churches where they basically teach that all of Israel\u2019s blessings have been trans\u00adferred to us spiritual, so they move away from a literal approach to Israel\u2019s promises and they call us the new Israel.\u00a0 And they basically teach that we are (and Roman Catholicism teaches this also) we are God\u2019s kingdom on the earth.\u00a0 And they leave behind for the Jewish people all the Jewish curses but they transfer to the church all of Israel\u2019s blessings.\n\nAnd that\u2019s called replacement theology, sometimes it\u2019s called amillennialism, sometimes it\u2019s called Reformed theology, and that is just completely outside of the way we think in this church.\u00a0 It\u2019s not reflected at all in our doctrinal statement; we are not the new Israel, we have not replaced Israel, Israel is in timeout right now.\u00a0 And in the meantime God is working through the church.\u00a0 The church is what Chafer called an intercalation or basically an interruption in God\u2019s purposes for Israel.\n\nGod is doing a wonderful thing today through this mew man called the church but you should never look at it as if we\u2019re somehow fulfilling Israel\u2019s purposes.\u00a0 All of Israel\u2019s purposes are going to be fulfilled once the church is gone, after the rapture, in the seventieth week of Daniel and in the earthly kingdom that follows.\u00a0 So what is the church?\u00a0 The church is today all people, both Jew and Gentile, who have trusted in the Messiah, rejected by first century Israel.\u00a0 We are all races, all peoples that believe this, spread all over the earth.\u00a0 It\u2019s global, it\u2019s a global movement.\u00a0 We are an intercalation and we are not fulfilling Israel\u2019s purposes in any way, shape or form.\n\nSo that\u2019s basically the definition of the church.\u00a0 Now the direction I want to move into is I want to talk about when the church started.\u00a0 There is an awful lot of confusion today, like I\u2019ve never seen before, concerning something this basic as when the church started.\u00a0 There are people that will tell you the church started with Jesus Christ.\u00a0 There are people that will tell you the church started with Moses.\u00a0 There are people that will tell you the church started with Abraham.\u00a0 The church started with Adam once he sinned and got out of the garden and put his clothes on, the church started then.\u00a0 A lot of people will tell you the church is in the Old Testament.\u00a0 And if that weren\u2019t confusing enough we\u2019ve got another group of people that go by the name hyper-dispensational that will tell you the church didn\u2019t start until Paul.\n\nAnd what I want to show you from the Scripture is I think you can pin down pretty clearly when the church started.\u00a0 The church did not start with Paul, as I\u2019ll be explaining.\u00a0 The church started in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost.\u00a0 So our position on this is not like Reformed theology that sees the church in the Old Testament.\u00a0 And it\u2019s not like hyper-dispensationalism which tries to argue that the church started with Paul.\u00a0 We would be what I would call normative dispensational, meaning the church started in Acts 2.\n\nNow to develop this you have to put Scriptures together to see this.\u00a0 There is no Scripture that says \u201cthus saith the Lord the church started in Acts 2.\u201d\u00a0 You have to combine Scripture with Scripture and don\u2019t be troubled by that; you have to do that with any doctrine, don\u2019t\u00a0 you?\u00a0 I mean, can you find one verse of Scripture that says \u201cthus saith the Lord, there is one God but He has expressed Himself in 3 personages, the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit?\u00a0 There is no Scripture that says that.\u00a0 So to build the doctrine of the Trinity you have to assemble the data.\u00a0 It\u2019s a lot like a jigsaw puzzle;\u00a0 you guys do jigsaw puzzles, you\u2019ve got to put the pieces together to make it fit.\u00a0 And so I want to show you here that there is no Scripture that says \u201cthus saith the Lord, the church started in Acts 2.\u201d\u00a0 But if you put together six points you\u2019ll see very clearly that the church started in Acts 2 and once you understand that you\u2019ll be saved from a lot of confusion.