Acts Chapter 17 (2009)

Yeah, I know it's a song.

I can't remember all the words of it, but to know him isn't a love.

I think it's impossible.

And no, it's impossible to uh to know him without learning of him.

And of course that's a commandment.

It's not even a, and people don't think it is, but it is.

Uh it's not an uh uh uh an option, it's not a suggestion, but Jesus told us to take his yoke, take his yoke upon us and learn of him.

That is a commandment.

And to love him, Jesus, I'm sorry, I think uh God makes that statement uh through John.

That is, well we know we love him if we keep his commandment.

And people think about the team, but that's not the commandment he'd given us under grace and truth.

But he did give us many.

And one of those is that we should love uh that is one another as he has loved us.

He commanded you and I that we should study the scriptures to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needed not be ashamed.

And the one that I'm so ecstatic about is that he gave us a commandment to take his yoke, as I stated earlier, take his yoke upon him upon us and learn of him.

That's not an option.

Uh that's not if we feel like it.

That is an absolute commandment.

And he said, his yoke is easy.

Well, the yoke of the Lord are the things that actually make us become one with him.

Uh a yoke is what you put on two animals to actually cause those two to work together.

Uh that's why he says, and I think that's Deuteronomy 22, uh, you shouldn't plow with an ox and an ass.

You don't want to yoke those two together.

And then he says again in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 that we're not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers.

1 Corinthians 7 · chapter mention

Uh but a yoke.

Uh when we had them and when I was a young lad, uh they was like a cross.

And uh we put them on a milk cow.

My grandfather was a farmer living right next door.

But then you used to do that too?

Yeah.

We asked all we had was a milk cow.

We plowed with them and then we milked them.

Well, that's what we did.

We had those stubborn mew.

And uh we plowed with a milk cow and a meal.

Well, that was uh an awkward combination.

But the mew, he learned he couldn't run off and leave the ox.

Uh, that is the milk cowl, I'm sorry.

And the milk cowl realized it had to keep pace.

And so when we begin to yoke up with Jesus Christ, it's the word of God that actually makes us one.

And so John put it this way that if we walk in the light, as he, that is Jesus Christ, is in the light, uh, thank God we'll have fellowship one with the other.

But it takes a yoke to make us walk together, and that is the word of God.

That is the yoke that we've actually put upon us, and it's not grievous, it's not burdened, absolutely not.

Uh, when you love someone, the things that you do for them isn't difficult.

It's just not difficult.

It comes quite easy when you do it out of love.

And it's the love of God that actually constrains us.

And as we begin to actually learn the ways of the Lord, uh it takes a little, it takes a little consecration.

It's not a book that you can actually pick up like a novel.

You can't pick it up and read it and then set it down, or maybe glance here and glance that it doesn't work that way.

Uh, do you know we have to walk with the Lord a space when you begin to get into the Word of God?

Uh just for Him to join Himself with you.

You can't pick it up and read 30 minutes, or pick it up and someone read 15 minutes, it doesn't go that way.

When those two disciples are on the Damascus Road, brother they began, as those men began to walk, Jesus joined himself with them.

But he had to walk with them a space before he actually opened their eyes, as the Bible said, and opened up their understanding.

Even so in the Word of God, when we first approach it, uh, we've been spending time just being natural, just being uh mothers and fathers and sons and daughters and uh students and employees and so on and so forth.

And when you open up this holy writ, our mind is full of cockwells, it's full of dust.

And so as you keep reading and you keep reading, brother, you begin to get into the spirit of the writing and of the writer, and the Lord begins to actually join you.

And then somewhere, you don't know exactly when, brother, but you felt a hook and slipped in your jaw, and you just can't put it down.

You just can't put it down.

And it creates, it creates a love for the things of God, a love for truth.

And to love the Lord, you have to love truth.

You have to hate every false way, because the Bible said he does.

And so uh a false way is not just someone out stealing and killing and robbing, and that's uh that's that's sad that we would have that in our nature, and it is in us, it is in us, as Brother Watson pointed out.

Uh, but that's not the false way the Bible's talking about.

Uh the Bible says there is a way which seemed right unto a man, but the end thereof is the ways of death, and that is our own witty inventions.

That's our thoughts and concepts.

And uh no doubt many great people have done great things with great desires and great motive.

But if it's not done according to the will of God or the word of God, it's still not right.

Uh, it may be good things, but it's not right.

Do you know in the cemetery right next door?

I think we got a little bit too much.

Uh, brother, there was a lot of good people.

There's a lot of good people who actually is in their cemetery.

There was people who did great things and they're in their cemetery.

There's great, sincere Christians in there in their cemetery.

Uh, there's people who actually, no doubt, uh they did all they thought was right, Brother Arnell, and yet they're in the cemetery.

But we've often said you won't find one overcomer in the cemetery.

You may find his caucus there, you may find the house he used to live in, but there's not one overcomer who will ever taste death.

And it's hard, it's impossible, it's not hard, but it's impossible to overcome something that you don't know exists.

It's impossible to win a war when you don't know who the enemy is.

Uh I've watched, uh pretty religiously, I guess, when they uh had these wars initially with uh the first uh Persian Gulf War.

You know, most of the people who died in America, they died from friendly fire.

Most of the American soldiers in the first Persian War died from friendly fire.

They didn't know who the enemy was.

Brother, I like to know who the enemy is, and I like to make sure I have it right.

And uh as we begin to get into this book of Acts, uh, we can actually see, uh nowhere in the latter chapters now, we can begin to see this great man Paul, and everywhere he went, he had adversaries.

It didn't start out that way.

Every time he went, he went to the synagogue, he was a good guy.

But when he stood on his feet and opened his mouth, and the word of God began to go forth, the same people that received him with all readiness of mind, they turned to hate him.

You know what caused him to hate him?

It's the words he spoke.

Why?

Because he was cutting them to their heart.

He wasn't intending to do so, but they love what they were taught.

They love their tradition, they love their ritual, and they love the Lord, the concept they had of God.

They loved that, but it wasn't according to knowledge.

They had a great zeal, Paul said.

He said, I bet on record, they have a zeal, but it's not according to knowledge.

And being ignorant of God's righteousness, they went about to establish their own righteousness, and we'll do likewise.

If uh if our eyes isn't open, we'll do what's right in our own eyes.

And the Bible called that the ways that seem right unto a man.

But the end thereof is the ways, and use S on it because you look at all those different ways.

The Pharisees, that was the way, the Sadducees, the Estimes, the Zillach, those was different ways.

But those were just the ways of death.

Every man who died in that system, they went to the grave.

Every man who died in that organization, they went to the grave.

Doesn't mean God won't get them up, but brother, they had to taste death because they didn't overcome the enemy.

