Pentecost: The Beginning of Restitution

[0:00] So good to be in the house of God on Pentecost Sunday. And if you have your Bibles with you, we're going to go to the book of Acts. Again, thank you for being here today.

[0:13] It's an honor to have you. Those that have come to visit, we appreciate you being here. Appreciate your spirit of worship and just feeling at home. Hope you feel at home here.

[0:24] Amen. Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1, verse 4. This is Jesus.

[0:38] And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye have heard of me.

[0:49] For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

[1:05] Everyone say restore. And he said unto them, it is not for you to know the times. Everyone say the times. For the seasons, or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power.

[1:18] But ye shall receive power. After that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses unto me in both Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.

[1:28] And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. Verse 10. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel.

[1:46] Which also said, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? The same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

[1:58] Amen. And so these disciples are wondering if Jesus will restore the kingdom to Israel. Jesus tells them that it's not for them to know the times. And what they needed to know is that they were going to receive power after the Holy Ghost comes upon them.

[2:15] And they would be witnesses of him. So Jesus told them to go to Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And really, before we move to the next scripture, I want to say that there's two promises here that I want us to point out here before we move on.

[2:29] First, Jesus promised that we would receive power after the Holy Ghost comes upon us. And secondly, the two men in white apparel promised that Jesus, who was taken up from us into heaven through a cloud, that Jesus will return one day in the same manner in which he went.

[2:49] Amen. But the disciples were to go to Jerusalem and wait for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Turn the page to Acts chapter 2 verse 1. Acts chapter 2 verse 1. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

[3:05] And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. And it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of a fire.

[3:16] And it set upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

[3:26] Everyone in that upper room was filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues. Amen. About 120, the Mother Mary was there. All the disciples were there.

[3:38] The apostles were there. And they all began to speak in tongues and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. So let me just take a moment right now and just say if you aren't a Pentecostal tongue talker, then you're not in the first church.

[3:52] You're not even part of the body of Christ. The real church believes in Spirit baptism. There's a lot of denominations out there that don't believe that you can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And that's a shame because that means they're not a part of the body of Christ.

[4:05] Amen. The real church believes in the Spirit, the baptism of the Spirit. They believe in the Holy Ghost infilling. And they talk in tongues. And like Paul said, I thank God I may speak in tongues more than all of you.

[4:15] All the New Testament, everything in the New Testament was written by a tongue talker. Amen. There's not one word in the New Testament that wasn't written by someone that spoke in tongues. But as the promise was, they were to be baptized with the Holy Ghost and receive power and become witnesses of Jesus.

[4:32] And in the next chapter, after exercising that power, let's turn to Acts chapter 3, last portion of Scripture. In Acts chapter 3, after exercising that power of the Holy Ghost and healing a lame man, Peter says something very interesting and it adds to what the two men in white apparel had promised.

[4:51] That Jesus would return in the same way he went after healing that lame man. Peter tells the onlookers, let's look in Acts chapter 3, verse 19. Acts chapter 3, verse 19.

[5:02] Amen. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come. Amen. The times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

[5:15] In verse 20. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

[5:33] And I want to preach from Pentecost Sunday from this title, Pentecost, the beginning of restitution. Pentecost, the beginning of restitution. Pray with me.

[5:43] Lord Jesus, I thank you, Lord, for Pentecost. I thank you, God, that you poured out your spirit upon us, God, and that you gave us a promise that it would be unto our children and our children's children and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.

[5:57] And, God, it has found me. And I'm thankful, God, that I have your spirit inside of me, God. I pray, Lord, that you bless us with your word today. Open understanding to us. Help it be revealed to us.

[6:09] Let it be a light to us. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. And you may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Life is chaotic. There's all kinds of things happening all the time.

[6:20] If you just look on the news this morning about what's going on in L.A., you can get a little distracted and discouraged. But I just want to tell us, everyone here today, that God has a plan.

[6:32] God's got a plan. God has a plan of refreshing. God has a plan of restoration. But that's not all. God has an ultimate plan for the complete restitution of all things.

[6:43] The complete restitution of all things. Which the Bible says God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. Since the world began.

[6:53] All of his holy prophets have spoke about this restitution of all things. And if you don't get anything else from what I say today, get this. God has an ultimate plan.

[7:04] And we have an opportunity to be a part of that ultimate plan of God through Pentecost. Amen. Through Pentecost, we can be a part of it. Amen. I thank God for that. And I want to be involved in God's ultimate plan.

[7:17] I want to see it come to fruition. I want to be involved in it. I want to work in God's kingdom. I want to see it happen. God's plan is to fully restore his creation to that pre-fallen existence.

