Acts Chapters 18 & 19 (2009)

Until the time that actually he's standing on the Mount Zion.

And that happened from the day that Jesus Christ was actually taken up after his passion and many infallible proofs, showing himself alive to uh not only the apostle, but the Bible said over five hundred brethrens at one time.

And from that time, he actually ascended back to third heaven, sent back to Comforter, that is fifty days, ten days later, which is what we call the day of Pentecost.

It was actually a Jewish feast day.

And from that day until this one, the Lord has actually been standing on a hilltop.

And of course, we know that because as we read the Bible and the 14th chapter of the book of Revelation, he said, I looked and lo, there stood on the Mount Zion a lamb.

There actually stood a lamb on the Mount Zion.

And of course, that lamb is not a physical lamb, that's a metaphor.

That has to do with the spirit and the nature that he exhibited.

He was humblest, he was undefile.

And then, of course, the lamb also in the old covenant was for a sacrifice.

And so John, when he saw me, said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.

And so as John began to pick up on that, he said he looked, and lo, on the Mount Zion, he saw a lamb stand, an actual lamb.

And that's talking about Jesus Christ.

He stood, but then you can see those that actually went out to meet him.

He said, With a hundred and forty-four thousand.

And that hundred and forty-four thousand is a governmental number.

It's those that actually ascended out of this earth suit.

It's those that ascended up out of this.

Paul said, Who shall deliver me, that is my soul, out of this body of death?

They actually ascended.

They ascended.

They resurrected out of this corpus, out of this earth suit, and actually was able to be partaker of the Lord in this divine nature.

The divine nature of God.

He was who was transformed of these people was actually transformed into the very image of Christ.

And the Bible uses term uh like the bride of Jesus Christ, uh, the first fruits of those that slept, uh, the overcomers.

Uh when they begin to talk about the movements of God down through the uh the restoration period, they're called the four beasts.

Another passage he uses synonyms, he called them the four and twenty elders, uh, showing how they're going to actually run and root in 24 courses.

But it's all the synonyms, those are all metaphors talking about uh the first fruits unto God, the overcomers, uh, the bride members.

Those are the ones that actually went out to meet him on the Mount Zion.

Well, how do we get out there?

Well, that the Bible gives us as we begin to read, I think it's the third and fourth verse of that 14th chapter of Revelation, the Bible says, These was not defined with women, that is, religious organizations, and these are they which follow the Lamb wheresoever they went.

And so the Lord's gonna lead us some places.

I think someone quoted Sunday, uh, you told Peter when you was young, you went where you would, when you were first converted.

You did what you want to do.

And uh the Lord winked at that.

He said, But when you're old, when you grow up in the things of God, you're gonna stretch forth your hand.

That's an act of surrender, and another, that's the Spirit of God, he's gonna lead you where you would not go.

Where is he gonna lead you?

He's gonna lead us to the cross.

What do you mean the cross?

He's gonna lead us to the place, brother, where we're gonna actually mortify the deeds of this body.

We're going to crucify, we're gonna crucify all of the nature that we receive from birth.

That's the nature of Adam.

We're putting those things to death.

And that's why Jesus Christ told his disciples, he said, or that is the apostles, he said, except you take up your cross daily and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.

That's not something you can roll on your back, uh, that's not something you wear around your neck, but that is the will of God, uh, which actually crosses our nature.

And we're to take that cross up daily and mortify, be put to death to all the activities of our nature of Adam or the Adamic nature.

That's what we received when we were born.

Every man that was born of a woman, there is no exception, except for Jesus Christ.

Every man that's born of a woman actually was born with a corruptible and damnable nature.

We actually received the seed of life from our Father.

Had Jesus Christ had a biological father, then he would have had a damnable or corruptible nature.

But actually he was conceived of the Holy Ghost.

The Lord prepared a body for him, but his body was not like ours, inasmuch as that it did not receive uh the seed of life from a biological father, but he received it from the Holy Ghost.

His blood was pure, it was uncontaminated.

My blood was contaminated.

You know that?

Uh Jesus Christ himself, you know he could not have died.

No man could have taken his life.

He said, No man take my life, I lay it down.

Because see, that I actually have uh the sentence of death or the ability to die, then two elements have to be present.

First of all, uh there has to be sin.

Sin has to be in your life.

The Bible says the wages of sin is what?

Death.

If there is no sin, how we eradicate uh death is you eradicate sin.

You eradicate sin.

That's the potential for death.

And then again, uh the second one is that the life that you extract, my life, my life is in my blood.

Uh the Bible said it put it this way, the life of the creature is in the blood.

Every man that you and I look at, uh at tabernacle is in this earth suit, he extracted natural life from his blood.

When you cut someone's wrist, as they lose their blood, they're actually losing their life.

That's the life oozing out of them.

Jesus Christ did not live by his natural blood, but he actually lived by the Spirit of God.

His life-given source was not the blood that was in his vein.

His life-given source was the Spirit of God.

That's what he actually lived by.

And as we actually complete this transformation, uh, that is, as we're conformed to the very image of Christ, that we can actually say, uh, as Paul said, in him we're gonna live, we're gonna move and actually what?

Have our being to live in Christ and to die his gain.

Uh, to actually obtain to that uh that perfect mark, to obtain to that wonderful hope.

You and I would follow the Lord Jesus Christ through the pattern that he's actually set.

He set a pattern that you and I, thank God, I'm so glad he did it, walking in shoe leather, that you and I can look to him and say he's the author and he's the finisher of our faith.

He did it and showed us that you actually can walk in shoe leather and actually please the Lord.

And so we're a people.

We're trying to go out to meet him, aren't we?

That's our hope, that's our vision.

And this is what we're striving for.

And the Bible put it this way: say, we can't be people, we haven't properly prepared ourselves.

But he said the bride has made herself ready.

And when we come to a place of gathering, uh, come to meetings, what are we doing?

We're entering to the dressing chamber.

We're trying to prepare ourselves.

Just like a bride would.

If she was going to meet her husband naturally, or that is her groom naturally, she would go and prepare herself.

Uh she would put on the right, uh, we use the term the term uh perfume.

Uh huh.

We would make sure we put on the right ointments and so on and so forth.

But it has to do with our nature and our spirit, those are illustrations.

And so we're in the dressing chamber, aren't we?

And so we're taking off and we're putting on.

What are we taking off?

All of the nature, all of the deeds of this old corruptible nature that I received when I was first born.

And what are we putting on?

We're putting on the wonderful attributes of Christ.

Paul put it this way: he said, taking off the old man.

Uh uh, how do you put it?

He said, let's read a little bit of that.

I know we're going to the book of Acts, but I just feel to touch this.

I don't know how, but I feel in spite of the Lord, we're people want to make sure when we sing, we know what we're singing about.

I think he first mentioned this, as I can recall, as I can appreciate.

Uh let's go to Ephesians 5, I think it is.

It may not be necessarily the first place, but this is the first place I'm thinking of.

And he began to make a reference.

Uh, that is about two men.

This is the firstborn man, and then there was a man that's actually been born again, or was actually brought to life after the firstborn.

The first man was born, was my natural life, my natural man, the outer man.

The Bible used the term outer or the old man, that's the first man.

But then when I received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, when I was converted, received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, that was another birth.

That was the birth of my soul.

And uh I think he let's pick it up in uh Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Uh look at verse 22.

Look at the terminology that's actually used here.

He said that you put off concerning the former conversation, and that's not communication.

Conversation in the Bible has to do with your lifestyle.

Do you know the way I live is talking?

The way I live is communicating, the way I live is saying something about me, is saying something about what's in my heart.

Well, that's that's called the conversation, the former conversation that you put off concerning the former conversation of what?

The old man.

Well, who is he talking about?

Is that someone in a rocking chair?

That's a metaphor.

The Bible uses terms.

Um, and that's not strange.

We do today.

You know, we can feel the uh winter coming and we say old man winter's on his way.

Uh we can begin to see things happen outside and we say that's mother nature.

Well, nature is not a mother, and winter is not an old man.

Those are just metaphors.