\n\nSo there is the first of the six reasons: number 1, and I\u2019ve got four on this screen and 2 on the other, making a grand total of six. Christ Himself referred to the Church in the future tense, \u00a0\u00a0And that\u2019s why I had you open up to Matthew 16:18 where Jesus makes this statement to Peter.\u00a0 He says, \u201cI also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock\u201d now I didn\u2019t plan on getting into this but the name \u201cPeter\u201d is Petros<\/em>, a masculine noun.\u00a0 The word \u201crock\u201d is petra<\/em>, neuter noun.\u00a0 So Jesus is not building the church, which we\u2019ll talk about in a second, on Peter.\u00a0 Peter, Petros<\/em>, means little stone, rock, petra<\/em>, means big stone.\u00a0 Petros<\/em> is masculine, petra<\/em> is neuter.\u00a0 And if you are unfamiliar with the Greek language and just read this in English it kind of looks like Peter is the first Pope and Jesus is building the church on Peter the first Pope.\u00a0 In fact, that\u2019s what the Roman Catholic Church wants you to believe.\u00a0 But when you study the original languages you see very clearly that that is not what Jesus is saying here at all.\n\nWhat Jesus is doing is He\u2019s building the church on Peter\u2019s confession of who Christ is.\u00a0 Remember in this whole dialogue Jesus said, \u201cwho do men say that I am,\u201d and Peter coughed out the right answer, \u201cyou are Christ, the Son of the living God.\u201d\u00a0 And Jesus said \u201cand upon this rock\u201d on the veracity of your statement, not on Peter who was about to deny Christ 3 times, he wouldn\u2019t be much of a first Pope would he?\u00a0 He\u2019s not building the church on Peter, Petros<\/em>, he\u2019s building it on petra<\/em>, the veracity of Peter\u2019s statement.\n\n\u201cI also say to you that you are Petros<\/em>, and upon this petra\u201d <\/em>look at the verb here, \u201cI will build My church;\u201d notice the church belongs to Jesus, it doesn\u2019t belong to man, it doesn\u2019t belong to a board, it belongs to Jesus Christ.\u00a0 He calls it \u201cMy church,\u201d and this is the first reference to church anywhere in the ministry of Christ and everything up to this point in time has been all about Israel and their rejection of the offer of the kingdom, which happened in Matthew 12; now we\u2019re in Matthew 16 where He begins to hint at a new work of God that\u2019s yet future , beginning in Acts 2 where he says \u201cI will build My church.\u201d\n\nNow when he says \u201cbuild\u201d what tense is the verb in there?\u00a0 Future, oikodome\u014d<\/em>, is the verb \u201cI will build\u201d used in the future tense.\u00a0 So right then and there you can see that the church did not exist in the Old Testament.\u00a0 If it existed in the Old Testament why did He put the building of the church in the future?\u00a0 Beyond that, the church did not exist contemporaneously with the ministry of Christ.\u00a0 It was not something going on when Christ was on the earth and interacting with His disciples because Jesus, from His own time period puts the construction of the church into the future.\u00a0 So the church did not exist in the ministry of Christ. It did not exist in the Old Testament and we know that just because of the future tense of that verb.\n\nNow when you talk like this immediately Reformed theologians go to Stephen\u2019s speech; remember Stephen gave a long speech kind of summarizing Israel\u2019s history.\u00a0 And in the process he makes this statement, Stephen, in Acts 7:38, \u201cThis is the one who was in the congregation\u201d which is the Greek word ekklesia<\/em>, which is the word church, the same word for church used in Matthew 16:18, \u201cThis is the one who was in the congregation\u201d ekklesia<\/em> in the wilderness and He\u2019s talking about what was going on in the time of Moses.\n\nAnd so the Reformed theologian will say well there it is, the church is in the Old Testament.\u00a0 Btu what you have to understand about ekklesia<\/em> is it\u2019s not a technical term.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t mean the same thing everywhere it\u2019s used.\u00a0 When it\u2019s being used here it\u2019s referring just to a common gathering, a Jewish gathering.\u00a0 We might even call it a synagogue of some sort, in the wilderness.\u00a0 And that is not how Christ is using the word in Matthew 16:18; He\u2019s talking about something completely different.\u00a0 He\u2019s not just talking about a common gathering.