[7:29] What it was like in the garden. What it was like when he first created Adam and Eve. That's what he wants to do. That's his plan is to fully restore creation to his pre-fallen state.

[7:41] God wants to restore all of creation and humanity to the original sinless state. Amen. God's plan is to completely undo the works of the devil.

[7:51] To completely demolish everything that the devil did and reverse it all. To completely eliminate all the effects that Adam's disobedience in the garden had brought upon us as humanity and upon creation.

[8:06] But it doesn't end there. Beyond restoration. Beyond the refreshing. God's ultimate plan for us is the restitution of all things. The restitution of all things.

[8:18] And Pentecost is the beginning of the restitution of all things. He says, Pentecost is the most important thing happening in the world right now. Oh, come on.

[8:28] Pentecost is the most important thing that's happening in the world right now. There's nothing better than Pentecost. If you haven't experienced Pentecost, you need to experience Pentecost. But Pentecost is the most important and vital thing that you could encounter in your life on this earth.

[8:42] We need to be thankful that we're Pentecostals. We need to be thankful that we're Pentecostals. We need to be thankful that we've experienced Pentecost. If you've gotten to experience Pentecost in your life, you're blessed.

[8:53] You're truly blessed. Jesus told his disciples, blessed are your eyes for they see and blessed are your ears for they hear. Amen. That's us today. We've experienced Pentecost. And so we have blessed eyes and blessed ears.

[9:07] What I've seen has been blessed and what I hear is blessed. Amen. We are privileged today if we have experienced Pentecost and we're living in Pentecost. So Pentecost is so significant in God's ultimate plan.

[9:21] It's one of the most, it's what everything's hinging on, especially right now and today. It's time. So Pentecost is going to get us to be fully restored. Amen. And ultimately get us to the time of restitution of all things.

[9:35] Okay. Pentecost means 50. I'm just going to educate you a little bit. If that's okay. Pentecost means 50. Some of this you may know already. And it's celebrated 50 days after the celebration of the Passover.

[9:45] It's also called the Feast of Weeks because there's seven weeks. Seven sevens is 49. And it's the following day. Once the seven sevens are completed, the seven weeks, the seven Sabbaths are completed.

[9:58] The 50th day is the day of Pentecost. Okay. And so we know that the Feast of the Passover, it was important. It was to remember and be thankful for the time God miraculously delivered his people out of Egypt.

[10:13] At that last plague when the death, people call it the death angel, but the Bible says it was God that was going to go out and kill the firstborn of every household that didn't have the blood of an innocent lamb applied to the doorposts.

[10:27] Amen. We know the story about that. We've learned about that, the teachings of that here in this church. And we know that God miraculously delivered them and kept their homes safe, those that applied the blood of the lamb to the door.

[10:41] And so we look at Passover and the cross because we know that Jesus was crucified during the Passover. And there's no accidents. There's no coincidence.

[10:51] It was all set up and planned. Amen. Amen. But Pentecost is one of the most prophesied things in the Old Testament. All of God's holy prophets have spoken about it since the beginning of the world.

[11:04] And it's one of the most significant and important events in the New Testament age. So we look at the Passover and the cross and say, well, that was important. Right? You know, people out in the world call it Easter.

[11:15] We call it Resurrection Sunday. But whatever you may call it, the Passover, we look at that in the cross and we understand all the significance and the importance of that.

[11:26] But the resurrection and the ascension is just as important and powerful as the cross. Amen. If he didn't come out of the grave, if he didn't go into heaven, you know, if they didn't see him depart and go into heaven through the cloud, then, you know, hey, that's significant too.

[11:45] Okay? So because if Jesus didn't come out of the tomb and he didn't go into heaven, there wouldn't have been a Pentecost. And Pentecost is important. It's important. And it was on the day of Pentecost that the spirit of Christ was poured out.

[11:59] That's the birthday of the church. Amen. It's the birthday of the church. The church was birthed on the day of Pentecost. And if you have the Holy Ghost today, that same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is that same spirit that you were baptized with.

[12:12] And it's going to raise you from the dead. Or if you're alive and remain, it's going to raise you to meet Jesus when that day comes. Amen. But that same spirit that you were baptized with is your personal day of Pentecost.

[12:24] When you got the baptism of the Holy Ghost, that was your personal Pentecost. Amen. But Jesus, after he was raised from the dead, had to go to heaven and send back his spirit. It was so vitally important that he do that.

[12:36] And Jesus said in John 16, verse 7, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away. Nobody wanted Jesus to leave them.

[12:47] Nobody wanted Jesus to depart from them. But he's telling them, It's expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him to you.