And the Bible uses terms like that.

He says, the old man.

Well, that's the old lifestyle.

That's the firstborn, that's the adamic nature.

He said, put off concerning uh concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt, is corrupt according to the deceitful lust.

That word lust, it's an interesting word.

Again, the word just means desire.

Um many times in the Bible you see the word lust, but it's the same Greek word which was translated from the word, which means desire.

And all desires are not evil.

Jesus Christ made a statement to his disciples.

He said, With desire, have desired to eat this Passover with you.

That's the same word that was translated lust.

So all desires is not good.

I think in uh 1 Timothy 3, he said, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desire a good work.

Well, that's not an evil desire.

So all desires isn't bad isn't bad.

It's the context of how that word was used that determines whether it's good or evil.

So he used the word lust when it has to do with evil, but it's just a desire.

But if when it's a desire of my flesh, it's called lust.

When it's a desire of my soul, it's just a desire.

And so here he uses the term the lust, and that's an evil desire.

In verse 23, and be renewed in the what?

In the spirit of your mind, in the spirit of your mind.

So I can't do this in the flesh, but it's with the spirit of my mind.

And that you put on, look at these terms.

In verse uh 22, he mentions the old man in verse 24, and that you put on the what?

The new man.

Well, who's the new man?

That's not your soul, you can't put on your soul, you are a soul.

So who's the new man?

The new man is the attributes of Jesus Christ.

He's called the new man, a new way of living, a new way of talking, a new way of walking, a new way of thinking.

That's the new man.

And so there's an old man, that's the nature of Adam.

Then there's the new man, that's the attributes of Christ.

We can't put them, we both can't wear them both at the same time.

So we have to take off and put on.

What are we taking off?

The old man.

What are we putting on?

The new man, the attributes of Christ.

And so I'm glad he put it this way.

He says that you put on the new man, which after God, which after God, here's the nature of Christ, which just after God.

The Bible said he was the expressed image of his father.

Jesus Christ told Philip in the 14th chapter of John, when you've seen me, you've seen the Father.

That is, he had all the attributes of his father.

He said that you put on, I like this, the new man, which after God, after God is created in righteousness and what?

And true holiness.

And so those are wonderful terms, aren't they?

Old man, the new man.

And so here we're, that's what we're here for.

Brother, we're here working on the attributes of Christ, putting on the new man.

We're here taking off the old man.

And so we're in the great dressing chambers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's where we are.

We're in the bride's room's chamber.

We're making ourselves ready.

We're preparing ourselves to go out to meet him.

Why?

He's standing on the hilltop, isn't he?

He's there beckoning us.

How is he beckoning us?

Brother, when you feel the Lord uh unctioning you to read your Bible, and I hope you feel that unction every day.

When you feel the Spirit of God unctioning you to get on your face and just talk to him, I hope you feel that dealing.

When you feel the unction of the Lord and want to draw nigh to him, that's him beckoning you.

He's beckoning us.

What is he saying?

Brother, come on out to meet him.

And so we're the people.

Brother, I'm so glad.

I'm so ecstatic, brother, that I'm not just looking for a resurrection, but looking for the first resurrection.

And there is a difference.

The Bible uses the term, and it is no idle words in the holy writ.

The Bible used the term blessed and holy as he that has part in the what?

First.

He wouldn't say first unless there's a subsequental.

What did I say?

That's not what I meant.

What did I mean?

A subsequent resurrection.

That's another one coming.

Why would you say first if that's the only one?

There has to be another one.

The Bible don't use the word the second resurrection.

That's not in the Bible.

But the Bible does use the word the better resurrection.

It has to be better than something.

It used the term the first resurrection.

If there's a first, there must be at least a second.

And so then the Bible makes us to understand there's more than a resurrection, but there are resurrections of the dead.

And so we're a people that's striving for the first one.

Why?

Because the Bible said that death, thank God, it has no part on those that are partaker of the first resurrection.

But there's qualifications to obtain to that.

We can't be a people who avoid his understanding.

We can't be as those wonderful, and they were all wonderful virgins.

And the 25th chapter of the book of Matthew, there was all virgins.

They was all virgins.

That's a wonderful illustration, a parable Jesus gave us.

There was ten virgins, and there was a virgin is someone who's under fire.

That's someone who's pure, they're clean.

The problem was five of them was wise, and five was foolish.

And what is wisdom?

Does it mean that you went to Harvard?

Does it mean that you graduated from Nickers?

I'm not throwing off on you, Sister Natalie.

Does it mean you had a PhD or a master degree?

No.

The Bible said he that uses knowledge and understanding the right is wise.

And so biblical definition for wisdom is having knowledge and understanding and walking in it.

Wisdom is walking in what you know.

And uh here's ten virgins.

Five was wise, they had knowledge, they had understanding, they was walking in it.

And five was foolish.

They were virgins, but they was going by what they felt, what they thought was right, what they believed was right, what tradition told them was right.

And I guess that served the purpose for a season.

The problem is, is they all were looking for to get married.

They all was in spouse.

And as men began to sleep, brother, a cry was made.

A hurl began to sound an alarm, blew a trumpet.

He said, Arise, the bride is coming, the bridegroom is coming, go ye out to meet them.

And all ten got up.

They all ten got up.

They all grabbed the lamps, and the lamps in the Bible is that which gives light.

And the Bible is called a lamp.

Uh, what is that?

Psalms, uh help me out here, brother.

Psalms 109.

Is that 109?

That word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my pathway.

So they all grabbed the Bible.

They all grabbed the book.

The problem with it, the problem, they all had the lamps, but the wise, they had oil in their vessel.

Here's your vessel.

Here's your vessel.

The Bible said we have this treasure in earthen vessels.

And so the wise, they had understanding.

They didn't just read the Bible, they didn't just go to a seminary, they didn't just get some uh religious books, but they got some understanding.

And so they had oil in their vessel.

And the foolish woman, well, all they had, or women, all eight virgin, all they had was just the uh the lamp, brother Michael, no oil.

And brother, as they began to go, they didn't understand it was dark.

It was a time that you really couldn't see.

And so all of them began to trim the lamps.

And the five foolish virgins, they lamp went out.

Wait a minute, I don't understand this.

Wait a minute, this is contrary to what I was told.

Can you help me to understand that?

As they began to ask those five foolish, they say, oh no, I wish I could.

But listen, and you hear the cry?

The bridegroom is coming.

I'm trying to go out to meet them.

I can't give you none of my oil.

I can't sit down and teach you these things.

I don't have time.

We're trying to walk in it, we're trying to go out to meet them.

And they say, listen, if you want it, go to them that sell it and buy for yourself.

Well, who sells it?

That's what the ministry does.

It sells you the truth of the word of God, not for money, not with price.

You buy this with your time, you buy it with your energy, you buy it with your life.

You sit on those chairs, you get a notebook, you get a pencil, you read your Bible, you take notes, you go back, you go over those things.

What are you doing?

Brother, you fulfilling what Proverbs says, buy the truth in what?

And sell it not.

Don't sell out.

And so as they began to go and say, look, can you help me to understand these things, brothers?

And brother, it was too late.

They five foolish wise virgins, brother, they went out, they met the Lord, and the door was shut.

And the five foolish, they were virgins, but they was left.

What happened to them, Brother Brown?

Were they tormented?

Well, I like to think not.

But I like to think that somewhere during the thousand years they may have gotten some more, but they sure didn't go up in the first resurrection.

Brother, we want to be wise virgins, don't we?

It's not enough to be clean, but we have to have some oil, some understanding in our vessels.

We have to make sure we don't just have a lamp, but we have the ability to trim it.

You understand the term trim a lamp?

You city dwellers don't do things like that.

I see an older sister back here.

I bet she can relate to these times they had kerosene lamps.

And you had uh anybody had a kerosene lamp?

I'm only one.

Brother, I know you there, you from Vachery.

Do you know what happened when you burn those kerosene lamps?

You got to know how to trim the wick.

Because what happened, it gets black and it gets cluttered.

And it no longer gives a lot of light in the room.

