Acts Chapter 9 (2009) 2

Here we are.

Verse 2.

And desired of him letters to the masters, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound to what?

That's to be judged.

And as he journeyed, let's get this down.

This is Paul's testimony.

Saul has taught us what he was at this time.

And see, every one of us had a master's experience.

We all have a personal testimony.

Turn it off now.

I'm sorry.

I see they you all cold?

You're comfortable?

Okay, listen to this.

And as he journeyed, here he is.

Remember now, here's this man, brother.

He's going to Jerusalem to bind up the Christians.

To bring them back, I'm sorry, to the master, to bring them back to Jerusalem, brother, because they was preaching a gospel and living a life he thought was contrary to God because it was contrary to his religion.

He said these people are heretics.

Teaching and preaching that the law of Moses has waxed old.

As the garments ready to be vanished away.

They were preaching that.

That there is another law.

It's the law of Christ.

And the baptism of the Holy Ghost was speaking in tongues.

Another died message for the soul.

And brother, these men, it's not fit that these men should live.

This is his mindset.

So he's going to Damascus to bind up these Christians.

And you and I, brother, we had our way.

If I was the Lord, I would have smoked him.

But not to save him.

I would have killed him.

I said, You hurt my people.

But brother, the Lord looked beyond that.

He saw what that man had, he could use in his kingdom.

He saw the fervor and the zeal and the dedication and the commitment.

In spite of what he was doing, he did it.

He said, Paul said himself, I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

He didn't believe in Christianity.

And so what he did, he was trying to serve the Lord, but he was an adversary to the Lord, but he didn't know it.

But God saw that.

There's people, and that's why it has to be careful how we how we deal with people.

There are people that are not yet in the kingdom.

And brother, when they get here, uh brother Rama's a good example, different ones, but they're gonna come here with their want with their minds girded and with their shoes shod.

They're gonna outrun a lot of people.

They're gonna outrun a lot of people.

Sister Juju, when I was out there in the world of uh of uh name and claim it in religion, I was in name it and claim it.

I was in this charismatic world out here, but I was I was serious.

And uh man, I laid hands on anything that did move.

Refrigerator, dishwasher, car, anything.

Uh cast the devil out of shoes, socks, elbows, knees, didn't make any difference.

But the Lord saw I was sincere.

He saw what was in my heart and brought me into contact with his people.

And brother Michael, man who had been in the kingdom of God many years, many years prior to me, but I was hungry when I got here.

I was sincere.

And I'm not boasting of anything.

I'm I'll make my boast in the Lord.

Uh my God, brother, in a matter of months.

Brother, even when I came into contact with you all.

When I came there, I was there for what, six months?

And you ordained me over.

Matter of fact, you and I got ordained at the same time.

And people had been there long before I had been there.

Long before I had been there.

And uh same thing in the last place we was there, brother Michael.

It was that I was there six months.

Well, it's because I had zeal, I had dedication, I was hungry, I was sincere.

And I'm using the term past tent, but these are movements I made in my life.

And so I'm trying to keep you with that mind.

Stay, keep it stirring up.

The Lord sees those things.

Don't ever get complacent and lazy and laid back and indifferent.

Uh, the Lord will reject that.

And he'll use somebody else.

It's just like uh uh Mordecai told Esther.

He'd say, Listen, deliverance is gonna come.

That's right.

If listen, if it don't come through you, it'll come through another source.

But deliverance will come.

If the Lord's gonna have his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, if it's not you and I, it's gonna be somebody else.

Brother Lord, let it be me.

Let it be me.

And so here's Saul.

And brother, they were great men, brother Michael, they had in Jerusalem, but they didn't have what Saul had, where zeal was concerned.

They didn't have fervor.

And so the Lord reached outside the camp, even outside the body of Christ, and touched this man's mind.

Watch this.

Verse 3.

And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined about him, around about him, a light from heaven.

And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

And he said, Who are thou, Lord?

Now he knew who that was.

What do you mean, who are thou?

Man, he couldn't see nobody.

In other words, man, how am I persecuting you?

Who are thou, Lord?

I'm not touching you.

And listen to this.

Who are thou, Lord?

And the Lord said, I am Jesus.

Whom thou what?

When you're touching these people, that's my body.

