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When I walk through the dark, lonesome valley, My Savior will walk with me there. Then safely He's great and will lead me Through the magic trees that will be there. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days, all the days of my life. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days, all the days of my life. When I shall dwell in this, O my Lord, Forever and I shall feast at the tables that will be. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days, all the days of my life. All the days, all the days of my life. And Elijah, go ahead. 356. 356? 356, I must tell Jesus. 356, on the first. I must tell Jesus, who are my trials, I cannot bear these burdens alone. All my distress He could have. He never loves and cares for His love. He never loves and cares for His love. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus could hold me, Jesus alone. Mr. Christine, go ahead. 210. 210. Wonderful grace of Jesus, 210. Sing it out on the first. Wonderful grace of Jesus, Way your head on my skin. How shall my darkness ride me? Where shall His grace begin? Take me away, my burden. Start me with freedom free. For the wonderful grace of Jesus, He loves me. And though the matches break through Jesus, The deeper that the body rolls in, The higher than the mountains fall, The more we bow to Him, The more sufficient grace will be believed. No matter that the scope of life is dashed, Pray to God that all has been changed. O man, who for He bares show His name of Jesus, Praise His name. Brother Matt, go ahead. 112. 112. Be still, my soul. 112. Sing it on the first. Be still, my soul, The Lord is on the side. Bear patiently, The cross of grief or pain. Leave to thy God, To order and provide. Let every change, Move in all will remain. Be still, my soul, My best, my every friend. Through thorny ways, Through so much joyful man. All right, one more. Brother George, go ahead. 215. 215. This will be the last one. 215. Heaven came down. Let's sing this one out on the first. Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful day, Day I will never forget. After I'd wandered in darkness away, Jesus my Savior I met. Oh, what a tender compassion and prayer, He left the heat of my heart. Shadows were swelling with blood, And I'm telling Thee, God of all His people. Heaven came down, And, oh, He filled my soul. Heaven came close, And my Savior gave me hope. My sins were washed away, And my life was turned to day. Heaven came down, And glory filled my soul. Good singing this evening. Amen. We want to welcome you to the Sunday evening service. We're glad you're with us. If you need a bulletin, raise your hand, and we'll go through the announcements real quickly. If you don't have a bulletin, just put your hand up, and we can go through the announcements. The verse this week, Philippians 4-6, Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And of course, that's a good verse there. We like that. If you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service times. Sunday morning service, 10.30 a.m. We had a wonderful service this morning. We're glad you're back out tonight for the evening service, and we do invite you to be with us on Wednesday night for the Wednesday night Bible study. If you look at our sowing times, our main sowing times on Saturday morning at 10 a.m., then we have additional sowing times on Thursdays and on Sundays at 2 p.m. And don't forget, if you're a sowrunner, to add your salvations on the communication card so that we can add it in the bulletin. Don't forget to turn in your maps. If you have a map that you did not finish, if you finished it, you can discard it. We'll count it as done. But if you didn't finish it, clearly mark what was done, what was not done, and put it in the bin in the foyer, if you would. And if you're running late to our sowing times, please don't forget to call or text. They are at 916-868-9080. We, of course, are a family-integrated church. Children and infants are always welcome in the service. We don't separate children from their parents. If you need to be baptized, let us know. We'd love to baptize you. If you look at the announcements and upcoming events, we started a brand-new series this morning called The School of Prayer, and we're learning to pray from the Lord Jesus Christ. Tonight, we're in the book of Joel, and on Wednesday nights, we're in the book of 2 Corinthians. And then, of course, this weekend, we have a wedding. You're invited to a wedding for Tamara Gutierrez and Alex Brash this Saturday, October 16th at 2 p.m. If you'd like to attend, please sign up on your communication card, and it is a potluck, so please bring a dish to share. It's a Thanksgiving theme, and if you can bring a meat or a side or something like that, just see my wife, and she can kind of get you situated with that. And then, of course, we have our harvest party coming up Sunday, October 31st at 6 p.m. Immediately after the evening service, there's going to be jump houses, and every kid in the service will receive a bag of treats. We'll have our annual chili cook-offs. It's going to be a great time. On Wednesday, you can join the staff to finish up some maps in South Sac. The address is there for you. Upcoming cleaning crew, you can check for your name. We appreciate your faithfulness. Homeschool group, they've got the P cost there on Thursday, October 14th. Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service so that they're not a distraction to anybody. If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of October, and this week, we have Madison Johnson's birthday on October 12th, also Mauricio Hernandez' birthday on October 12th, Joe Maples III on October 13th, Matthew Stuckey, Brother Stuckey, our evangelist to the Philippines on the 14th, and Brother Matt and Miss Casey have an anniversary on the 15th. Praise Report, Money Matters, all those things are there for you to look at. I have a baptism certificate. I forgot to grab it. Let me do that real quick. I forgot to bring this up with me. Let me go ahead and give this out real quick. This is a certificate of baptism. This certificate is awarded to Harold Rushton in recognition of his baptism on the 12th day of April of the year 2021, and we've got pictures here for him to remember and the verse, Romans 6.4, Therefore we are obeyed with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life, and that's a good one there, so let's give him a round of applause. And I think that's it for all of the announcements, so let's go ahead and take our song books. We're going to sing one song. As we've heard, receive the offering. Is it okay if I change it on you? I'm sorry, you're prepared. Can we do 261? Would that be okay? 261? I apologize. 261. And we'll do Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. Thank you. 261. Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. Let's sing it out on the first. Oh, so are you, and troubled. No light in the darkness to see. There's light for a look at the Savior, and life for abundant death. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Good, 261. Sing it out on the second. Through death into life everlasting, He passed and we follow Him there. Over us in no more hath dominion for more than hundreds to come. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Good, sing it out on the last. His word shall not fail you. Promise, believe Him, and all will do well. Then go to a world that is dying, His perfect salvation to come. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Amen, good singing. We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time. And let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do come to You tonight asking that You bless the offering. Lord, we pray that You would bless the time that we've set aside for the preaching of Your word. Lord, we pray that You would draw us close to You as a result of what we hear that we would learn and be ready to receive from the word of God. Lord, we pray that You would just bless the offering and bless everything that's done tonight. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let's open our mouths to Joel chapter number two. Joel chapter number two, if you need a bow, put your hand up and a nut sugar might bring you a Bible. Joel chapter number two, if you need a bow, keep your hand up or a shoulder will come by. Joel chapter number two, we'll read the entire chapter as our custom. Joel chapter number two, beginning in verse number one. Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand. The day of darkness and of gloominess, the day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains, a great people and a strong, there hath not been ever the like. Neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness. Yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains, shall they leap. Like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before their face, the people shall be much pained. All faces shall gather blackness. They shall run like mighty men. They shall climb the wall like men of war. They shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks. Neither shall one thrust another. They shall walk every one in his path. When they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. They shall run to and fro in the city. They shall run upon the wall. They shall climb up upon the houses. They shall enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before them. The heavens shall tremble. The sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army, for his camp is very great, for he is strong that executed his word, for the day of the Lord is great, and very terrible, who can abide it? Therefore also now sayeth the Lord, Turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning, and run your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repented him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meat offering and a drink offering, unto the Lord your God? Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, sanctify it fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breast, let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord weep, between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to her approach, that the heathen should rule over them. Wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? Then will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity his people. Yea, the Lord will answer, and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith, and I will no more make you your approach among the heathen, but I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate with his face toward the east sea, and his hind part toward the utmost sea, and his sting shall come up, and his ill savor shall come up, because he hath done great things. Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice, the Lord will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month, and the floor shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil, and I will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten, the canker worm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer worm, my great army which I sent among you, and ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you, and my people shall never be ashamed, and ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else, and my people shall never be ashamed, and shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions, and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids, in those days will I pour out of my spirit, and I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke, the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come, and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered, for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening. God, I thank you for the book of Joel, as he please give us attentive ears to the preaching God, as he please with our passage to strengthen him, and for him our spirit. We love you. Jesus, we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, we're there in Joel chapter number two, and of course on Sunday nights, we've been going through a Bible study series through the book of Joel. Last Sunday night, we took a little bit of a break from the book of Joel, but if you remember a couple of Sunday nights ago, we were in Joel chapter two, and we saw the symbolic timeline for end times prophecy from Joel chapter one and Joel chapter two, and we saw that the army there that described in the first nine verses of chapter two, and we saw that that had to do with the desolation of Jerusalem and all those things. Tonight, we're going to continue just right where we left off, and we're going to see how the book of Joel proves replacement theology, and what we have before us, we'll begin in verse number 28. That's where we ended last time we were in the book of Joel. We ended in verse 27, and you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else and my people shall ever be ashamed. In verse 28, we begin a new paragraph or a new thought. He says this, and it shall come to pass afterward. Now, some people will take this to say that the afterward is after what's already been talked about, and that would put us past the millennial reign into eternity, but there's actually a new thought that's being brought up here, and I'll prove to you that that afterwards is referring to not after the specific events that was just explained because it's quoted in the New Testament, and I'll show you that in a minute, but it says, and it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions, and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days, while I pour out my Spirit, and I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillar of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord come, and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call in the name of the Lord shall be delivered. For in Mount Zion and Jerusalem shall be deliverance as the Lord hath said and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. And what I want to show you is that this passage is a very well-known passage. You may recognize it, maybe not even from the book of Joel, but from another book that we'll look at here in a minute, but just by way of introduction, let me kind of explain some things. This passage brings with it a lot of confusion and a lot of conflict, and the reason for that is because there are groups out there who want to take this passage and twist it or make it say something that it's not. For example, the Pentecostal and the charismatic movement, they want to claim this passage. They want to say, you know, the stuff that goes on in our churches, the big circus of the tongue speaking and rolling around and doing all these things, that's what the book of Joel is referring to, and of course that's a joke, and we've preached a lot about that, and I'll mention a little bit about that in the sermon tonight, but I don't want to focus on that. That's been debunked pretty thoroughly. In fact, just recently at one of our soul-winning rallies, Brother Nate preached a sermon about that, and he covered those things, and that's on our website for you to look at or YouTube as well. There's another group that I want to focus more on tonight and a group that's more of a threat, if you will, to the truth because the Pentecostal charismatic movement is just a joke, but the other group is the Zionist pre-trib dispensationalists, and the Zionist dispensational pre-tribulation rapture believing crowd, they want to explain this passage away, and the reason for that is because Joel chapter 2, what we just read, is one of their passages, and if you're not familiar with dispensationalism and all that, I apologize. I've got a lot of things to cover tonight, and I'm not going to have time to kind of catch you up on those things, and that's not usually my style of preaching, but it's just how we have to do it, so we've got a whole documentary on dispensationalism. We've got a whole documentary on end times prophecy. We've got all sorts of sermons and things you can catch up on, so just take what you can. Take some notes down. Whatever you're not sure if we're talking about, you can look up later and learn about later, but let me just say this. The dispensationalists today will attack us on many doctrines, but one of the doctrines is that of replacement theology. Here at Verity Baptist Church, we believe in replacement theology, and you say, what does that mean? What that means is that God has replaced the Jews as being his chosen people, and they've been replaced with New Testament Christians, New Testament believers. In the Old Testament, God had a people, the nation of Israel, that he had called out in order to be his people, to proclaim his word, to really preach the gospel, and he rejected them, and in the New Testament, he has rejected them, and he has replaced them with a new people, a new nation, a holy nation, and this is replacement theology. That would've been a good place for more than one of you to say amen, all right? So let's just try that again. You know, God has replaced the Jews with New Testament Christians. Do you believe that? And I hope you believe that. That's why you're saved. That's how you got your salvation, and it's not how you got your salvation, but it's connected to we're New Testament Christians. This is a New Testament church. It's the new covenant that we're living in, and the Zionists, they like this passage, but they find themselves having to explain it away, and here's why they like the passage because they believe that the Jews, they've not been replaced. They're just on a time-out. God hasn't replaced them. He's just kind of put them aside for a while, and eventually, he's gonna get tired of us, and he's gonna get rid of us, and then he's gonna bring the Jews back, and when he brings the Jews back, they're all gonna get saved. That's one of their beliefs is that all the Jews are gonna get saved. Now, different ones believe that that'll happen differently. The hardcore ones, they believe in Calvinism, though they don't admit it, and they just think that God's just gonna make all the Jews get saved, and that's so against the Bible, it's not even funny. The Bible says that salvation is a choice. There are others that believe that he's just gonna kill all the Jews that don't get saved, so then all the Jews will be saved, or some weird thing like that. The point is this. They like this passage because they look at this, and they say, see, Joel is prophesying about what they would refer to as the end times Jew, that God is gonna pour out his Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions, and they'll say, this proves that God's not done with the Jews. See, Joel is preaching to the Jews, and this is showing that God still has a plan for them. In the end, he's gonna pour out his Spirit upon them, and he's gonna use them, and all Israel shall be saved, so they like Joel chapter 2 for that reason. The only problem is that if there was a passage of Scripture that proved that Joel chapter 2 verses 28 through 32 are not about the Jews, is not about the end times Jews or any sort of Jews, and is actually about New Testament believers, that would really mess them up. Well, the thing is there is such a passage. The Word of God makes it clear that they are wrong in their interpretation of this passage. I want you to keep your place right there in Joel chapter 2. That's our text for tonight, but I'd like you to go with me to the book of Acts, if you would, Acts chapter number 2. In the New Testament, you have Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and then the book of Acts, Acts chapter 2. Do me a favor and put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there in the book of Acts, because we're gonna leave it, and we're gonna come back to it, and we're just gonna be flipping back and forth tonight. We're gonna look at other passages, but primarily between Joel chapter 2 and Acts chapter 2, so I want you to be able to get there quickly. This passage in Joel 2 creates a lot of conflict and confusion because of where it's quoted in the New Testament. See, this passage is quoted in the New Testament, and I'll show it to you. It doesn't begin in verse 17, but I'll just... The quote begins in verse 17. The context begins in verse 16, but let's just begin reading up verse 17. Notice what it says. This is a quote from Joel chapter 2. And it shall come to pass in the last days. I want you to notice there, remember he said after, afterwards, or after these things there, in Joel 2.28, he says, and it shall come to pass afterward. That is restated in the New Testament as in the last days. That's what afterward means. In Joel 2.28, he's referring to the last days or what we would call the end times. He says, and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith the Lord. I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. You'll notice that it sounds very similar to Joel chapter 2. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams, and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy, and I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and notable day of the Lord come, and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call in the name of the Lord shall be saved. So, why don't you notice that this passage is quoted in Acts chapter number 2, and this causes a problem for the dispensationalists, and it's not new for dispensationalists. They're used to this. The Bible causes a lot of problems for the things they believe, because the things they believe do not come from the Bible. They come from theology books. They come from commentaries. They come from Peter Ruckman, and they come from C.I. Schofield, and they come from all sorts of different teachers other than the Word of God. And this is the problem that dispensationalists have. They like Joel chapter 2, because they'll say, look, Joel is telling the Jews of the Old Testament that there's coming a day when God is going to pour out His Spirit upon all the Jews. He's going to save the Jews. He's going to bring back the Jews. The Jews are making a comeback. He's not done with the Jews. He's not going to replace them. The problem is that then those of us who read and believe the Bible say, well, what about Acts chapter 2? Because this is where it's quoted. And they will, if you listen to the dispensationalists, will just bend over backwards to try to explain this away. I've heard some of them say, Peter didn't know what he was talking about. Peter was confused. I've heard others say, well, Peter, what Peter was saying is that this is going to kind of be like, you know, what was happening in Acts 2 was kind of like what's going to happen in the end times with the end times Jews. They make all these arguments to try to explain these things away. But here's the point. Joel chapter number 2 proves replacement theology because in Joel chapter number 2, Joel prophesies about a time when God will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh and He's going to pour out His Spirit upon sons and daughters and they will prophesy upon servants which are males and handmaidens which are females. He talks about the fact that the young men shall see visions and the old men shall dream dreams. He talks about these things as happening afterwards or towards the end or in the end times. And then the apostle Peter, you say, well, what's so important about Acts chapter number 2? And I realize I'm giving you a little bit of context and build up but let me just explain this to you and then we're going to get into this. In fact, do me a favor. Keep your finger right there in Acts 2. We're going to look at a verse there. But if you would, find the book of Judges, Judges chapter 3. In the Old Testament, you have Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges. Find Judges chapter 3 and then go back to Acts chapter 2 so we can be ready to roll here in a minute. You say, well, what's the big deal about it being quoted in Acts chapter 2? Here's the big deal. Acts chapter 2 is a very important passage. In fact, the passage in which Peter is quoting this verse, is quoting the book of Joel, is very important, a very important event in church history because, of course, it is the day of Pentecost. And you say, well, what's so important about the day of Pentecost? Well, different people have different beliefs as to when the local New Testament church got started or planted or when it got going and I don't take the position that it necessarily started on the day of Pentecost although many people believe that the local church began on the day of Pentecost. That is not my position. I believe it started before that with the Lord Jesus Christ and I think there's things to prove that but wherever you believe the local New Testament church began, we know this, it began in the New Testament and we know it either began with the ministry of Christ which is what I tend to lean towards or it began at the day of Pentecost but it didn't begin after that. And however you look at the day of Pentecost, whether you look at it as a start point or whether you look at it as a big launch or big day because that's what I believe the day of Pentecost was. See, I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ came on this earth and he began to establish this group of believers and he called it a church and he taught about it. Matthew 18, he told them about church discipline. He told them that I am, he said that he's the rock and he told Peter that upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. He began to establish this local group of believers, this called out assembly of a church but I believe that on the day of Pentecost was kind of like their family and friend day or their Easter. They kind of had a big day and they had a big push and they really pushed the local church out in a big way and launched it in a big way in Acts chapter number 2 and that's what's happening here in Acts chapter 2. See, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit of God came upon the people there in Jerusalem and I don't have time to preach on tongues speaking and all those things. I've got sermons on that you can look that up at another time. The point is this, they went out to preach and they had a big day at the local church. Three thousand, the Bible tells us, were saved and baptized on that day. Peter stands up to preach and they're asking him, what is all this about? What is all this, you know, the speaking with tongues and the power and the preaching and all of this and this is what Peter says. We read verses 17 through 21 which are a quote from the book of Joel but in verse 16 he says this, but this, what? He says, what's going on right now? The Day of Pentecost. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. Now without reading C.I. Schofield, without reading Larkin, without reading Darby, without reading all these different guys, if you just took the Bible at face value, when does the Bible tell us that the prophecy of Joel chapter 2 took place? Well, Peter under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost said, this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. Here's how you and I would say it, what was spoken of the prophet Joel, this is that. What's happening here is what he was talking about. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel and it shall come to pass in the last day, saith God, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see vision and your old men shall dream dreams and so on and so on. So let me just give you some thoughts and kind of prove this. Now really, we could be done right there. I mean, if you believe the Bible, that should be enough. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. I mean, end of story, I rest my case, we could be done. I'm not done, all right. We could be done, I'm not done. I'm going to beat this horse, even though it's dead. And I'm going to prove to you that this is not referring to the Old Testament or the Old Testament covenant, but it's actually an affirmation of the New Testament and the New Testament covenant. If you're taking notes, maybe you can write some of these things down. Number one, Joel 2, 28 through 32, which is quoted in Acts 2, 16 through 21, I realize that's a lot to write. You don't have to write that. I'm just explaining this to you, applies, you can write this, to New Testament first century believers at the day of Pentecost. You say, why do you believe that? Here's why. Because Peter at the day of Pentecost said, this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, period. Argument ended. Now, why is this important? Here's why. Did you get to Judges? Go to Judges chapter 3. Here's what you need to understand. In the Old Testament, see, there's two covenants, or what the Bible calls two testaments to covenant, what we call testaments, Bible calls it testaments as well. There's an Old Testament and an Old Covenant, which we call the Old Testament, and the section of your Bible that you call it the Old Testament, it's called the Old Testament because the stories that you read there and the things that you read there are actually covered under the Old Covenant that God made with the nation of Israel. The New Testament, or the section of your Bible that we call the New Testament, it's called that because God did away with the old and brought in a new. He got rid of the Old Covenant, and he brought in a New Covenant. The section of Scripture that covers that is what we would refer to as the New Testament. And by the way, not really even all of the New Testament is under the New Testament Covenant, and, you know, that's just more information than maybe you need. But let me just say this. There are differences between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, the Old Testament and the New Testament. I don't have time to go through all of the differences. I've preached sermons about that in the past. Let me just highlight one of them for you. In the Old Testament, and when I say Old Testament, I'm referring to that section of your Bible, but more than that, I'm referring to the Old Covenant, under the Old Covenant that God made, which is what we refer to as the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit came upon certain individuals for specific tasks for a limited period of time. If you've read the Old Testament, you should be familiar with this idea that the Holy Spirit was not in use like it is in the New Testament where we are in dwell with the Holy Spirit, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God is in us. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit only came upon certain individuals for specific tasks, and it was for a limited amount of time. I could spend all night proving it to you. I'm not going to do that, but let me just give you some examples from the book of Judges. Judges chapter 3, if you would, look at verse 9. Notice what the Bible says. And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer to the children of Israel. Of course, it's the book of Judges. While the children of Israel were at times in captivity, God would raise up judges to deliver them. Notice here it says in verse 9, who delivered them, even Othniel, the son of Canaz, Caleb's younger brother. Notice what it says about Othniel, verse 10. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. Why did the Spirit of the Lord come upon him? And he judged Israel and went out to war, and the Lord delivered, Cheshu-rei-shethayim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hand, and his hand prevailed against Cheshu-rei-shethayim. Look at Judges chapter 6 in verse 34. Notice what it says there. It says, but the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. Notice the Bible tells us the Spirit of the Lord came upon Othniel. Why? That he might rise up, judge the people, go to war, deliver God's people. In Judges chapter 6, verse 34, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. Why? And he blew a trumpet at Abazir and gathered after him. And of course, what did he do? He delivered the people. Look at Judges chapter 11, verse 29. Notice what the Bible says. The Bible says, then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh, and he passed over Mispy of Gilead, and Mispy of Gilead, and he passed over unto the children of Ammon. Look at Judges 13 and verse 24. Notice what the Bible says. And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson, and the child a guru, and the Lord blessed him. Notice what it says in verse 25. And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him. Move who? Samson. At times, in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtiel. Notice Judges 14 and verse 19. The Bible says, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. Upon who? Samson. And he went down to Ashkelon and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them, which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house. Verse 20. But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he amused as a friend. And again, the point that I'm making is that if you read the Old Testament, you'll find these Old Testament characters that the Spirit of God would come upon individuals, certain individuals, for certain tasks, for a limited amount of time. In fact, if you read the story of Samson, you'll remember that when he finally gave in to Delilah, and he had his hair cut off, the Bible says that he woke up, and he wished not that the Spirit of God had departed from him. That the Lord had departed from him. He didn't realize it. See, in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit of God would come upon people, and would lead people. The Bible tells that the Spirit of God came upon Saul. And then the Bible tells us that the Spirit of God left Saul. The Bible tells us that the Spirit of God came upon David when he was anointed by Samuel. The Spirit of God came upon him. But if you remember, when David committed adultery with Bathsheba in his prayer of repentance towards God in confession, he said, remove not thy Holy Spirit from me. Why was he saying that? He wasn't saying that because he could lose his salvation. He says, he says, return unto me the joy of thy salvation. He says, but don't remove the Holy Spirit from me. Why? Because in the Old Testament, the Spirit of God did not indwell people. The Spirit of God indwelled the temple of God. There was a change from the Old Testament to the New Testament. The physical temple was done away with, and your body became the temple of God. And the Holy Spirit began to indwell the temple, the new temple of God, which was your body. There's a change from the old to the new. In the old, the Spirit of God, the power of God, was only, because remember we talked about it, I believe it was in our Wednesday night Bible study, that the Spirit, the Holy Spirit is often referenced to or pictured as oil that is poured upon, or you're anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, only certain individuals for certain tasks for a limited amount of time had the Holy Spirit poured upon them. The power of the Spirit of God poured upon them. In the New Testament, under the New Covenant, there would be a change to that. Joel 2.28, what is it? And it shall come to pass afterward. What does that mean? And it shall come to pass afterward, Joel 2, Acts 2.17, quotes it as, in the last days. What is this referring to? The New Covenant, the New Testament. By the way, the Bible, and I don't have to prove this to you either, you just have to study this out on your own. The Bible refers to the last days, the latter days, the end times, pretty much after the ascension of Christ till whenever he comes back, that's all the end times. That's all the last days, that's all, you say, well, how can that be? Well, if you remember, the last days, the end times begins with the tribulation period, not the great tribulation of the abomination of desolation, but the first tribulation period, which is characterized by war, famines, earthquakes, pestilence. Well, all that stuff's already been going on. It's like a woman in travail, it's already starting and happening, it's just getting worse and worse, stronger and stronger, and it's all going to climax with the abomination of desolation. But all of that, you say, are people sometimes, do you think we're living in the last days? And I'm like, yeah, we've been in the last days for like 2,000 years. We've been in the last days since Jesus ascended up to heaven. We've been in the end times. And here, Joel says, and it shall come to pass afterward, the New Testament highlights that, or kind of clarifies that, as the last days. What's going to happen in the last days, in the New Testament, in the new covenant? Because that's what Jesus came to bring. That's what he brought. Remember, if you remember the last supper, or when he established communion, he talked about drinking the cup, and he said, this is the New Testament in my body. He said, I'm bringing a new covenant. I'm doing a new thing. I'm replacing the old and bringing the new. He said, well, what's going to be a difference? They would ask, between the old and the new. He says, well, here's one difference. I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. What does that mean? Now, some people take this to mean that everyone is, all flesh is going to get the Spirit of God. I don't believe that's what he's referring to. I believe what he's referring to is that all flesh will have available to them the Holy Spirit of God, as opposed to before when only certain people for certain tasks were able to get it. See, in the Old Testament, David got the Holy Spirit of God because God had a specific task for David. Saul got the Holy Spirit's power upon him because God had a certain task for Saul and Jephthah and Gideon and Samson. But in the New Testament, you can have the Spirit of God upon your life. I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. Here's a big difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament. I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. Look at verse 29. And also, upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit. That's exactly what he says in Acts 2 17. Hopefully you can flip back and forth. I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, Acts 2 17, Acts 2 18. And on my servants and on my handmaids, I will pour out in those days of my Spirit. So this proves, look, the major, the major identifier between the Old and the New Testament, especially in the Old Testament, when you read the prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and they talk about the fact that one day God is going to bring a new covenant. He's going to do a new thing. He often emphasizes the fact that the Holy Spirit will be in them, that there will be access to the Holy Spirit of God. This is what Joel is referring to. And this is why I tell you the book of Joel actually proves replacement theology because the book of Joel tells us, hey, there's coming a day, Joel is telling the Old Testament Jews, there's coming a day when God's going to pour out his Spirit and it's going to be available not just for Samuel, not just for Saul, not just for David, not just for the prophet. It will be available for all flesh. Any believer will be able to have the Spirit of God upon them. Then Peter shows up on the day of Pentecost and says, this is that. What is it? The New Testament believers having the power of the Holy Spirit upon their lives. Replacement theology. I don't have time to go through and just teach on all the aspects of replacement theology. Let me just remind you of some verses quickly in case you're not convinced. You go back to Acts chapter 2. Keep your finger there in Joel chapter 2. And do me a favor. Find the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter number 4. Let me just remind you of some verses. I don't want you to turn to these. I'll just remind you of these. The Bible says, now to Abraham in a seed where the promise is made. And he saith not to seed as of many, but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ. The Bible says there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. The Bible says, for he is not a Jew which is one outwardly. He says he's not a Jew which is one outwardly. But that he says a circumcision of the flesh. He's like that's not what makes a Jew. But he is a Jew which is one inwardly. And circumcision of the heart and the spirit. He refers to the fact that that many. Jesus told the Pharisees. He says hey in that day. He says many shall come from the east and the west. And shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness. I mean the Bible clearly teaches. You can't read the book of Ephesians. You can't read the book of Galatians. You can't honestly read those books and not walk away with the understanding unless you're just not saved. That God has replaced the old with the new. He's replaced the Jew and the Old Testament Israelite with the New Testament Christianity. So in the Old Testament we have the Holy Spirit limited to certain individuals. In the New Testament we have access. Everyone has access. You can have the Holy Spirit. Now when you got saved you got the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But you can have the Holy Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit poured upon your life. Obviously you have to walk in the spirit. There's different things that we must