\u00a0 In fact, He\u2019s hinting at the Pauline definition of the word that we read in a few verses earlier of Jew and Gentile together in one new man.\u00a0 That is not how the word ekklesia<\/em> is used in Acts 7:38, it\u2019s just a common gathering. It\u2019s not infused in Acts 7:38 with the technical concept of a new man, all nations being equal.\u00a0 It\u2019s just talking about a gathering, a Jewish gathering in Acts 7:38.\n\nJesus is talking about something completely different, a new body that is on the horizon and you know that that new body is yet future from the ministry of Christ because of the future tense of the verb \u201cI will build.\u201d\u00a0 So that\u2019s clue number 1.\n\nClue number 2, and I\u2019m going to put these six points together to help you understand when the church started in Acts 2, clue number 2 is Paul referred to the church as a mystery, so notice if you will, the Book of Ephesians, chapter 3 and verse 9, notice what it says here: \u201cand to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery\u201d then he defines what a mystery is, \u201cwhich for ages has been hidden in God who created all things.\u201d\u00a0 So Paul is calling the church a mystery.\u00a0 What is a mystery?\u00a0 Biblically speaking a mystery or a mysterion<\/em> is a new truth never before revealed.\u00a0 It\u2019s a brand new concept.\n\nAnd if you back up in Ephesians 3 and go back to verses 4 and 5, it says, \u201cBy referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery\u201d mysterion<\/em> in the Greek, \u201cof Christ, [5] which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;\u201d\u00a0 Well, what exactly is the mystery?\u00a0 [6] \u201cto be specific,<\/em> that the Gentiles\u201d well what exactly is the mystery, \u201cto be specific<\/em> that the Gentiles,\u201d this is what\u2019s new here, \u201cthe Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s new.\n\nPaul is revealing a new body where Jew and Gentile are connected to it spiritually.\u00a0 And this is not a concept you find in the ministry of Christ, other than that brief hint in Matthew 16 and you can read the Old Testament all you want, you\u2019re not going to find this idea in the Old Testament.\n\nNow I want you to see something that\u2019s very important here. \u00a0At the end of verse 5 it says this mystery was made known \u201cto His holy\u201d what\u2019s the next word?\u00a0 \u201capostles.\u201d\u00a0 Question, is the noun \u201capostles\u201d singular or plural?\u00a0 It\u2019s plural.\u00a0 You say well who cares.\u00a0 That\u2019s a big deal because hyper-dispensationalists wand you to believe that it was only Paul that had the mystery and therefore the church started with Paul. \u00a0When you look at this very carefully you see that God did not just disclose a mystery to Paul; He disclosed it to the apostles<\/u> plural.\u00a0 Certainly Paul told us the most about it but this is not a unique disclosure to Paul.\u00a0 And if you don\u2019t understand that you\u2019re going to be very confused by hyper-dispensationalists.\n\nPaul elsewhere explains what a mystery is, something secret, kept for long ages but now has been manifested.\u00a0 Vine defines mystery this way:\u00a0 \u201cIn the N.T, it [myst\u0113rion<\/em>] denotes, not the mysterious\u201d see that\u2019s where it\u2019s confusing because people think that the word mystery is just like the English word.\u00a0 English, if you\u2019re watching a mystery movie or reading a mystery novel you don\u2019t know who the bad guy is until the end.\u00a0 So in English mystery is something that has to be searched out with great diligence before you can understand it.\u00a0 That\u2019s NOT how the Greek language uses the word mystery.\u00a0 Mystery is something out in the open, formerly hidden but now it\u2019s been unveiled.\n\nIn the New Testament it [myst\u0113rion<\/em>] denotes, not the mysterious (as with the English word), but that which, being outside the range of unassisted natural apprehension, can be made known only by Divine revelation, and is made known in a manner and at a time appointed by God, and to those who are illumined by His Spirit.\u201d\u00a0 [W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, and William White, Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of the Old and New Testament Words<\/em> (Nashville: Nelson, 1996), 424.]\u00a0 Paul was one such person.