You're persecuting me.

He said, I am the Lord Jesus, whom thou persecutest.

And here's a revelation for you, Paul.

It is hard for you to do what?

Do you know what that term means, kick against the pricks?

Do you know what a prick is?

Say, you city slickers, man.

You've got to come to Faraday.

You know what a um, you never had oxen.

You got what have oxen, a plow meals.

A prick is something that you use to gorg an animal.

Yeah, it's it's it's a prick, it's a stick.

With a nail.

We used to have them with a nail on it, and that animal is going the wrong way, you stick them.

You stick them and it'll prod him back over.

Well, they don't use that anymore.

We use caliproders now, don't they?

They didn't have, yeah, they didn't have that when I was a little boy.

We used to take a nail and put it in a mop panel, my grandfather did, and he'll he'll prick that cow.

It pricks.

And so uh you can't go against that prick.

That prick is just a nail, it hurts.

And so the Lord was telling Saul, brother, listen, you can't resist my will.

That people that you persecute, that's me.

That's my will.

You can't stop that.

You can't undo what I'm doing.

And that's what I tell people, brother, if God is in something, you can't do anything about that.

If God raised somebody up, you can't pull them down.

You better get behind them.

If God is for someone, there's no sense you're being against them.

You better be trying to be with him.

It's hard for you to kick against the prick, whatever the will of God is, you can't do anything about it.

You really can't, all you do is hurt yourself.

My grandfather had an old milk cow, a big old ugly milk cow.

We milk, we milked that cow, brother Michael, turn back around, we plow with him, with a milk cow.

And brother, as big as that cow was, brother, when we hit him with that, you had to hit him, just stick him a little bit with that, with that mob hammer nail in it.

He got the message, bro.

If he was going too close to the barn, he got over.

If he wasn't plowing fast enough, he speed up.

If he's heading the wrong way, he moved over.

That prick put you in uh it puts you in authority.

And that's the will of God.

Whatever God's will is, you can't stop that.

You will hurt yourself resisting it.

It's what you'll do.

It's hard for you to kick against the prick.

Then he goes on.

And trembling and astonished, he said, Lord, what will thou have me to do?

In other words, man, I want to get it right.

He's trying to repent.

He's trying to acknowledge it was him resisting the Lord by persecuting his people.

What will you have me to do?

He's believing in bringing forth fruits, what?

Meet for repentance.

And this is something I want us to always be mindful of.

It's not enough.

It's good to do that.

Don't just say I'm sorry.

That's apologizing.

But, brother, bring forth fruits, meet for repentance.

Get it right.

Brother Michael, if you offend me, let me use it right.

Another word, if I offend you, and I say, forgive me, Brother Michael, I've done something to you.

You have the right to set the conditions under which I bring forth restitution.

Do you know that?

Do you know when you crawl somebody?

You ever watch a wife, when she crossed her husband or a husband when she crossed her wife?

You have to make amends.

When I've done something that irritated Sister Grace and she's right and I'm wrong, and I tell her I'm sorry, you know how sisters are, women, they tight-lip.

You know, so you begin to, we use the term, LJ uses this term, what do you call it LJ, brown nosing, brownie points?

Well, I have to do that.

And I have to do that until I can get that look off her face.

You have to bring forth fruits meet for you've done something wrong.

Make restitution.

Get it right.

Don't just say I'm sorry.

Bring forth fruits meet for repentance.

When you've wronged your brother and wronged your sister.

Saul had the right heart.

His Jesus was blind.

And he didn't say, Lord, forgive me, leave it alone.

What will you have me to do?

And see, he understood the law of Moses very well.

He said, if you find a thief, he shall return what?

Sevenfold.

Sevenfold.

If you took something, you had to return that with us of it.

Bringing forth fruits.

But we just think, well, I'm sorry and keep walking.

It's not that simple.

When you wrong somebody, get it right.

You want to repent, but bring forth fruits.

And see, this is the heart this man had.

He wasn't trying to find some easy way out.

Lord, what would you have me to do?

You remember when Stephen was stoned?

They laid their coat at his feet.

And remember all those threatenings that I produced in Jerusalem and how I bound people up?

I remember how I done that.

Lord, what would you have me?

What do you what would you have me do?

I want to get it right.