It gets all cluttered up and the glass get all smoked up.

You can clean the glass all you want, but it's gonna smoke right back up, and so there's no light in the room.

You gotta know how to trim the wick.

That's what he used to call it, Brother Michael.

You got to trim the wick.

And what does it do?

It gives light.

It gives light to all that's in the house.

And so to have this wonderful lamp is wonderful.

That's what the Bible is.

It is a lamp.

But do you have enough oil that you can see, brother, to how to keep light in it?

And then you have the ability to trim the wick.

What do you mean, trim the wick?

Brother, can you separate the word of God righteously?

The Bible tells us, he said, study to show thyself approved of workmen that needed not be ashamed, rightly what?

Dividing the word of truth.

Can you trim the wicks?

Can you understand what's given to the nation of Israel?

What's given to the New Testament church?

Do you understand it between law and grace?

Do we understand the difference between principles and uh doctrine?

Do we understand it between doctrine and subject?

Do we understand land on the hands, resurrection of the dead?

Do we understand eternal judgment?

Can we compare spiritual things with spiritual?

What's a metaphor in the Bible?

What's a parable?

Uh, what when is he talking literally?

Those are things that you and I must be able to see.

We must be able to understand.

And it starts with the simple, a very simple basics of learning the books of your Bible.

For which I'm sure we all know.

I'm sure we wouldn't come sit in a setting like this, or those who've been here for a while and have not taken the time to familiarize ourselves with the books of the Bible.

If someone asks you what's your address, I'm sure you know your address.

If they ask you what is your date of birth, I'm sure you know your date of birth.

If they ask you your phone number, I am persuaded you could tell them your phone number.

What's your mother's name?

Well, you can tell them that.

What's your father's name?

You can tell them that.

Well, if we're people who love the word of God and we're people endeavoring to make their first resurrection, I'm sure the books of the Bible is just the basis.

I'm sure none of us will sit here repetitively and not learn the books of the Bible.

What are they, Brother Brown?

Tell them to church.

If you don't know them, say, Lord, have mercy on me.

Don't let me sit here and be a foolish virgin.

What are they again?

Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel.

I see, I like, I like the way, uh, brother, I like the way you're doing that.

Brother Sean.

See, you just naming the books.

Brother Sean got a rhythm going.

That's okay, Brother Sean.

Whatever works for you, brother.

Keep the rhythm.

Keep the rhythm.

Where do we stop at?

1 Samuel.

Come on, brother Sean.

Show them how to do it.

Are you patting your feet when you do that?

Just your head?

Okay, I'm sorry, I shouldn't embarrass you.

Go ahead.

Whatever works for you, brother.

I'm with you.

Come on.

1 Samuel.

Job, Amos, come on.

Wonderful.

And that concludes the book of the old covenant.

That is the covenant that God made with the nation of Israel.

And that was the schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.

We're not under the law of Moses, but yet we're people that have the moon of the lesser light under our feet.

We must understand it.

And so when Jesus Christ came, he's called the light of the world.

That's what he's called, the light of the world.

And so the light of the world is reflected by the sun.

The sun illustrates a perfect light.

The moon is a lesser light.

That pictures of the Old Testament.

And so when Jesus Christ came, thank God, brother, I'm so glad he's called the Sun, the capital S U N.

Of righteousness which rise with what?

Healing in his wing.

Why?

Everything grows by sunlight.

Nothing grows by moonlight.

There is no eternal life in the Old Testament, but there is in the New Testament.

And in books of the New Testament are louder.

And Revelation, wonderful.

And we're actually studying the book, which is a bridge, between the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the epistles.

The epistles, the word epistle is just an old English word which means letters.

Here's letters that God had inspired these holy men of old to write as they was moved by the Holy Ghost, addressing issues that was in churches, addressing uh pastoral instructions to Titus and Timothy.

But these are the epistles that God inspired these great men to write, uh letters.

And uh the the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, do you know this book was written 30 years and 35 years after Christ had actually been crucified?

Do you know those books was not written immediately?

But they was written 30 and 35 years later.

There was no need to write initially because those men was eyewitnesses of his majesty.

Those men who preached and talked, they actually heard him teach.

But as those men began to great grow wax uh wax great in years, that was the need.

Thank God, I'm so glad they did, they began to pin the things that actually transpired.

And it is uh the gospel records the conception, the birth, to life, to death, and the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.

But what's the difference of what happened between the time he ascended and the time that the New Testament church was uh spreaded is in the book of Acts.

It's called the actions or the activities of those men who witnessed Jesus Christ's life.

It's called the Acts of the Apostles.

The activities of the Apostles, the actions of the Apostles.

And here's one where we stop, was named Saul, actually, that's his Jewish name.

And because he was an apostle to the Gentiles, he was given a Gentile name.

The Gentile rendering of the Jewish name Saul is Paul.

So he's called Paul, the apostle Paul.

And as Paul began to spread this great gospel, as he began to spread this gospel, as the Bible said we read last week, that turned that whole known world upside down with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The word gospel means good news.

And the good news that Jesus Christ actually brought is that a man, that is a soul, did not have to live in sin.

A man's soul did not have to commit sin, abide in sin, therefore, man's soul did not have to die.

Your soul could literally highball the grave, it could escape death.

Jesus Christ actually came and brought life, that is eternal life, and immortality.

That's the inability to die.

He brought it to light through, Paul says, the gospel.

And so Paul began to preach the wonderful good news or the gospel of Jesus Christ, that a man did not have to die, that there was one who lived a sinless life.

And he uh offered up a perfect, acceptable sacrifice once and for all for all sin.

So we don't do pants.

We don't have to do pent, we have to repent.

Uh we can't buy our way into the kingdom of God.

Uh-huh.

But that's not what we do.

But we walk in the footsteps that Jesus Christ has shown us.

It's called a beaten path that'll bring us to eternal life.

And so as this man began to propagate this gospel, uh, we find that in the book of Acts, and we stop in the 19th, 18th chapter, right?

Let's pick it up in the 18th chapter.

Are you all warm?

Are you comfortable?

You hot?

Warm?

Just one degree.

Okay, let's pick it up, Brother Michael, if you'll help me, please.

As well, I won't do the uh background for this, but we know that he left uh this great Greek city of Athens.

He went down to the great cathedral uh theater that was called Mars Hill, where all the uh theologians and all the philosophers was there, and Paul stood there and began to preach about Jesus Christ, the unknown God.

He was not ashamed of God, uh, nor Jesus Christ.

But as he began to tell him in Corinth, it's the power of God to salvation, not to everyone, but to everyone that believed.

It was to the Jew first, and then to the Greeks, and then to the Gentiles.

And of course, this is the Jewish Bible, but they rejected Christ, and I'm not glad they did, but I'm so glad we had an open door that we can accept him.

And the Bible said there was the natural olive branch that was cut off, and here's the Gentile, which is a wild olive branch we were grafted in.

So we want to make good on it, don't we?

And the third, in the 18th chapter, Brother Michael, as Paul had actually left, uh, that is certain men there.

I think he left uh Titus and Sylvanus there uh in Corinth.

Uh let's pick it up in the 18th chapter.

Acts 18 and 1.

He said, after these things.

He left them in Ephesus, I'm sorry.

Acts 18 and 1.

After these things, Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth.

After what things?

After he preached in Mars Hill.

And the people really uh did not accept it.

In the 32nd verse of the 17th chapter, when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, showing you what Paul preached, some marked, they ridiculed the gospel, and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.

And so they just went to the bait.

And the Bible said, Don't cast your, Jesus said that, don't cast your pearls before.

What's a swine?

That's a hog.

Don't give that which is holy to what?

If you see someone's not receiving the words of life, these are precious jewels.

These are precious uh gold and nuggets.

And so, brother, you gather them up and you keep moving.

That's what Paul did.

And so we can see after these things mean after he had preached, and they rejected it, uh, he departed from Athens and he came to Corinth.

He said, and found a certain Jew named Aquilah.

That's an interesting name for a man, isn't it?

Sound like a sound like a woman, but it's really a man.

