Acts Chapter 7 (2009)

My head is hurting.

Um, you were saying that the we made reference to you made reference to the we, you use we as far as going out into religion, spreading the word, or getting people that we're not ready for that, like the early church was they went to the synagogues preaching the word, and when you made reference to we, I'd ask you uh, what was the we making reference to?

Just to get clarification on the we.

Right.

I remember the conversation, and I appreciate you asking because I stated that it's something I definitely should clarify publicly.

Uh I spoke in a general sense, pretty much like Paul, when he said, Now we are ambassadors of Christ.

Um we beseech you in Christ instead be irreconciled.

Uh the word we is a general term, and uh the contextual use of it or how the we is being used to determine who's the we.

Uh and I'm glad you asked that question, and I and I told you it's something I probably need to address publicly because I said it publicly.

But the con uh the context is I can appreciate it, was making reference to how those apostles uh actually did lay down their lives.

And see, our lives is more than the breath in our nostrils, but our lives are the things that's really important to us.

And of course, um uh everyone likes to be liked, uh, everyone would like to be honored, uh, everyone would like to be uh appreciated.

Uh that's in our nature, but yet those apostles laid those things down uh for the gospel's sake.

And so when I made reference to we, I was making reference to from the same context of this ministry, I'm sorry, 2009.

Uh we're not there yet.

The church as a whole is not restored, but uh we are not to the point.

And I'm making reference to the ministry first, uh, but we're not to the point that we can actually uh say as uh in Revelation chapter 12, how they love not their lives unto death.

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

But we're not there yet.

As a people, and I'm making reference to the hand of God in the earth at this hour, uh, we still would not like to be criticized.

We would like not to be uh ostracized, we would like not to be misunderstood, we would like not to be uh uh ridiculed, we would like that.

Um, I'm sure those apostles would have the same consideration.

But uh for those men at that hour, for them to live was really was Christ, and for them to die was gain, uh it was not a consideration.

Uh he those men realized, uh especially Paul, and maybe we'll look at a couple of scriptures along those lines as we get into the book of Acts, but uh that those men realized uh that the nation of Israel, which was God's people at that time, they really did have a zeal of God.

It just was not according to knowledge.

And so uh when they went into those synagogues, when they went to those Jewish religious settings, uh they knew it's not that they believed, but they knew that they would be rejected.

Uh they knew they would be ostracized, criticized, uh it would even be at the perils of their life.

But they also knew that God did have a people.

Uh maybe, maybe um fruit here or there, uh, maybe one or two over there, but God had a people that was in the midst of that system at that hour.

And the only way they was going to actually hear the everlasting gospel, though somebody had to proclaim it.

Someone had to go in and proclaim it.

And uh those men, uh to show you the extent, and of course we can see this when we read the book of Acts, uh, even Peter, when he was actually charged, that is, he and and uh and John, not to preach or to teach any more in the name of Jesus, you would have thought those men would have found another audience.

But they went right back to this to the uh temple the next morning and went right back to preaching the exact same gospel again.

And uh yet they was incarcerated.

And when the angel had loosed them, they went back again in the same temple.

That's a religious setting, that was the Jewish setting, preaching the same gospel.

But that's with those men's heart.

And they had wives.

Peter had a wife, uh, the Bible said he did.

We know he did, because the Bible said that Jesus healed Peter's wife's mother.

Well, you can't hear heal his wife's mother unless you have a wife.

And so he had a wife, and those men had concerns, but yet uh they loved not, is how you put it in Revelation, their lives unto death.

And uh, we're not there yet.

And so if we're not there, that is to ministry as a whole, not just locally, uh, then of course we know the people are not there.

But the we was to ministry.

I don't have any Bible precedence.

I don't see a scripture in the Bible to substantiate the people going to the synagogues.

Uh that was always those uh who had uh a rod.

And they was actually able to put that rod out and they rod butt it regardless of where they laid it out.

Uh the reason we don't go uh to religious settings, different uh cults, isn't it schism, that's one down the highway.

Everybody calls it a cult.

I'm not so hard on it.

Uh they call themselves the witnesses of Jehovah.

And uh they'll give you an audience, they'll give you an audience.

Uh they're not going to uh necessarily receive it, but somebody might have an ear.

Well, why don't we go?

I mean, why don't we go?

Well, because we know they're going to be rejected.

Uh the gospel is not going to be received, and you'll be labeled a certain way, and so we don't want to bear that reproach as a whole.

Uh I've learned uh over the years, and I'm not trying to put myself above anyone else, but I've learned over the years not to weigh those things.

But it does bring a reproach on God's people.

Uh I mean, I'll suffer certain reproaches.

I'm really pretty indifferent to what someone actually says where I'm concerned personally, but God's people suffer.

You know, uh it bothers people when someone says, your pastor is a lunatic, uh, your pastor's a cult leader, uh, he's crazy, he's this and that.

Well, it don't necessarily bother me, but the people of God suffer reproach.

And so uh I think as a whole, that's what keeps us out.

And we was making reference to the ministry.

And I think some is a little bit more indifferent than others.

But I think we have to be tactful.

I know certain brothers, uh, brother Watson, he don't mind calling his name, you know, he'll go into religious institutions and uh he's very wise and he'll try to sit and wait for an audience.

And when he gets up, he try to use a lot of wisdom and begin to ask questions while he's on his feet to provoke people to talk.

Uh pre-adventure, he may, pre-adventure he may get an audience with one or two and try to win someone.

I know of other brothers in this body, uh, men of renown, they'll go sit in, they'll go they sit in disguise.

They don't show themselves as a minister, they'll sit in the congregation just to hear what they're saying.

And maybe pre-aventure somebody may uh uh say something he may feel may have an ear for the Lord and pull them aside.

But that first century church wasn't like that.

They came in as thieves.

Uh that's a scripture maybe we'll look at just a little bit as we're into the book of Acts.

Uh go to Joel, J-O-E-L.

And uh just uh just to touch a little bit of that to give you a glimpse of who these people were.

Uh they was not like they was not like any other people that was before them, and neither shall there be again to the years of many generations.

And that generation is making reference to the restored church.

But uh just for the benefit here.

Joel chapter two.

Uh I won't do memory work tonight for the benefit of time.

I'd like for us to keep moving.

Uh verse pick it up with one of your brothers help me out.

Uh verse one, sorry, verse one.

Joel two and one.

Now, this is a great, this is uh before we get into this, just a little bit of Joel so you can appreciate who he's talking about.

This was written to the nation of Israel, and it's a great duality in it.

It's a tremendous duality.

And here's Israel.

They had been upon all these Gentile powers, and one nation after the other one has stripped Israel.

Uh there was a bark, there was a tree that had been barked, had been debarked.

All the uh bark had been taken off of them from the uh uh the rulership of all these gentile powers.

But also, also is a duality of the church.

And the old the Old Testament, the Bible put it this way.

He says, uh look how he put this.

He said, now these things that happened aforetime happened for our example.

Who's the hour?

That's the church.

The same thing that happened to Israel uh are written for an example for the church.

The church did the same thing Israel did as a whole.

This just a little bit of this book so you're gonna appreciate it.

Um I'm gonna read one and uh three.

This is not the, but it's just gives you some appreciation.

Uh one and three.

This is what he says.

He said, Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children and their children another generation.

What are you gonna tell them?

Verse 4.

He said, That which the what?

That which the parma worm, that which the parma worm have left, the locusts has eaten.

Okay, who's the palmer worm?

That's a parallel talking about Babylon.