They didn't overcome the enemy.

And uh Paul, uh the Bible, he makes a statement, I say the Bible, but he wrote this himself.

It's in uh 2 Corinthians chapter 11.

2 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

He said, uh, lest he should be exalted above uh measure for the abundance of revelation that he had, that was given him a thorn in the flesh.

He said, That's the messenger of Satan to buffet me.

And everywhere you read throughout the book of Acts, not one time did he ever escape.

Regardless of what synagogue, what city he went to, he never escaped.

That messenger of Satan followed him, stirred up people no matter where he went.

And the Lord allowed that.

Was that an enemy?

Yes, it was an enemy.

But see, that was an enemy that the Lord allowed.

And uh I know I don't want to talk about the devil today, but it's kind of hard not to, because see, that's the flexibility of that word.

Uh the word devil is not just a devil uh adversary to uh from God to God, it can be an adversary from God.

God sends adversaries, he absolutely does.

And uh, is it an adversary?

Yes, it is, but sometimes it's working the will of God to work something in you or to work something out of me.

And so here's Paul with this great knowledge that he had of the things of God.

Do you know that was not a scripture in this Bible that Paul didn't understand?

Do you know that was not one verse that he couldn't give you the true interpretation of?

Did you know he never misapplied one single word of the Bible, not one time?

Look what he made.

This is a great statement he made.

He wasn't boasting.

Uh, in the 20th chapter of Acts, Brother Michael, when he got those elders together, elders together from Ephesus, he said, I have not shone, listen to this both this great, bold statement.

I have not shone to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

Brother, who can make that statement?

Who can say, I have not shone to declare unto you all the counsel of God?

No man walking in shoe leather in this hour can make that statement.

But brother Paul could make it.

He could make it, and then he was pending that he said it.

And so here's a man who had all the counsel of God.

And he wasn't the only one, but brother, that was that great, uh, that was that great uh woman that was born on the day of Pentecost.

That was that great church.

Uh, and what made it so great, it had an apostolic order.

Uh there was no leaven in their doctrine.

Uh that well, you wouldn't get two or three different interpretations, and yet that man, with the great abundance of revelation he had, do you know he couldn't do anything about these adversaries?

He couldn't do a thing about them.

And what he'd have to do is get his duffet bag, and it was time to leave the city.

He couldn't stay anywhere very long.

He couldn't stay anywhere with all his revelations he had, you would think he would sit there and pound into the hearts of people, and then boom, that would be a whole church that would go up in the uh uh uh and and they're catching away.

But not so.

Brother, God made sure that this man kept his, he kept his uh his head between his knees.

He had to constantly pray.

When he went to a city, he knew his time was limited.

It was just a matter of time.

It was just a matter of time, brother, before the devil would get loose.

It was just a matter of time, brother, before these adversaries would stir up a great insurrection.

And uh the Lord allowed that.

They allowed that, and all he had, he couldn't stop it.

There was nothing he could say to change those people's minds.

Do you know why?

Brother, they was they were persuaded what they were doing was right.

And how could Paul get angry at them?

How could Paul indict them because he himself, he said it himself, likewise, brother, one time thought he should do that.

Remember, he was the one who was persecuting the Christians.

He was the one that they laid their uh coats at his feet when he stoned Stephen.

So he knew what it's like.

He said, being more exceedingly mad.

He knew what it was like to think you're doing God a service.

These people shouldn't be saying these things, they shouldn't be teaching those things.

He called the Christians that set.

He called them that sect.

That's the term we use today.

We use the word cult.

And uh that's what he referred to the Christians at.

And so when the Lord opened his eyes and he seen these Judaizers and these people who were still in that great ditch, even though they were persecuting him, he had compassion.

And uh let's get back into the book of Acts and pick up where we stop.

But before we do that, I don't want time to get away from us, but I'm afraid, you know, it's by reason of use we have our senses exercise to discern good and evil.

I'm afraid if I don't keep these things in front of us, somebody might forget the books of the Bible.

And it would be to our shame, wouldn't it?

It would, wouldn't it?

If we're Bible people and we don't even have enough love for God to at least learn his books, my God, that would be to our shame.

Where would I sit in the kingdom?

Where would I actually sit, brother uh Jeff, if I was to sit down in third heaven?

I've been reaped, and the bride's been reaped, and right next to me is James.

Right across from me is John, and there's Peter.

Where would I sit?

And I don't even know the books of the Bible.

My God.

God forbid, real briefly, let's go through this quickly.

We'll just go in uh, I guess we'll go in chronological order to save time.

And the first book of the Bible is like I said to the kids, and the first book is.

Lamentations.

Why was that written?

Who wrote it?

Why did he write that?

He was weeping over the condition of Israel and the judgment that was impending.

And it wasn't but a few years off.

Brother, when he saw what God was about to do to the city of Jerusalem and the people of Israel, brother, he wept.

He said, brother, his eyes, brother Michael, was as a fountain of water.

He wept day and night.

And brother, he couldn't do it enough.

He said, call for the morning women.

He needed some help with the great destruction that was going to come upon Jerusalem.

And then after he wrote Lamentation, he wrote another book that bears his name, which is and it was before?

That's like the ABC's, man.

I think it's gonna come before we elf.

I got to sing them.

Okay, Jeremiah Lamentation.

Why was the book?

Why was the book of Nahum written?

Does anybody know?

That's another interesting book.

When Israel was about to be destroyed, as a matter of fact, when the Babylonians was coming in, you know what the Israel brother did?

They had a brother by the name of, I say the brother, this was a relative, uh Esau, which was uh Isaac the twin.

Remember Esau?

Jacob twin, I'm sorry.

You remember him?

Well he had descendants called Edomites.

And when the children of Israel was about to be destroyed because the Babylonians had came, some of them jumped out the wall and started running by the thousands.

And the Edomites came out and started flagging them.

They say, hey, hey, Babylonian, better go catch him.

Get him.

And though God was judging Israel, he remembered what the Edomites did.

And that book of Nahum was written just for that purpose, to describe the destruction that was what God was going to bring on Edomites for looking upon Jacob's nakedness.

Anybody who can rejoice at somebody being chastised by God, you're in danger.

You're in a whole lot of trouble.

And Edomite didn't get a chance to learn that lesson because he destroyed it.

They looked on Israel's nakedness in the day of their calamity.

That's what the Bible said.

And so he wrote that book.

Nahum wrote it.

But it's a dreadful little book.

A dreadful little book.

And had Edomite had read it, had heard it, brother, I would have no longer been an Edomite.

I would have changed my nationality to an Israelite.

Because that's not one Edomite was going to be spared if you were under that umbrella.