This is the heart, Brother Mike, of a person who's looking to get it right with God.

Not trying to take a path to least resistance.

And it's good for you to live by these principles, even in your house.

Live by them.

When Sister Grace is not happy, Sister Cheryl, you ever seen a man wash dishes?

Boy, they'd be speaking span.

When she goes to bed, you know, tight lip because I done said something or done something.

She gets up the next morning, man.

Boy, the kitchen's spotless.

Dr.

Brown rise up in me.

I'll mop the kitchen.

Oh boy, I clean, I wash the dishes, I wash the clothes, I fold them and I put them up.

Well, how can you how can you not love me for that?

How are you gonna stay angry with me and I've done it?

You can't do it.

You can't stay angry with somebody who treats you like that.

You just can't do it.

You can't.

And then the Lord is that way.

If we do what's right, you think the Lord's gonna hold it against you?

That's why I tell people listen, here's where you get it right with God, is with his people.

When God is on your case, and I try to share this with people, here's how you get the Lord's favor right here.

Snub up to his people.

When you make his people happy, you make him happy.

The Lord is gonna keep his foot on your neck when you're blessing his people.

He'll let you up to done heel.

He'll let you up.

He won't exact your labors from you.

If you bless his people, when you bless his people, just like me washing no dishes for Sister Grace.

Now sometimes she's faking it, Brother Elton.

She won't mean to make restitution, but I know what I've done wrong.

I ain't washing them.

I'm not doing it.

I'm not doing it.

No.

But you know when you've done something wrong and uh you want to get it right.

Here's if not just individual, but here's how you get it right is blessing his people.

Brother, if we can learn that as a people, my God, I think we all will make the bride.

We all can make it.

Let's keep going.

Now look what happened.

What would thou have me to do?

And the Lord said unto him, look, arise and go.

See, the Lord didn't tell him at this point.

I think if the Lord had told him at this point, he might have gone back to Jerusalem.

He didn't tell him.

All he told him, brother, was to go down.

Let's read it.

This is where you're going to actually get your eyes open.

Before the Lord can tell him what to do, his eyes has to be open.

And believe me when I tell you this, get this right.

Paul was going to bring forth some fruits, meat for repentance.

All the things the Lord allowed him to do to those Christians, brother, he was going to remember that when it gets time for him to endure things.

And he was going to endure a lot.

And he needed.

He needed that testimony.

He needed that testimony.

And here it is.

Before the Lord revealed, but the Lord, and of course the Lord told Ananias, we'll read this.

I'm going to show him.

If I've shown him what great things he shall suffer for my name.

Well, the reason the Lord allows Saul to suffer so much is because Saul had done so much evil.

And he allowed him to suffer.

And Saul had that testimony of what he'd done that was evil.

It was in his mind.

And it enabled him to endure hardness as a good soldier.

It enabled him to do that because he was trying not just to get it right, Brother Michael, but the same zeal he had against the church.

Now he had it for the church and for the Jews.

Let's keep reading.

Arise and go into the city and it shall listen to this.

And it shall be what?

I'm going to tell you what you must do.

But before I can tell you that, you got to first, you got to first receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

You have to first get your eyes open.

And then when you're able, I'll tell you what you're going to do.

And I'm going to tell you what he was going to do.

He was going to suffer.

For the name of Christ.

But brother, that man single-handedly, he single-handedly, brother, he preached the gospel in all of Asia.

Asia Minor.

He established churches, brother, by the dozens.

The Bible don't give you all of them, but he established churches by the dozen.

He became the apostle not just to a city, but to the Gentile nation.

To the Gentile people.

That one man.

My God, what a man.

What a man.

Look what happened.

And listen.

Verse 7.

The men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but doing what?

They was winning.

And of course they heard a voice, but it wasn't like a voice.

Another place we're going to read Paul's account, it was thunder to them.

They just heard noise.

They heard something, but they didn't see anybody.

So they couldn't figure out what was going on.

And they heard Paul talking.

Who was he talking to?

I don't know.

What happened to him?

I don't know.

He bumped his head or something.

He can't see it.

He's talking to himself.

No doubt what they were thinking.

And listen, verse 8.

And Saul arose from the earth.

I let you know he was on the ground.

And his eyes were opened naturally.

