Good morning. And they all continued in amazement and great
perplexity, saying to one another, what does this mean? But others were mocking
and saying, they are full of sweet wine. But Peter, taking his stand with the
11, raised his voice and declared to them: men of Judea and all you who live in
Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. Notice that it
only talks about the 12 apostles; it does not mention the rest of the 120. That
does not mean that the rest of the 120 were not in the house when the baptism
of the Holy Spirit came. It may be that they were still in the house, and only
the apostles went outside where the people were. It is an indication that it
could’ve been just the apostles in the room when the Holy Spirit fell. What would
speak against it is that there were more than 12 languages mentioned just prior
to this that were being heard. So unless the apostles were speaking in more
than one language, then that would mean that there was more than 12 people
speaking. It neither confirms nor refutes that only the apostles were in the
upper room; it just raises the possibility. For these men are not drunk, as you
suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day. There were two different
ways of counting time in those days –Roman and Jewish. The accepted view is
that this meant 9 o’clock in the morning. In fact that is the title of a book
decades ago about the baptism in the Holy Spirit – 9 o’clock in the morning. It
would’ve been unusual on a holy day – Pentecost – for a Jew to break his fast
until around 10 o’clock. It would seem to me to be unusual for a group of men
on any day to be drunk that early in the morning. Next time we will see what
Peter’s response was. Father thank You for 9 o’clock in the morning that came
into our own lives. Help us to manifest Your presence wherever we go!
Unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God
Good morning. While Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. Jesus was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men. Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. It doesn’t say, but I assume it is still during this time of the Passover. This man came to Jesus by night. Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do the signs that You do unless God is with him. It just said that the people believed in His name because of the signs He was doing; yet it does not say what those signs were. Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. That is why unbelievers cannot tell what is of the kingdom of God and what is not – they’re not born again. Nicodemus doesn’t have a clue. How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he? Unless one is born of water and the Spirit ...
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