When the judgment of God goes out, brother, I'm not going down with the ship.

I'm a jump ship because my life is at stake.

And then the last book of the Bible is what?

Malachi.

What's the next one?

How long a span of time is between Malachi and Matthew's?

400 quiet years, the Lord wouldn't say a word.

You think he wasn't upset?

For 400 years he wouldn't talk to Israel until Jesus Christ came.

And then, okay, now one of the New Testament, which is Matthew and I'm looking at your sister, Betty.

You remind me of Helen, you're moving your lips, but ain't nothing coming out.

Okay, all right.

Oh sorry, where we stop at Hebrews.

Hebrews.

All right.

If you hadn't learned them, make sure you get those under your rib.

Make sure you take time to learn the books of the Bible.

Brother Rom's daughter is oh now to you, two and a half.

And uh she can recite the first six books of the New Testament repetitively.

A two and a half year old.

As a matter of fact, uh Fallon can't even read.

He can't even read.

You know, he know most of his books, he knows you know most of them.

You know most of the books of the Bible and can recite them and can't even read.

Out of the moms of babes, he said he has perfected praise.

Somebody's gonna get it right.

And now as we begin to move forward forward in the book of Acts, uh, where did we stop?

I can't I don't know why I can't keep up without stopping.

We finished the 16th chapter.

We fixed the 16th chapter, finished the 16th.

Let's go to the 17th chapter.

Brother, we're coming close to the end, aren't we?

There's only 11 chapters left.

I think it's 28 chapters.

Yeah, it's only 11 uh short chapters.

Chapters that actually get shorter as we move forward.

Oh, there's a couple that has a little length.

Let's go to uh, you know, before we do the 17th chapter, I made a statement, and I think it's it it'll behoove us to squeeze the oil out of that statement.

I felt the Holy Ghost when I said it, I really did, uh, that is pertaining to Paul.

Let's make sure when we're reading, we're not just reading words, let's not lose context of the things that had expired, uh, had transpired, I'm sorry, and the things that were happening at that moment.

The first thing you want to remember, here's this man, remember this, remember this.

Here's this man who was a Hebrew of the Hebrews.

He was a Pharisee.

He was entrenched in the law of Moses from his youth up.

And so this is a man who was steeped in tradition.

He was steeped in religion, he was steeped in a certain way of doing things.

Do you know the Pharisee was the strictest of all the uh denominations?

That was the strictest sect.

It was the absolute strictest.

And Paul was born that way.

His father was a Pharisee.

He came up there.

Not only did he come up in it, brother, but he actually sat at the feet of Gameleo.

And he was a doctrine of the law.

He was the master in Israel.

And so here this man is, he was well learned.

And when it came to the law of Moses, but when it came to understanding, when it came to a revelation, he didn't have it.

But when it came to knowledge, he had it.

Just a letter.

But the letter killed it, it's the what?

Spirit that gave it life.

And so here's this man in all of his great zeal trying to make sure that Christianity, which he felt was a cult, it was an offshoot, which it was.

Christianity was an offshoot from Judaism.

It really was.

And that's why this woman had the moon under her feet.

But brother, but because salvation was of the Jew.

It's still of the Jews.

If you're going to be saved, I hate to tell you this, but a Jew is gonna save you.

His name is Jesus Christ.

He's a Jew.

He's a Jew.

Absolutely.

That is according to the flesh.

But when this man began to hear about this sect called Christianity and what they taught, you know what they taught that really enraged Paul so much, that really uh kindled his great wrath, is they actually taught the law of Moses was going to be done away with.

That the law of Moses did not mean what it said.

The law of Moses was just pictures and types.

It was just a schoolmaster.

The law of Moses had been fulfilled in Christ and it was done away with.

All of those things, the eating of uh animals that split the hoof and chew the cud, God wasn't concerned about you eating pork.

That was an illustration.

And when Paul heard those things, it inflamed him.

It inflamed him.

And so he thought these Christians should be done away with.

And brother, and the Lord began in the ninth chapter, I won't go through that, uh reading, that is, but in the ninth chapter, when the Lord actually brought that man to the earth, knocked him down to the ground, and he saw this great light that was bright in the noonday sun.

Do you realize it's the last thing he saw?

He was totally blind after that, in a humble state.

But what really broke his heart is when the Lord rebuked him and told him it's hard for him to kick against the prey.

If something is of God, you can't stop it.

And Paul humbled himself.

He went to Damascus and he was shown in a vision that a man an eyes would come and lay his hands on him, which he did.

And then he received the sight not just naturally.

But spiritually as well.

And as that man began, let's just pick it up.

I'm going to do the 17th chapter, but I'd like to squeeze the oil out of a couple statements here.

Uh that you and I will keep our hearts uh open to the Lord.

Here's a man.

Do you know if the Lord hadn't brought that man to that degraded state of being blind, he could not have he couldn't have seen these things.

He wouldn't have heard these things.

He couldn't have.

He was too proud, too stiff, too staunch in his background, in his pedigree.

Brother, I could, and I don't boast, but my grandfather was in the bee church.

My father passed three churches in the bee church.

All of my relatives of, and it was all hypocrites, but they're all in the bee church.

And I could say I was born in a bee and I'm gonna die in the bee.

That's what I would have done.

That is exactly what I would have done.

I never would have thought I would ever be anything else but that particular persuasion.

Never would have believed it.

But there was something the Lord put in my heart.

Just an appetite for understanding the Bible.

It wasn't so much, brother, uh initially that I just wanted to be, I didn't know what overcome it was, but I wanted to understand this great book.

When I was converted, when I found my wife's Bible, it wasn't mine, so I didn't have one.

Brother, but I had an appetite.

I read it like a maniac, but I couldn't understand what I was reading.

And that's what the Lord used to actually put a hook in my jaw.

He put a desire to understand it.

But here's the thing about Paul.

Here's the thing about Paul.

When his eyes was opened, the first thing he loved his family, it's his nation Israel, the nation of Israel.

So he went to them trying to give this to them.

He tried to give it to them.

Sister uh Betty, I mean Sister Missy, he tried to give it to them, but they couldn't hear it.

It just didn't make sense.

How can you tell me that a man dying, a man who walked in shoe leather, he died, he resurrected, he went back to heaven, and that's how I'm going to be saved.

That just makes no sense.

And that no longer should I look to Moses, but I should look to this one that you call Jesus.

It made no sense.

That inflamed them.

It inflamed them.

And so as Paul began to go, uh that is to Damascus, uh, to that synagogue, let's just real briefly bring him to the 17th chapter.

I think you would appreciate it if we can kind of follow this man's life to the 17th chapter and see what actually transpired.