Babylon had taken away a lot of the uh, uh, how should I put it?

A lot of the uh authicity that God had given to Israel.

When they was in captivity for those 70 years, they came out of different people.

They came out with synagogues.

When they went in, they didn't have synagogues.

They came out with Sadducees and Pharisees and Esosenes.

When they went in, they didn't have that.

But he said that which the parmaworm, they didn't take everything away from them.

He said that which the parmaworm, that's Babylon, had left, the locusts has eaten.

The locusts is meas and the purse.

Okay?

And that which the locusts, which is the meas and purr, has eaten, he said the canker worm have eaten.

And that which the canker left, I'm sorry, and that which the canker worm have left, the caterpillar have eaten.

And so you can see these four different Gentile nations kept eating on Israel.

They start off with Babylon, and then uh uh the Medes and Persian, and then uh Greece, and then of course Rome.

Each one of them stripped Israel until the day when Jesus came, brother, they was naked.

They had no covering.

They actually had lost their covering.

And so uh, in spite of that, and this is a parallel, you can look at the church as you begin to look at how it began to fall away.

When they left from the days of those apostles, uh, those men was reaped.

Uh he said first he seen a white horse.

That's the church uh that actually came out on the day of Pentecost.

But after those apostles was reaped, uh something began to happen.

Men got in the saddle, flesh got in the saddle.

That's why the second image to the uh, what is it, to the west was the image of a man.

And uh they had stripped something out of that church.

They began to put in doctrines and orders of men rather than the good order that God had set them in.

And what that had left, then he opened the third seal, he saw what a black horse.

Okay, these are different movements.

And then, of course, they stripped away something.

And then, of course, with the black horse that's left the pale horse.

That's talking about Rome itself, uh, it has eaten.

But look, in spite, so it's a parallel, but go to chapter two now for the sake of time.

And uh you can really appreciate this.

Here it is, back to the day of Pentecost.

And this is what happened to Israel naturally.

Uh chapter one, we read verse four on down, uh, how they kept getting script.

But look what happened in verse two, chapter two, verse one, brother Michael.

I'm sorry.

He said, Blow ye the trumpet in Zion.

What's the trumpet in the Bible?

That's a message.

Blow this trumpet in Zion.

Don't not out in the uh religious world out there, but you blow this trumpet in Zion.

Uh, what's what's what's the trumpet?

Keep reading.

Sound of what?

Sound an alarm in my holy mountain.

Okay, that is Mount Zionai.

He said, Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble.

No, listen to this, brother.

This is not his holy mountain.

Let all the inhabitants of the land, that land was talking about Israel as a whole.

Let them tremble, let them tremble, for the day of the Lord cometh.

It is nigh at hand.

What day of the Lord is that?

That's the day the Lord's about to judge Israel.

But look what happened before.

Listen what he had in verse 2.

How is he going to judge them?

Do you remember what Jesus Christ told the uh Jews?

He said, Listen, he said, I'm not gonna judge you.

He said, But your children, talking about those apostles, they're going to be your judge.

And so here they were.

The Lord had established a judgment seat.

That judgment seat was those uh people who had actually heard the word of God, received it in the spirit of meekness, which was able to save their souls.

And that became a judgment seat, talking about that ministry, those apostles.

Look what he calls it now.

We've gone over this before, but this is important.

He said it's a day of darkness and what?

Of gloominess.

Well, my God, if it's a if this is the day of Pentecost, you're making reference to them, why is it a day of darkness and glooming?

It's dark for that religious world out there.

It's dark for those Jews.

It's wonderful.

It was light in the city of God, but brother, it was darkness out there.

Do you remember how when the Lord brought the nation of Israel out of Egypt?

Do you remember how when the Pharaoh followed him and the Egyptians?

How that uh uh the Bible says, how that a cloud went to their reward behind them, and it became a great darkness unto the Egyptian, but it was light to the children of God.

And so the same thing that's light to us is darkness to them.

We can see it, but brother, it's darkness to those that are without.

And so then he goes on.

He said, Listen, he said, as the morning spread upon the mountains, a great people, that is that early rain church.

That's that apostolic ministry.

He calls it a great people and a what?

And a strong.

There has not ever been the like.

Never.

Neither shall there be any more after it, even to the years of what?

And that's talking about the latter rain.

The latter rain ministry.

Now, of course, naturally, uh let's keep reading.

I'm gonna get to the natural part of it.

Verse 1 now.

I'm sorry, verse 3.

He set a fire.

Are you there with me?

He set a fire defire before them, and behind them a flame burneth.

What is that?

What is he making reference to?

Well, fire in the Bible denotes one of three things the judgment of God, the presence of God, or the purification.

That's the presence of God that went before those people, and then behind them that was the judgment.

That fire was the judgment.

The land is as a garden of Eden before them.

There it is, there are some people out there who want to be saved.

And behind them is a desolate wilderness.

Why?

Brother, because all of the wheat he put into the he put into the barn, but all of the shaft he was going to burn it within quenchable fire that is in 70 AD.

And then he goes on.

If you can kind of see this parallel here, uh I'm trying to get to a certain point.

He said, and behind them a desolate wilderness, and nothing shall escape them.

Nothing.

The Bible said their sound went throughout the earth, it went throughout the whole world.

And look at verse 4.

The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses.

And as horsemen, so shall they run.

Look how they ran.

Look how they run.

Verse 7 for the sake of time.

Look, he said, they shall run like what?

That's that apostolic minister.

That's those men who came out, not just from the day of Pentecost, but as long as that church is in a glorious state, he said they shall run like mighty men.

They shall climb the walls like what?

Men of war.

Well, what walls was that?

Uh that was the walls that Israel had put up.

That was the walls of religion.

They went in and they sit.

And brother, they waited for an audience.

And uh I remember, brother, in one particular place, the 14th chapter, uh, the chief of the ruler of the synagogue, uh James, I'm sorry, that was Paul who went in, him and Silas.

And he just sits there.

We talked about that a few days ago.

He just sits there.

And the ruler of the synagogue, he got up and gave his spill, his speech, and no doubt he looked over at Paul, knows men.

He said, Brethren, have you any words of exaltation to say to the people?

And brother, what he said that for.

Paul stood to his feet and he began to walk down through the scriptures.

And my God, brother, next thing you know, they wanted to kill him.

When he finished talking, they wanted to put him to death.

They invited him to talk.

They gave him an audience.

But when he opened his mouth, brother, the word of God began to flow.

And he knew those things were going to happen.

It's been his experience every city he went in.

But they climbed the walls, but they came in like thieves.

They didn't say, I'm a preacher.

They didn't say anything.

Watch this.

He said, and they shall uh march everyone on his what?

On his ways.

Look at verse 9.

They shall run to and fro in the what?

In the city.

That's talking about, listen to this, Babylon out their religion.

They shall run upon the walls.

They shall climb up upon the houses.

What houses?

Those are houses of worship.

They shall enter in in where?

At the one like a what?

Like a thief.

Like a thief.

They was just that kind of people.

They went in wherever God had a people, they went in to try to erect, eject those people out of those systems and bring them to the kingdom of God.

Even at the perils of their life.

Even at the perils of their life.

And uh and that's what I was making reference to the we.

But now if we just all, and I'm saying we here is the whole, uh, the body as a whole, if we went in and out of religion, just went anywhere, well, there's other scripture that applies to us in that situation.

Uh the Bible talks about, and I'm not going to get into it, it takes too much time, but uh the Bible says, if a man die in a house, man being a minister, you're dead, you don't have the words of life.