He said, Born in Pontus, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla.

Because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome and came unto them.

Okay, so we know that Aquila was not a woman.

It was a man, because in these days, thank God I'm so glad for these days, we're gonna hold it to them.

Women didn't marry women.

If he had a wife, that means he was a man, didn't he?

I have to say things like that.

Because we live in a society, Brother Michael, they are so confused.

They are so confused that God did not create Adam and Steve.

It was Adam and Eve.

It wasn't Alice and Eve, it was Adam and Eve.

A man and a woman.

Two women or two men in a relationship is called an abomination to the Lord.

That's not a sin.

A sin is when you lie, you steal, you curse, you cheat.

That's just a natural tendency that we've got from a fallen man.

That's in your nature, it's in our nature.

We have to mortify that.

When we go beyond sin, when we go beyond sin and pervert, pervert the righteousness of God, when we put light for darkness and darkness for light, the Bible calls that an abomination.

That's in addition to sin.

That's on the other side of sin.

Homosexuality is an abomination.

It doesn't matter how many preachers tell you you're intolerant, it doesn't matter what this uh civil power here uh proclaims, it's still an abomination.

It's an excess of sin.

It's worse than lying, stealing, it's worse than rape, it's worse than robbery, it's worse than murder, it's an abomination.

It's what it is.

My God, have mercy on the country in which we live.

How'd I get on that?

Let's keep reading.

Oh.

Aquila did that, didn't he?

With that name.

But uh, you will you better not have a name like Aquila today.

That'll get you in trouble.

Yeah, somebody gonna walk up to you with a wrong idea.

I'm I'm I'm I'm looking for a wife.

You better get them wrong.

Let's keep reading.

My God.

Do you know they're letting them in the pulpit?

Ordaining them.

That's an abomination.

And what's so sad is all the poor people out there who's listening to that.

All the poor people out there who's being influenced by that.

The question is, ask, can a clean thing come out of an unclean?

He answers that, no not one.

If you're sitting under an unclean ministry, you're gonna be unclean.

If you're sitting under a polluted ministry, you're gonna be polluted.

If you're sitting under something defile, you're gonna be the foul.

Okay, Aquila, that's enough.

I'm sorry because Brother Michael.

Here they are, Aquila and his wife.

Do you see the word his?

His wife, Priscilla.

Because Claudius, that that's Claudius Caesar.

He was the emperor of Rome, who actually at this time the Jews was under great persecution.

And he commanded all the Jews to leave Rome, to leave Rome, Italy, to leave Rome.

And so here's Aquila and uh uh Aquila and his wife Priscilla.

They left.

Well, Paul was on his way to Rome.

He was thinking he was on his way.

The Lord put those two together.

Okay, then verse 3.

He said, and because he was of the same craft.

That's talking about Aquila.

He abode with them and wrought for by their occupation.

Paul means worked.

Here is Aquila.

He met Paul, and Paul was a tent maker.

And because they was of the same craft, they both were tent makers, he abored with them and he wrought.

That is, they worked together for their uh for by their occupation.

They were what?

Tent makers.

Tent makers.

And it's wonderful here.

You can see a man as this man actually go throughout the whole known settled world at that time, the Mediterranean, Asia, Asia Mire, uh, talking about Paul.

This man worked.

He worked with his own hand.

He had a right to take of the people, but he said he didn't want to be chargeable to any.

Brother, you won't find many preachers that do that today that would actually take their hands and work.

Uh, brother, they didn't have pew rallies and cakewalks and chicken dinners.

Brother, but they worked because they didn't want to be chargeable to the people.

What an example we have.

What a wonderful example we have.

And so, uh here's Paul again in verse 4, which he did every time he went to a city, and he did what?

Reason in the synagogue.

A synagogue is a Jewish church.

He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded the Jews and the Greek.

Everybody that's not a Jew is a Gentile.

That's only two races of people in the eyes of God.

God doesn't see African American, European American, Asian American.

God doesn't see that.

He doesn't see Canadians, he doesn't see uh Britons, he doesn't see uh uh Swedish.

God sees Jews and Gentiles.

I don't care what your paint job is, whether you're black, yellow, or white, God sees you as a Gentile.

But we Gentiles are so pitiful, we divide among ourselves.

We slice us up.

The Bible sees Jews and Gentiles, you A or B.

That's what you are.

And a Jew is not one, let me clarify that.

Paul addresses that in uh in Romans, um what is it, Romans 2?

He said, He is not a Jew which is one outwardly, but he's a Jew which is one inwardly.

He said, and circumcision is of the heart, and it's not in the letter.

And when in the Old Testament, a Jew was the people who had a relationship with God because of his laws.

Under the New Testament, we're circumcised with circumcision made without hands.

When you receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, that's putting away of the filthiness of your flesh.

It's supposed to be, if we don't let it grow back.

And now we are a spiritual Jew.

And so uh those terms spiritually, a Jew is one who has a relationship under the laws of God, and a gentile is just an unbeliever.

We don't despise and we don't reject it because we was the one time that way.

It's by the grace of God he opened our eyes and circumcised our heart and gave us an entrance into the wonderful kingdom of God.

And as we go on here, we can begin to see he's reasoning, he's trying to persuade these religious people.

Verse 5 And when Silas and Timothy was come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit and testified, and look, it's always to the Jews and then the Greeks, to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.

We call him Jesus Christ.

Christ is not a name, Christ is an office, it's a title.

The word Christ means the anointed one, it means the Messiah.

His name was Jesus.

He didn't have a last name, they didn't use last name in biblical days.

They would use the term son of.

And Jesus, they didn't call him the son of uh Joseph because he wasn't a son of Joseph, but they he used his office.

He was called Jesus.

This is translated Christ, but he was called Jesus the Christ.

That's who he was.

He is the Christ, he's the anointed one sent from God, he is the Messiah, he's the savior of all mankind.

That's an office.

Are you following me?

Are you following me?

Okay.

But okay, that Jesus was Christ.

And when they, who's today?

That's the Jews.

When they oppose themselves, how do you oppose yourself?

When someone's trying to help you and you won't receive the help.

When someone's trying to salvage you from a catastrophe and you won't receive it, you're opposing yourself.

When you're hearing the words of life and won't consider them, but you find reasons to reject them.

You are opposed, and I am opposing myself.

Well, of course, the Bible tells the minister, uh, what is it, 1 Timothy?

Uh get it from me, Brother Michael.

I think it's 1 Timothy.

Is it 1 Timothy 3?

Let me get it.

Brother Michael, I tell you the wrong.

Yes.

He said, a servant of the Lord must not strive, but he must be gentle with all men.

Patience.

Let me get that scripture because I don't want to uh Bible students, are you with me?

What was it?

Thank you.

Read it for me, Brother Michael.

2 Timothy 2 and 24.

He said, and the servant of the Lord must not strive.

Here's Paul, brother.

He wasn't gonna argue with him.

He couldn't do it.

He said, He must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, after teach, patient.

What do you mean, gentle?

Well, try not to hurt someone if you can help it.

Uh you try not to blind someone with too much light if you can help it.

Try not to say things that you know a person cannot hear.

They can't receive it at that time.

That's what gentle is.

It doesn't mean to speak soft.

It means don't take a person beyond that uh where they're able to receive you.

You have to be gentle with them.

Uh you take, for instance, little Nadia, uh, as she began to grow.

Well, we don't treat her the same way now that we did when she was uh six months old.

Uh she was the same child, but we treated her differently because she had to be more gentle.

But the older you get, the more responsible you should be for your behavior.

And so when you're testifying to someone like these Jews who were full of Judaism, he was gentle.

He didn't get into things too deep.

He didn't talk to them about laying on of hand, resurrection of the dead.

He just talked to them about the resurrection of their soul from out of his old grave suit.

He didn't go too far with them.

He said he must be gentle to all men, apt.

That word means able to what?

Teach, patient.

Here's the key I was trying to get to.

Verse 25.

In meekness and structuring those that do what?

Oppose themselves.

If preaventure God will give them repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth.

And why?