\n\nSo number 2, Paul referred to the Church as a \u201cmystery,\u201d therefore you will not find the concept of the church in the Old Testament.\u00a0\u00a0 You can read it all you want but this unique man that Paul is describing is not found in the Old Testament, and in fact, it\u2019s not even found in Christ\u2019s ministry other than Christ\u2019s brief hint of it when He put it in the future as something coming.\n\nThis takes us to number 3: The Church did not exist prior to Acts 1 since Christ became the head of the Church after His ascension.\u00a0 Now according to Ephesians 5:23 who was the head of the church?\u00a0 Jesus Christ. In fact, look, if you will, at Ephesians 5:23, \u201cFor the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church\u2026\u201d question, when did Jesus become the head of the church?\u00a0 We have an answer earlier in the book, don\u2019t we?\u00a0 Go back to Ephesians 1:20-22, it tells\u00a0 you exactly when He became the head of the church, \u201c\u2026which He brought about In Christ,\u201d verse 20 of Ephesians 1, \u00a0\u201cwhen He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, [22] far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. [23] And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church.\u201d\n\nThis verse is describing the ascension of Christ, Acts 1, where He went back to the Father\u2019s right hand and it\u2019s saying along with that whole package came the headship of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Jesus did not become head of anything until after His ascension.\u00a0 Therefore you cannot have a church prior to Acts 1 or else you\u2019d have an Ichabod Crane, the headless horseman.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 You\u2019d have a body without a head; that doesn\u2019t make any sense.\u00a0 So Ephesians 1 pushes the advent of the church until sometime after Acts 1.\u00a0 Acts 1 as you probably know is when Christ ascended.\u00a0 Christ is the head of the church; He did not receive His headship until He ascended and returned back to the Father\u2019s right hand.\u00a0 Therefore you cannot have a church prior to Acts 1 or else you have a body without a head.\n\nNumber four, the church did not exist prior to Acts 1 since the spiritual gifts only came into existence after His ascension.\u00a0 Now what are spiritual gifts?\u00a0 Spiritual gifts are Spirit empowered abilities to serve God in a particular way,\u00a0 typically within the context of a local church.\u00a0 Spiritual gifts are very important; without spiritual gifts people cannot be built up or edified in the truth.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1 Corinthians 12:7, of spiritual gift says, \u201cBut to each one\u201d by the way, every Christian has a spiritual gift, it\u2019s not just the preacher and the piano player.\u00a0 \u201cBut to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit\u201d in order to win a popularity contest.\u00a0 No, it doesn\u2019t say that, \u201ceach one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0See when the spiritual gifts are in operation others are being build up.\u00a0 Hopefully that\u2019s what\u2019s happening now as you\u2019re listening to me teach; hopefully you\u2019re being edified or built up.\n\nIf you go over to 1 Corinthians 14:26 towards the end of the verse it mentions various spiritual gifts and then it says, \u201cLet all things be done for edification.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 14:26, \u201cWhat is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.\u201d]\u00a0 So no spiritual gifts no edification.\u00a0 Question: when did the gifts of the Spirit come into existence.\u00a0 Notice Ephesians 4:7-11, see what I\u2019m doing here?\u00a0 I\u2019m just putting together jigsaw pieces and hopefully it\u2019s building a picture for you.\u00a0 Ephesians 4:7, it says, \u201cBut to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ\u2019s gift.\u00a0 [8] Therefore it says, \u2018WHEN HE ASCENDED\u201d didn\u2019t we just talk about that earlier, \u201cASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.\u201d\n\nDown in verse 11 he begins to describe some of these spiritual gifts; \u201cAnd He gave some as<\/em> apostles, and some as<\/em> prophets, and some as<\/em> evangelists, and some as<\/em> pastors and teachers,\u201d to win a popularity contest?