It can be difficult for even a sincere believer to know what’s right andwrong when everything around them is screaming out conflicting messages. ButGod has given us His Word to anchor us in the Truth. Join us for our next PureLife LIVE to learn key spiritual principles to guide you in your walk withthe Lord amidst our immoral culture.

When Jesus was on the cross being scorned and mocked by those who were crucifying Him, He said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." In this "Timeless Truths" segment, Judy Lucas talks about how, as followers of Christ, we also are called to unconditional forgiveness.

Host: Judy, we want to look at an issue that is pretty common with some of the women we deal with whose husbands have been in sexual sin. It deals with the issue of forgiveness without repentance. And here's really what we want to talk about. For the person who's been sinned against, how is God calling them to deal with that issue, particularly when the person who sinned against them is not completely repentant?]

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Judy: There really isn't a very straightforward, simple answer to that, because as you read the Bible, you do read examples where someone repents and then you forgive them. The classic verse on that is Luke 17:3, “Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.” (Luke 17:3, NASB)

Host: Now, I can read that as saying that if you sin against me, but you don't ask me to forgive you, then I don't have to forgive you. And how often could we want to grab hold of that interpretation?

Judy: Well, there are a lot of times that we want to grab hold of that interpretation. I can remember feeling that way, but this is a core issue. We can’t go off our feelings about this. We have examples in the Bible where Jesus Himself was hanging from across, looking down at those who nailed Him there and were mocking Him and He said, “Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing.” Another example is Hebrews 12:15, which talks about how we should not let a root of bitterness grow up that can cause us trouble.
        Matthew 5:44 says, “I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”  (Matthew 5:44, KJV) So, the Bible is clearly calling us to forgive even if the other person isn't truly repentant or broken yet, because when we're choosing to walk in unforgiveness, we're choosing to walk in sin ourselves. And so, what we're doing is cutting off our relationship and our communion with God.

Host: It seems to me that the person who wants to read that passage in Luke 17 and say, “Well, they haven't come to me. They haven't asked me for forgiveness, so I'm not going to forgive them. I'm going to stay mad at them.” Really the difference between that person and the person who's willing to go to their brother or sister and try to help them to understand that they've been offended by them is that one person is focused on themselves while the other is more interested in helping the other person out.

Judy: Very true, because the first person you mentioned is reacting to their feelings while the other is more concerned about the other person’s heart. They are asking themselves things like, “What is this person’s relationship with God really like?” And the concern should be that if the sin continues, where is that going to lead this person? There's a passage in Matthew 18:15-16 that gives directives for us to go in love with the attitude of Christ and talk to our brother about why we are hurting or why we were offended. So, there's room for that. But it needs to be restorative. If he doesn't repent, which is often the case, then you have a choice to take that next step and go to a pastor or another godly man and bring him into the situation. But that's you praying through and using wisdom on what to do next.

Host: Yeah, but you must not hold bitterness or a grudge or stop showing that person love. As much as it depends on you, you should have peace with your brother or sister — even if they’ve offended you.

Judy: Absolutely. And that really is the crucified life, where you are willing to deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow after Him.

Host: Now we understand from a human perspective that some of the sin from one spouse toward another can be horrendous and we understand the natural response to that. So I guess to the person out there who's struggling with this, they should know we're called to a divine response, not a natural response.
        And I guess the best suggestion for a person struggling to forgive is to look to the Lord, put your eyes on Jesus and remember what He did for you as you alluded to earlier in our discussion. We need to remember that while we were yet in sin, He died for us. He forgave us. That's our example. That can go a long way in helping us get through those tough times when we really have been offended. To sum it up, our response needs to go beyond what comes naturally to us.

The message of Christ’s death, resurrection and second coming is powerful! It has caused missionaries to give their lives, and even sell themselves into slavery, to spread the good news! It elicits praise from the church below and the saints and angels above. And Christ's accomplishments should have a profound impact on our lives as well. Join us as Dustin Renz looks at all Christ has done for us, and seeks in this message to magnify the worthiness of Jesus Christ!