He said, every vessel in there that is what?

Uncovered is what?

Is unclean.

Every vessel in there that's uncovered is unclean.

Every open vessel is how you put it.

Every open vessel is unclean, the vessel being God's people.

If I don't have a covering and I'm going somewhere, what's my purpose?

What's my intent?

Why am I there?

If I just sit in a religious setting just to be sitting, maybe I visit your church and you visit mine.

Who covered me?

What's my purpose?

Well, I'm unclean.

I'm absolutely unclean.

And so if I went in, I have to make sure the Lord's covered me.

What's my intention?

Am I there to try to uh uh uh see if God has a people who's interested there?

And that's what we should be looking for.

And anytime I go to funerals, I prefer not to go.

But uh I'll go because uh the dear people of God will suffer great reproach if uh someone in the ministry uh doesn't go there to show their uh uh their concern.

The support for the bereaved family member.

Well, I know the saints wouldn't be offended, but uh I've seen it happen when I didn't sit on the platform.

They'll say, Well, who you who your pastor think he is?

Is he too good to sit up there?

Well, the reason I don't sit because I don't support what's being said.

I don't believe that.

I don't support that.

But to not sit there is insulting uh to the bereaved family.

And so you you do those things for the elect's sake, the God's people, you suffer all things for the elect's sake.

But I don't agree, I don't appreciate what's being said, the spirit in which is said, the way they act, but and then I have to watch my spirit.

If I sit there, I have to at least smile.

I have to make sure I show charity.

Uh-huh.

But my God, no, absolutely not.

I know why I'm there.

I'm there because I have a dear saint who's being bereaved, and a family member will ridicule them if uh if we didn't show the same concern.

And so we suffer those things for the elect's sake, elect's sake.

Am I making myself plain that I answer that?

Who's the way?

Let's go back to the book of Acts.

That's enough on that.

And uh I think we stopped in the we finished the sixth chapter, didn't we?

Clarification, uh that was uh when you made reference to that scripture in Revelation 12 where you said they love not their lives.

I think you said unto the death.

Was that the death of the old man or uh or natural death?

It's the same, Brother Michael.

Um when you the death of the old man, it's for the benefit of some of the new people.

When we talk about the old man, we're making reference to the firstborn, Adam.

The old man, not your husband, the old man.

And so the death of the old man is the same thing, Brother Michael.

It's your reputation, it's your life, the way people like you, uh, don't like you, all the things that's important to the flesh.

It's the same thing.

Loving not your your life to the deaf or to the deaf of the old man.

You don't want to value, you don't want to value the carnality more than you do your spirituality.

And uh trying to reach out to the world, here's your great cross.

You've heard us talk about these things.

Trying to uh be on the level or to reach out uh to your peers and your acquaintance.

Uh that's one thing.

Reaching out to the world.

But for the inner man, it wants to reach up to God and it forms a cross.

It really forms a cross, and that's a cross we have to bear.

We have to bear that cross.

Now I don't want to suffer folly, I don't want to suffer for foolishness, but I like to be willing to suffer shame for the name of the Lord.

And uh that means knowing why I'm taking a stand and making sure I'm not being fanatical in doing so, or we're not being fanatical.

These men then bring a fire upon themselves.

Uh, these men was not suffering for some foolishness or unrighteousness.

They wasn't suffering because they was overzealous.

These men were suffering for the name of the Lord.

This is the way that the Lord has showed those men to go.

And as this church is restored, I'm talking about not disassembling, but the body of Christ, you will see the same audacity.

Uh, you'll see the same willingness to suffer reproach for the name of the Lord.

Uh, you will see a people, brother, who set their affection on things above, not on things of this earth, not on things of this earth.

And it's okay if someone ridicules and thinks bad of us and say, but it's okay, that's all right.

That's wonderful.

When they said those things about those apostles, the Bible said they counted an honor to suffer shame for the name of the Lord.

Well, we've got to get there.

We will get there.

You're nothing to ask for it.

You will get there.

As you mature in Christ, the cream always rises to the top.

You don't have to worry about it.

You'll get there.

Never ask for the Lord, send me the fire.

Just live right.

When uh Elijah, brother, when he put the wood in order and he set those stones in order, brother the Lord answered by fire.

The fire falls all by itself.

But that's the purification.

That's not the judgment of God.

That's the purification that we go through.

And so you can see as we said here, this New Testament church was actually birth.

It was birth in the fire.

And that was a good thing.

It wasn't pleasant, but it was the good thing.

Because any, listen to this a little leaven leaven is the what?

Whole lump.

If there was anything in those men's heart to reach out to this world, the fire made sure, but it was consumed instantly.

It was consumed.

And uh we're in a fallen state that we're being restored.

We're being restored.

We're not there yet, Brother Michael, but I'm glad the Lord would not suffer us to be tempted above that which were able, but we'll with the temptation do what?

Make a way of escape that we'd be able to bear it.

And so the Lord's not going to suffer more fire.

On us than where we are spiritually.

But we're going to get there.

We're getting there.

We will get there.

You know, we're like, brother, we're just like David.

That is, before he showed himself to Saul, before he showed himself to Goliath, we're on the back side of the desert.

We're learning to kill our bear, that is our bear spirit, and our lion.

We're practicing with the slingshot.

Until, brother, one day, brother, that cry is going to be made, Goliath is going to begin to roar.

He said, Send me out a man.

Send me out a man.

And brother, you know all of all of Saul's, all of Saul's armor, they're going to shake in the boots.

But brother, thank God for that little lad that's on the backside of the desert practicing that represents the body of Christ.

Thank God, brother.

We'll go out and we'll meet that great giant.

We'll go out, we won't be afraid.

Why?

Because we got five smooth stones, brother, in our shepherd's bag.

I don't take but one of them, brother Elton.

We got five smooth stones.

That's the apostles, prophet, evangelists, pastors, and teacher.

We're able to hit that giant, brother.

The only place he's vulnerable, that's right between his eyes.

That's right where his head is.

There's no protection.

He doesn't have an understanding of the word of God.

He can roar, he can beat his chest, he can make a lot of noise, but ask him a Bible question.

And then ask him to have him to use the Bible to defend what he believes.

He can't do it.

He cannot do it.

It's a vulnerability.

You can't do what he does.

You can't do what that great giant does.

You can't build the cathedrals and uh you can't spread yourself across the seven continents.

You can't do all of that.

Uh, brother, you can't say we have one billion members on the earth.

You can't do all of that.

But I tell you what one thing, brother, he cannot do.

He can't defend his vulnerability.

Brother, when it comes to the word of God, he just don't have it.

He just don't have it.

And uh there's gonna be a people.

Thank God, brother, that's coming up out the backside of the wilderness, brother Michael.

We're not afraid, man, to ask him questions out of the Bible.

Give me a Bible answer.

Don't tell me what your theologian taught you.

Give me a Bible answer.

Where is purgatory?

Show it to me in the scriptures.

Who taught you about a purgatory?

Where did you get that from?

Why do you have that steeple on top of your church?

Where did that come from?

Who told you to put it up there?

Jesus Christ said bear your cross.

He didn't say wear your cross.

Why are you wearing it?

Who taught you that that spirituality?

Am I being messy tonight?

Somebody, somebody, brother, somebody gonna ask those questions in all simplicity.

Who told you to turn that collar around backwards?

Do you think that Peter, James, and John walked around with a robe on and a collar flipped around backwards?

Do you think that?

Who told you to put that six million dollar fish head on your head?