And he done what?

Saw no man.

He saw no man.

He was absolutely blind.

To go with his spiritual blindness.

He actually saw no man.

But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.

Now these are all Jews.

No doubt they had to be the vow Jews to accompany Paul.

But look what happened, a Saul.

And there was, listen to this, and there was a certain disciple.

He wasn't a prophet.

He wasn't an evangelist.

He wasn't a prophet.

He was a prophet, I'm sorry, but he's called a disciple here.

But listen to this.

His name was what?

And to him said the Lord in a vision and an eyes.

And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.

And the Lord said unto him, Arise, go into the street, which is called what?

And inquire in the house of Judas for one call Saul of Tartus.

And behold, he prayeth.

You know what Saul was praying for?

Two things.

Lord, please let me see you again.

For one thing.

And then, Lord, what you want me to do?

What do you want me to do?

Brother, can you imagine such a dramatic conversion?

Can you imagine having a conversion that strong?

My God.

Reminds me of mine, Brother Michael, when the Lord converted me.

But this exceeds that.

This man was given total physical blindness to let him see.

And that was a duality to let him see how blind he was spiritually.

But keep reading.

Look what happened.

And verse 12.

And he has seen in a vision a man named, when did he see this in a vision?

Because he was praying.

Not only was he praying, Saul was fasting.

He wouldn't eat neither bread nor water because he couldn't see.

And he wanted the Lord to help him.

He said he had seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hands on him that he might receive his sight.

And Ananias answered, now, wait a minute, Lord, hold on now.

I've heard by many of this man, and how much evil he have done to thy saints at Jerusalem.

Ananias is wondering, brother, is this the Lord?

Wait a minute, now, hold on.

Verse 14.

And here, that is right here in Damascus, he has authority from the chief priest to bind all that call on thy name.

But look at the Lord, brother.

He's speaking to him, Ananias.

But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way.

For he is a what?

Get this revelation.

He is a what?

Chosen vessel unto me to bear my names before the what?

Gentiles, and not only that in what?

Kings, and not only that in the what?

And verse 16 is the key.

For I will, which means he still hadn't done it because he hadn't received the Holy Ghost, I will show him how great things he must suffer for what?

In other words, the Lord's saying, listen, he's going to bring forth fruits, meet for repentance.

But it's not time for me to show him now.

If the Lord had let me see in Sister Juju all that I would go through, I would have gone back to Faraday.

But I'm glad the Lord.

And the Lord is just that merciful.

He'll only show you as much as you can handle at a time.

He won't overwhelm your heart.

He absolutely will not.

But all that live godly in Christ Jesus, you're going to go through something.

You shall suffer persecution.

You need to.

We need to.

He's chosen us, he said, out of the what?

Furnace of affliction.

It's what you go through when things are crossing you.

Determines who you are, your nature, your character.

Amen.

And now look what happened.

Verse 17.

And Ananias went his way and entered into the house and putting his hands on.

I love this and putting his hands on him.

Can you see Ananias laying hands on the man who would bind up the Christians?

Laying hands on him so we know he was in the ministry.

Listen to him.

Putting his hands on him and said, What?

Brother, what a proclamation.

Call him brother.

Brother Saul.

And this is why we use this term, we use even the body of Christ now, brother.

Brother.

They had different.

I got a guy who worked for me, crazy as a better bug, Sister Michelle Klein.

But he always said, This is my brother from another mother.

He says that all the time.

Brother Michael, that's my brother from another mother.

Well, here's Brother Saul.

He was Ananias' brother from another mother.

He said, Brother Saul, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou cameists have sent me.

Just the fact that he said that, Paul knew that this is the man whom God has sent because he knew his testimony.

That thou mayest do what?

Receive thy sight and get this, be what?

Filled with the Holy Ghost.

And brother, when he received the Holy Ghost, he got a revelation of some other things too.

What things he was going to suffer for the name of Christ.

But let's keep going.

And listen to this.

And immediately there fell from his eyes that it has been scales.

And brother, that's showing you the scales of what blinds us naturally.

And I mean spiritually.

And he has scales naturally that was put on his eyes.

This is all dualities.

And listen to this.

And he received his sight forthwith and arose and was what?

Baptized?

Baptized.