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It's time for Ep. 01 of our new series, "On the Same Team!" In this series, we'll be interviewing six couples. Each of them have had to fight their way out of the horrors of sexual sin and have found out that there is tremendous spiritual strength when they are truly united with their spouse. In this episode, Steve and Kathy Gallagher kick things off by talking about why husbands and wives have to be on the same page spiritually.

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Those that genuinely surrender to God are the ones that obtain victory over sin. They surrender to Him because they trust Him. And they trust Him because they believe that He is good. In this episode, we look at one of the most attacked attributes of God: His goodness.

Resources

• Victory (Podcast Series) By Pure Life Ministries
• Living in Victory through the Power of Mercy (Book) By Steve Gallagher

When Jesus gave the Great Commission, He was describing a kind of lifestyle all believers should have. But many American Christians are stuck in lifestyles of sin and self. Why is this? Steve Gallagher shares his thoughts in this final message in our “Come Unto Me” series.

When the truth is preached with boldness in the fire of God, people will either respond in repentance or will be filled with rage. Oftentimes this results in believers being martyred for their faith by those who are under Satan's control. This is Part 4 of our short series, "Tongues of Fire: The Early Church."

Host: Steve Gallagher has joined me in the studio. Steve is the founder of Pure Life Ministries. Steve it’s good to see you again.

Steve: I'm happy to be here.

Host: Steve, we want to continue our discussions in your series, the early Church and looking at the book of Acts. One of the things going on in the book of Acts is that we see some tensions arising within the early Church. Talk to us about what those are.

Steve: These tensions you see come forth in Acts 6 really come out of the Jewish community itself there in Jerusalem, because you have two different communities of Jewish people. You have those who are from Palestine, Judea, or Jerusalem and have lived their whole lives there. Then you have Jews that have returned there from out in the Roman world somewhere. Those are the Hellenized Jews. And what really causes the problem is mostly the Pharisees, because they are so disdainful of Jews living outside of Judea.
        So, suddenly you have 3000 Jews getting saved and many of those are Hellenized Jews. So, they are bringing that same tension into this new church. It wasn’t as bad though because when you have Christ in the mix, people are going to be more humble and loving. But still underlying that are some struggles that come forth in the church. So, in this chapter we see this tension coming forth in dealing with widows in the church where some of the widows from the Hellenized portion of the community are feeling neglected. What the Apostles do is they appoint 7 deacons to manage the affairs of the church so they can continue focusing on ministering.

Host: Well, in your talk you really laid out that this was the beginning of the structure of the Church. Talk to us a little bit about what that structure in the Early Church was.

Steve: Yeah, it did just kind of unfold this way and you see the Holy Spirit at work behind the scenes. You had the 12 Apostles and they kind of governed everything. Then these deacons are appointed to administrate what we would call the supportive services or the behind-the-scenes tasks. And then you have the congregation. And they also play a role in the function of the church. In other words, they'll end up voting for offices and so on. So, you have these three tiers being established in the Early Church already.

Host: Well, Steve, as the story moves on, it goes into the account of Stephen, who was actually one of the deacons in the Early Church. And as we know, the Lord really used him, but it provoked an attack upon him by the Hellenized Jews that you mentioned living in Jerusalem. Tell us about that.

Steve: Stephen was very bold with the Gospel, and he apparently was out preaching publicly, and the Lord was working mighty miracles through him. And Satan always attacks when God is working through an individual. In this particular case we read of this Hellenized group of Jews who begin debating with Stephen, and what's interesting about that is that Cilicia is one of the provinces these Jews are from. And who is from Cilicia? Saul of Tarsus. Knowing what Saul's personality was like, it's very likely that he was involved in these debates. Which means he was likely involved with distorting the things Stephen was saying to be able to persecute him.

Host: Well, Steve, for those who don't know the story, they became infuriated with Stephen and dragged him before the Sanhedrin. Tell us what happened next.