And then you can see this great thorn, this great thorn that was given to him in the flesh.

You can begin to see uh, brother, how he had to actually bear great things.

Look at in the ninth chapter, and this is the Lord talking to Ananias and telling him to go pray for uh Paul.

Uh look at verse 15, 9 and 15.

Let's just pick it up in a few verses.

We'll move uh speedily to get this to the 17th chapter.

Ananias did not want to go.

And look what Ananias told him in the uh 13th verse.

He said, Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem.

Uh 9 and 14.

He said, and here he hath authority from the chief priest to bind, that is, when he say bind, he means to lock them up.

He said, A bind all that call on thy name.

But the Lord said unto him, look at this.

He said, Go thy way, go thy way, that is, do what I told you to do.

For he, talking about Paul, which is called Saul at that time, he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my names before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

Verse 16 is the one I think we should take note of.

For I will show him, hadn't showed him at this time, for I will show him how great things he what?

He must suffer for my name's sake.

And brother, that's what he did.

He suffered great things.

And as we can begin to see here, as Ananias actually prayed for him in the 17th verse, told him to receive his sight, the 17th verse, he was baptized, uh, the 19th verse, he received meat.

That's not just natural meat, but it's the word of God, and uh he was strengthened.

And then, of course, he was certain days with the disciples, and look at verse 20.

Straightway he preached, get this.

I want you to watch these verses.

I don't know how many we'll touch on, but get your notepad.

I want you to watch this.

Take a note of this.

This is not by coincidence.

Look at this 20th verse.

And straightway, that word means immediately, he preached Christ where?

Went to the Jewish church.

He went straight there and began to preach Christ.

That he was the Son of God.

But look, they didn't want to hear this.

Verse 23.

After many days were fulfilled, the Jews took what?

There he goes.

The first place he started preaching, his life got in danger from the beginning.

Because he escaped.

He said, verse 25.

Then the disciples took him by night, let him down by a wall in the basket.

So he escaped, didn't he?

But it didn't stop there.

It did not stop there.

Uh go down a little bit further to uh verse 29, still talking about Paul.

And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Grecians.

That word Grecians, that is not Hebrew, uh that's not Greek Grecians, that's those uh Hebrews that came from those other nations.

And he used the term Grecians here.

You have to you'll see the difference.

He's saying they went about to do what?

To slay him.

They wanted to kill him.

Which, when the brothers knew, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Tartus.

They sent him back where he came from.

He said, then the churches had rest.

And so here he is, brother, he's back at home.

But the zeal he had and the truth he had wouldn't let him hold his peace.

And he had a gift that was absolutely undeniable.

And the 11th chapter, uh, let's go to the 12th chapter.

Uh in the 11th chapter, let's get it.

Let's go to 11.

11 and 25.

Here's Bonhamus went down to Ananias, went up to uh Antioch, I'm sorry.

And of course he saw how great that church was.

He had many people, he needed some help.

Uh he didn't have a gift enough to teach these people alone.

And verse 25, then departed Bonhamus to Tartas to seek for who?

To seek for Saul.

And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch.

And it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church and taught much people.

And the disciples was first called Christians, was called Christian first in Antioch.

Okay, so there's that great church, and how that church was actually prospering under the ministry of Paul and Bonabas.

And now you can begin to see here in the 13th chapter.

Now here's the Lord making a difference.

Prophets and teachers.

Notice they didn't say apostles because he hadn't yet manifested gift.

Verse 22.

And as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said that it is through one of those prophets, through one of those teachers, the Holy Ghost spoke.

The Holy Ghost said, Separate me, Bonabus and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them.

He called them to be saints, but he also called them with a heavenly purpose.

He did.

And then they began to go on and say, and then uh verse 2 3, and when they fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

Let me say this: every man that's working in order had to be ordained of God.

And it was that ordination was confirmed by God.

Uh Joshua didn't take it upon himself, but uh Moses laid hands on Joshua.

Elijah had hands laid on him by Elisha.

Do you know that Jesus Christ laid his hands on all those apostles?

And those apostles laid their hands on the men who came after them.

Thank you, turn it.

It's pretty cold.

And so they're working in order.

They are working in order.

Though the Lord called them, it was confirmed by the land on the hands of the Presbyter.

Now, here they go.

Brother, they go on verse 4 now.

And so they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, they departed.

They began to go out and do a work.

But watch what happened.

As soon as they go out, brother, somebody withstands them.

Uh look at verse 6.

And when they have gone through the aisle until Patmos, they found a certain sorcerer.

You know why they call him a sorcerer?

This man was a Jew.

But brother, he was using methods to seduce people.

You ever see someone are proclaimed to have some great spiritual gift, something real mystical?

The Bible called that bewitching you.

Do you remember Simon the sorcerer?

That's what he did.

That's bewitching you.

And I don't want to be offensive here, but you ever see ever went to a service and somebody come out and this little uh incense?

Oh, low.

You know about that Mrs.

Christine.

What does that mean?

What are they saying?

But you say, oh, isn't that spiritual?

No, that's bewitching you.

That's sorcery.

That's sorcery.

Oh, let's keep going.

Or you, stand up.

That's sorcery, and everybody else is.

Oh.

Oh.

I don't see the Bible for that.

That's bewitching you.

That's trickery.

The Lord doesn't operate that way.

Or Brother Brown, how do you know?

Because we have a guideline to go by.

We don't see that.

There's no Bible precedence for that.

Amen.

Let's keep reading, though.

But let's see what happened.

Here he is.

He found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was what?

Bar Jesus.

That means his father's name was Jesus.

We talked about that.

But look what it happened.

This man here, brother, verse 4.

Verse 8, I'm sorry.

But his master is the saucer, for so his name, for so is his name by interpretation.

He did what?

Withstood him.

There we go again, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.

And see, Saul didn't have a revelation that this was from God.

He's going to have this everywhere he goes.

And brother, being new, look what he did.

Who was called Paul?

He felt the Holy Ghost, and brother, he used that power he felt.

He used it to correct this man or reduke.

You won't see him do it again.

He's called Paul the age.

But in his youth, in his youth, he was a wrong man to withstand.

Remember what he did when he was in Jerusalem?

Remember how he helped the coach of those who saw him see it?

Brother, that was in him.

And look what he did.

Then Saul, who was also called Paul, this introduction to his Gentile name, filled with the Holy Ghost.

And brother, he had it.

When this man stood on his feet, the Holy Ghost was in him.

He set his eyes on him and said, Oh, fool of all subtility and all mischief, thou what?

You child of the devil.

You enemy of all it is.

You enemy of what?

All righteousness.

Will thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?

And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be what?

Blind.

Not seeing the sun for a season.

And brother, he did it.