do. To be able to have the power of God. But the point is this. Anyone can have it. In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit came upon certain individuals for a specific task for a limited time. In the New Testament every believer has access to the power of the Holy Spirit. It's up to you. If you grieve the Holy Spirit. Quench the Holy Spirit. Don't walk in the spirit. You won't have the power of the Holy Spirit. But you can. One major difference between the Old and the New Testament that God says I will pour out my spirit upon all believers. Now you say well why does God do that? Go to Acts chapter 2 look at verse 17. Here's another difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the Old Testament only those whom the Holy Spirit chose. Because remember in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit only came upon certain individuals for certain tasks for a limited amount of time. And because of that in the Old Testament only those whom the Holy Spirit chose could prophesy or would prophesy. In fact if you did not speak by the Spirit of God and you prophesied you're a false prophet. In the Old Testament only those whom the Holy Spirit chose could prophesy and speak and say and preach the word of God in that way. Often because they didn't have the written word of God. It was only through the Holy Spirit of God. In the New Testament every believer is able to prophesy. Look at Acts 2 and verse 17. And it shall come to pass in the last days saith God I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Notice these words and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. He says and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. Look at verse 18. And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit and they shall prophesy. Notice the Bible says when God pours out his spirit then your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Flip back to Joel chapter 2 just real quickly. Look at verse 28. Notice how it's quoted. It says that it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. So in the Old Testament only those whom the Holy Spirit chose could prophesy. In the New Testament every believer is able to prophesy. By the way that includes male and female. Sons and daughters. You say, oh wait a minute pastor. I thought we believed that women weren't supposed to be pastors and preach the word of God in a public setting. And we do believe that. But you need to understand. Go back to Acts. Go to Acts chapter 1 if you would. The word prophesy often people when we hear the word prophesy we think that it has to do with foretelling the future. Prophesying what's going to happen in the future. What you need to understand is that the word prophesy is simply used throughout the Bible synonymously with the word that we use preach. The word prophesy means to preach. And when you look at prophecy in the Bible there are times when people prophesy and they're foretelling the future. Here's how I was taught. You know prophecy is two things. It can be foretelling or it can be forthtelling. Prophecy can be somebody standing up and preaching the word of God. Not necessarily telling the future. Just preaching what the Bible says. It can also be somebody telling the future and foretelling the future. The truth of the matter is this. When you look at the prophetic writings in the Bible the vast majority of it is not prophesying or foretelling the future. The vast majority of it is just Isaiah preaching against this nation and that nation. It's just Ezekiel preaching against this nation and that nation. The vast majority of prophecy in the Bible is just forthtelling the word of God. Sometimes it is foretelling. You say, well how is it that our sons and our daughters shall prophesy in the end days? Well remember this was fulfilled in the day of Pentecost. Acts chapter 1. Look at verse 13. Notice who was there at the day of Pentecost. The day of Pentecost happens in Acts chapter 2 In Acts chapter 1 we have the preparation for the day of Pentecost. And it says in verse 13, So you've got the disciples here and Judas the brother of James. Verse 14. The apostles. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication. Notice who else was there with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brethren. And we're also told in this passage that there was 120 of them up there. Now I want you to understand that there was 120 of them and it wasn't all men. It was male and females. It was sons and daughters that were in the 120 in the upper room. And in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit of God came upon them when the Spirit of God was poured upon them, it was poured upon both sons and daughters. Male and female. You say well how did they prophesy? Well they did not stand up to preach publicly. Only one person stood up to preach publicly that day. It was Peter. And he stood up and he spoke to the local group of the Jews that were there locally. The rest that got the vast majority of the 3,000 saved out there, that they went out, both men and women, both sons and daughters, they went out and forth told. They prophesied and preached the Word of God individually, face to face. We would call it soul winning. See in the Old Testament only those whom the Holy Spirit chose could prophesy. In the New Testament every believer is able to prophesy because every believer has access to the Holy Spirit. And by the way, it's sons and daughters. 120 men and women in the upper room got filled with the Holy Ghost, went down, they did not. There wasn't a Joyce Meyer up there. There wasn't a Victoria Osteen up there who got up in front of a crowd and began to preach. That's not what happened. No. Peter stood up publicly and preached that day. But 119 soul winners went up and preached the gospel individually, face to face. See, you say, do you believe women could preach? I believe women could preach the gospel. I believe they can prophesy. Philippians chapter 4, are you there? Look at verse 3. Philippians 4, 3, and I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help. This is what Paul said, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also and with other my fellow labors whose names are in the book of life. And by the way, let me just brag on our church for a little bit. I'm thankful that at Verity Baptist Church we will have, you know, 90, 100, 110 soul winners show up. And it's not just a bunch of men, although I'm thankful that the men show up. We have men and women. We have complete families. And look, you may not know this, but there are many independent Baptist churches and soul winning churches that you go and the women just don't go soul winning. They just don't. And they've got all sorts of reasons why they don't. And here's the truth, everybody has reasons why they can't. But I'm thankful that we have a church filled with families that say, yeah, it's hard, yeah, it's difficult, we're going to make it happen, we're going to go and our women go out soul winning, our pastor's wife goes soul winning, our staff wives go soul winning. Hey, I'm thankful for that. Why? Because, hey, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit of God would be poured out not just on your sons but also on your daughters and they shall prophesy. So the word prophesy simply means to preach. And ladies also preach the gospel when they go out soul winning. But let me just say this, because I don't want to just, I want to give you all sides to this. In the Bible, go to Acts 21 if you would, in the Bible there were ladies who had prophesying ministries that were more than just soul winning. Now I believe the application is for soul winning because Peter stood up and said, this is that! What is happening here on the day of Pentecost? 120 people are filled with God's Spirit and have gone out to preach the gospel, male and female, sons and daughters, servants and handmaids. I believe that's the application. But just to play devil's advocate or to give you all sides, there are instances in the Bible where there are women who had ministries of prophesying and they weren't just soul winning. They were actually prophesying and teaching the Word of God. Let me give you a few examples of that. In Acts 21 in verse 8, the Bible says this, And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, Acts 21 verse 8, and came unto Caesarea, and we entered into the house of Philip. Remember Philip? Philip the Evangelist. He's from Acts chapter 8. You know this is later on down the road after Paul's coming back to Jerusalem. He's already gone through his missionary journeys. On his way he entered into the house of Philip the Evangelist, which was one of the seven, remember he was one of the seven that were chosen in Acts chapter 6, and abode with him. And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. Now that may be referring to the fact that they were soul winning girls. I'm sure they were soul winning girls. They had a soul winning dad. But here it tells us that he had four daughters, which did prophesy. Go back to Judges if you would, Judges chapter number 4. Let me give you another example, and this is one that's constantly brought up. Judges chapter number 4, and look at verse 4. Judges chapter 4 in verse 4, the Bible says this, and Deborah, notice what the Bible says, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. Here we have Deborah, who's a prophetess, and people often, they want to say, well see, Deborah was a prophetess, so therefore it's okay to be a Joyce Meyer, so it's okay to be some woman circuit preacher or something like that. Here's what you need to understand. First of all, and again, I'm going on all these little rabbit trails, and I don't have time to develop them all, so you're just going to have to study that out on your own, all right? More homework for you. Go home and read the Bible and study these things out. But let me just say this. Deborah was a prophetess who was a judge of Israel. And there's other references. The Bible tells us that Isaiah married a woman who was a prophetess. So she's a prophetess who's a judge of Israel. Just for context, let me say this. The children of Israel are in major sin and under the punishment and curse of God upon this time. Isaiah talks about the fact that you're under the curse of God when women lead you and children lead you. That's the curse of God. That's not the