Steve: Well, he's standing before these 70 venerable leaders of the nation and he gives a long sermon, and basically what he does is recount the entire history of the Jewish nation. Now to us in our Western mindset, we would be thinking why is he going to all this detail? You know, TMI, too much information. Why is he telling all these different aspects of the story?
        But see, that was the way the Jews operated. They would have been completely comfortable with that and it also established the fact that Stephen was Orthodox in his thinking. It helped to establish some credibility. But when he gets to the end of the message, he zeroes in on them and how they have been like their fathers who have rebelled against the Lord throughout the entire history of the nation. He really just nails them. He calls them stiff necked hypocrites.

Host: Well, as full of pride as Jesus made it obvious to us that they all were, we can only guess what their reaction was.

Steve: Well, they got furious, of course, and this is the way it always is. When the Lord uses you to express something that is wrong inside a person's heart, a person is going to do one of two things usually. They are either going to respond to the Lord or they're going to get mad. And that's what happens here. They go into an absolute rage. If it wasn't so true, they may not have gotten so angry, but he nailed them, and they went into a rage.
        They grabbed him, even though they knew that the Romans could easily come right in there and crucify every one of them for doing something like this. They were committing murder. But even in spite of that, they just shut that out of their minds. They were so filled with rage that they grabbed him and drug him out of the city, because you couldn't kill someone within the sacred bounds of the city, and they stoned him to death.

Host: Yeah, I appreciated the conclusion you had in this teaching about Stephen. Talk about the connection you saw between what was happening here with Stephen and how it is with people today.

Steve: Well, Stephen was the first martyr, which that word in the Greek means witness. He was one who would testify the truth, and that's what we've been called to do. Well depending on what the spiritual environment is during our time is going to determine the reaction we get from people. I've received that hateful anger many times for bringing forth a strong message, and in the days ahead, I think what we're going to see increasingly is that the stronger and more powerful the testimony, the more rage the enemy is going to unleash against us.

When a prominent couple did not allow their hearts to be purified by the fire that was burning in the early church, it led to their death. This fearful act of judgment filled the Church with holy fear and brought many outsiders to repentance and salvation. Don't miss Part 3 of our short series, “Tongues of Fire: The Early Church.”

Host: Steve, we're going to continue our discussions on a series that you taught our staff through at Pure Life entitled “The Early Church”. And we're looking today at Acts 5. Tell us a little bit about the backdrop of this chapter.

Steve: At the end of Chapter 4, Luke gives a somewhat lengthy summary statement of the condition of the Church at that time. I'll just put it to you this way, the Church was on fire. They were going after God with all their hearts. That was the overall atmosphere of the early Church at that time. And then after painting that picture, Luke eases into this next story by bringing up Barnabas. Barnabas had done something that was noteworthy, which was to sell a piece of land and bring the proceeds in and give that money to the disciples to be used for the Church. So, that all establishes the backdrop for the story we find in Chapter 5.

Host: Okay. Go ahead and share with us what that story is.

Steve: Well, this couple had become part of the Church and they saw what Barnabas had done. And no doubt people were really expressing their gratitude and their love for Barnabas. He was a very good man and this couple saw something in his generosity that really attracted them, and they wanted to appear to be that same way. So, they also had a piece of land that they sold, but they kept part of the money for themselves and presented it as if it was the entire proceeds of the sale, because they wanted the same kind of honor that they saw Barnabas receive. In essence they were blatantly lying to the Holy Spirit And in response, God struck them down dead on the spot.

Host: Why do you think that the Lord dealt with them so severely to the point of taking their lives?

Steve: Well, first of all, the Lord was intent on starting the Church off in a as pure a form as possible, and He wanted to preserve it from corruption. He wanted to at least keep that purity as long as He possibly could. But there's something deeper than even that, and that is that it is just one of the laws of the Kingdom of God that the more intimate you become with the Lord, the greater the consequences for sin. In other words, you can come into a tremendous knowledge of God through intimacy with Him, but if you abuse that position of knowing Him deeply and blatantly disobey Him, you can bring upon yourself severe judgment. So, that's really what a lot of this is.
        For instance, let me give you an example. Judas was numbered amongst the 12 disciples. He was with Jesus day in and day out for three years. And so, his crime was not so much that he turned Jesus into the authorities. His crime was against the intimate relationship that he had with Jesus Christ. He had so much light, and he rejected it. And that's really what this couple, Ananias and Sapphira did.