And you see those things actually happened.

That is what was in him.

But brother, no doubt the Lord dealt with him.

Listen, you're going to suffer some things.

You're going to go through some things.

The opposition that Paul went through actually made him better.

What do you mean it made him better?

It kept him from being exalted and helping to realize he's not going to stay any place too long.

The one time, two times he actually stayed in a city, he stayed in uh in uh Corinth for a year and six months.

And he stayed in Ephesus for two years.

But the Lord had to tell him, look, stay here.

Nobody's gonna hurt you.

I have much people in this city.

If he hadn't told him that, Paul, brother, when it got hot, he would have done what he always did.

Brother, he would have realized the Lord is telling me to leave.

This is what was in that man.

But let's keep reading.

Let's keep reading.

Brother Michael, help me out in verse 14.

I'm running out of time.

He said, but when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Poseidon and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.

He goes into the synagogue, he knows they're gonna reject him.

And of course, uh there he preached, and of course the people did reject him.

Verse 16 and said, Help me now, brother Michael.

Then Paul stood up and beckoned in his hand and said, Men of Israel and ye that fear God, give audience.

He said, The God of this people Verse 16.

Yeah.

13 and 16?

Yeah.

Then Paul stood up and beckoning his hand said, Men of Israel and ye that fear God, give audience.

13 and 16?

That's 13 and 16.

That's 13 and 46.

I'm sorry.

I'm looking at the number.

46.

He said, Then Paul somebody bewitched you over that, Brother Michael.

Go ahead.

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

That's because they were Jews.

It's the Jews first, and let them reject it, and then it's the Gentiles.

But seeing ye put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.

My God.

And Brother Paul, at that instant, he left them and started preaching to the Gentiles.

And of course, it got too hot.

Go to chapter 14.

We'll work them to the 17th verse.

14 and 1.

He said, and it came to pass in Iconium that they went, went both together into the synagogue of the city.

Every time he goes into a city, he goes straight to where the people who was panting after God would go.

Do you know that there was always somebody who heard?

The majority rejected, but there was always somebody there who had an appetite for truth.

The rest love their tradition.

Keep reading.

Yes, sir.

I'm sorry.

Give me my mic.

Brother Mr.

You intimidated by your father?

Did your father intimidate you?

Tell the truth.

You know you better be scared.

I'm scared for you if you're not scared.

Look at him in the eye, though.

Look at my look at him in the eye.

Look up at him.

Put that mic close to his mouth.

I'll tell you now, speak up, daddy.

My question is uh Acts 19, 15, which we went over.

Acts 19?

No, sir, Acts 9 and 15.

Okay.

When it says, But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way, for he is he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and the kings and the children of Israel.

Now, right here in 15, in verse, in verse 15, where he mentions the Gentiles first, knowing that the uh uh Israel, of course, was the Jews, and this gospel was presented first to the Jews, then the Gentiles was gonna be engrafted in.

And this is what I was looking at uh verse 46 that we just read when they rejected the whenever the Jews rejected this this gospel, then he turned to the Gentiles.

Why in 9 and 15 he mentions the Gentiles first versus the Jews?

That's a good question, because Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles.

It was Peter who had the gospel to the circumcision of the Jews.

And Paul was apostle to the Gentiles.

That's what his calling was to the Gentiles' people.

He would testify to Israel, but that was not his purpose.

It's like a man who's called to uh to teach.

He may end up pastoring, but that's not his purpose.

It may be out of necessity.

And so he did testify to the to the Jews.

He couldn't help it, he loved his people, he loved his nation.

He said he could wish he was cut off from Christ uh for his kinsman's sake.

But he was an apostle to the Gentiles.

That's what his ministry.

As a matter of fact, he makes that declaration uh in Galatia.

He said that the gospel uh of the of the uh uncircumcision was committed to him, as the gospel of the circumcision was committed to Peter.

And so he put Gentile first because that was his call to the Gentile.

You follow what I'm saying?

Well, it's about a burden.

And I don't think it's initially the burden was in his heart.

He developed a burden, he was biased.

He was biased to his own.

Uh, but he learned to love the Gentile people.

He learned to love them like he loved his own.

Uh but his burden, his burden was for his nation of Israel.

Everybody.

You know, when a person gets saved, you love your family, don't you?

You try to share with them if there's an open door, but then you learn to love all people.

And so that was just a natural part of Paul.

But he learned to love the Gentile people.

He learned to love them.

It was kind of hard to love him at first because he had no dealings with it.

They were considered dogs and outcasts.

He didn't, I doubt if he even had a Gentile friend.

He wouldn't associate himself.

Well, nobody religious Jew would do so.

And so he learned to love them.

Are you following me?

Okay, uh, let's go back to the 14th chapter.

Uh, where do we stop at?

We finish it.

Okay, look what happened in verse 2, real quick, Brother Michael.

He said, but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles.

Listen, the unbelieving Jews, that's the religious people will begin to call them a cult.

This man is crazy, like they would do anyone who's preaching something contrary to what they was taught, or contrary to what you believe.

That's in our nature to do that.

Uh I must say it about this Bible.

I think I was sisters of Judy, man.

These people, man, I couldn't deny they were the Bible.

I couldn't deny they were scriptoria.

But man, these people are strange, man.

I couldn't deny they had a different spirit, and they was very, very well taught.

I couldn't deny that, Brother Michael.

But man, the things they said.

But brother, it was something they had that I wanted.

I just wanted the keys.

I had no intention of staying around, Sister Betty.

I was gonna learn a little bit and get around these people.

But the more I learned, the more I realized I didn't know what I thought I knew.

Which wasn't much anyway.

But let's keep reading.

And so they stirred them up, brother Michael.

And look at look at the rest of this, and made their minds what?

Evil affected.

Evil affected against the brethren.

Well, you would think that's enough for Paul to stop.

Let's keep reading uh real quick.

Let's let's move on.

Uh the 15th chapter, Brother Michael.

Do we where do we stop at the 17th chapter?

Well, for the sake of time, let's go straight to the 17th chapter.

But can you see everywhere he went, he went straight to the synagogue and let them put him out.

And that was a thorn that was in his flesh.

He couldn't escape that.

Everywhere he went.

Everywhere he went.

But let's keep reading now.

Uh 17th chapter.

Verse 1.

He said, now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews.

There he goes again.

And Paul, as his manner was.

As his manner was, did what?

Went in unto the Jews.

Do you know why, brother, in spite of this affliction he had, just to see one soul saved, to see one person's eyes open, to see one person fall in love with the truth, brother Paul was hooked on that.

And so it was worth it to just compel him to go back again.

If he could just by all means save some.