\u00a0 No, 12, \u201cfor the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;\u201d it is the design of God that the gifts of the Holy Spirit would be distributed in a church and as we each faithfully employ our gift and or gifts the body of Christ is built up.\u00a0 Now when did the gifts of the Holy Spirit come into existence?\u00a0 The ascension.\u00a0 So how can\u00a0 you have a church prior to the ascension?\u00a0 You would basically have a body without the means of being edified.\u00a0 You\u2019d have a body without the means of being built up.\n\nIf I come into a church and nobody has a gift of preaching or teaching, nobody has the gift of worship, nobody has the gift of leadership, nobody has the gift of encouragement or mercy, no one has the gift of hospitality, well why even go to a church like that; it\u2019s not even a church, it\u2019s more like the Rotary Club or something like that.\u00a0 The whole point of coming to a church is so you can be built up through the use of spiritual gifts and so you can discover your gift and build other people up.\u00a0 That\u2019s the whole point of church.\u00a0 Amen!\n\nAnd this is one of the problems with the internet age and we\u2019re just as guilty as anybody because we\u2019ve got all of our stuff on the internet, is people think they can sit in front of a screen and that\u2019s church.\u00a0 Well, that comes woefully short of church, doesn\u2019t it, because the ability to receive spiritual gifts and use your own spiritual gifts involves your own presence consistent in a body.\u00a0 Now we love putting our stuff out but we don\u2019t do it as a substitute for church.\u00a0 We have a general belief that there\u2019s a lack of teaching around the world, solid teaching, and so we\u2019re hoping people will learn from our internet presentations and use the information as they become equipped in their church.\n\nSo all of this to say you can\u2019t have a church prior to Acts 1 or else you have a body with no means of being built up because the gifts of the Spirit didn\u2019t come into existence until after the ascension of Jesus Christ.\n\nFact number 5, the church existed before Paul\u2019s conversion in Acts 9, contrary to what hyper- dispensationalists tell you.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 When was Paul converted?\u00a0 When was Saul converted to become Paul?\u00a0 On the Damascus road.\u00a0 What chapter was that in?\u00a0 It\u2019s right there on the screen.\u00a0 Acts 9.\u00a0 So if the church existed before Paul\u2019s conversion I should see some references to it, shouldn\u2019t I, before Acts 9.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Is it true?\u00a0 Are there references to the church before Paul came on the scene?\n\nLook at Acts 5:11, this is the story of Ananias and Sapphira who were slain in the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 I hope you all know that being slain in the Holy Spirit is not a good thing; it\u2019s a bad thing.\u00a0 \u201cAnd great fear came over the whole church\u2026.\u201d ecclesia<\/em>, now this is a good four chapters before Paul ever showed up.\n\nLook, if you will, at Acts 8:1, \u201cSaul\u201d this is Paul pre-conversion, \u201cwas in hearty agreement with putting him to death.\u00a0 And on that day a great persecution began against the church, \u201cecclesia<\/em>, \u201cin Jerusalem\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Of course the church existed before Paul; Paul, who was then Saul, was persecuting this entity.\n\nActs\u00a0 8:3, \u201cBut Saul began ravaging the church\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 So is there evidence that the church existed before Paul?\u00a0 Of course there is.\u00a0 There\u2019s plenty there, but it\u2019s in the Book of Acts.\u00a0 Now the hyper-dispensationalist comes back and says well, that\u2019s the Jewish church.\u00a0 What do you mean Jewish church?\u00a0 Well, there were 2 churches, there was the Jewish church, then there was the Gentile church Paul started.\u00a0 Over in the Book of John, chapter 10 and verse16 Jesus makes another hint of the coming church and He says in Acts 10:16, \u201cI have other sheep which are not of this fold,\u201d speaking here to Jews, \u201cI must bring them in also,\u201d that\u2019s the Gentiles, \u201cand they will hear My voice and they will become\u201d what\u2019s the next word there?\u00a0 What\u2019s the word in front of \u201cflock\u201d?