Host: At the time, Steve, the church was a very close-knit community. This must have had a real impact on that community.

Steve: Well, Luke says that great fear fell not only on the Christian community, but actually upon the whole city. The whole Jewish community was also pretty close-knit in that city and they kind of knew of the events happening in the early Church. So, when these two people were struck dead, it really affected people. It kind of forced Jewish people to make a decision about what they believed about this new Christian sect of Judaism, as they would have believed it to be.
        As far as the believers in the church, I think the fear of the Lord became so strong that it really caused believers to think seriously about the ramifications of their actions. And then this seemed to spawn a whole fresh new wave of revival as well, because after this happens more good things begin to happen. Even more people start getting saved. You would almost expect it to have had the opposite effect, but actually more people started coming to the Lord because of this incident.

Host: It makes you think that maybe we need something like that in the Church today.

Steve: It makes me think something like that's going to come our way.

Host: Yeah. Let’s talk also now about how the Jewish religious leaders responded to this incident.

Steve: Well, of course they were absolutely entrenched in their own doctrinal Orthodox thinking and teaching, and they would not open their minds up to anything outside of that. So, all this sort of thing did was just drive them into anger and they hauled the disciples into the Sanhedrin. But God bless Peter, he takes the opportunity again to get up in front of the Sanhedrin and preach his heart out. And most of the Sanhedrin wanted to kill all the disciples of Jesus, but really, I believe the Lord used Gamaliel to bring some wisdom into the council. Also it wasn't God's time for them to be martyred yet. So, they backed off of the idea of killing them and instead they gave them an intense beating.

Host: As I alluded to earlier, when we look at the condition of the Church today, I think we can't help but notice that there is a real lack of a genuine fear of God. We need to have that fear revived in us as believers in the current day that we live in.

Steve: Yeah, you really see a lack of reverence for the Lord. The attitude is almost as if you can obey Him if you feel like it, but if you don't feel like it, it's no big deal and God understands. It’s that kind of laissez-faire attitude that leaves the church with very little power. There's very little life in the church today. So, we see the lack that we have because of those attitudes that have become so enmeshed in our thinking.

Host: Yeah. And you mentioned earlier that because of this happening there was a growth of the Church. There was an increase of power in the Early Church, and we know that in the last days there's going to be a tremendous power that comes over true believers. So, something is going to have to happen as you mentioned to bring that about. And you can be in fear of that, but we can also look forward to it that in these dark days we might be a church full of power and full of light for a very lost world.

Steve: And that's partly why a lot of people believe that a persecution is coming and that it is going to act as a purifying agent in the church. Then out of that will spawn a new powerful wave of revival like we've never seen before.

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When God's people are inflamed with love for Jesus and a zeal for His Kingdom, Satan's master plan for humanity is presented with a massive threat. But the enemy won't go down without a fight. In this show, we'll look at one of his most effective counterattacks—fostering a church culture that is full of apathy.

Resources

• Babylon: The Seat of Satan's Power (Podcast Series) By Pure Life Ministries
• Intoxicated with Babylon (Book) By Steve Gallagher

When the early church began to experience massive growth, persecution was not far behind. But the believers, knowing their weakness, prayed earnestly for boldness and God gave them the power to endure. This is Part 2 of our short series, “Tongues of Fire: The Early Church.”

Host: Steve, we want to continue our discussions on the early Church. In a message that you shared with our staff, you covered Acts 3 and 4. Talk about the backdrop of these two chapters.

Steve: Well, it may sound obvious, but the backdrop is Chapter 2. In Chapter 2, we had the enormous revival that hit Jerusalem and 3000 souls came to the Lord in one day. Plus, who knows what happened in the weeks and months after that. But you have to think about what was going on with the disciples during this period of time. All of a sudden, they go from a church of 120 to a church of 3000 people. And if that isn't enough of an enormous challenge, you're talking about every one of them being a brand new believer who needs to be discipled.
         But beyond that is the fact that these people needed to be worked out of years of indoctrination in Pharisaism, Judaism, ritualism and all their traditions. So, I believe that during that time, the Lord was using the disciples to bring the Church along and help these new believers get more established in the faith. Then when the Lord felt like it was time to take another step forward, this thing happened there at the temple.