Because they're captive by something, that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil.

That's what have them blinded.

That's why they can't see.

That's why they can't hear, is because they're in the gall of billioness, brother.

And they're in the deceitfulness.

They're blind, brother Michael, by the deceitfulness of sin.

They're in the snare of the devil.

And we all were there.

We're trying, we're still trying to get out.

What deceives me?

The devil deceives me.

That's what he does.

And so he put it this way: thank God for Jesus Christ.

He said, You shall know the truth, and the truth shall what?

Well, the truth doesn't make you free from sin.

You got to overcome sin.

The truth makes you free from deception.

The truth makes you free from a lie.

If you're free from a lie, if you're free from deception, then you can be free indeed.

I can do what I think is right.

But if what I think is right is wrong, I'm still wrong.

I have to first be set free from deception.

And so, Brother Michael, let's go back to Acts 18.

Verse 6.

Here they are.

And when they oppose themselves and blaspheme.

What is blaspheme?

Blaspheme means when you oppose God.

It's one thing to oppose yourself.

But when you begin to oppose the Lord, withstand the Lord, reprove the things of God, now you're a blaspheming against God.

And the Bible, Jesus put it this way: He said, All sins that a man shall sin, and all of his blasphemies shall be forgiven.

But whosoever blaspheme against the Holy Ghost shall what?

Never be forgiven.

That's the difference.

That's the difference.

And so here are these men, they went too far.

They went just too far, Brother Michael.

First they was opposing themselves, then they blaspheme.

When they blaspheme, Sister Amanda, when they started blaspheming, they broke the plate.

They went too far, and Paul stopped.

He stopped.

Look what he did.

He uh and blaspheme he that is Paul.

He shook his raiment and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own head.

You're gone too far.

The things you're saying, and the attitude, your spirit you're having toward the gospel, I'm gonna stop.

He said, I am clean.

From henceforth, from now on, I'm gonna go where?

I'm gonna go to the Gentiles.

I can't I can't reach you.

You're just too steep in religion.

You're too set in your ways, you won't consider, and now you're saying things that's blasphemous against God.

I can't help you now.

And he departed hence and entered into a certain man's house named Justice, one that worshiped God, whose house joined hard to the what?

Come and help me out, Brother Michael.

He said, And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house.

And many of the Corinthians hearing, believe, and were baptized.

Well, listen, the Corinthians is talking about the Gentiles there.

Verse 9.

He said, Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace.

That is, brother, you don't be afraid to preach.

I'm gonna back you up.

Everywhere Paul went up to this time, he was thrust out of the cities.

Every single place he went, persecution followed him.

The Lord encouraged him, stay here.

Here's why.

He said, For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee.

Here's what I love about God.

For I have much people in this city.

When the Lord, brother, he sees people who want to be saved, the Lord's gonna make a way.

He encouraged Paul to stay there because he had people that were looking for him.

And verse 11.

He said, and he continued there a year and six months teaching the word of God among them.

And this was the first for Paul.

Paul had never abided that long in any city at all.

Just a few weeks, sometime a month or two, but never a year.

And here he aboard one year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

When you read 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, these are letters Paul wrote back to that church that he established, that he actually pastored for one year and six months.

He said, and when Galio was the deputy of Achai, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against the children.

Who brought this persecution again?

Jews.

The Jews.

Here's Paul's great thorn in his flesh.

Everywhere he went, these religious people kept stirring things up.

They kept stirring things up.

They were jealous because Paul had cut them off and went to the Gentiles.

And listen, when someone began, Brother Michael, when someone began to take the word of God and began to bring light to people's eyes, you know the first thing they'll say, you must be a cult.

Why aren't you uh wearing this religious uh uh apparel that you're supposed to wear?

Or why aren't you joining our affiliation?

Why aren't you joining our denomination?

Paul didn't join any.

He wasn't a Pharisee, Sadducee, Essexine, brother.

He was a servant of the Most High God.

He kept his gospel clean.

It wasn't polluted with men's ideals, denominational teachings, men's concepts.

He kept it clean.

What do you mean, clean, brother Brown?

You mean that he didn't fornicate?

Well, I know he didn't, but that's not what clean is.

Clean means he didn't pollute it with men's ideals.

Um, anybody can live a good moral life.

There's millions of people on this earth that live good, clean moral lives that I Have God.

You can find a good Muslim.

You can find a good Muslim.

They won't even eat pork.

So they're healthy.

But they know how to live moral lives.

But brother, are they clean?

Brother, that's a different subject.

Clean means unpolluted.

You can't pollute the word of God.

We can't, if I mix it with my ideals and my thoughts and my will and my ways, I polluted it.

I polluted it.

But Paul kept it clean.

He kept it clean.

And listen to this.

And so these people got upset, brother Michael.

They made insurrection.

Insurrection, you know what insurrection is?

That's when you rise up against order, against what God is doing.

With one accord against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat.

Who did that?

The Jews stirred this up.

Look what they did.

Verse 13.

Saying, This fellow persuaded men to worship contrary, worship God contrary to the what?

That wasn't man's law.

That was their perception of God's law.

Their religious law.

I'm sorry, Brother Michael, go ahead.

He said, and when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Galiel said unto the Jews, if it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you.

You know, that's like bringing a man to court and saying these people teaching something that they ought not be teaching out of the Bible.

Do you think Judge Fungi care?

Do you think Judge Julie is really concerned about that?

But do you know who's going to bring persecution to the body of Jesus Christ?

It's not going to be the uh the unsaved people out there.

It's going to be the religious people.

They're teaching things that's contrary to oxidac Christianity because we don't believe, we don't teach things that maybe a person uh in a religious world think we ought to be teaching.

We're not going to spend time.

Why would we spend time uh preaching about don't smoke, don't drink, don't curse?

Well, brother, you ought to have enough God in you when you're converted.

Lord, I ought not live like this.

What we want to talk about is our spirits.

Learning how to have the right to rule your attitude, to rule your spirit.

It's not enough not to commit adultery, but brother, it's to have the attitude, I don't want to look upon a woman to lust at her.

It's not enough to say, well, I don't want to steal.

Brother, I don't want to cover anything that don't belong to me.

It's not enough because I don't hit you.

I don't want to harbor animosity in my heart against you.

It's not enough that I don't talk about you.

I don't want to look up and down and try to find a fault in you.

We work on the spirit.

And so uh that can con that can be contrary to people's concept.

We try to be non-religious, we try to be righteous.

And it's not what it's not what goes into a man's mouth that defiles a man, it's what comes out of your mouth.

What what type of what spirit?

What type of language do I have?

My words minister grace to the hearers.

Or when you have a conversation with me, Brother Elton, every time we talk, I hang the form up, man, you walk away so heavy.

Every time we share a company, when you leave, you're so downthreatened.

Because my conversation is always negative.

God forbid, I'm glad the Lord has shown us a better way to live.

That is not the way to live.

When I leave you, I like to make sure you're encouraged, you're uplifted.

Let's talk about things, brother, that brings life, not things that Brown brings.

If I want bad news, turn the television on to see in.

Turn to uh Fox News, they'll give you all the bad news.

But when I come here, I want to talk about the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

That's good news to me.

And uh here you can begin to see, brother, they brought for great persecution.

And so uh here's this uh the governor, he was the deputy of Achaia, which was just the uh the region.

Brother, he said, wait a minute.

If it's a verse 15, if it be a question of words and names and of your law, look you to that.

For I will be no judge of such matters.

Here's the problem, brother Michael, verse 16.

He said, and he drave them from the judgment seat.

Now watch verse 17.

Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue.

And brother, they have saved him.

What did they do?

And beat him before.

They gave him a good beating before the judge.

You're trying to cause problems with the people of God.

He gave him a good beating.

Go ahead, brother Moscow.

He said, and Galiel cared for none of those things.

And Paul, after his after this, tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila, having shorn his head in Shintria, for he had a vow.

Okay, here we go, Brother Michael.

Let's skip down for the sake of time to the twenty-fourth verse.

Now get this.

He said, and a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.