Where do you get that from?

Somebody gonna ask Bible questions, brother.

I'm sorry.

You ought to be glad they disowned you.

But it probably did.

It probably said things about you.

You know, you just uh lost your mind, you're crazy.

But there's gonna be a people that's gonna actually meet them face to face up front and ask questions.

I'm not I'm not boasting, absolutely not.

But when it comes to the word of God, nobody can handle the word of God like those who God ordained.

Absolutely nobody in the earth.

You won't get this from a seminary, you can't get this from a high school of learning.

Brother, you don't get it that way.

And those apostles didn't get it that way.

They sit down at Jesus' feet.

That's where they were taught.

And even the Sanhedrin Council took note that those men had been with Jesus.

They was ignorant and unlearned.

Don't mean that they couldn't talk and couldn't write.

It simply means, brother, they didn't know the ways of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Essex.

They didn't go to the school of the scribes.

And so they was ignorant and unlearned far as their doctrine was concerned.

But when those men opened their mouths, brother, they spoke as to the articles of God.

And it could not be denied.

It could not, and not just the apostles, but all of their posterity, all of those men who sit up under that apple tree, up under the apostolic ministry.

All of those men, when they opened their mouths, all came out of their mouth was the word of God.

So word of God and nothing but the word of God.

And it could not be resisted.

It could not be stopped.

Let's go to the book of Acts.

And you can actually see this as we get into this wonderful chapter here.

Let's pick it up again for the context of where we stopped at.

Where did we stop?

Chapter 7.

Let's read into it real briefly here.

Verse 8, 6 and 8.

And we will finish this chapter.

Pick it up on there, Brother Mike.

He said, and Stephen, full of faith and power.

Now he was one of those seven men that the apostle had actually laid hands on and had ordained those men.

Listen to this, had ordained those men to assist them, Brother Michael.

And here's where the man's gift began to make room for them.

Those men wasn't ordained to go in and uh and to teach doctrine in the body, but they was ordained to administer in the body.

But what they had, brother, that gift began to make room for them.

Those men, listen, they wasn't teaching in the church of the body of Christ, but everywhere they went, they opened their mouths.

And watch the audacity, watch the audacity of Stephen.

He said, and Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.

In other words, man, this man was a gifted minister, and the Lord was confirming his word with signs and wonders.

But watch what happened.

Verse 9.

We read this last week, but just for the context of reading to this seventh chapter.

He said, Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, the Cyrenians, the Alexandrians, and of Cilicia and of Asia disputing with Stephen.

Brother, here's these great theologians.

They're trying to uh they're trying to contend with Stephen and the things that he was preaching.

This man was preaching something that will be considered blasphemous because they were teaching things that was contrary to the law of Moses.

The law of Moses said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

But Jesus Christ said, Do good to those that hate you and those that spitefully use you.

That was contrary.

That was contrary.

The law of Moses made it very plain.

He said, if a man uh uh that is committed adultery, they is to be stoned.

But Jesus said that if you look upon a woman to lust upon her, you commit adultery already in your heart.

Those men was teaching something contrary to the law of Moses.

And so here these synagogues, brother, they got wind of that and they was uh they was absurd.

Look at verse 10.

And they read this with me, verse 10.

And they was what?

Not able to do what?

Resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.

That man, brother, what you mean the wisdom?

The wisdom is nothing but using knowledge and understanding correctly.

That man, the knowledge of the word of God, the understanding he had, he used it correctly, those scriptures could not be broken.

It could not deny the things that those men were saying.

Here in particular, it was it was uh Stephen.

And look what happened.

Verse 11.

And they suburbed men, which said, We have heard him speak what?

Blasphemous word against Moses and against God.

Well, according to their concept of Moses, no doubt it was a blasphemy.

He was teaching things that was contrary to the law of Moses.

Well, absolutely so.

That's correct.

But brother, it was inspired by God.

And then verse 12 say they stirred up the people.

What people?

That was the Jews and the elders, that's the elders of the Jews, and the scribes, that's the theologians, and they came upon him, that is Stephen, and they caught him and brought him to the council.

That's the Sanhedrin councils.

And look what happened, brother.

They're trying to take issue with this man.

They set up fall witnesses, which said, This man ceased not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law.

What holy place they were talking about?

They were talking about the temple.

The law was going to destroy the temple.

Remember how Jesus said the day was coming, it wouldn't be left what?

Not one stone upon another, it should not all be thrown down.

Well, they didn't want to hear that.

But but but Stephen, brother, he was preaching what Jesus Christ had said, listen, don't put your confidence in this temple.

This temple's not gonna save you.

The hour's gonna come, it's not gonna be one stone left upon another.

Jesus said that, and they didn't want to hear it.

That was blasphemous words to them.

And so, brother, they was gonna try to get rid of Stephen.

They was gonna try to put him to death.

You would have thought Stephen would have been quiet.

You would have thought he would have changed his message.

You would have thought he would have compromised.

Brother, compromising was not in him.

This is a man, brother, who was driving a vehicle that didn't have reverse in it.

Somebody took neutral out of his transmission.

It only had drive, brother.

It could only go ahead.

There was no backup in this, man.

And look what happened.

I'm not teaching radicism or being fanatical, but I want us to see, brother, what that New Testament church was made of.

It was men just like this.

And look what happened, verse 14.

He said, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy what?

Well, that he will.

He absolutely was.

And it shall change the custom which Moses delivered.

He absolutely had already.

And that is the truth.

And all that said in the council, look insteadfastly on him, saw his face, and it has been the what?

And that's what it was.

An angel in the Bible means a messenger.

And that's what Stephen was.

He was an angel sent from God.

He was a second heaven angel, a terrestrial angel, an earthly angel, not a third heaven angel, but he was an angel.

That's all an angel is, is a messenger.

There's angels celestial, and there's angels terrestrial.

There's third heaven angels, and any minister whom ordained by God is a second heaven angel.

That's what they are.

And then now look what happened.

Verse chapter 7.

Now we finally get into it.

And the high priest, and uh uh, then said the high priest, are these things so?

In other words, did you actually teach?

Did you preach things that was blasphemy against Moses and against his place, talking about the city of Jerusalem?

Did you say that the Lord, uh, that your Savior or your Messiah is going to destroy this temple?

He's gonna change the custom of Moses.

Are these things so?

Well, Brother Stephen didn't have no, he didn't have no rabbit in him.

But he went all the way back and began to try to lay a foundation before he opened his mouth.

He was gonna get into a gear, but he was first learning.

See, I'm not an ignorant ramus, I'm not an unlearned man, I'm not just saying things.

He began to give them their pedigree.

Look what he says.

Verse 2.

He started off very diplomatic.

He said, Men, brethren and fathers, hearken.

That word means listen.

Boy, that's pretty nice, isn't it?

Well, Mike, you can't talk like that.

He started off real nice.

He said, The God of the glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia.

Before he dwelled, that's haron, here is pronounced uh Sharon, but it's just a rendering of the same word.

And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and come in the land which I shall show thee.

And he began to show them the very beginning of the Hebrew people, of the Jewish people.

He's starting from Genesis chapter 12.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

He gradually walks him all the way through.

He said, Then came he out of the land of the Shaldeans.

He's talking about Abraham and dwelt in Sharon.

Uh I see a fan.

Are you warm?

Y'all comfortable?

Okay.

Help me out, Brother Michael.

Read for me, please.

He said, Then came he out of the land of the Shaldeans and dwelt in Sharon, and from thence when his father was dead, he removed him into this land wherein ye now dwell.