Host: Well, we don't have time to share all the details, but can you tell us in a nutshell what happens in Acts 3 & 4?

Steve: Well, John and Peter are going up to the temple to pray and there's a crippled man there begging, and Peter somehow got a sense from the Lord that that man needed to be healed. He saw that he had faith and the Lord healed him through Peter. Then the man gets up and he is ecstatic as one can imagine being someone who's been crippled all their life. And he's running and leaping and praising the Lord it says.
         And so that creates a whole stir and all kinds of people come rushing in to find out, “What is this?” And it’s obvious that it's a tremendous miracle. So, Peter seizes the opportunity to begin to preach to the people right there at the temple. And while he's preaching, he's interrupted by the guards from the Sanhedrin who were sent in to break the meeting up and haul them in to answer for what in the world they were doing there.

Host: As I was going over your notes on this chapter, I couldn't help but think that this is like an instant replay of what happened with Jesus. Why did the Sanhedrin react again this way? You would think maybe they'd learn by now.

Steve: Yeah. And you're referring to the blind man who got healed right there at the same basic place at the temple by Jesus. The bottom line I think was that there was an enormous amount of pride in that Sanhedrin. They felt like they were the experts. They were the religious leaders. And so, when it came to John and Peter, the Sanhedrin were thinking “these guys are just upstarts. Who are they? They're fishermen from Galilee.”
         I mean, in a sense, you could understand how the religious leaders would feel. It's almost like usurping their authority. It's one thing if they were to be teaching out somewhere in the streets somewhere but for it to be right there at the temple was a bigger issue to them.  But also, for the Sadducees who ran the Sanhedrin, they didn’t believe in the resurrection, and that is the message that Peter was preaching forth boldly. He was preaching that Jesus Christ has been resurrected and the Sadducees didn't take kindly to that a bit.

Host: Well, how did Peter and John handle the antagonism that they were getting here?

Steve: Well, you can imagine how intimidating of a setting this must have been for Peter and John to be hauled in, in front of the 70 religious leaders of the country. But instead of the timidity that Peter had shown a few months before right before the crucifixion, a holy boldness overtakes Peter and he just begins preaching his heart out. And not only preaching his heart out, but he puts his finger right in their face and calls them the murderers of the Messiah. It is unbelievable that he could do what he did. He didn't back down one inch.

Host: It's very telling what Peter and John did when they were released.

Steve: Yeah, they went right into a prayer meeting. They went back to the disciples and their close friends, and they started seeking the Lord, but what is really interesting to me is what they were praying for. They weren't praying for protection. They weren't praying that God would defeat their adversaries. They were praying that God would give them holy boldness no matter what it cost them. And God really responded to that prayer.

Host: How much do we need that today? We look at what's going on around us. We look at the attack on the Church, the attack on our faith and on Christianity. Really, we ought to be praying for, as they did, a holy boldness in us as believers to be a witness in the midst of all of it.

Steve: Yeah, because from there they went out after that and really everything that you see unfold in the book of Acts is an answer to that prayer. But also, you know that was the way they were praying regularly, and you just see it keep unfolding and unfolding under these great events that occur through the book of acts in the days following. And I know for ourselves here at Pure Life, when we get on our faces before the Lord and we really start seeking Him, we see God move in really wonderful ways.
         But we are human beings, and we are not built in ourselves to seek the Lord at that level all the time. That's just the reality of our fallen nature. So, we tend to need to do it on occasions. And we need to set apart special occasions to really seek the Lord, not just our normal time of seeking, but an extended time — an impassioned time. And when we do that, God never fails to follow through with His power.

Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received power from on high to become His witnesses. That kind of power is exactly what is needed in the church today. Welcome to Part 1 of a short series called “Tongues of Fire: The Early Church.”