Remember, Paul had left Ephesus, went to Antioch, left Antioch and went to Corinth.

But he had left the church there in Ephesus.

Now watch what happened.

Here's this Jew.

His name was Apollos.

He was born in Alexandria.

He was an eloquent man.

That means he had a great ability to communicate.

He could articulate.

He was an orator.

But not only that, he had a gift.

He was what?

Mighty in the scriptures.

Mighty in the scriptures.

He came to Ephesus.

This man, I get this, with all this eloquency of speech, with all of his ability to understand scripture, or at least quote the scriptures, he was mighty in the scriptures.

This man was instructed in the way of the Lord.

But here's the problem.

Being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the what?

He didn't have the whole gospel.

He didn't even have what God was doing today.

All he had was the message of John's baptism.

That's all he could preach.

But listen, and as he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, he went to God's people.

That was to the Jews first.

Whom when Apilsillah, Aquila, and Pascillah had heard, they took him unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more.

What?

Remember, Aquila and Pascillah had been with who?

Paul.

And so they understood the things of God, and now they began to share that with Apollos.

Now on verse 23, verse 27.

He said, and when he had dis was disposed to pass unto Cai, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him, who when he was come helped them much which had believed through grace.

Okay, now this is Paul going down to Corinth.

I'm sorry, Apollos going down to Corinth.

This is important because when you read the book of 1 Corinthians, you're going to find a lot of contentions between the fragments that's in that church in Corinth.

The reason was Paul had gone there.

One group said, I'm a Paul.

And then when Paul left, Apollos came.

Another one was saying, I'm A Paul.

And so it caused some divisions.

And Paul was not eloquent in speech.

He was not.

He said his speech was rude.

Speech was contemptible.

And his body appearance was weak.

But here is this man, no doubt, who was eloquent in speech.

Uh-huh.

Many people gravitated to him.

But keep watching this.

Keep following this.

Verse 28 now.

He said, For he mightily convinced the Jews and that publicly, showing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.

Now watch this.

Now, and it came to pass while Apollos was at Corinth.

Paul having passed through the upper coast, he came to Ephesus.

Do you remember that's where that's where Apollos had just left?

He had just left Ephesus before he went to Corinth.

Do you remember that?

We just read that.

Look, and he finding certain disciples.

These disciples were disciples of Apollos.

And all Apollos knew was what?

The baptism of John.

Verse 2.

This is why this is important.

And he, that's Paul, he said to them, That's those disciples that he found.

Have you received the what?

Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?

Remember, all they were were disciples of Apollos, and Apollos only knew of John's baptism at this point.

And uh they said to him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

We never heard of that.

Verse 3.

And he that is Paul said to them, That's these disciples.

These are Christians, people who have no doubt uh tried to profess Christ and live according to what they knew, but they were shortchanged.

He said unto them, Unto what then were you baptized?

If you haven't received the Holy Ghost, unto what then were you baptized?

And they said unto what?

That's all we knew was John's baptism.

Well, John, listen, he John baptized, preaching the Holy Ghost.

Do you remember what John said, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance?

But he that cometh after me whose shoes I'm not worthy to lose, he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.

Well, see, these people was only imitating what they seen John do.

Because if they had received John's baptism, they would have heard of the Holy Ghost.

Are you following me?

Okay, then look, and look, verse 4, Paul began to explain some things to them.

He didn't take away what they had, but he showed them the will of the Lord more perfectly, just like Assillah and Paquilla did with Apollos.

Then Paul said, John verily, that words mean truly, he's baptized with the baptism of what?

What is that baptism of repentance?

Water.

Saying unto the people that they should believe on him, or should come after him.

This is what John said, that is on Christ Jesus.

And when they heard this, they was baptized what?

Here is people who was baptized supposedly once.

Now they was baptized in the Lord's order.

They was baptized unto the message that John had actually proclaimed.

They was baptized in authority.

When he said in the name of Jesus, it wasn't called the name of Jesus, but it was by the authority of Jesus Christ.

They was baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 6.

And when Paul had laid his hands on them, it's interesting how he got them in order first.

He got them in order, then he laid his hands on them.

And what happened?

The Holy Ghost came on them.

How do you know it?

And they did what?

Can you see this wonderful order?

Can you not see this wonderful order?

He didn't unchristianize these people, didn't take away what they had, but brother, he added to that.

He added to that.

There was lacking something in the Christian walk.

There was lacking something in the things they had heard.

They had not even received the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

Therefore, the things that Paul was going to talk to them about would fall over their heads.

So he got them in order, he laid hands on them, and they received the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

Interesting thing to see here, brother Ron, people would say when you receive water baptism, you already have the Holy Ghost.

Evidently not.

He baptized them with water, then he prayed, and then they received the Holy Ghost.

That's two different things.

That's two different baptisms.

That's two separate and distinct operations.

They're not the same.

No.

And all the men was about what?

About twelve.

Let's get on down and finish this on up.

And listen.

And he went.

Here he goes again, Paul.

Every city he goes into.

And he went into the what?

A Jewish church.

And spake boldly for the space of what?

Disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.

But here's his throne in the flesh.

And with divers, that word means different ones, was hardened and believed not.

But spake evil of that way before the multitude, he did what he always did.

He departed from them and separated the disciples.

He said, Okay, let's get away from these people.

Leave them alone.

He separated disciples and disputed, that is, he continued with the word of God daily and the school of one Tramus.

And this continued for the space of what?

Two years.

Two years.

So that all the which dwelled in Asia did what?

Heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jew and Can you see how one man, uh brother, he evangelized the whole continent of Asia?

Now let's go down a little bit further here.

And God wroth a work special miracles by the hands of Paul, so that from his body was brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and evil spirits went out of them.

Verse 13 is real interesting.

Here is some people seen Paul.

They have heard his message.

And they say, you know, we're going to do some of this.

Now in verse 13.

When certain of the Vagabond Jews, what does a vagabond mean?

That's a person who doesn't have order.

He goes from one church to another church to another church.

Here, just a wonderance, brother, not submitted to nothing.

They don't submit to nothing.

These people weren't even good Jews.

They was Vagabond Jews.

They didn't submit to Pharisees, Sadducees, Essexes, nor to the Lord.

They was Vagabond Jews.

Look what they were, exorcists.

Took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus.

They didn't even know Jesus.

Saying, We adjured you, this is what he's saying to those spirits, by Jesus whom who?

Boy, that's some kind of way to cast out something, isn't it?

And there were seven sons of one Stepher.

He had seven sons.

He was a Jew and chief of the priests, which did so.

Now look at this.

And the evil spirit answered and said, Look at this now.

These seven sons.

And the evil spirit spirit answered and said, Jesus, I know.

And Paul, I know.

But who are you?

And the man and whom the evil spirit was what?

Leaped on them, all seven of them and did what?

Overcame them and did what?

Prevail against them.

So they fled out of the house.

What?

Brother, ain't that something?

One man, one man with unclean spirit jumped on all seven of them, brother, and and brother put a beat on them and ran them out of the house naked.

What's the lesson there?

And if you don't have it, don't fake it.

Don't believe, brother.

Brother Russell, say fake it till you make it.

Don't fake it.

It won't work.

And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus.

And fear came on them all.

And the name of the Lord was magnified, and many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds.

Now get these next two verses.

This is wonderful.

And many of them also, which used curious oughts, brought their books together and burned them before all men.

And they counted the price of them, and it was found, and found that 50,000 pieces of silver so mightily grew the word of God and did what?

And prevailed.

So you can see here's this great city, Ephesus.

This is the second city Paul had stayed in.

1 Corinthians was the first one, a year and six months.

Ephesus, two years.

These are the only two cities, I'm going to stop here, that Paul actually pastored.

Corinth and the church in Ephesus.

He actually pastored those churches.

He stayed there.

And those churches, the word Ephesus, by the way, means desirable.

And you'll find that to be one of the seven churches in the book of Revelation that Paul writes using that name.

But here's the second church that Paul actually stayed there.

He birthed that church.

He dug that church out.