It's talking about how God moved Abraham.

But the interesting thing about it, there's some things he's writing here that you can't even find in the Bible.

You know that's the inspiration of God.

Uh nowhere can you find in Genesis that God dealt with Abraham when he was in Europe.

He actually dealt with his father when you read it in Genesis.

Just for a second, I don't want to enlarge this too much.

But I want to show you the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost, listen, the Holy Ghost can take this Bible, brother.

There's hidden, there are hidden nuggets, there's hidden corn in here.

The Holy Ghost can let you read between it and actually squeeze the oil out of this.

Go to Genesis chapter uh 12 real quick.

It's actually chapter 11.

I'm sorry.

Genesis chapter 11.

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

It always amazes me these men message the depth in which they talk.

Things that I can't find in the Old Testament.

No doubt you know it's the inspiration.

Brother Michael, uh look at the 27th verse.

Look at 26 verse, 11 and 26.

He said, and Terah lived 70 years and begat Abraham, Abram, and Nahor and Haran.

Now these are the generations of Terah.

Keep reading.

He said, and Terah begat Abraham, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran begat Lot.

Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity in the Ur of the Shaldees.

Abram and Nahor.

He said, and Terah took.

I read this, so Terah is Abram's father, which his name is changed to Abraham.

Look at verse 31.

And Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abraham's wife, and they went forth with them from Ur of the Shaldees to go into the land of Canaan.

And they came unto Haran and dwelt there.

Now watch this next two verses.

He said, In the days of Tarah were 205 years, and Tarah died in Haran.

That's the pedigree of Abraham, but it never mentioned God dealt with Abram.

It only said he dealt with his father.

But actually, God did deal with Abram, but it's not recorded.

Tara made a move to Haran, and there he died.

And then God spoke directly to Abraham again.

We read chapter 12, verse 1.

He said, Now the Lord had said, and that's how I knew he had it right.

He said, Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country.

He didn't say the Lord said.

He said the Lord had said.

When he said it, he said it when he was in Europe.

Are you following me?

Am I making any sense to you?

Am I splitting the verbs too much for you?

When you read in this context, you wouldn't see it.

It's only because you read it in Peter's, I'm sorry, in Stephen's writing, you can see that God dealt with Abram while Abram was yet in Europe, but you can't find that in Genesis.

Just one little word.

Now the Lord had said.

That had didn't mean anything to me until I read it closely in Acts.

But I'm just showing you how the Lord, can you see how the Lord uh revealed things?

One little word.

Stephen was in a channel.

He wasn't making things up.

He saw those things clearly.

And since once he went down to Haran, Taran died and God moved upon Abraham again to move.

But God was trying to get Abraham to move all the time.

He's a little bit slow.

He loved his father.

So God moved this upon his father.

But here's the thing you want to remember.

Brother, if God is dealing with you whatever, whatever is so close to you, whatever is so close to you that's stopping you from fulfilling the will of God, the Lord can do something about it.

Tarah died in Haran because he was a hindrance to Abraham.

When he died, then Abraham had no problem obeying God.

I want my wife to love me, but I don't want to love me so much that she gets me in trouble with God.

And I love my wife, I love my kids, but I don't want to love them so much, brother, that I can't move because of them, because the Lord can do something about that.

If he's interested in me, fulfilling his will, brother, whatever's in my way, the Lord will remove it.

Whatever my idol is, whatever my scab, whatever my sword is, the Lord, he can solve that problem.

Yeah.

It's a small thing, but it's big to me.

But let's keep reading now.

Go back to uh Acts chapter 7.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

Can you see the depth of how these men saw the word of God?

Brother, it was more than just reading the letter.

Those men understood what was written.

They took that old testament and they were able to extract the oil of the understanding of what those things meant.

Now, as he began to give Israel their pedigree, where did we stop at Brother Michael?

4.

He said Verse 5, I think, is what No, he said, Then came, then came he out of the land of the Shaldeans, dwelt in Sharon.

Listen to this.

And from thence when his father was dead.

When his father was dead, he removed him into this land wherein ye now dwell.

And he gave him none other inheritance in it.

That's talking about in the land in which they was dwelling, the land of Israel.

He said, No, not so much as to set his foot on.

Yet he promised that we he would give it to him for possession and to his seed after him when as yet he had no child.

Now every Israelite understood the history, Brother Elton.

And so they no doubt they lending their spirit to Stephen.

They're saying when everything he's saying is right.

They listen and nodding their head.

Well, that's true, that's true.

But brother, so he's gradually, he's gradually laying a foundation.

Let's keep reading, brother Michael.

No doubt every every one of those Jews said, hey man, well, he this guy knows something.

He's right about that.

I read that, I heard that.

That's the truth.

They listening.

So he's not a fanatic.

And they gave an ear to what he was saying.

Keep reading.

He said, and God spake on this wise that his siege should sojourn in a strange land, and that they should bring them into bondage and entreat them evil 400 years.

Well, that was talking about how that they actually went down and before they went into captivity, the whole years of their sojourn in Egypt was 400 years, come the time Abraham was in Canaan.

And so, man, every Jew knew their history.

No doubt they said, Amen, that's true.

He said, And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God.

And God did judge Egypt with ten plagues, didn't he?

And so they not, no doubt, they say in their mind, yes, that's true.

He said, and after that they shall come forth and serve me in this place.

He said, and he gave him the covenant of circumcision.

But he is talking about God gave him, that is Abraham, the covenant of what?

Circumcision.

Go ahead.

And so Abraham begat Isaac and circumcised him the eighth day.

Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob beget the twelve patriarchs.

Well, every Jew knew their pedigree.

They could all say amen to that.

He said, and the patriarchs moved within the soul Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him, and delivered him out of all his affliction, gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

Don't you think every Jew there had to be somewhat impressed?

This man is walking down through that Bible.

He is walking down through those scriptures, not missing a beat.

No doubt everybody started listening.

And that's what the Lord was trying to do.

Keep reading.

He said, Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt.

That means a drop.

And Shannon and great affliction, and our fathers found no.

Shannon is Canaan.

I don't know why they spell those words this way.

I'm very intrigued with that.

But nevertheless, that's talking about Canaan.

Go ahead, Brother Michael.

He said, and our and our fathers found no sustenance.

He said, but when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent our out our fathers first.

Well, he gives them all of the history, and I won't read all this for the sake of time.

And all he's doing is first he takes him, Brother Michael, through the book of Genesis, chapter 12.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

He walks him down through chapter 15, chapter 20, chapter 40, 43, 44, 45, and then he gets right on into Exodus.

And then chapter 20, he picks up on Exodus now.

Well, actually he picks up on Exodus.

I'm sorry.

Where did he pick up an Exodus at?

Go down to verse 17.

He said, But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt.

Okay, now you're in Exodus.

Look how he's walking down through those books.

He said, Till another king arose which knew not Joseph.

He said, The same dealt subtly with our kindred and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children to the end they might not live.

But look how he's walking down through that Bible.

Chapter 20.

I mean, verse 20, I'm sorry.

He said, In which time Moses was born and was exceeding fair and nourished up in his father's house three months.

My God.

And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up and nourished him for her own son.

And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.

That's a key verse.

Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds.

Now here's some no keys.

Look at these wonderful keys he's dropping.

Verse 23.

And when he was full 40 years old, you won't find that in the Old Testament.

That's a revelation.

When he was full 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brother, the children of Israel.

And uh he goes, he gives you the pedigree to that.