You're not going to save everybody, especially out of religion, but if you can just get one or two, that's a soul that you done saved from death.

That's someone's eyes you done got open.

And so, brother, he'll risk everything.

He never was discouraged.

He never was discouraged.

He knew that was the will of the Lord where he was concerned.

It was an adversary, but that helped him.

It kept him humble, it kept him proud for Brother Michael.

I'll tell you what else it made him do too.

It made him work fast.

You know he didn't have much time.

Let's keep reading now, Brother Michael.

Um I'm sorry, verse two again.

He said, and Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures.

Out of the scripture.

And when you read the book of Thessalonica, that's the church that Paul established.

He was only there for how long?

Three Sabbath.

Three weeks.

Are you with me?

Three Sabbath means three weeks.

Look what he was doing, verse three.

Opening the legend that Christ must need suffer and risen from the dead, risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, he is Christ.

And some of them believe, that's the Jews, and they consorted with Paul and Silas.

And of the devout Greeks, now he's talking about Greeks, he said, a great multitude, that's a Gentile, and of the chief women, not a future.

He got a good following uh following here in Thessalonica.

Look what happened.

There we go again, verse 5.

Here they come.

But the Jews which did what?

What did they do?

Moved with envy, and they took unto them certain what?

Fellas of the basis.

So what that just means.

They were just more corner.

They was without morals, they was without convictions, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and and sought to bring them out to the people.

They're gonna we're gonna deal with this set.

Keep reading for me, Brother Michael.

He said, and when they Found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city crying.

Underline that word.

You see that word drew?

D-R-R-E-W?

Underline that word.

Uh, it don't seem to be very much, but when you see that word in the Bible, it has to do with taking God's people and bringing them to affliction.

Remember how you read in Revelation chapter 12, how the tail of that dragon drew a third part of the stars and cast them to the earth?

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

That word drew, when you see that, that's always a negative connotation of what's gonna happen to God's people.

That's always bringing those men to persecution, affliction, and even death.

The third part of the stars that was uh that this tail drew from heaven, it means put them to the kill.

It martyred those men.

But anyway, I just introduced the word Jew.

You want to keep that in mind.

Go ahead, brother Michael.

He said, and they drew uh Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying.

Look at this, look at this statement.

I love this statement.

He said, These that have turned the world upside down or come hither also.

Brother, you think Christianity wasn't spreading?

You think Paul wasn't effective?

He said they turned the whole world upside down.

My God, brother.

That's one man in Asia Minor.

That's one man whom God had actually sent to a whole continent, and brother, he turned it upside down.

And you couldn't stop him, you couldn't afflict him.

What you gonna do to somebody, brother, when they're conscious, when their conscience is driving them?

My God, what a statement.

Is that not a statement?

Turn the world upside down, or come hither also.

He said, whom Jason had received, and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar.

Well, who's saying that?

That's those religious people.

Saying that there is another king, one Jesus.

See, they're trying to indict and get the and get Paul and his brothers in trouble.

He said, and they troubled the people and the rulers of the city when they heard these things, and when they had taken security of Jason, that is, oh, they're gonna bound them up now.

They're gonna bound him up.

He was Drew, they finna deal with him.

He said, and of the other they let them go.

Now listen to this.

And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea, who coming thither went into the synagogue of the city.

But when he goes to another city, he does it again.

Why?

Because he was bearing fruits.

He was bearing fruit.

But this is a verse, brother, the Lord has given us this verse many years ago.

Ask the Lord to give us this spirit.

Ask the Lord to put this verse in our heart.

These were more noble.

That's the one in Berea.

These was more noble than those in Thessalonico.

What people is talking about these, the Jews that was there, the religious people that was there, they was more noble than those in Thessalonica.

How?

In that they did what?

They received the word with all they didn't hold on to what uh the tradition and the religious uh concepts they had.

Brother, they were noble enough to receive.

What do you mean readiness of the mind?

I didn't mean they necessarily believed it, they mean they was willing to listen and consider it.

Just receive it, consider it.

If it's wrong, guess what?

It's still gonna be wrong.

You can disprove it, but receive it, consider it.

Paul said, listen, consider what I say and let uh the Lord give you understanding.

Just consider.

And look what happened.

Brother, I like this.

He said, receive the word with all riddness of mind, and then look, you can't just receive it or listen to what somebody said.

What else they did?

Search the scriptures often.

Deadly.

Every time Paul opened his mouth, they went home and got into the Bible.

Whether those things were so.

Then he went and dug it out, they wouldn't consider it.

He said, Therefore, why?

Because they searched the scriptures.

Therefore, many of them did what?

Believe also of honorable women.

Brother, he keep talking about these women, don't he?

Of honorable women, which was Greek, and of a men, not a few.

But look what happened, brother.

There he goes again, verse 13.

Help me out, brother.

But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also and stirred up people.

Why?

That's not even in your city.

Why?

Here is people who have received it, and now you're jealous.

When somebody else has light and you sitting in darkness, brother, you wish they didn't have that light.

You get you get envy.

My God.

What was working in them?

That's just the devil.

That's just that carnal nature.

Let's keep reading.

He said, and then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go, as it were, to the sea, but Silas and Timotheus abode there still.

Trying to tell Paul, brother, look, we don't want you to get killed.

And so they sent them away.

Well, you know what he did when he goes to the sea?

He catch a boat.

Keep reading.

He said, and they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens.

That's Athens Greek, brother.

And receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed.

Now here he goes.

Now Paul is down here in Athens.

Now that's a Gentile city that's full of Greek mythology, full of uh of uh philosophers and soothsayers.

It's full of that.

You would have thought Paul would have held his peace.

He sure didn't go to no synagogue down there right away.

But look what happened.

Verse 16.

While Paul waited for them, that is, for Silas and Timotheus at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him.

Brother God put something in that man.

He couldn't hold his peace.

And when he saw the city, woe, that word means completely given to idolatry, therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jew.

There we go again.

There he goes again.

And with the what?

Keep reading, Brother Michael.

He said, and in the market daily with them that met with him.

Brother, what the word dispute means?

Does it mean argue?

It means to contend.

It means to take the word of God, brother, and show a person what you say sounds good, but it's just not biblical.

And he disputed with them.

He said, then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him.

That's these men with great degrees and schools of theology and ideologies.

And oh brother, can't you see him?

Brother, but they didn't realize here's a man who didn't go to their philosophy schools, but here's a man that's been taught the word of God.

They did know what they were getting into.

They encountered him.

Look what he did.

Because these men are high learnt.

Listen what happened.

And some say, What will this babbler say?

Call him a babbler.

Others some he seemed to be a setter forth of strange gods, because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection.

And they took him and brought him unto Arapagus.