He established that church and he brought up a ministry in that city.

There's only two that he pastored, Corinth and Ephesus.

The rest he only established a church.

But I'm glad that you can see that here's a man who, though he had actually a love for those people, after two years he still couldn't abide there because he was an apostle.

When he went to Corinth, though he stayed a year and six months, he couldn't abide there.

He was an apostle.

And if you're an apostle, you're not an apostle just to that church.

You're an apostle of the body of Christ.

You must keep moving.

You must keep moving.

When a man drives his peg and say, Well, I'm saying here, this is where the Lord put me, you may be an apostle to that, but you're not an apostle of the body of Jesus Christ.

Okay, I'm gonna stop here.

Any questions?

Brother, I'm a little chilling now.

Yes, sir.

Go ahead.

Give him a mic for the benefit of the CD.

Blaspheming.

Blaspheming the Holy Ghost.

Just kind of explain that.

Blaspheming the Holy Ghost, right?

Absolutely.

The word blaspheme, we can go through it for just a few seconds.

It means, first of all, to oppose.

It means to oppose.

Secondly, it means to withstand.

And thirdly, it means to resist.

When you do either one of those three, when you oppose, when you withstand, and you resist that which is ordained of God by His Spirit, you are blaspheming.

And of course, you can also blaspheme this two ways in the Bible.

You can also blaspheme with your mouth and your life.

The Bible says that you call the gospel of Christ to be blasphemed among the heathen.

In other words, uh I'm a I'm a I'm a saint and the body of Jesus Christ.

People look at my life.

And I say one thing with my mouth, but I do something else with my life.

And so I cause this way to be evil spoken of.

You don't realize that I'm just sitting among the people of God, that I'm really not committed.

I'm really not dedicated.

And so when you see me here at church, I'm at church, and then you watch me next day I'm cursing.

Or you watch me the next day my conduct is new.

Or you watch me the next day, my spirit is rank out there.

I act just like the world.

I talk like the world.

I dress like the world.

There's no difference.

And so when people see me, they say, oh, they just a bunch of hypocrites.

Well, see, you're causing people to blaspheme God and his temple, the people of God.

You're causing those people to be get that scripture for me, Brother Michael.

Um, God, let me get it.

Matter of fact, let me take us a few minutes here if I can.

Be patient with me.

Let's go to uh Acts 13 first.

Bear with me for a few moments here.

And I'll let you see a couple places.

Acts 13.

And uh Yes, I think so.

Get it from here, Brother Michael.

Yes, sir.

Acts 13, 45.

But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul.

And who was Paul was speaking by the inspiration of the what?

The Holy Ghost.

And contradicted in what?

And blaspheme.

Blaspheming.

Each time you see that, people have broken their plate.

He cuts them off.

Look.

Look what happened, verse 16.

He said, Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you.

But seeing you put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life.

Can you see that?

When they blaspheme, he stopped.

He said, But seeing you have put it from you and judge yourself unworthy of everlasting life, lo we turn to the what?

To the Gentiles.

They blaspheme.

And then, of course, you can see in Paul, I'm sorry, in Stephen's great disputation, uh go to the eighth chapter of the book of Acts while you're there.

Turn back a few more.

Seventh chapter, I'm sorry.

Look at the uh seventh chapter and the fifth and first verse.

Here's Stephen preaching.

You say ye stiff neck.

Look what he says.

You stiff necked, talking to the nation of Israel.

And what?

Uncircumcised and hard and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost as your father's.

You resist the Holy Ghost.

He didn't use the word blaspheme here.

He used the word resist the Holy Ghost.

They was blaspheming.

They was blaspheming.

Okay?

As your father did, so do ye.

Verse 52.

Watch this blaspheme.

Look at this form of blaspheming.

Which of the prophets have not your father persecuted?

And they have slain them which showed before the coming of the just one.

They was blaspheming, of whom you have now been the what?

The betrayers and what?

And murderers.

And so here they were.

They was blaspheming by their actions.

They was blaspheming what God had ordained.

Then again, you can begin to see.

Go over to another form of blaspheming.

Go over to Timothy, I think it is.

He uses the term here.

I'm sorry, go to 1 Timothy first.

Let's pick it up right there.

1 Timothy 1 and 20.

19 and 20.

1 Timothy 19.

Verse and 20 verse.

1 Timothy chapter 1.

1 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

Are you there?

He says, Holding faith in a good conscience, which some having put away concerning faith, have made shipwreck.

Well, who did this?

He'll call these ministers' name.

Of whom is Hymeneus?

He was a preacher.

And Alexandra, he was a preacher, whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to do what?

They may learn not to do what?

To blaspheme.

What was they doing?

They was preaching a lie.

They was living a lie.

They were saying one thing, but doing something else.

And cause people will say, listen, Christians are hypocrites.

Christians are not hypocrites.

You may have some hypocrites who say they are Christians, but Christians are not hypocrites.

Yes, Sister Fabby.

Give her the get her mic.

Mr.

Like your haircut.

When you say blaspheme, it means basically, are you referring to it meaning basically living a double life?

Well, it means to oppose God.

It means to withstand and resist God.

That by saying things against what God is doing, or you can do that with your life.

Your life talks also.

In other words, the Lord, here's the purpose of Jesus Christ came.

Paul said, The Lord, Jesus came to save sinners of whom I'm chief.

The whole purpose of this gospel is to see people saved.

If I'm living a life saying I'm a Christian, but cause people to stumble over my life, I'm blaspheming.

If people can't see God for seeing my wretched living, if they can't see righteousness for seeing me living two lives, if they can't see the love of God because all they see is deceit and guile in me, then I'm causing these people who are not saved to not see God.

My life is opposing God.

I'm saying I'm a Christian, but look how I'm living.

And so the people who need to be saved, they can't see Christ because he's seeing a hypocrite.

I'm living two lives.

So what am I doing?

My life is blaspheming God.

It's blaspheming God.

That's a scripture, brother Mike.

I can't pull it up.

I'm gonna need some help.

When he talks about, he's talking about women.

Look this word up.

He said the it caused the doctrine to be blaspheme.

Look that up.

I can't pull it up.

He said it caused the doctrine of Christ to be blaspheme.

And so how do you cause it to be blaspheme?

By the way you're living.

I can blaspheme with my mouth, or I can blaspheme with my life.

If I sit in these seats or I sit on this platform, a saint sees me.

Not a saint, someone looking for the Lord.

They see me and they all come to this church and they come and they sit here and they watch me.

And then the next time they see me, and I'm walking around with a muscle shirt on, shorts on, and using ghetto talk, I'm blaspheming.

But a guy just like me.

Let me give you an example.

I'll give you an example.

I remember this when I first got converted.

Now, as long as I was hypocritical, as long as I was just going to church to eat my conscience, it was fine.

But I'll never forget when I was converted.

I went back to the church where I was going, and I looked, this is the gospel as the Lord bear record, Brother Ron.

I was sitting in this church on church street, not far from where my office is.

I had been going there for several years.

And when I got converted, I went back, Sister Cheryl.

I looked up for the first time.

I looked real good, and the piano player was sweet.

And I looked.

Then I looked over in the choir and I had a young man, not a young man, he's as old as I am.

He had white pants on, see-through pants with tights on.

He could see his tights.

You you all know who, look, you know who he is, don't you?

Or who he, she is.

And I looked around and the whole place was full of homosexuals.

I had been sitting, this is the gospel.

I had been going there for two years and never noticed it.

I was going to church to ease my conscience because my mother and father taught me to go to church on Sunday.

And I went to church because I was taught to go.

I was whole while I was in church and looking at my watch.

NBA is gonna start at 12 o'clock.

We're gonna pick up some SUS on the way home.

That's all I was thinking.

Brother Mike, you did it.

That's all, and so I didn't see nothing and I didn't care about nothing.

I didn't care about anything.

I was just there to ease my conscience.

But fortunately, when the Lord converted me, and I began to read the things of God, went back to the same church that I had always been going, the Lord opened my eyes and let me see where I was sitting.