\u00a0 \u201cone flock, with one shepherd.\u201d\u00a0 There are not 2 churches; there is one church.\n\nNow, it is true that that church was primarily Jewish prior to Paul\u2019s first missionary journey into southern Galatia.\u00a0 And the ethnic composition of the church changed beginning with his first missionary journey.\u00a0 But the Gentiles were coming into the same church.\u00a0 This whole idea of 2 churches, when I first heard of people trying to espouse this it just bothered me from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet, because the Bible is very clear that there\u2019s one church.\u00a0 In fact over in the Book of Ephesians it talks about all the one\u2019s, one baptism, I believe it says there if I\u2019m not mistaken, towards the beginning of the chapter, one church. \u00a0\u00a0[Ephesians 4:5, \u201cone Lord, one faith, one baptism\u2026.\u201d]\n\nYes, Paul reveals the most we have about this church but it was in existence before Paul came on the scene; it was in existence before Paul was converted.\u00a0 Look at Romans 16:7 for a minute,\u00a0 I want to show you something and virtually no hyper dispensationalist has an answer to this.\u00a0 Romans 16:7, Paul, in Romans, says: \u201cGreet Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners, who are outstanding among the apostles,\u201d watch this, \u201cwho also were in Christ before me.\u201d\u00a0 Let me read verse 7 one more time.\u00a0 He greets these people with all of these names, \u201cwho were in Christ before me.\u201d\u00a0 Do a word study of \u201cin Christ.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn Christ\u201d always refers to the church.\u00a0 For example, when the rapture happens, \u201cthe dead in Christ\u201d the church \u201cwill arise first.\u201d\u00a0 [1 Thessalonians 4:16, \u201cFor the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.\u201d]\u00a0 Paul says, and he mentions a bunch of names, there were a bunch of folks here that were \u201cin Christ\u201d before me.\u00a0 So if there were people \u201cin Christ\u201d before Paul did the church exist before Paul?\u00a0 Well of course it did.\u00a0 So\u00a0 you see what\u2019s happening here is we\u2019re narrowing things down.\u00a0 We started with Jesus put the church into the future in His ministry; Paul referred to the church as a mystery.\u00a0 I gave you a couple of reasons why the church had to start after Acts 1 and I also gave you some reasons as why the church started before Acts 9.\u00a0 Sometime in between Acts 1 and Acts 9 God did something and that takes us to fact number 6.\n\nFact number 6 is the baptizing ministry of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 The baptizing ministry of the Holy Spirit began in Acts 2.\u00a0 The problem is there\u2019s no verse that says that specifically so we have to reason by putting together pieces of the jigsaw puzzle.\u00a0 First of all, what is the baptizing ministry of the Spirit?\u00a0 Because I run into an awful lot of people that are out trying to get baptized in the Holy Spirit today that are already saved.\n\nIf you look at 1 Corinthians 12:13 Paul says, \u201cFor by one Spirit we were all baptized\u201d now is the verb \u201cbaptized\u201d in the present tense, future tense, or past tense?\u00a0 Past tense, \u201cwe were all,\u201d not some of us, \u201cwe were all baptized into\u201d how many bodies? \u201cone body,\u201d it doesn\u2019t matter \u201cwhether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.\u201d\u00a0 Folks, if you\u2019re a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ the baptizing ministry of the Spirit already happened to you at the point of faith alone in Christ alone.\n\nLewis Sperry Chafer says there\u2019s 33 things that happened to you the moment you exercised initial faith in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.\u00a0 And one of the things that happened to you already is you\u2019ve already been baptized;\u00a0 baptiz\u014d<\/em> in Greek means identified.\u00a0 It\u2019s got nothing to do with water here.\u00a0 Water is just an outward confession of an inward reality.\u00a0 You get water baptized because it\u2019s something that already happened to you.\u00a0 Well what already happened to you?\u00a0 You were baptized and identified into Christ\u2019s body the moment you trusted in Christ as Savior.