And then look, it tells you how verse 29.

And then Moses fled at the sand and was a stranger in the land of Midden.

Again, I'm intrigued with the spelling here, but it's talking about the land of Midden.

Yeah.

Where he begat two sons.

Look at verse 30.

This is how we know Moses' life was broken up into three periods of 40 years.

The first 40 in Egypt, the second 40 in the wilderness, and the last 40 he led them in the wilderness.

This you won't find that broken up in Genesis.

You only find that in Stephen's talk when he was preaching, by revelation.

You can't find that.

You can't extract that anywhere else.

How did he get it?

He got it by revelation.

You won't find it nowhere else.

It's not documented.

It's not only 40 years you can come up with is the 40 years in the wilderness.

It's reading Stephen's writing, a brother who had a revelation of what those things was transpiring and how they transpired, that we can get Moses' life.

This is absolutely fascinating.

This is the Holy Ghost.

Now watch this.

Then when 40 years was expired, there appeared unto him in the wilderness of Mount Zion, Sinai, and what?

An angel of the Lord and a flame of fire in a bush.

When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight, and as he draw near to behold it, a void the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying, I am the God of the Our fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.

Then Moses trembled and durst not behold.

Then the Lord said to him, Showing you, brother, what that angel was, that angel was the present of the Lord in that bush.

Then the Lord said to him, The Lord said to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet.

That's the thing that covenant up your understanding.

For the place whereest thou standest is what?

It's holy ground.

And he goes on to say, I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which were in Egypt, in Egypt, and I have heard their groanings and have come down to deliver them.

And now come and I'm gonna send thee into Egypt.

This Moses, get this, this Moses, whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge?

The same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.

Brother, he walks him on down through that.

He walked him on down through that.

And brother, no doubt everybody was nodding their head and they was with him.

This talk must take a little while.

And all of a sudden, brother, without any warning, he turned on him.

He just turned on them.

You and I will say he's relling, but he's not relling.

This is the same Holy Ghost, brother, that had him to walk down through those scriptures, turned around, brother, and executed words of judgment.

Look at this uh this 51st verse.

He said, Look, listen, just shift gears on them.

He said, Read it with me, you what?

You stiff-neck and what?

Uncircumcised in heart and ears.

Brother, you think they weren't angry?

Man, you done lured us into lending you our spirit?

We were saying amen to you.

We felt like God was with you, and all of a sudden you're gonna read.

That's the same Holy Ghost.

That's the same Holy Ghost that led through them scripture was saying, you stiff neck and uncircumcised and heart and ears.

But now, brother, they're gonna reject him.

All before God was with him.

And now, brother, no doubt their heart got angry.

He said, You stiff neck and uh stiff neck and uncircumcised and heart and ears.

He said, Yeah He didn't say do you?

He said, You do always resist the what?

Holy Ghost.

As your father did, so do ye.

And he walked him down and showed them how their father kept resisting the Lord.

And now he's saying, you're guilty of the same thing.

Brother, what an indictment.

What an indictment.

Looking down verse 52.

Look at the boldness of this man.

These men, Sister Michelle, had the power to take his life and let him live.

You would have thought he would have been more diplomatic.

You would have thought he would have used a little bit more tack.

Brother, tack wasn't on his mind.

He was full of the Holy Ghost.

And what this was, here, and let me say this.

Here is Israel's last chance at redemption.

Jesus Christ did not judge them for uh crucifying them.

He said, Your son's gonna be your judge.

And brother, when they martyred, and you're gonna see they did, when they marty Stephen, they broke their plate.

When they martyred Stephen, now they was cut off.

This is the end of the Jews.

Uh what is that, Brother Michael?

They last uh three and a half years.

Jesus preached for three and a half years, the apostles preached for three and a half to the Jews.

When they stoned Stephen, that week was finished.

That is the end for them.

That was a seventh week that they broke their plate.

Let me read a little bit further with you.

Now you're gonna see this gospel turn around and go to the Samaritans, and from the Samaritan to the Gentiles.

It was if as a whole, Israel at this point would be cut off.

They will be cut off.

Verse 52.

He said, Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?

My God, and they have slain them, which showed before the coming of the just one, of whom ye have now, have been now on the what?

My God.

Those are two relevant document statements.

Both of those statements are relevant and indicting.

And then he don't stop.

He said, Listen, he said, who talking about the Jews?

You have received the law by the disposition of what?

Was that third heaven angels?

No, that those angels was Moses and Aaron.

Those were second heaven angels, whom you have received the law by the disposition of angels.

That's making reference to Moses and uh and uh and Aaron.

And have what?

Not kept it.

Now they couldn't take no more.

Verse 54.

When they heard these things, they, that's those Jews, was what?

And they gnashed, they gashed on him with their teeth.

Can you imagine a man preaching, brother?

Words so indicting, they just started biting him.

They start gashing on him with the teeth.

Those words, brother, was cutting to the heart.

And no doubt it was with the anointing of the Holy Ghost.

They didn't want to hear no more.

Stop it.

Be quiet.

And he still wouldn't stop.

Look what happened.

Verse 55.

Read this with me.

This is a key verse.

But he being what?

Say it again, being what?

That's not being baptized with the Holy Ghost.

That full means sagurated with.

Just like John the Baptist was when he was in Elizabeth's womb when he heard the sagutation of Mary.

He was full of the Holy Ghost.

Just like uh uh just like Samson was, he caught those 300 foxes and tied their tails together.

He wasn't baptized with the Holy Ghost, but he was full of the Holy Ghost.

When Stephen was preaching, that was the same situation.

He was anointed, sagurated with the Holy Ghost, full of the Holy Ghost.

And no doubt his soul is departing.

These people are actually killing him.

They are putting him to death.

Do you know nowhere in the Bible, and I challenge anyone to find it, nowhere in the Bible can you find that Jesus Christ ever stood on the right hand of God.

He always sat at the right hand of his father.

Always set at the right hand of his father.

Always.

Or brother, when his first mortar was being put to death.

Brother, he got up.

He got up, man.

He finna receive the first overcomer.

Here is the first fruit of the early century church, first century church.

Here is the first overcomer.

My Lord.

And as he stood up, brother Michael, he stood up to receive him, brother.

You're talking about a standing obation.

Brother, what a standing obation.

Jesus Christ all by himself.

That's got to be great.

And not only that, he allowed, he allowed Stephen to see it.

Your eyes can't look in the third heaven.

Not inside of this body, it can't.

So it's obvious.

Here's a departing soul.

And brother, he actually heavens was open.

That man, nobody else could see it, but he could see it.

Here's Jesus Christ, who always sat at the right hand of his Father.

Now he's standing.

He's actually standing to receive this first fruit, this first overcomer.

Let's read a little bit more.

Verse 55.

And he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly and where?

Into heaven, and saw the what?

And get this, this is a conjunction of the glory of God and Jesus standing on the what?

Now I see two there.

If you can help me if you if you see one or three.

I don't see three.

I don't see, he said, he said that's God, that's the glory of God, and there's the Holy Ghost, then there's Jesus.

I don't see that.

And I don't see that Jesus Christ was standing by his own right hand.

He was standing by the right hand of the Father.

And he doesn't mention the Holy Ghost because he's not a person.

This is throughout your Bible, if we can see it.

It's not that hard to see.

Let God be true in what?

Every man will lie.

Listen, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.

Brother, we ought to underline that.

He was standing on the right hand of God, and you won't find that anywhere else in the Bible.

And said, look what look what he's saying.