blessing of God. I hate to break it to you. If Joe Biden dies or he's already dead and they're just pretending or whatever, and Kamala Harris becomes the president, that's not the blessing of God. Having a woman lead you is not the blessing of God. It's a curse. And in the Bible, when you have Deborah, a prophetess, and she's a judge, notice you say, was Deborah wicked? No, she was a great woman of God. These four daughters of Philip the Evangelist, I'm sure, were great women of God. But I want you to notice, whenever you have in the Bible a woman prophetess, they always have private ministries, not public ministries. Notice there, verse 4 again, And Deborah a prophetess, the wife of Lepidoth, she judged Israel at that time, and she dwelt at Arco Arena and brought in 10,000 people for her to preach to. Is that what it says? And she traveled the country and preached to... Is that what it says? And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Rhema and Bethel in Mount Ephraim and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. Notice, they came to her privately and they would come. And by the way, read the story of Deborah, and you'll notice that she never takes a public position. What does she do? She goes to Barak and says, you need to lead. You need to bring an army together and lead the people. And then he's all scared, he's like, I'll only do it if you come with me. And she's like, really? Good night, really? And she's prophesied, she's like, okay, it's going to happen, but a woman's going to receive the glory. And everybody thinks it's Deborah saying it's going to happen to her, but of course it was Jael who ended up killing the enemies of the Lord, and obviously that's a whole different story for another day. The point is this, she never took a public leadership role. She privately goes to Barak and says, God said, God told me to tell you, you need to rise up and lead. And by the way, praise the Lord that Barak did that. That Barak rose up and he was able to lead the children of Israel, and God used Deborah in a private way. So let me just say this, that there are ministries and times that ladies in the Bible have been used of God to prophesy, but it's always been in a private. God has never ordained for a woman to stand up in a public type way and to lead individuals and lead those things. And by the way, you moms and you wives, you can prophesy privately at home to your children. You know what the Bible calls Proverbs 31? The prophecy which my mother taught me is what's said there in Proverbs 31. He says that this is the prophecy that his mother taught him, and then she's teaching him how to find a good wife and all those things. So we understand women can forth tell the word of God, but it should be done in a private setting. And obviously the Bible teaches that the elder women could teach the younger women, but these are things that are taught in the Bible. And by the way, let me just say this, and this has nothing to do with anything. It's just something that needs to be taught in our circles. Go back to Acts chapter 2. The Bible does not teach that every woman needs to submit to every man. Never does the Bible say that. The Bible teaches that the wife should submit to her husband. So don't get this idea. Sometimes young men come to a church like this and they hear me preach or hear other pastors preach, and they think, all women are supposed to submit to all men. No, they're not. And you be a little 18-year-old, 19-year-old punk and try to tell my wife what to do, she should have punched you in the face. Because she doesn't need to submit to you. And she's a lot tougher than most of you guys, I'll tell you right now. The Bible says that the wife is to submit to her own husband. That daughters are to submit to their fathers, and not that every wife, just every woman, just because men are better or some ridiculous thought, and every woman needs to submit. Nobody needs to submit to you. You need to get a job, put a ring on a lady's finger, provide for her, protect for her, and then she'll submit. Not this thing, I just walk in a room and women have to submit to me. You're a joke. The Bible doesn't teach that. Nowhere in the Bible do you see that. Acts chapter 2. I said number one, this passage in Acts 2, 28 to 32, quoted in Acts 2, 16 and 21, applies to New Testament first century believers at Pentecost. Why? Because in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came upon certain individuals. In the New Testament, every believer has access to the Holy Spirit. This was being referred to. Also in the Old Testament, those whom the Holy Spirit chose could prophesy. In the New Testament, every believer is able to, and I would say every believer should, prophesy. Take the word of God and teach it to others. Number two, Joel 2, 28 through 32, quoted in Acts 2, 16 through 21, not only applies to New Testament first century believers at Pentecost, but it also applies to New Testament first century believers before the completion of scripture. See, I want you to notice that in the passage, he talks about the fact that his spirit will be poured out upon all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Then he makes a different statement. Look at the last part of verse 17, Acts 2, 17. Here's a different statement. And your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Notice, it is the, when he talks about prophesying, he talks about your sons and your daughters. When he talks about prophesying, he talks about your servants, which are male, and your handmaids, which are female. But when he talks about visions and dreams, he only talks about males. And he talks about two types of male. Your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. This is the same thing he says in Joel 2, 28, last part of verse 28. Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. You say, what is this referring to? Well, New Testament believers, go back to the book of Acts, you're there in Acts 2, right? Go to Acts chapter 9. All throughout the New Testament, we have examples of young men and old men who are having visions and dreams, and this is all happening until the finalizing of the writing of the word of God. Let me just give you some examples. Acts 9, verse 10. And there was a certain place at Damascus, excuse me, there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias, presumably an older man. And to him said the Lord, notice, in a vision, Ananias, he said, behold, I am here, Lord. And he instructs Ananias to go and preach the gospel to Saul, who's blind at the time, who met the Lord Jesus Christ on the Damascus road. Look at Acts 10 and verse 3. Here we have Peter up on the rooftop, praying, and he falls into a trance, the Bible says, Acts 10, 3. And he saw in a vision, evidently, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming into him and saying unto him, Cornelius. And he explains to him that he should go and see Cornelius. Go to Acts 16, look at verse 9. Here's the apostle Paul, Acts 16, verse 9. You say, oh, you're showing us all these verses about visions, what about dreams? They're pretty much the same thing, they're closely tied together. Notice, in Acts 16, 19, the Bible says, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him saying, come over into Macedonia and help us. Look at Acts 18 and verse 9. Here's another one about Paul. It says, then spake the Lord to Paul in the night. Notice, by a vision, be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace. Now I'm just showing you these in Acts because I don't want to trod through the whole New Testament, but you find examples. The Bible tells us in the book of Revelation where John says, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. He said, he said that he was on the isle of Patmos and he says, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet and he talks about the fact, then he says that he was in the spirit and that he went up in the spirit and he sees, the Bible tells us in the book of Revelation, he refers to what he's looking at as a vision. So, in the New Testament, once the New Testament began, up until the completion of the word of God, there were still people actively having visions, actively having dreams. I don't have, I won't take you to it, but there's a story of Paul. Remember when Paul was debating and he wanted to go back to Jerusalem and the Bible says that God sends a prophet and he takes a piece of garment from Paul and he binds himself in it and he says, the Lord told me that whoever this belongs to, this is how he's gonna be bound in Jerusalem and God gives that vision, that dream. See, in the New Testament, believers, not just the Old Testament, believers still had visions and dreams. You say, but when did that come to an end? It ended at the finalization of the writing of the word of God. And you say, well, what does the writing of the word of God have to do with the visions? Well, go to Mark chapter 16. Mark chapter 16, if you're there in Acts, just go backwards and you go back from Acts, John, Luke, Mark, Mark chapter 16, New Testament believers had visions and dreams until the word of God was finalized. In fact, they not only had visions and dreams, they performed miracles. This is a question that people often ask me. You know, why is it that the apostle Paul and Peter and these guys, they were able to do these miracles and heal people and they had visions, they had dreams, they, you know, they had all these things that happened even in the day of Pentecost. Though we believe that they spoke actual languages, it was still supernatural in the sense that they spoke languages that they had never learned. You say, why did those things happen in the first century church, churches and with new first century believers and it doesn't happen today? Well, Mark 16 explains this to us. Verse 17, this is what Jesus said. He said, and these signs shall follow them that believe. Again, the Pentecostals, they want to take this and say, see, these are the things that are supposed to follow you when you're a believer. These signs shall follow them that believe. What are the signs? In my name they shall cast out devils. Didn't they do that? Didn't Peter do that? Didn't Paul do that? And they shall speak with new tongues. Didn't that happen in Acts chapter 2 and Acts chapter 10 in different places? They shall take up serpents. Didn't Paul do that? And he didn't do it on purpose, by the way. And if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. These are all things that happen in the Pentecostal charismatics. They like to, you go back to the backwoods, you know, south and you've got Pentecostals handling rattlesnakes. Saying like, well, these are the signs that shall follow them that believe. And then they get bit and die. You got Benny Hinn running around laying his hands on people saying, he's going to heal them. But notice, but you said, well, the Bible says that. Yeah, but keep reading. Don't just take one verse out of context. Look at verse 19. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God and they went forth and preached everywhere. Notice, the Lord working with them. Why did the Lord work with them? Why did the Lord allow them to speak with new tongues, cast out devils, take up servants, not get hurt when they drink poisonous things, and lay their hands on people that they shall recover. Here's why he did it. The Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following. Why did God allow Paul and Peter and these men to have the supernatural power to do these things? Because these were the men, this was the time when the Word of God was being written down and God was confirming his Word with those signs. People say, oh, then why are the signs gone? Because the Word's done! The Bible's complete! John wrote the last words, he said amen, and the signs ceased. Because the purpose of the signs was to confirm the Word. This was at a time when the New Testament was not yet complete and they were confirming the Word of God with these signs and these powers and these miracles that God had given them. Today, as a preacher of God's Word, I don't have to try to convince people that this is really the Word of God. I wrote this and you gotta believe me it's the Word of God. No, you say, what gives you your authority? The Word itself is my authority. I don't stand up here and try to tell you, I'm gonna try to convince you to believe the Word of God. I just tell you, hey, they'll say it's the Lord, this is God's Word, period. But for the men who were writing it, God, the Bible says, the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following. So when the apostle Peter says, this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, what was he referring to? He was referring to the fact that there was coming a New Testament when God would pour out his Spirit upon all flesh, not meaning that everyone got the Holy Spirit, but that it was available to all flesh, sons and daughters, and they would prophesy. And then he said, also, there's coming new revelation. Your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. There's coming new revelation, which is what we today refer to as the New Testament, not the covenant, but the actual part of your Bible that's called the New Testament. This passage applies to New Testament first century believers before the completion of Scripture because they were completing the Scripture. Go back to Joel chapter two. I've got just some other things that I want to show you real quickly and share with you, and I'll try to finish up as quickly as we can. The point is this. Joel chapter two verses 28 through 32 is about New Testament believers. And since it is about New Testament believers, it confirms. If you would ask Joel, the prophet Joel, do you believe in the pre-trib rapture? We've already covered it. He would have said, no. Post-trib, pre-rap, that's what the Bible teaches. What about this army? Abomination, desolation. Read the Olivet Discourse. That's what he would have told you. Not then. He'd tell you that now. But if you ask the prophet Joel, hey, do you believe in replacement theology? He would say, yeah. In fact, I wrote about it. There was coming a day in the end times when God would pour out His Spirit upon a new people, upon all flesh, it would be available for everyone. They would see visions. They would dream dreams. New revelation would have come. It's called the new covenant. And it proves replacement theology. Now let me just play devil's advocate and give you one last kind of piece to consider. Because in Acts chapter two and verse 31, there is a reference. I want you to notice the order. First we see the Holy Spirit being poured down. First we see the sons and daughters prophesying. First we see the young men and the old men seeing visions and dreaming dreams. Then we see this, Joel 2, 31. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. This is quoted in Acts chapter two as well when Peter quotes it. Look at Acts two and verse 19. I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and notable day of the Lord come. Now people will look at the fact that there's a reference here to the day of the Lord. And they'll say, see this proves that this cannot be the day of Pentecost. Peter must have been mistaken. This is what they'll say. Peter was confused. Or Peter was just saying that in the end it's going to be like this because there's this reference to the day of the Lord. So they'll say this, the pouring out of God's Spirit, this has to be in the end times, which we've already covered. The end times goes from the ascension of Christ to the return of Christ. This has to be in the end times. Therefore it must be the end times Jews. Okay, let me give you some thoughts on that. First of all, let me give you my opinion as to what I lean towards as to why this passage is here. And then I'll give you an answer for them anyway. And it says, I believe that the reason that he mentions the day of the Lord here is because the day of Pentecost was a very specific day in end times prophecy, in the history of end times. In fact, if you remember, remember a couple weeks ago, we were looking at the feast, the feast of the children of Israel, and how the spring feast all pictured the first coming of Christ and the fall feast all pictured the second coming of Christ. Well, right in the middle you have one summer feast between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ. The summer feast is the feast of weeks or the feast of Pentecost. It was actually a feast, the day of Pentecost, the day of Pentecost actually took place on a feast of the children of Israel, the feast of weeks. The week where they were celebrating the fact 50 days after they had brought in the harvest and all those things. It pictures what happened on the day of Pentecost which the local New Testament church was launched in a big way. So you say, well why is the day of the Lord mentioned? Here's what I believe and this is kind of what I lean towards is that he's highlighting for us what the New Testament, because remember it's all about the New Testament, what is the time frame in which it's going to cover? The New Testament pretty much goes from when Jesus ascended, because remember the day of Pentecost happened 50 days after the atonement. Jesus was crucified, he died, he resurrected, he spent 40 days upon the earth in his glorified body. Then he ascended up to heaven. Ten days later they had the day of Pentecost. And I believe what Joel is telling us is that the New Testament or the New Covenant is going to go from the day of Pentecost to the day of the Lord. He's giving us kind of a time frame. The New Testament church gets launched after the ascension of Christ in a big way on the day of Pentecost, which is why Peter says this is that. And when does it kind of come to an end? It comes to an end at the day of the Lord. Why does it come to an end? Because at the day of the Lord is the rapture and we're all raptured up and there's no longer local New Testament churches that will no longer be Verity Baptist Church and Faithful Word Baptist Church and First Works Baptist Church. When we all get raptured up, we're just going to be the General Assembly, the Church of God in Heaven. So this New Testament Covenant, I believe he's just kind of telling us, hey, there's coming a new covenant. It's going to start from the ascension of Christ, the day of Pentecost, and it's going to go until the day of the Lord. But people will say, no. This has to be about end times people. It has to be about the Jews. Well, I think it's pretty clear that this is not about the Jews. I mean, we ended that when Peter said this is that. This is that. What happened at the day of Pentecost is what Joel was talking about. Period. End of story. Speaking under the inspiration only goes we're done. But those say, no, no, no. The day of the Lord. And again, my position is that he's just telling us the New Testament Covenant goes from the day of Pentecost to the day of the Lord. And at that point, there's no more New Testament churches that were just raptured up. We go into a new phase, the wrath of God, the millennial reign, all those things. But people say, no, it has to be end times. Well, let me just say this. Even if you believe that, you're still wrong. And here's why. Because, and again, this is not my primary position, but I just want to give you as many different positions as you need. Because it doesn't matter how you cut it. The placement theology is real. People say, no, it has to be, there's the wrath of the day of the Lord, so there has to be people that this is talking about in the end. Well, here's the thing. Even after the rapture, there's going to be people who can get saved. During the millennial reign, there'll be people that are getting saved. And so the pouring out of God's Spirit and all those things is still something that can happen to individuals, of course. What about the young men seeing vision and the old men dreaming dreams? Well, here's the interesting thing, is that even after the rapture, there are still saints upon the earth that are ministering. In fact, the Bible specifically, go to Revelation chapter 11, mentions to us two types of groups that will be upon the earth preaching and doing the ministry of God even after the day of the Lord. And you know how you can categorize those two groups? As old men and young men. What are you talking about? Revelation 11, look at verse 3. And I will give power unto my two witnesses. These are really old men. I mean, Elijah and Moses are pretty old. I don't think it's Moses. Okay, Enoch, even older. And I will give you power, and I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score days, cloth and sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two