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter what denomination you are or what denomination you think you are,\u00a0 you could be a Bapti-costal-fundamatic or w Metha-catha-bapterian, or whatever, the fact of the matter is the moment you trusted in Christ you were identified to Christ\u2019s body, the church.\u00a0\u00a0 Your hand, your foot, your eye, we play different parts but that\u2019s a transaction that already happened.\n\nSo if this ministry of the Holy Spirit is such a big deal all I need to do is figure out when it started because if I can figure out when it started I can figure out when the church started.\u00a0 Having said all that go back to Acts 1:5, this is Jesus just prior to His ascension and He makes this statement in Acts 1:5, \u201cfor John baptized with water, but you\u201d that\u2019s His disciples \u201cwill \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0be baptized with the Holy Spirit\u201d what Paul was explaining in the verse we were just in, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01 Corinthians 12:13, \u201cbut you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.\u201d\n\nSo Christ said the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit, which is really the key event that begins the church, that\u2019s when the Holy Spirit started taking believers at the point of faith and identifying them with Christ\u2019s body.\u00a0 Jesus said to his disciples, prior to His ascension, this is going to happen a few days from now.\u00a0 That\u2019s in Acts 1.\u00a0 Now Acts 1 is followed by Acts 2; do you all agree with me on that?\u00a0 Chapter 1 comes before chapter 2.\u00a0 All right, just making sure.\n\nNow before we go to Acts 2 go over to Acts 11 and look at verses 15 and 16. This is Cornelius\u2019 salvation, the first Gentile.\u00a0 And the whole church had been Jewish up to this point in time and the folks down at\u2026 this happened in Caesarea and the folks back in Jerusalem, the church leaders, didn\u2019t believe a Gentile could get saved. So they have to have a big pow-wow about it.\u00a0 Peter, who led Cornelius to Christ, has to go from Caesarea, which is a beautiful city on the Mediterranean coast, my wife and I have been there, beautiful turquoise water, anyway, we won\u2019t get into that.\n\nSo he\u2019s got to go from Caesarea back to Jerusalem to explain to these people that a Gentile can get saved and in the process he repeats what Christ said in Acts 1. So notice, if you will, Acts 11:15-16, as Peter is explaining Cornelius\u2019 conversion to the Jews in Jerusalem He said, \u201cAnd as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them\u201d that would be Cornelius and his household, \u201cfell upon them just as He did upon\u201d who? \u201cus at the beginning.\u201d\u00a0 So what happened to Cornelius happened to us Jews back at the beginning.\u00a0 Now when did this happen for the Jews.\u00a0 Verse 16 is a giveaway, \u201cAnd I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, \u2018John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Which is what Christ told His apostles back in Acts 1.\n\nDo you see what\u2019s going on here?\u00a0 Acts 1:5 puts the baptizing ministry of the Holy Spirit in the future, a few days from now.\u00a0\u00a0 Acts 11 puts the baptizing of the Holy Spirit in the past.\u00a0 So at some point between Acts 1 and Acts 11 the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit started.\u00a0 Now you can go right through those chapters; the only chapter that fits in any way is Acts 2.\u00a0 Acts 2 is when the Holy Spirit fell, verses 1-4.\u00a0 It says, \u201cWhen the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. [2] And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. [3] And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. [4] And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.\u201d\n\nYou don\u2019t find any activity of the Spirit of this quality anywhere between Acts 1 and Acts 11 other than Acts 2.\u00a0 And so the Spirit of God is doing something completely new here and one of the things He\u2019s doing is He\u2019s starting the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 And you see how good the Holy Spirit is at this, verses 37-41, \u201cNow when they heard this,<\/em> they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, \u2018Brethren, what shall we do?\u2019\u00a0 [38] Peter said<\/em> to them, \u201cRepent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.