That's close enough.

Saying that's just Mars Hill.

That's exactly what it is.

You know what Mars Hill is?

You ever heard of Mars, Mars Hill?

You ever heard of that?

You ever studied Greek mythology?

This is a big court.

This is a big court that holds two to three thousand uh learned people.

And each one would get up and they'll put out their ideas and their philosophers, and then people would judge who's right and who's wrong.

They put the thumbs up and thumbs down.

You gotta read about it.

And can you see Paul?

Here's this man, brother.

He's not a philosopher, he's not a Greek poet.

Can you see this man down there by himself and Mars Hill?

And brother, he opened up his mouth.

He's not gonna talk about my philosophy, brother.

Watch what happens.

It said, May we know what this new doctrine whereof thou speaketh is?

For thou bringing certain strange things to our ears, we would know therefore what these things mean.

For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

Brother, you ever seen people, and I've encountered some, brother, who just want to hear something different.

They're not considering trying to find truth.

Just tell me something different.

I want to hear something I never heard.

And they'll run with that.

Brother, but look what happens.

Verse 22.

He said, Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things.

In all things you're what?

Too superstitious.

First of all, you don't need the gospel.

Let me wash your feet first.

You're too superstitious.

For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, that's all your idols, and that's all your uh uh your different dedications, I found an altar with this inscription.

To the what?

Unknown God.

Because they had Hercules, they had Zeus, they had Apodotus, uh, all those gods that you see that came from Greek mythology.

Oh, that is why I say you see, I'm talking about the uh Mardi Gross.

That's what it named after most of them.

He said, Whom him that whom therefore you does what?

You ignorantly worship.

That is the unknown God.

Him, that's the one, declare I unto you.

Go ahead, brother Michael.

He said, God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hand.

Man, listen to this man's message.

This is just an excerpt, no doubt.

This is not the whole message, but listen to the things that Paul is putting out.

Now I'm a little warmer.

You all warm?

We got to find a happy medium.

Listen, he said, listen, God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, he dwelleth not in temples made with hands.

That had to be striking to them.

He said, Neither is worship with men's hands, as though he need anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things, and have made of one blood.

That's talking about Adam.

So he was telling that, Brother Michael, because the Greek put stocks in being of the descendants of Greeks, and the Romans put stocks in being Romans.

And uh, brother, our pedigree and our nationality, we can't put stocks in being an American or being a European American or African American or Italian American.

That's folly.

That's foolishness.

But he said, listen, he had made of one blood, that's Adam, all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.

Doesn't matter where you came from, you can trace your limit, your uh pedigree back to Adam.

You can back to Adam.

He said he has determined the times before upon it and the bounds of the habitation that they should seek the Lord if happily they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us, for in him.

That is, brother, whether you're saved or unsaved or godly or ungodly, in him we do what?

We live and move and do what?

Whereas also, as certain also of your own poets have said.

He said, For we are also his offspring.

For as much now he's appealing to just the natural side of these people, because they're not Bible students.

He said, For as much then as we are the offspring of God, just appealing to them naturally.

We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone or graven uh by art and man's device.

If we're the offspring of God, you can't make a God with your hands.

Brother, that's silly.

How are you gonna make an image and put on the wall and say this is God?

This is what he appealing, he's using just natural reasons since they're not Bible students.

It makes no sense.

How can you put a statue on the wall and forgive me?

I'm not trying to throw off on anybody.

Uh I love you, Sister Christine.

No, I wouldn't.

But how are you gonna say this is a this is the Virgin Mary?

And look, she's got she's got tears coming down her eye.

What?

That's a stone.

How can you do that?

But that's a gentile.

That's what we'll do.

We won't say, well, I'm not really worshiping that, it's just helping me.

But what about when he said, make no graven images?

Let's keep going.

He said, and the times of this, get this word, and sister show returns when I use it.

Tear it out your Bible.

The time of this what?

Say it again, is what?

Come on, let's say it like you mean.

The time of this ignorance.

Who loves ignorance?

Ignoramus.

If you love being ignorant, you're just an ignoramus.

I'm not trying to be ugly, but that's what you are.

Everybody's ignorant of something.

But to stay that way, to be willingly ignorant, you are an ignoramus.

You enjoy being ignorant.

You're not considering true, you don't want anything else.

And that word is in the Bible repetitively.

It's one of Paul's favorite, by the way.

And the times of this ignorance, God winked at.

He said, but now commanded all men everywhere to do what?

What do you mean he winked at it?

Brother, when God was only dealing with the Jewish people, he didn't care what the Gentiles did.

But now Jesus Christ, brother, have torn down that middle wall, brother Wycalker petition, and given everybody a chance to be saved.

So he's not winking at our ignorance anymore.

We're with that excuse.

Everybody can be saved if you want to.

If you want to.

It's not God's will that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

If you want to.

If you want to.

There's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither bond nor free, there's neither male nor female.

Brother, everybody have the equal chance to be saved.

You can make, you can make your calling and election sure.

It doesn't matter if you're a child or you're an adult.

Doesn't matter whether you're rich or poor.

Doesn't matter if you're education.

Do you know being educated has nothing to do with understanding the Bible?

Absolutely nothing.

I know people, literally, Carter's one, brother Carter.

You know Brother Carter from Los Angeles.

He couldn't read.

He had a third grade education.

He learned to read the Bible in the church.

And that's how he learned to read.

He lives in Homer now.

And he's not the only one.

I know people couldn't read anything, and yet their eyes is open to the word of God in the body of Christ.

Absolutely.

It's nothing to do with your educational background.

If your heart is right, the Lord can touch your mind.

The problem is, Brother Michael, sometimes we're too educated or we put too much emphasis on our intellect.

This is a spiritual book.

You don't get it with a slide root and a pencil.

It's not that way.

He's hidden it from the wise and the prudent.

And ready reveal it unto baby.

That's talking about a childlike spirit.

You have to empty out.

You have to become hungry.

You can't say I already know this and I already believe it this way.

No, forget about what I believe.

Let me listen to what you're saying.

Let me receive what you're saying.

And if you're wrong, at the end of the day, if you're wrong, you still will be wrong.

That's the spirit, Brother Michael, the Lord loves.

He loves a teachable and a contract heart.

Have that attitude in everything.

When someone's coming to you, indicting you or criticizing you, just stop and just try to hear what they're saying.

If what they're saying is unjustified, is unjustifiable, then when you finish, guess what?

Just trash it.

And if the person's motive is wrong, it's hard to listen to the one that motive is wrong, I'll grant you that.

You know, but I might try to listen to you anyway.

But when I finish, I'm gonna know that what you said is tenant with a polluted motive.