candles standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, notice the supernatural work that they do, fire proceeded out of their mouth and devoured their enemies. And if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, and that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, and have power over the waters to turn them to blood and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will. See, the Bible tells us that even after the rapture, there's at least two old men that are still doing supernatural works on behalf of God. So if you want to say, oh no, this, it says that your old men will dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. And it has to be after the day of the Lord. I don't see that that's what it says, but even if you believe that, there's still old men that are preaching the word of God upon the earth. And it's not anti-Christ, Christ-rejecting Jews. It's not God bringing back the Jews. He didn't bring back a new Jew. If you want to believe it this way, he just brought back some really old Jews from the old covenant, and dropped them into after the day of the Lord. What about the young men? Go to Revelation 14. Look at verse 1. There's a whole lot of young men too. Revelation 14, verse 1, And I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on the mountain Sion, and with him an hundred and forty and four thousand, and these are not the Jehovah's Witnesses, having his father's name written in their forehead. Look at verse 4. These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins, probably young men. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever you goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb, and in their mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God. So look, you say, what is Job chapter 2 about? I believe it's probably about the first century believers, the day of Pentecost, and up until the point when the Word of God was written and it's done with, and it's identifying and solidifying replacement theology. But even if you believe that it has to be after the day of the Lord, they're still old men and they're still young men that are dreaming dreams and seeing visions. I hate to break it to you, the Jews that reject Christ are going to go to the same place that everyone else who rejects Christ go. They're going to go to hell. You say, oh, you're anti-Semitic. Look, anybody who rejects the Lord Jesus Christ will die and go to hell, period. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. So no matter how you cut it, you say, Joel chapter 2, what's it about? There's only two options. It's either New Testament believers or really Old Testament believers. But the Jews aren't coming back. You say, how can the Jews get in the same way anybody else gets in? By calling upon the name of the Lord. Which is interesting because this is how the chapter ends. Go to Joel chapter 2. Look at verse 32. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance as the Lord hath said and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. This is quoted by Peter in the book of Acts. Look at it quickly. Acts chapter 2, verse 21. And it shall come to pass that whosoever Jew, Gentile Greek barbarian that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Hey, here's another jab at the dispensationalists who believe that salvation was different in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Seven different dispensationalists dispensationalists, people got saved different ways and different dispensationalists. Let me tell you something. All of that is a bunch of garbage. The Bible says, even from the book of Genesis, that men called upon the name of the Lord. All throughout the Bible, people have been saved. Post-trib, pre-trib, post-wrath, pre-wrath, post-rapture, pre-rapture, New Testament, Old Testament, whatever dispensation you want, it's always been the same way of salvation that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's it. That's the only way. And it's interesting to me that Joel ends it this way. He says, let me tell you about something that's going to happen afterwards. What do you mean afterwards? I mean the end times. What's going to happen, Joel, in the end times? He says, God is going to do a new thing. God is going to do something different. He's going to close out the old and He's going to bring in the new. See, in the old, the Spirit of God only came upon certain individuals for a certain amount of time, for certain tasks. In the New Testament, the power of God is available to everyone. In the Old Testament, only certain people could prophesy if the Holy Spirit chose them. In the New Testament, all are encouraged to prophesy. He says, in the Old Testament, in the Old Testament, we have dreams and visions, but in the New Testament, the old men will dream dreams and the young men shall see visions and there will be new revelation, there will be more scripture that will be added, it will be called the New Testament. And then Joel says this, but there's one thing that never changes. Old and new. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. There's only one way to salvation. And by the way, putting all these aside, you say, that's really interesting about the old types of the New Testament and all these things, let me tell you something. God always comes back to this thing. He left us here to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why do we do what we do? Say, pastor, while you're teaching the book of Joel, you're teaching us all this enzyme stuff, why are you teaching us this? That hopefully it'll motivate you to realize there's more to this life than this life that one day we'll be judged at the judgment seat of Christ and there'll be others that'll be judged at the great white throne and to motivate you to realize that we must live our lives for that which matters, which is getting people saved. You say, why do you teach on how to be a good husband, how to be a good wife, how to be a good employee, how to do our finances and how to have good habits and how to have good health. You know what? All of that, all of that, we do that to help you. You say, why do you want me to be a good husband? So you can be a good husband so you can raise some soul winners and you can be a soul winner. Why do you be a good wife? So you can raise some soul winners and you be a good soul winner. Why do you want our finances to be in order so that you're not distracted by your lack of money or too much money so you can be a good soul winner? Why do you teach us about good habits so you can develop a habit of being a good soul winner? Why? Because it's all about the gospel. That's why. Old Testament, New Testament, it doesn't matter. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered, shall be saved. All means the same thing. It's the gospel. That's what Jesus came to preach. That's what Jesus came to teach. Old Testament, New Testament has always been the gospel. So you and I should not neglect the gospel. Let's bow our heads in that word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you for the Bible. And Lord, thank you for the Holy Spirit that allows us to understand these things and grasp these thoughts. And Lord, I pray you'd help us to not only learn these things, to understand why we believe what we believe, to understand it clearly from the New Testament, but also to not be afraid of books like the book of Joel and to realize that the entire Bible fits together. It all teaches the same thing. There's an Old Testament. There's a New Testament. And the book of Joel affirms replacement theology. Lord, I pray you'd help us to always realize that no matter what testament, the main thing has always been the main thing. The Jews will not get a free pass into heaven. It's whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Period. We love you. We thank you for the clarity of Scripture. In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen. Just want to give you a couple of announcements before we are done. We'll have Brother Matt come up and lead us in a couple of songs. First of all, let me remind you, we have church on Wednesday night. Wednesday night Bible study, 7 p.m. We encourage you to be here. We're going to continue through the book of 2 Corinthians. We're going to finish chapter two. If you remember, we did the first part of chapter two. Last Wednesday, we'll finish up chapter two. This Wednesday. And then I also want to remind you that if you would like to sign up to bring a dessert or to bring cornbread for the harvest party, that we've got the sign-up sheets in the foyer. So make sure you don't forget about that. Stop by there and sign up for that. We've got a wedding on Saturday. We've got soul wedding on Saturday. We've got all sorts of things going on. Make sure you're faithful in your place. Because whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And we need to preach that and make sure that we are doing our part. I appreciate you being here. If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know. We'll have Brother Matt come up and lead us in our final song. Turn to song 356. Song number 356. 356, on the first. I must tell Jesus of my trials. For I cannot bear these burdens alone. In my distress he will help me. He loves and loves and cares for his own. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. Jesus can help me. Jesus alone. I must tell Jesus of my troubles. He loves and loves and cares for his own. If I would ask him, he may remember. He loves and loves and cares for his own. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus. Jesus can help me. Jesus alone. Turn to the twilight. I will pray forever. One who can help thy grace today. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. Jesus can help me. Jesus can help me. I must sing it out on the last. There are no words to be heard. Where my heart is, I'm going to sing. I must tell Jesus. He will help me. I will go back to joy. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. Jesus can help me. Jesus alone. Amen. Good singing. Brother Graham, would you close a prayer for us? Lord God Almighty, thank you for this message, and thank you for teaching us about how you're always constant. Please bless the rest of our week. Bring us back safely on Wednesday night. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.