You would have thought that he would have been quiet.

This man can't be quiet.

He's opening his mouth and testifying to the things which he both know and have seen.

Look, and said, Behold, I see the what?

Heavens open.

I can see it.

And the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.

He saw two.

He saw, Brother Michael.

He saw behind that veil which separated the holy place from the holy of holies.

He saw those two cherubims, and one of them was standing up.

That's Jesus Christ.

Thank God, brother.

That thrills my soul.

That thrills my soul.

And he goes on.

He said, listen, and they cried with a loud voice and stopped their ears.

They said he won't hear it.

They stopped it.

Every time he opened their mouth, he was convicting them.

Even while they was killing him, he was still convicting them.

They stopped their ears.

They took him and dragged him.

This man won't stop.

We know how to stop him.

We're going to stop gashing and start stoning.

And so they took him outside.

Let's read it.

And they stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord and cast him out of the city and did what?

And they stoned him.

They stoned him.

But you know, brother, they thought they were doing him harm, but all they was doing was finishing his soul, escaping his body.

Everybody, listen to me.

Everybody, there is no exception.

Everybody, everybody has to go through a transformation.

You have to, uh this mortem has to put on immortality.

This corruptible, this flush, has to put on incorruption.

You get the wrong end of that scripture, and you'll think it's talking about some big rapture.

That's not a rapture.

That's every individual who makes it to the bride of Jesus Christ.

He said, Listen, behold, I show you a mystery.

We shall not all sleep.

That's everybody who's going to be in the bride.

But we shall all be changed.

For in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, the trump shall sound and the dead shall rise.

Let's read that.

That's 1 Corinthians, what is that, 15?

Yeah, but here's the point is that transformation is every individual.

That's not collectively.

That's not simultaneously.

We're all going to poop, gonna change.

That's everyone who's reaped.

Here you see Stephen.

He's being reaped.

And let me say this.

Stephen wasn't raptured.

How do you know that, Brother Brown?

Because he was the only one that went out.

When you've gone to rapture, they would have taken all the Christians out.

Only Stephen went.

He was the first overcomer.

He was the first one to come to fruition.

He was hand picked, hand selected by the master by himself.

That is the reaping.

No one else went.

That was no rapture.

But he, as an individual, was hand picked.

His soul had come into fruition.

He had matured.

He had come as ripe as you could possibly get.

He couldn't get any riper.

And Jesus Christ himself taught this in the fourth chapter of John.

He said, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a seed that's cast into the ground.

First appeared the blade.

That's someone who's converted.

Then appeared the ear.

That's receiving the Holy Ghost.

And then the full corn in the ear.

Then immediately he said he puts in the what?

He puts in the sickle.

Why?

Because the harvest of the fruit of the earth has come.

That soul is ripe.

Everybody didn't get reaped, but he got reaped.

Peter, James, John, Andrew, they were still on the earth.

But he was reaped.

He was reaped.

His soul was ripe.

He had come into full fruition.

He was as mature as he could get.

He had the spirit of Christ and understanding the word of God.

He had no foul motive, no foul spirit.

His speech was harsh, but thank God his soul was ripe.

Can you see that?

Can you see that?

And so there was a change made.

Brother, something has to put this old body to death.

Something has to put me to death if I get out of here before, how should I put it?

Any kind of way.

I have to leave.

I have to leave.

The Lord's not going to have all of a sudden, Sister Christine, a big puff and we all gone.

Something has to put me to death.

Sickness, old age, you don't die from old age, by the way.

You die from vital organs ceasing to uh to function.

Something has to put me to death.

It may be sickness, it may be an accident, it may be a bolt of lightning, somebody might shoot you.

Something has to put this body to death for that soul to escape.

It's like a walnut.

We often use it in illustration.

You ever seen a walnut?

As long as that walnut is in mature, you can rattle it, and brother, you don't hear nothing.

But when that walnut comes into full fruition, the meat on the inside of that, it detaches itself.

You can take a walnut when it's ripe.

You guys eat walnuts?

I love them.

You don't eat them?

I love walnuts.

I love them.

You can take a walnut, you're not the one if it's ripe.

What do you do with it?

You rattle it.

The meat on the inside has detached itself from that shell.

And when you crack that shell, there's a piece of meat.

We call it the fruit inside.

And it's not attached to the shell.

And you can tell because it's rattling.

If it doesn't rattle, it's not right.

If you break it, you got a mess.

You don't know how much you got to spend all your time trying to separate it.

You rattle it, brother.

You can hear it.

When your soul comes into fruition, brother, it's going to make a different sound.

It's not attached to this flesh no more.

It's not.

All the desire is the things of God, your mindset, your spirit, everything is on the things of God.

It's not attached to this flesh.

And so his soul was ripe.

It was ripe.

It wasn't.

You didn't read it.

You don't see him defending himself.

You don't see him trying to justify himself.

He's not trying to explain himself.

He's not trying to reach out to his peers that they'll like him and understand him and don't say bad things about him.

Brother, his mind was on God.

Nowhere else.

Even in putting him to death, they met it for evil, but God met it for good.

It was only cracking that shell that that fruit could escape.

All you were doing was destroying the house that he was living in that he could be clothed upon with his house which is from heaven.

You can't wear two houses.

If you have on this terrestrial, that means you don't yet have on your third heaven house or your celesteral.

You can't wear both.

And so putting this to death, Paul had the revelation.

He said, For me to live is Christ and to die is what?

Is gain.

When you destroy this body, he says, We have a building, uh, how you say we have a house from God?

Not my what's wrong with my speech tonight?

We have another house.

Oh, Brother Brown, you finna butcher that scripture.

Okay, 2 Corinthians 5 and 1.

Boy, it's a shame when somebody butchered a scripture.

I don't care who it is.

And you finna butcher that scripture, brother Brown.

5 and 1.

My God.

Are you there with me?

Are you there with me?

He said, For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle was what?

Stephen's house was dissolved by men.

They bit him, they stoned him, they dissolved or killed his house.

But you couldn't have killed the soul.

All they could do was touch his house, his body.

Look what happened.

Paul had a revelation.

He said, We, that's talking about the overcomers, we have a what?

A building of God.

A house not made with what?

And he goes on and said, Eternal where?

My God.

I love that.

I love that.

He said, For in this, that is, in this house, we do grow.

Earnestly, what's the we?

That's the souls.

Earnest design to be clothed upon with our house which is from what?

And I love this verse.

I love this verse.

If so that being clothed, we that's the soul shall not be found.

We're not gonna be ghosts floating around.

As soon as this house is destroyed, I take on another one.

I'm gonna have a glorious body that uh, brother, gonna be fashioned just like unto his.

And the minute I depart from this, the minute I have another house.

I won't be a ghost.

Thank God, for that didn't want to be no ghost anyway.

But I have a celestial house made just like his.

I think one place he said he's gonna change our vile body and fashion like unto his what?

Glorious body.

Let's keep reading.

I'm gonna give you one more verse and we'll leave from here.

He said, verse 4 for wheat that are in this do what?

He says it again, for wheat that are in this what?

He called this body a tabernacle.

It's a tent, it's a temporary housing.

We groan, being burdened, not that we should be unclothed.

I don't want to just die, uh that is physically, but listen, clothed upon that mortality, and that's what this is, might be squalled up of what?

Of life, of life.

Now I'll go to uh 1 Corinthians 15.

Am I making sense to you?

Brother, this is not some myth.

And this is why they come up, uh, brother Russell, brother uh Russell, brother Rom, with this rapture.