And had I stayed there, had I stayed there, that would have made me think that you can live any type of life.

I couldn't say that.

That was the grace of God.

It was the grace of God to show me.

Do you know what I did?

I called the pastor and the deacons and asked them.

I say, Do you see what's here?

Do you see what's on the piano?

And he said, was if if you're a perfect man, you're in the wrong church.

I say, so I am.

Come to find out he was sweet.

The pastor.

Huh?

Yeah, I didn't know he was sweet.

If you're in the wrong, you think you practice you're in the wrong church.

What?

And so this is what you saw in the city.

And so everybody thinks everybody lives any type of life.

Christianity is just something you do to ease your conscience.

Nobody's serious about salvation.

What are they doing?

That's blaspheming.

It's blaspheming the gospel.

You go to church to hear a Sunday message to ease your conscience and go out and live any type of life.

No conviction, no standards, no principles.

This is not Christianity.

That is not what Christianity is.

And that's what I had seen all those years.

You follow the scripture for me, Brother Michael?

Yes, go ahead.

Somebody get a concordance.

Look, I'm gonna tell you what it says.

I can't pull it up.

Huh?

That's it.

That's it.

Yes, I'm sorry, go ahead.

Turn your mic on.

I don't hear it.

This was referring to Paul.

So when Paul was called Saul, could he be considered, I guess, a blasphemer since he was.

Opposing to blasphemer and an injurious person.

You know how he was blaspheming?

He wasn't blaspheming by living a lie, he was blaspheming by saying these people shouldn't be preaching this gospel.

And so he persecuted the church.

When he persecuted the church, he was working against God.

He was opposing and resisting and withstanding what God was doing.

And Paul paid for that.

How did he pay for that?

Everywhere he went, he had an upheaval against him.

But he remembered he did the same thing himself.

And that's why he listened he when he see repentance not just saying I'm sorry.

Repentance is being godly sorry, but realize there's a consequence to what you did.

You know, when I when I say forgive me, and I want you to forgive me, and I want you to walk away, but no, I I can't just walk, I can't, I'm I can't expect you just to walk away, Brother Michael.

I stole your cow.

I can't walk over and say, Brother Michael, forgive me and go home and eat steaks.

Me for it.

There's consequences.

Give that man his cow back.

If I don't butcher the cow up and give him this cow back, pluck something else.

What do I have to do to get that right?

Sure.

If I transgress against you, it's not enough to say I'm sorry.

When I transgress against you, I become a debtor to you.

What do I have to do to get that right with you?

I have to bring forth fruits.

You can't just, you know, the spouses are real good with that.

You know, when you when you try when you cross them.

You tell them you're sorry, you know, you might want to tell it too.

We have to do make brownie points, suck up, take them to dinner, scroll through the mall.

You're trying to get, well, you you did something, you said something, you hurt their feelings, you got to bring forth some fruits.

Come on, brothers.

You might want to fess up, you know you do it.

Amen.

Yeah.

Well, that's that's Bible principle, brother Elton.

You have to bring forth fruits to meet for repentance.

You can't just say, I'm sorry.

Paul was an injurious person, he said that, and a blasphemer.

So when things was against him, he couldn't say, Lord, why is this going wrong?

Why are these things happening to me?

He did the same thing himself.

And remember, the Lord said he's I'm gonna show Paul what great things he must suffer for my name's sake.

But he was a blasphemer.

He had to pay for that.

Is that enough on that?

Or uh do you want to go in the further?

Let me read that scripture, Brother Michael.

Get that for me first.

I saw your hand.

Go to Titus.

Where are we going, Brother Michael?

Listen to this.

Verse 2.

I'm gonna a chapter 2.

I want you to read this.

I want you to read this so you don't say Brother Brown said this.

But this is how women and men blaspheme with their lives.

Verse 1.

Are you there?

I'm reading it wasn't written in chapters and verse.

Let's read down to it properly.

Uh chapter 1, verse 16.

They profess that they know God, but in works, do you see that word?

But in works they do what?

They say they know him, but in works they deny him, being what?

A triple and abominable, that's on the other side of sin.

So they say they're being homosexuals?

They be add on sins, they're being abominable and what?

Disobedient.

Disobedient to who?

To the laws of God and the ways of God, and unto every good work of what?

What do you mean a good work?

What do you mean serving people?

Doing what's right, considering what my actions may do to somebody else.

A reprobate.

You know what reprobate is?

That's somebody who just can't turn.

He said, but speak thou, it was written in chapters and uh it was written in chapter and verse, so keep reading.

But speak thou the things which become what?

Sound doctrine.

Here they are.

That aged men.

He didn't say the ministry here, though ministers are part of the aged man.

An aged man, that's not somebody who's 80 or 90 or 110.

You can be 20 years old and be aged.

Aged meaning mature and the things of God.

That aged men be what?

Sober.

What do you mean sober?

Not always joking and gesturing and foolish talking.

Be sober.

Why?

Because if if you perceive me as a clown, then you're not gonna take me serious.

He should be sober and then what?

Grave.

You know what a grave is different between sober, a sober person, you can be a person full of, I'm full of play by nature.

My family, I came up like that.

Just clowns, nothing but clowns.

And so I'm not a grave person.

I have to make myself grave, but I can be sober.

A grave person, brother Michael is grave.

Yeah, he has a little play in it, but brother Michael is great.

But when I saw Brother Russell, here's the personification of grave.

No, he's he's not, he's just a serious person.

Brother Russell, I'm not trying to, I mean, I love Brother Russell.

You know I love him.

I love him dearly.

Brother Russell was here for a whole year before he could really smile with us.

You remember that?

You remember that, Brother Mike?

I remember the first time he smiled.

Sister Pam, you remember that?

Brother Russell, you and Tara joking, Brother Russell.

One day he loosened up.

We was eating dinner, and Brother Russell actually smiled.

And then he cut it off.

He cut it, he caught himself.

But that's that's his mannerism.

That's his mannerism.

He's just a serious person.

Well, you may not be that type of person, but I mean that may not be your attribute, but you have to be grave.

You have to be sober, not always gesturing, and you have to be grave, be serious, be serious.

Now watch these attributes.

He said, temperate.

That word means I shouldn't be up today and down tomorrow.

Sound in faith.

That is, I'm never doubting the things of God and I'm never ignorant when it comes to the understanding of God's gospel.

He said, uh, sound in faith, in charity, that is how I love God's people, and in what?

Patience.

That's a mature man.

Now he addresses the other opposite sex.

The opposite, not the other, but just one.

The opposite sex.

The aged women likewise that they be, are you there with me?

That they be in behavior as becoming what?

An aged woman should exhibit holiness.

Holiness is not letting your dress drag on the ground, but you should be modest.

The key to uh your attire should be moderation.

The less skin you show, the better, but you don't have to drag on the ground.

You don't have to be uh form-fitting, but you should consider am I causing someone to stare upon my body features?

An aged woman, uh, just naturally, if you get to be 80 years old, you're not gonna glory in your body.

And so you don't address in a way that brings attention to your body.

You you're 90 years old, you dress sober.

Well, this is the same way spiritually.

You can tell something about a person by how they attire themselves.

If I'm glorious in my flesh, and I want you to see my flush, then I'm just immature.

That's what you young people do, that you expect that from them.

That's immaturity.

But what do I look like?

And I you've seen people do this, Brother Michael.

I'm 50 years old, and you see me come here with some Michael Jordans on chains hanging around my neck.

You say, man, Brother Brown, dress like he's 16 years old.

That's offensive.

Won't he dress his age?

Dress like you're 50.

You ever seen 50-year-old men with biker shorts on?

I have.

Big jerseys hanging all the way.

I've seen that.

You're 40 years old, act grave, dress uh seemingly.

And so he uses the term, listen, look at these terms he's using.

And see, those things are blasphemy.

I'm gonna show you this.

I'm not making this up.

Uh he said, and becoming holiness, not what?

False accusers.

What's false accusers?

When you see someone's action, I saw Brother Michael over there, and man, look like he was fussing at brother Jeff.

Well, see, you don't know the intent.