[13:02] Amen. He couldn't send his spirit if he was there physically. And it wouldn't do him much good if he couldn't send his spirit and let it be multiplied into the masses of believers so we could go out and be ambassadors of him with his spirit.

[13:20] And so it is Christ in you that brings restoration. It's Christ in you. And the restoration is what is taking place even now, even today, since the day of Pentecost 2,000 years ago until today.

[13:36] But also it's the beginning of the ultimate plan of restitution that God intends. The restoration is that initial beginning of the reversal of the works of the devil.

[13:47] It's the reversal of the effects that sin had through Adam's disobedience that it had on creation and humanity.

[13:58] It's the reversal of that. It's the beginning of the restoration. It's the beginning of that reversal. And that has already taken place to a certain degree. The restoration was initiated by the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on Pentecost.

[14:11] Okay. I'm talking about two different things. We're talking about restoration and restitution. Two different things. Okay. The last verse that we read in the opening scripture, the last verses, was from Acts 3, verses 19 through 21.

[14:25] I'm going to read it again. Again, repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heaven must receive until the time of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets since the world began.

[14:47] Okay. The heavens had to receive the glorified Jesus for now. And in the meantime, two things are going on. Two things are going on. a time of refreshing or restoration. We call it revival. We're living in a time of revival.

[15:04] If we're not having revival, that's not God's problem. God's all sufficient. God's ready to give us revival like that. If we're not having revival, it's something that we need to figure out. There's churches having revival. Amen. If we're not having revival, we need to figure that out because now is the time of refreshing. Now is the time of restoration. Lives are being restored.

[15:26] I mean, communication with God, the gap is being bridged. Amen. That great gulf between man and God because of sin, there's an answer now. Okay. Jesus was crucified, buried in a tomb, rose again, sent his spirit. The day of Pentecost, there's an answer now. And so restoration is ongoing.

[15:46] Revival is available to us right now, and that's through the Holy Ghost. Amen. And then the second thing is until the time of restitution of all things. Okay. Until the time of restitution of all things. Amen. So the day of Pentecost immediately brought this era of refreshing and restoration. And it set the stage. It began the countdown for the time of restitution of all things, the time of restitution of all things. So there's a difference between restoration and restitution. Restoration, it has to do with renewing or repairing something to its original state.

[16:28] You could think of a car from old days, the old days, that sat in a barn somewhere and it's rusted through. And you bring it out and you work on it and you restore it back to its original state.

[16:40] But in this case, it was the perfect creation that's being restored. Restoring the relationship between us and God that was damaged when sin entered, when disobedience entered. And God's a holy God. And so he doesn't associate with sin. Amen. It's enmity against God. The carnal mind is an enemy of God. And so renewing the original sinless us, that's ongoing right now. That's available to us right now. But restitution has to do with something beyond restoration. And that's making something right. Okay. It's beyond just restoring it back to its original condition or state, but it's making something right. Beyond restoring creation and humanity and the kingdom of God back to its original sinless state, restitution has to do with making things right or compensation. Compensation. Who likes to be compensated? I like to be compensated. Amen. Get a check in the mail. Hey, hallelujah. Amen. But, you know, I'll give you another example. There was recently, I deal with all kinds of troubling cases and within the company I work for, my job is to do internal investigations and to deal with issues. And there was a devastating issue that took place recently that I had to investigate and deal with. And that was that a colleague took another colleague's lunch. And if there's anything, anything in the law of the land that would justify the death penalty, I believe that if you stole somebody's lunch, you should be executed.

[18:25] But this guy, he decided to take upon himself eight slices of pizza. These three colleagues came and brought pizza for their lunch and put it to the side to have later two whole pizzas, eight slices in each box. And this other colleague decided that he would go in there and take four slices, half of a pizza from each one, and eat it upon himself, bring it upon himself and eat that. And leave these other three guys with just half of their food. So, when I dealt with this, you know, they were pretty, those guys were pretty upset. You put your food in there and you come back four or five hours later, you're hungry, it's time for lunch, you're happy, you've planned this, everyone chipped in, and you go there and half your food's gone. Like I said, death penalty. But, I'm sure, Lord help. But, think about that. So, how is this going to be made right? I mean, you know, the colleague that took it said he thought it was for everybody, you know. I don't know, you believe him or not, I don't know.

[19:37] But, but the colleague paid the money back for the pizza, the 40 bucks for two pizzas, okay? That's restoring to them what they had lost in a sense. But restitution was this colleague was going to either lose his job or get suspended or something. And so, there's consequences. There's some sort of compensation and consequences go both ways. It can be compensated for good or compensated for bad, right? And that's restitution, okay? When Jesus returns, he's going to bind up the devil, amen, and all his minions, and Jesus is going to set up his kingdom on the earth and rule from the earth for a thousand years.