Host: Steve Gallagher has joined me in the studio. Steve is the founder of Pure Life Ministries. Steve good to see you again.

Steve: Glad to be here.

Host: Steve, we want to talk about an 8-week series that you did on the early Church. You started your first talk in this series, “The Commission of the Church” by looking at the books of Luke and Acts. Tell us a little bit about the relationship between these two books.

Steve: Well, they were both written by Luke the physician and unlike the other gospel writers, Luke wasn't an eyewitness to the events of the life of Jesus. During Jesus’s lifetime he was a Greek who was probably living in Philippi. And he also wasn't around during the early years of the Church. So, he acted primarily as a historian, which meant that he had to go and get accounts from other people. When he wrote these two books, he did it as a two-part history of the Church. So, part one was the story of Christ, which is the book of Luke. And then part 2 was how the story continued forth after Jesus died. That's how it was first passed around, as a two-part book.

Host: You mentioned in your talk that there were three purposes Luke had for writing the book of Acts. Talk about those.

Steve: Well, he gives us one of the purposes with the first thing he says right in his opening remarks in the book of Luke. He said, “So that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” (Luke 1:4 NIV) He was referring to this man, Theophilus, who apparently was some kind of Roman official. He was giving him the story. That was number one. His second purpose was that he was providing a historical account of what happened. How Christianity began and how it grew from there. But also, the third thing was that he was attempting to justify Christianity to the Roman world. Because that was the world he lived in, in that day, and he was trying to present a credible, believable account of what Christianity is and why the people didn’t need to fear it.

Host: People love stories, and we love the development of characters in a story. I love the way that you brought out the leading character in the story of Acts. Talk about that.

Steve: The book of Acts is almost like a play, if you can imagine it that way. You've got two leading characters. First, you have Peter, who dominates the scene in the early part of the book of Acts and in the early Church. He is the main person. But of course, the book of Acts continues on from there. So, the second leading character becomes the Apostle Paul, and the focus shifts from Peter to Paul. But really the leading character in the story in Acts is the Holy Spirit, because it is the Holy Spirit who inspires. It's the Holy Spirit who leads. It's the Holy Spirit who is presenting Jesus Christ. He's operating through these men and He's operating in circumstances. The Holy Spirit is the leading actor in the book of Acts.
         In Chapter One, Jesus gives His final instructions to the disciples right before His ascension. There were 50 days between when He was Passover, when He was crucified and Pentecost, where that great outpouring happened, and the first 40 days consisted of Jesus presenting Himself to His people. Then His ascension happened and that was 10 days before Pentecost. And at that time He instructed the disciples to wait for 10 days.

Host: Yeah. And He not only instructed them, but He also made a promise to them.

Steve: Yes. He promised them that if they would wait on the Lord, if they would seek His face, that the Holy Spirit would come upon them, would empower them and make them witnesses throughout the world. That is the Great Commission: to go into all the world and make disciples. And this part of Christianity, which I'm afraid is often lost in the church, as weak as it is, is a major role of Christianity. We are to go forth as representatives of Jesus Christ.
         In other words, the way that you live your life should make a loud statement to people that I fully believe in Jesus Christ. I obey Him. I live my life in such a way that it reflects His character and His nature everywhere I go. And that is part of the Great Commission. And as I live my life that way, I pour myself into other people who are new to the faith and I disciple them. I help them to mature in the faith.

Host: Yeah, and that certainly is what we see being lived out in the early Church. How we long to see more of that today.

Steve: Yes, we do. Absolutely.

Host: Did the disciples play a part in bringing this outpouring of the Holy Spirit and revival about or was this a sovereign act of God?