\u201d\u00a0 A lot of problem areas to work through here and I didn\u2019t want to get into the minutia but I want to show you effective\u00a0 this baptizing work of the Holy Spirit is. [39] \u201cFor the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.\u201d \u00a0[40] And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, \u2018Be saved from this perverse generation!\u2019 \u00a0[41] So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.\u201d\n\nThe Holy Spirit, on the day of Pentecost, took three thousand people that had believed the gospel and connected them to the body of Christ.\u00a0 He had done the very thing that Paul talked about in \u00a01 Corinthians 12:13.\u00a0 And then they were water baptized shortly thereafter, which is an outward expression of an inward reality.\n\nSo when you assemble all of the data I think it\u2019s pretty clear that the church of Jesus Christ, the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit, did not begin until Acts 2.\u00a0 That\u2019s after Acts 1 but it\u2019s before Acts 11 and the only chapter that really bears any resemblance to a baptizing work of the Holy Spirit is Acts chapter 2.\n\nNow it\u2019s going to take a while for Paul to explain, after he gets saved, what\u2019s going on.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the value if his prison letters, particularly the Book of Ephesians.\u00a0 And here is the problem with hyper dispensationalist; they confuse the explanation with the beginning.\u00a0 They think the explanation is the beginning.\u00a0 The explanation is not the beginning; the beginning is Acts 2.\u00a0 It\u2019s going to take a theologian like Paul under God\u2019s usage to systematize, to codify, to explain a reality that was going on.\u00a0 You don\u2019t track the beginning of the church from when it becomes understandable;\u00a0 you track the beginning of the church when what Paul is explaining started.\u00a0 Do you see the difference there?\n\nAnd even beyond that God disclosed a mystery to not just the Apostle Paul but the apostles.\u00a0 So Peter is involved in the same church that Paul would later be involved in.\u00a0 It\u2019s just when Peter was involved in it the majority population was Jewish; when Paul got involved in it he became the apostle to the Gentiles and the gospel went out beyond the borders of Israel but it\u2019s the same body of Christ.\u00a0 It\u2019s just that the composition ethnically changed.\u00a0\u00a0 Are you guys with me on this?\u00a0 Am I making any sense?\n\nSo when did the church start?\u00a0 Six clues; number 1, Christ referred to the Church in the future tense so it can\u2019t exist in the ministry of Christ or in the Old Testament.\u00a0 Number 2, Paul called the church a \u201cmystery\u201d which is a new disclosure so it doesn\u2019t exist in the Old Testament.\u00a0 Number 3, It had to start sometime after Acts 1 because in Acts 1 Christ became the church\u2019s head and the gifts of the Holy Spirit were given.\u00a0 That\u2019s 3 and 4.\u00a0 Number 5, the church existed before Paul\u2019s conversion.\u00a0 And then number 6, the deal sealer is the baptism of the Holy Spirit which is so foundational because it identifies people, new believers, with Christ\u2019s body.\u00a0 When you look at all of the data the only place it could have started is Acts 2.\n\nNow I\u2019m with you, I wish the Holy Spirit had just said in the Bible, \u201cThus saith the Lord, the church is starting.\u201d\u00a0 But the Bible is not written that way and this is why we need to work of systematic theologians to put pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together and you assemble any doctrine this way, whether it\u2019s the Trinity, the two natures of Christ\u2026 you give me a doctrine and you\u2019re not going to be able to locate it in one part of the Bible, you\u2019ve got to put the pieces together.\n\nSo when you put the pieces together the church started in Acts 2.\u00a0 So what is the church?\u00a0 The church consists of all who have trusted in the Messiah that Israel rejected.\u00a0 And number 2, the church started in Acts 2.\u00a0 So that takes us to number 3 which we\u2019re not going to do tonight.\n\nWhat are we supposed to be doing?\u00a0 Are we supposed to just sit, soak and sour?\u00a0 Or is there something bigger that God has for us?\u00a0 We\u2019ll get into that next time.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t