I don't think that's just water.

And you have to know which baptism he's talking about, but I'm sure it's both.

And when he had received meat, he was what?

Strengthened.

And then was Saul get this, then was Saul certain days, not with the Jews in the synagogue, but with the what?

Which was at Damascus.

And straightway, showing this man was already learnt in the law of Moses, straightway he preached what?

Christ in the synagogue.

When he went there, brother, he preached a different message.

He preached Christ that he, listen to this, in the synagogue that he is the what?

My God.

But all that heard him was what?

And they said, Is not this he that destroys them which call on this name in Jerusalem?

And came hither for that intent that he may bring them bound to the chief priest.

But Saul, get this, he increased more in what?

Strength, and confounded the Jews which dwell at Damascus, proving that this is the very Christ, my God.

My God.

And you can see this man, you can actually trace this man's growth.

In verse 22, he said he increased more in strength.

Well, I don't think he's talking about lifting weights.

I'm thinking he's talking about being strong in the Lord and the power of his might.

That man was strong, was increasing in his strength and handling those words, those scriptures, the word of God.

And brother, I'm sure, I'm sure that was not any, that was not any uh light disputation when Saul, of course, you'll see this when you go on to the book of Acts.

When this man spoke, brother, he hit hard.

When this man it lets you see some of his disputation, he hit hard, brother Ron.

He hit hard.

Remember, he's a very zealous man, a very fervent man, a very committed man.

And brother, when he spoke, man, uh the Bible said his words was weighty and powerful.

We'll read some of that.

His words was weight and powerful.

He didn't sugarcoat things, he didn't uh politic.

That was not Paul.

That was not him.

He was gentle with the people, but my God, when you watch him contend, my Lord.

The Bible said his speech was crude, rude, Brother Michael.

And uh, you'll see some of his words as we go on.

Now look what happened.

Verse verse 23.

And after many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to do what?

Why do you think they wanted to kill him?

Because they couldn't resist his words.

They couldn't, uh, brother Michael break the scriptures he was using, they couldn't deny the truth he was sharing, and brother had to kill him.

And listen, and the disciples took him by night and let him down by the walls in a basket.

Now get this.

You think there weren't already disciples in Damascus?

Well, you know there was.

He went to bind them up.

Ananias was there.

Why didn't they cause that kind of havoc in the city?

Why did Paul stir them up so much?

Because he was bold enough to go to the synagogue.

He was bold enough, brother Michael, to take them on.

He had the audacity, brother.

He had the characteristics and the integrity, brother Michael, no matter where he went, even in a Jewish synagogue to preach Christ.

Were they gonna talk about him?

Well, sure.

They're gonna put him out with sure.

If that didn't bother Paul or Saul, he called him Paul, that didn't bother him at all.

Lord help us to get past our flesh.

Help us, my God, we're still politicking.

Even as a body of people, we still politicking.

We still like to be well spoken of.

We want to be well liked.

Lord help us.

But let's keep reading.

Then the disciple verse 25 again.

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

And Saul, listen to this.

And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he listened, he's going back to Jerusalem.

He stayed to join himself to the disciples.

That's those ones who was under under persecution.

But they was on what?

And believed not that he was a disciple.

But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord, that is Paul, a Saul, in the way.

And that he had spoken unto him and how he had preached boldly, listen to that word, at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

And he was with them coming in and going out of Jerusalem.

But this is Saul.

Look at this man's zeal.

Now remember, the church has come out of persecution.

Saul was one who was persecuting them.

And guess what he did when he goes back?

He goes back to the synagogue and started preaching Christ.

Remember now he was the one who was from the synagogue persecuting the Christians.

Now he's gonna go back and try to convert all of them.

This is what you would call a fanatic in today's terms.

But that man had something.

The Lord knew what he was calling.

He knew he was calling a man that didn't have any rabbit in his blood.

Watch this man.

Watch this man.

Verse 29.

And he spake bold in the name of the Lord and disputed.

Are you see that word with me?

Are you there with me?

And disputed against the what?

Grecians.

But they went up, that's talking about those Jews that was out of those different countries, Brother Elton.

But they did what?

Why they want to kill him everywhere he goes?

Because they couldn't deny.

Turn this unit down.

So it's a juju's phrasing, poor thing.