Steve: This is always one of the big questions regarding revival, because this was the mightiest revival Earth has ever seen as far as I'm concerned. Is it the Lord just sovereignly acting, or is it that people pray and do the right thing to bring it about? And if you listen to Charles Finney, that's what he would say is that it's just a simple formula. It's no different than a farmer going out and throwing seed in the ground and watering it. If you do that, you're going to have results he would say. But I'm not so sure about that.
         I understand what he's saying and there is truth to it, but to battle through on your knees to bring about something like a mighty revival requires a real touch from God. And in this particular case, Jesus told them what was going to happen. So, there was an expectancy building up. They knew what to do. They were to wait on the Lord, which is what they did for 10 days. And at the end of that 10 days, which happened to be on the day of Pentecost, The Lord came forth. Was it because of the disciple’s prayers and waiting on the Lord? Yes. Was it a sovereign act of God? Yes. It was both.

Host: Yeah. You know, in our current culture, we find it so hard to wait on the Lord for anything. But again, we're in a time where we desperately need an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And what does God want us to do? He wants us to pray. He wants us to be doing the things that we're supposed to be doing, but it's going to be a sovereign act of God that He's going to pour out His Spirit in these last days. So, can you now explain to us, what did happen on the day of Pentecost?

Steve: 120 of Jesus’s followers had been waiting on the Lord for 10 days. Praying, fasting and probably spending time in the Word. They were probably spending time in silence as well. They were doing spiritual things for the most part. And on the day of Pentecost, as they're gathered about, maybe there was a little bit of anticipation because it was such a special feast day, but there was no guarantee that anything was going to happen that day.
         But the Lord knows how far He can stretch us. And if He would have gone past 10 days, I have a feeling people's hopes would have started diminishing and fading, and maybe they would have started losing that sense of anticipation. But anyway, on the day of Pentecost, all of a sudden there's this rumbling. Maybe they heard it from a distance and it got louder and louder. But suddenly, the whole place is filled with the presence of God and just like a fire gets so hot that flames dance around outside of the wood, that's the way it seemed in the spiritual realm. There were these flames of fire dancing around these people and the Lord was pouring Himself out on them, in them and through them.
         Whatever was going on, it just gripped the people of the city and before you know it, thousands of people were gathered. Imagine Tiananmen Square in Beijing, where thousands of people were pouring out into the city, and they had those demonstrations so many years ago. I think it was kind of like that, where something so exciting was happening that thousands of people were showing up and then Peter gets up and boldly begins to preach.

Host: I want to hear that sermon. Well, we have it written down, but I would like to see the instant replay of that one.

Steve: Well, just looking at the highlights that Luke gives us, it's pretty impressive for the guys first sermon. Because for your first sermon, usually you feel awkward and you're not sure what to say. You're kind of stumbling through it. But he got up in the power of God and gave a powerful message. And more than it being an inspired message where he was saying the right things, much more important was the fact that the presence of God so filled the atmosphere that his words were so convicting that they went into people's hearts and 3000 people got saved that day.

Host: We hear of revivals and moves of God today. Sometimes they truly are revivals, but sometimes they aren't. But the way we can discern more clearly is by the fruit that follows these events. What happened following this revival?

Steve: That really is a good point, because when people come to the Lord through a powerful conversion it makes a difference. Take my wife as an example. She got saved at the tail end of the Jesus Movement in the late 70s. And I don't know how to explain it, but I don't see those kind of conversions anymore. You just don't hear about people being powerfully converted and just being on fire for the Lord right from the beginning. There is something when a revival is taking place that people get so dramatically affected, and then it comes out in the way that they live their lives.
         And as you read through the rest of Acts 2, you see that the people were meeting together regularly. They were sharing their possessions with each other. You know some miracles had to happen to get people to do that. And they were spending a lot of time in prayer and in Bible study. They had all the markings of people who were on fire for the Lord. It wasn't just that they got saved and went back to basically their same old lifestyle with a few alterations. No, they got powerfully saved and went out and changed the world.

Host: Oh, that the power of God would come down like that today and we would see that kind of dramatic conversion of souls.

Steve: It's going to happen. I don't know when exactly, but it is coming.

Days after Peter denied Jesus three times, the Lord chose to meet him in a very personal and profound way. This encounter would set the stage for the rest of Peter’s life. For anyone who has fallen or struggled in your walk with God, we hope this message is an encouragement that the place of your greatest failure could be the place where you find God’s abundant mercy!