And so it's hard to hear it that way.

But anyone can be right.

And the Lord, as I said earlier, brother Heat, the Lord will use any vessel he sees fit.

Your worst enemy can be your biggest blessing.

When someone can tell you something about you, and not that you want to be put down, that's not the point.

But if they can tell you something about you that you can see is right, that person just blessed you.

They may have meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.

If you can see what they're saying, you gave me an opportunity to work on something.

The Lord loves that.

He loves that.

Because then he doesn't have to thunder, he doesn't have to put his foot on your neck.

I love the Lord.

Can't you know how you're not loving God like that?

Who else, man, can make your enemies bless you?

God can do that.

God can make your enemies bless you by helping you to see something about yourself.

Let's keep reading.

Then he goes on.

He said, Because he is appointed a day in which he would judge the world and righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.

Whereof, and let me tell you this: notice the Bible referenced Jesus redundantly as a man.

Doesn't call him God.

And somebody said, Well, he was God in the flesh.

He was not God in the flesh, he was a man.

He manifests all uh the dutificatable ways of God in the flesh.

God was manifested in him, he's manifested in the flesh, but he was not God the Father, he was a man that had God in him.

When you receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, you are a man.

That word of gender, that means you're mankind, but you have God in you.

And you say, well, Jesus did those things because uh he was a son of God.

When you receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, that's that you might become the Son of God.

Everything he did it, he did it as a man walking in shoe leather.

He did not have the ups on you and I.

He was tempted in all points just like you and I.

He had the same temptations, he had the same desires, just like you and I.

He just didn't yield to them.

Why didn't he yield to them, Brother Brown?

Because he kept whole he kept in connect with the Holy Ghost and did always those things to please his father.

But thank God I'm glad he did.

So when I miss it, I have an advocate with the Father.

I have somebody go in on my behalf and intercede for me.

But he is not the Father.

He is the go-between between me and the Father.

The Bible says there is one mediator.

Get this word.

There is one mediator between God and man.

It is the God Christ Jesus.

It's the angel Christ Jesus.

It's the man Christ Jesus.

That is the only mediator, but not Mary, not Joseph, not St.

Pete and St.

Jude and St.

John and St.

Tammany and St.

Bernard parishes.

And all St.

James down there.

And Saint Landry.

You're wasting your time praying to a sister Judah.

I mean, sister, I don't get things picking on you.

But we in this country and this region have to say these things.

You're wasting your time praying to a saint.

Peter.

Whom they call Saint Peter.

Say, stand up.

He said, I myself am a man like you are.

I come to turn you away from this vanity.

Why would I pray to Peter?

Pray to Peter.

He's got to do the same thing I had to do, brother.

He had to overcome.

He had to talk to Jesus.

There's one mediator between God and man.

The man.

Get this.

The man, Christ.

If he was anything less than a man walking and shoe leather, he sure can't identify with what I'm going through.

And if he was a God walking around on the earth, then how in the world, how in the world can he identify with what I'm feeling?

He could not.

But thank God he was a man like that.

Thank God.

I'm just so glad.

I'm not glad for his sake, but I am for my sake.

I'm glad that he was filled with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of the life.

I'm glad.

Because he showed me that I can do it walking and shoot out.

He paved the way.

Now don't tell me I can't do it.

You're too late.

I read the Bible.

Jesus did it.

And he did it as a man.

He didn't do it as a God.

He did it as a man.

Amen.

So let me conclude this.

He said, listen, huh?

Well, I like this.

Verse 32.

Now they listen, he was talking good at first, but he got spiritual on them.

He got spiritual on them when he got down to verse 31.

When he started talking about the resurrection, verse 32.

And when they heard the resurrection of the dead, uh oh.

Some did what?

Oh man, you got to be crazy.

That's where the problem started.

As long as he was natural, they could follow him.

And others said, We would hear thee again of this matter.

Paul ain't waste his time.

Your heart ain't right.

So Paul did what?

He departed from among them.

He left them alone.

He left them alone.

Howbeit everywhere he went, he did glean somebody.

Howbeit certain men did what?

Cleave unto him and believe.

He never sowed his seeds without getting some type of fruit.

Among whom was him and him, and the woman named her, and uh was with them, others with them.

Amen.

17 chapters been completed.

Thank God for Jesus Christ.

Thank God for him and what he's able to do with the heart of a man.

He's able to put something in a man and make a man go through fire and not be burned, go through the water and not be drowned.

And Paul did, I want you to notice this.

Paul didn't put his afflictions, brother, upon some fallen angel.

He didn't put his affliction upon somebody else.

He knew.

He knew, brother, that was just the work of the adversary, brother Michael, that was authoring his flesh.

And it never discouraged him.

So when you're going through something, don't be discouraged.

Amen.

Be like Paul, brother.

Just try to find the Lord in and keep right on moving.

Amen.

Amen.

We're gonna let you go.

If any, I know some are sick among us, Sister Desiree.

That's why she's not she's not being rebellious back there sitting in the back, but she has uh a condition.

I thought she was gonna call me back because I don't know who gave her permission to come to church tonight.

She told me she was gonna call me back.

But we pray that you're doing well, especially for the benefit of the rest of us.

I know there are some viruses going around and we want to be conscious of that.

Do you wash your hands frequently?

Let's all be natural like the natural Jews.

You know what natural Jews did?

The Bible said they wash often.

Yeah, every time you get a chance, love the people of God, but when you finish loving them, go wash your hands.

20 seconds is what's recommended with soap and water.

But wash your hands frequently because I don't want to see you sick.

I don't want to see you sick.

And uh personal hygiene goes a long way to keeping you healthy.

And nothing you can do better than try to keep your hands washed.

Amen.

Do we have those uh I'm saying this is free to let you go?

Do we have those hand um sanitizers?

Everyone all invests, it costs one dollar.

You ought to keep some in your car.

Sister, you should be saying these things.

I shouldn't be saying that, Sister Tangela.

You should be encouraging people along these lines.

Keep your hand sanitizers.

I have plenty of them in my truck.

Big bottles of them.

Uh I keep plenty of them, but keep your hand sanitizer.

When you can't wash your hands, this is the flu season, you know that.

If you don't wash your hands 15 or 20 times a day, you're not washing them.

That's bad.

The savior thing you can do when you go into a building, just touching that doorknob.

And the most filthiest, polluted thing that you and I can ever come into contact with, we love to touch it.

Money.

Love to handle it.

Wash your hands.

When you leave the store, wash your hands.

Before you open your refrigerator door, wash your hands.

Keep you some lice on white.

Try to stay healthy.

Do what you can, and trust God to do what you can.

Amen.

I'm gonna stop.

We have uh a car here.