Look at her.

You okay?

My Lord, listen, when you crawl somebody, and I try to be gentle, let's be gentle.

I think I'm better, Brother Mike, than I used to be.

But when you cross somebody, remember, when you take away somebody's doctrine, you're hurting them, when you begin to show someone that what they believe isn't biblical, that hurts.

That literally hurts.

A noble person, a noble person, uh-huh, uh, they will question you.

But most of us are not that noble.

They'd rather just run from you.

And if in Paul's situation, they couldn't run because he kept going to the Jewish church.

And so they had one thing left to do.

They wanted to kill him.

They couldn't run from him because every time they went to the synagogue, he was right there.

The only thing left to do is to get rid of this guy.

They're gonna kill.

And listen, these are Christians, brother.

Not Christian, but they were devout people to Jews.

They wanted to kill him.

This is how much people's doctrine mean to them.

They will want, they will kill you if they can't stop you.

Let's keep reading.

My Lord.

And look what happened now.

Uh verse 30.

But when the brethren knew that is about to kill them again, they brought them down to what?

And sent them forth, send them back home.

Send them forth to what?

Do you know why they done that?

Because he was bringing more heat upon the church again, Brother Michael.

Watch this next verse.

Then had the churches what?

Read it again.

Then had the churches what?

Rest throughout what?

All Judea and Galilee and what?

And they was edified.

Thank God, man.

This guy, Paul, man, he's a zealous man, but let him go rest a little while.

Let the Lord mellow him down a little bit.

And of course he did.

You can track this in Genesis.

I mean in Galatia.

You know when he went to Damascus as a church?

The Lord took him three years out into the desert, Arabia.

Three years, and you would have thought the Lord would have mellowed him down.

But for three years the Lord himself taught Paul the good word of God.

He just read and he just studied, and the Lord opened his eyes.

When he came back out of Damascus, he was worse than he was when he sent him away.

And everywhere that man went, remember, before this is before he even went out into Damascus, you can track his or trace his journeys in the book of Galatians, he gives his account.

But for three years, brother, he was quiet because the Lord had taken him out in Arabia.

And he just read the Bible.

Got him some quiet time away from everybody, and it was just him and the scroll.

And the Lord just opened his eyes, touching his mind.

That's how he said he was taught of the Lord.

The revelation he got, he got it from Christ.

He didn't get it from man.

He just read, and the Lord actually opened his eyes.

Now watch what happened.

And it came to pass, uh, of course, it's going to start from Peter, I'm sorry, from Paul, until we pick him up again in the 11th chapter.

But let's keep reading now the 32nd verse.

And it came to pass as Peter passed through the quarters, all quarters, he came, help me, brother Michael.

He came down also to the saints which dwell at Lysera.

Help me right there, Brother Michael.

He said, and there he found a certain man named Enos, which had kept his bed eight years and was sick of palsy.

And Peter said unto him, Enos, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.

Arise and make thy bed, and he arose immediately.

And all that dwelt at Lydia and Saron saw him and turned to the Lord.

Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by the interpretation is called Darkas.

This woman was full of good works and alms deeds which she did.

Do you ever wonder why the Lord inject things like this in the midst of an account?

It's not in here for nothing.

This is just, you see things like this repetitions in the Bible.

It's showing you how the Lord remembered people for their good.

This woman had actually died.

This is throughout the Bible.

It's not even a subject.

And you'll see injections in here, all the way through the Bibles like that.

But it's showing you the Lord will remember people for the good.

What you do for the Lord does last.

It's on your record.

Keep reading, watch what happened.

He said, and it came to pass in those days that she was sick and died, whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber.

And forasmuch as Lydia was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them.

Then Peter arose and went with them.

When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber, and all the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and the garments with dark as made, which she was with them.

In other words, brother, they tested, they testified, brother, of the life that woman lived.

They testified how she served God's people.

Now she's dead.

But brother, the testimony of what she had done for the people of God.

The Lord saw that.

And uh 1 Timothy chapter 6, he says, a widow, I don't take a word up on the scop up on a payroll, that's what we're talking about, on the count, on the number, lest she be three score and ten.

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

If, here's the condition, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she have raised up church, and talking about in the Lord.

That's your record.

That's your record.