[20:21] It's called the millennial reign, and he's going to rule. We're going to rule with him as kings and priests, the Bible says, amen. During that time, it will be the times of refreshing and restoration. During that thousand year reign, things are going to be brought back and restored to how it was in the garden, amen. How many is looking forward to that day when God himself, Jesus, comes and sets up his kingdom on earth, and we get to rule with him as kings and priests as he restores the earth back to its original purpose, amen. I'm looking forward to that day. But God's ultimate plan isn't just to restore us to that sinless state, but it is also to bring restitution, to not only put things back to how they were before sin, but to reward the faithful and to hold the evil accountable, amen. It's going to happen. Here's the principle, the biblical principle with restitution, it's found in Exodus chapter 22, verse 1. If a man shall steal an ox or a sheep and kill it or sell it, he shall restore five oxen unto the ox and four sheep for the sheep. So it's, in the Bible, he actually uses the word restore here. This says to restore five oxen.

[21:30] That's more than restoring, though. That's talking of restitution, amen. Restoring, you know, an ox for an ox, that's restoring it. I took your ox and I give you an ox. That would be restoring your ox.

[21:44] But this, if you look at the word, it also means restitution. Restitution would be giving an ox, or I'm sorry, restoration would be giving an ox for an ox. Restitution involves the penalty to the thief and the increase to the victim, amen. So the principle is that restitution ensures that justice is by compensating the victim beyond their original loss and giving the thief a costly punishment definition, okay? So the devil is a liar. He's the father of all lies. He's a deceiver, a manipulator.

[22:20] He manipulated Adam and Eve in giving up a perfect paradise and eat the Garden of Eden, perfect relationship with God, but also it ended up affecting our relationship with God because it's, you know, once that cake pan was dented, every cake that comes from that dented cake pan, Adam and Eve, which is us, it's going to be dented, you know? So we inherit this. But there's coming a day of restitution, and we're not just going to get our relationship restored with God, although that's the most important thing.

[22:53] And it's already beginning to take place. That's what I'm talking about. The day of Pentecost is already beginning to take that restoration, that refreshing, that revival where our spirit can commune with God, amen. That's already taking place with the day of Pentecost. But beyond that, there's going to be some punitive damage that are going to need to get paid out, amen.

[23:14] Who's looking forward to that? The devil is going to be bound in chains of darkness, chains of darkness. The Bible, what are chains of darkness? I don't know. I don't want to find out. Well, I want to find out. I want to watch him get bound in chains of darkness, amen. I got some punitive damages that I want paid out, amen. This life isn't just a bed of peaches and cream and roses or whatever the saying is. Amen. There's turmoil in this world, amen, that we're living in. The devil did a good one on us. And hey, it was Adam and Eve's fault. They're the ones that were disobedient, but he put one over on humanity. And I'm looking forward to the day of restitution, amen. I'm looking forward to that day when God's plan is finally complete in the times of restitution are here. And we're going to see a new heaven and a new earth. The Bible says it's beyond what it was going to be, just the Garden of Eden. It's beyond that now because there's restitution coming, amen.

[24:07] We're not going to just get to the, at the end of that thousand year reign where it gets back to the way it was in the Garden of Eden. That's not the end. That's not where it ends. There's restitution coming, honey. And amen. The Bible says there's going to be a new heaven and a new earth, amen.

[24:19] John said it in Revelation 21 and 1, I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. We're talking about restitution. That's the times of restitution, the grand finale of God's ultimate plan, amen. Amen. I'm looking forward to that. I'm looking forward to that, amen. Right now, Jesus though, through his spirit, is restoring us. That's the mission right now is restoration, revival, refreshing. Psalms 23 and 3, he restoreth my soul. He leadeth me into the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. The Holy Ghost restores my soul and leads me on paths of righteousness, amen. If I'm going to follow after the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit living inside of me, it's going to lead me on paths of righteousness.

[25:06] Jesus is in the spiritual healing and restoration business, amen. That's his speciality, amen. It's to restore, amen, and to heal, heal broken hearts, heal broken minds, amen. Restore us in relationship with him. He is renewing and refreshing and restoring and there's a long ways to go, but soon and very soon, we're going to see the king, amen. And he's going to come out of that cloud and heaven, just like the Bible said he would in the same manner that he went. And we're going to see him set up that kingdom on earth and the restoration will be accelerated at that point and there's going to be healing of the nations, the Bible says, amen, amen. But after that thousand years, the Bible says that the elements are going to melt away with a fervent heat and old things will be no more and there's going to be that new heaven and new earth and that will be the grand finale, amen. God's ultimate plan for us, amen. And it all began at Pentecost. It all began at Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost, God began the restoration process and it will all lead to the time of restitution of all things, amen. I'm looking forward to that day and Pentecost has come. It's here now. We've, we can experience it and be a part of it if you want to, amen. Pentecost was the fourth of the seven feasts that the Israelites were to celebrate. And remember seven feasts and they were all found in the book of Leviticus chapter 23.