Do you have a record with God before a woman could be called a widow that was on the church's payroll?

When they say church's payroll, they took care of the widows.

But not just anybody.

What did you do in the kingdom of God?

Did you serve God's people?

Did you bring up church?

In other words, that you that you testified and worked with new people, that you wash the saints' feet.

That means that you serve those people.

And uh the Lord watches those things.

That's on our record.

What you do for God's people is on your record.

It absolutely is.

And some people they don't get it.

You really think there's no free lunches in God.

There absolutely is not.

You can't hobo your way with God.

You can't.

And uh if I have a mind not to serve on the teams and not to be faithful and not to care for God, people, well, the Lord sees that.

He said, Be not deceived, God is not marked.

Whatsoever man soweth, he shall what?

That's what you're gonna reap.

Now, of course, Paul used another, put it like this, Brother Michael.

He said, If you sow what?

Sparingly, then how are you gonna reap?

If you sow bountifully, then how are you gonna reap?

Here's his vineyard, here's where you sow.

Here's where you sow.

Brother, this is the best investment a man can make is in the kingdom of God.

The Lord remembers what you do for his people.

He remembers that.

And brother, the day that you're gonna need mercy, the day that you're gonna need grace, the day that you're gonna need the Lord to help you, thank God, brother, I don't want to have a checking account that's bouncing in heaven.

When I send up a petition, write a check, sister juju, I want to think I got something stored up, the Lord can remember me for good.

I like that on my record.

I would like that on my record.

The Bible says, he that lend it to the poor, or he that gave it to the poor, lend to the Lord.

He's not talking about just money, give to the poor.

I'm not talking about just giving somebody some money.

Give them your time, give them your service, give them your energy, just give to them.

Help God's people.

And poor doesn't mean you're bankrupt or financially poor.

Jesus said, Blessed is the what?

Poor in spirit.

That's his people.

When you lend to them, or when you give to them, you're lending to the Lord.

Remember that.

And so these things are in the Bible for a reason.

This is a testimony, this is God's testimony of how he remembered his people.

For the good.

For the good.

Let's finish this on out and I'll let you go.

Verse 40.

He said, but Peter put them all forth and kneeled down and prayed.

You know why he put them all?

This is throughout the Bible also.

Do you remember uh Jesus with Jair's daughter?

How he put them forth?

Do you know why you see that?

Do you remember Elijah, a brother with uh the Shunamite?

Do you know why he does that?

It's hard to pray when you got doubt, fear, and unbelief around you.

And it's all this weeping they was gonna do, all they was gonna do is weep.

So he put them out.

He put them out, and brother he did, you're better off by yourself than having somebody not believe.

I don't like to pray with people uh who are full of doubt.

I just don't.

Uh and of course the Lord doesn't.

Even Jesus Christ Himself put out everybody that was in Jirah's daughter's room except for Peter, and I think it's one other person.

It's hard to pray when somebody don't believe.

It really is.

You create an environment, brother.

You create an environment, man, where there's just a uh negativity.

But man, I like to actually believe God doubting nothing.

Doubting nothing.

Let's keep reading.

And so he put them all for that is out of the room.

Go ahead, brother Michael.

He said, and kneeled down and prayed, and turning him to the body, said, Tabitha, arise.

And she opened her eyes.

My God, what a miracle, huh?

And when she saw Peter, she sat up, and he gave her his hand, lifted her up, and when he had called the saint and widows, presented her alive.

My God, you think it wasn't some rejoicing?

He said, and it was known throughout all Joppa and many.

Brother, that'll make you believe on it.

That'll persuade you.

And brother, this happened.

This is not some myth.

He said, and it came to pass that he tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon a tanner.

Amen.

We'll stop right there.

But uh now we're finna get to us.

The 10th chapter is how we actually come in.

Thus far, no one was in the kingdom of God but the Jews, and of course, Judea, that's the country, and the Samaritans.

There was no Gentiles in yet.

But thank God Jesus Christ gave Peter the what?

The keys of the kingdom.

The keys of the kingdom is the gospel, it is an understanding of the word of God.

And he's going to go down to the next chapter and let us Gentiles in.

Aren't you glad for that?

Amen.

Okay, it's been good here tonight.

I'm gonna stop.