[26:38] You can find all the feasts that the Israelites celebrated and, and, and, uh, the book of Leviticus chapter 23. And they all represented something that happened to them through their walk with God, but also represented something prophetically for us. What, what's to come? So the first feast, we talked about it, it was the Passover. Everybody's familiar with the Passover's went in, and for us, it was, it was prophetic that when Christ would be that sacrificial lamb, amen. We understand that.

[27:11] The second feast after that, literally the next day, is the feast of unleavened bread. And if you, if you read the story where they, um, left Egypt, they had to take unleavened bread with them, but that was Christ's sinless life. I mean, it represented prophetically that, you know, leaven is what makes the bread rise and, and it represents, um, different things, but the unleavened bread represents holiness and, and sinlessness, right? And so Jesus was sinless in his life and they broke him. Amen.

[27:48] They, they beat him. They put him on a cross. Amen. So that's the, the feast of unleavened bread. And the third feast is the feast of first fruits. Amen. Which if you read and understand that, that's what's Jesus Christ's resurrection. He was the firstborn of the dead. He was the first one to be raised, right? In that sense, he's the first fruits. So that's the feast of the first fruits. And then the fourth feast was the feast of Pentecost. And that's Christ's spirit filling us and dwelling in us and, and doing a great work in the world. Amen. That's the, that's the feast we're currently in right now, prophetically.

[28:27] And then what's to come is the fifth feast. And that's the feast of trumpets, the feast of trumpets. And that's going to be the announcement of Christ's return. Amen. It's going to be by a trumpet, the Bible says.

[28:40] And there's a feast of trumpets. And right now we're in the feast of Pentecost. That's where we're at right now. But the next to come is the feast of trumpets when Jesus returns. Amen. And then the sixth feast is the feast of atonement. And that will be the, that final record reconciliation and judgment. And then the final feast, the feast of tabernacles. And that's where we will be eternally dwelling with our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

[29:05] So Pentecost has come and it's here. Pentecost is here. Pentecost is the empowerment of the believers, the body of Christ to spread the gospel before the trumpet sounds, before that fifth feast, the feast of trumpets.

[29:22] Okay. Pentecost is amazing. Like you can find it all through the Bible. Okay. It's the, the fourth gate when Nehemiah rebuilt the walls. I could have went into that. I don't have time.

[29:33] Pentecost is the fourth of the seven furniture pieces in Moses's tabernacle, which is the golden menorah. There's the brazen altar for the shedding of blood. There's the, the labral washing for the cleansing, you know, the, which is baptism. It's a repentance, baptism. And you have the table of show, when you go into the holy place, the table of showbread, which is 12 loaves that were prepared fresh every day, which were for the one, each for the 12 tribes. So God's provisions for his people, the word of God, that's what it represented. Amen. And then the golden menorah, which is the golden candlesticks provided the light in the place, which is, which represents Pentecost, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, having the Holy ghost and fire. We have to be the light. Amen.

[30:17] We sing about the fire today. We have to have a fire and we have to be the light. And if you don't have the fire and the whole of the Holy ghost, then you're still walking in darkness. Amen. So knock it off, get the Holy ghost, keep it, keep the light burning, keep the fire burning. Amen.

[30:33] Keep Pentecost alive in you. Amen. And it's that light and the fire of the Holy ghost that's in us that is to cause us to be witnesses of truth and of life to those around us. It's the fire of Pentecost that, that is here. And now that is to be that refreshing and that rest, the restoration that's to come. And it's the beginning of the restitution of all things. And if you don't have the fire of the Holy ghost in you, then you're not going to be restored. That's, that's how you're going to get restored is through the Holy ghost. Amen. Through Pentecost in you, the fire of the Holy ghost does to us what any fire is going to do. Amen. And this is what fire does. Fire purifies, fire purifies, fire purifies, it destroys impurities. The Holy ghost should be a fire burning inside of us that burns away impurities in our lives, impure thoughts, impure motives, impure actions, impure words, sin. Right. And at the same time, the fire is what strengthens and dethorns, dethorns, dethorns, dethorns, dethorns, dethorns, dethorns, dethorns, dethorns, dethorns,