I'm not making fun of anybody, but when you don't have an understanding of the Bible, you got to make up fairy tales.

You don't need a fairy tale.

Let's read the Bible.

The Lord, you have never, never, in the 6,000 years of God dealing with man, you have never seen the Lord do anything so irate.

A bunch of people come up missing.

That brother Elton out there doing landscaping.

Watering, look, look, brother, watering the hose.

All of a sudden, they go outside the hole just running.

Brother Elton, gone.

That sister Judith sitting down making appointments at the dentist.

All of a sudden, the dentist comes out of the chair and going, where's Judith?

My God, come on now.

There's Brother Arnell.

Driving, what do you call those cruisers?

What do you call them police cars?

Unit driving on a unit.

All of a sudden, that unit ran into somebody.

What done happened?

The driver disappeared.

Here's a Christian pilot flying 74 to 7, 150 people on board.

But he was a Christian.

He got raptured, and the plane crashes and kills 150 people.

Now come on now.

Does that sound like God?

Here's a Christian athlete, Sister Cheryl.

In the NFL, going off a bomb.

Trying to catch it, and the ball just hits the ground, he disappeared.

Where'd he go?

Does that sound real to you?

Brother, this is real.

This is no fairy tale.

You don't have to acknowledge the truth.

You don't have to make up stories.

Let's read the Bible.

How was the first century church read?

They wasn't rapture.

Those men was hand picked.

Stephen, James, Peter, Paul.

They was hand-picked one at a time.

That's how the Bible says, or how you put it, and the man child was caught up to God and to his throne.

The man-child is the ruling element.

They didn't all go at once, Brother Neil.

He picked them.

For 40 years, he was picking fruits.

40 years of reaping that man child.

And the restored church would be seven and a half years, but it won't be some spontaneous boom and everybody's gone.

That has never happened.

When the Lord destroys Solomon and Gomorrah, he never destroyed the righteous with the wicked.

Did uh Lot and uh his daughters, did they just disappear?

They were taken out.

An angel led them out.

They could see them leaving.

When Noah went into the ark and that and that Analuvian, that war before the flood was destroyed, Brother David went into the ark.

You can see it happening.

That first century church, as that church was reaped, you could see it happening.

You could see men being put to death, one after another after another.

You could see it with your eyes.

And it'll be the same way in the latter rain church.

People be dying.

Physically they'll call it dying, but brother, we know they're being reaped.

They are being reaped.

1 Corinthians 15.

And I'm open, uh, and I'm gonna let you go.

I'm open for uh any comments or questions on this.

Listen, verse 51 is what I was quoting.

But you before they get this, you really have to appreciate verse 50 and 49 and 48.

But uh, verse 50.

He said, I have to read verse 49.

And as we are born the image of the earthly, that's Adam, that's his physical body, as well as it is out we have his spirit, we shall bear the what the image of the heavenly.

Now, this I say, brethren, get an understanding of this.

Get an understanding.

The whole subject here is talking about the resurrection of the dead, and with what body do they come?

Yes, uh-huh.

Would you just just for uh uh maybe my sake, just read that 45th uh verse of that?

Yes, sir.

I sure will, Brother Elton.

He said, and so it is written the first man Adam, that's back in the garden, he was made a living soul.

His body was just the earth, and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, he became a living soul.

He was made a living soul.

But the last Adam, and I like to say that because there's no such thing, right?

They call himself I'm sorry.

What verse am I?

Amen.

Yeah, 45, yes.

And he said, and the last Adam is not the second Adam, it's the last Adam.

We shouldn't use Use that word second Adam.

The second Adam was Cain.

I'll tell you who he was.

This is the last Adam.

Yeah.

The last Adam was made of what?

Quickening spirit.

Now, how be that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is what?

Natural.

And then after that which is, and that's in everything of God.

If you can't see it naturally, you'll never see it spiritually.

And if you can't work naturally, you'll never work spiritually.

If you can't discipline yourself naturally, you won't discipline yourself spiritually.

If you can't follow order naturally, you're not going to.

If a child don't submit to the parents, you're not going to submit to God.

If a wife can't submit to a husband, you can't submit to God.

If men can't submit to the ministry, you can't submit to God.

If you can't do it naturally, you'll never do it spiritually.

I was a part of a man, a ministry, and we all were, a lot of us was.

And brother, I detested one thing at the beginning.

He would always tell me, Why are you spoiling your resources, Brother Brown?

He's telling me that all the time.

Can't you see that person won't hold a job?

Can't you see that person will never fit in the kingdom of God?

I say, well, they can be saved.

He said, Brother Brown, if they can't do anything naturally, they're not going to do anything.

Remember that, Brother Mike, he's a pound of my ears with that.

Why are you spoiling all your resources?

Why are you wasting the church's resources?

Why are you wasting so much time?

Don't you see that person won't hold a job?

Don't you see that person don't like government?

Don't you see that person won't submit to nothing?

Well, oh man, the gospel can change anything.

You know, I'm in my zeal.

Gospel can change anybody.

Brother Brown, or they won't work naturally, not gonna work spiritually.

Brother Brown, are they not gonna submit naturally, not gonna submit spiritually?

He used to pound my ears.

And I said to myself, man, this man is just too arrogant.

This man is just too high-minded.

But guess what I learned?

Guess what I learned?

He was right.

With much grief and anguish of heart, it took me years, about five or six, but I learned he was absolutely right.

He was absolutely right.

If a person won't discipline himself naturally, you're not gonna discipline yourself spiritually.

If a person can't submit naturally, you're not gonna submit spiritually.

And with much grief, with much grief of heart, I had to conclude he was absolutely right.

Absolutely.

And you can't break this scripture, and I I read it, I just didn't apply it that way.

But it's in every way.

It's first natural and then what?

That's why we believe in cutting your grass, washing your cars, personal hygiene.

That's why we believe in kids being respectable to their parents, wives being honorable to their husbands, husbands submitting to the minister, this is how you say, but that has nothing to do with God.

It has everything to do with God.

It absolutely does.

That's why we believe in paying our bills, running to Caesar the things that are Caesar.

If you don't do that, if you don't work on your job and give those people the full eight hours that they're paying for, if they're paying for eight hours, if you don't do that, then you're gonna have the same slowful, sluggish, I'll have the same attitude toward God.

Let me finish this on up now.

Come on.

Get this with me.

Uh, brother 51, brother Mike.

50.

Verse 50.

He said, Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption.

The whole question here, the whole subject here is what kind of body you come through, and how do you get it?

Look at verse 31 for real for context.

I want you to get this.

But some would say, Are you here that with me?

Verse 35, you there with me?

But some will say, How are the what?

Dead raised up.

And with what?

With what body do they come?

Now, Paul wasn't very diplomatic.

He said, Thou fool.

That which thou sowed is not quick and accepted what?

Accepted die.

Accepted die.

Now in verse 51, behold, I show you a misery, we shall not all sleep.

What do you mean, sleep?

That is, brother, we're not going to all go by the way of a natural grave.

It's not going to happen that way.

What do you mean by the way of a natural grave?

Brother Michael, uh, they might not actually bury you that way.

Do you understand?

You might not go to the grave and get reaped.

Brother, you may actually be here when the Lord comes and boom.

Boom, you put to death like that.

Ah, Brother Michael, preventure, and I don't want to say that because I don't want to keep prophesying on me, but a truck might run over Brother Brown.

And the bride is not even reaped.

I may with an untimely death.

But I'll use the term untimely, but I still believe that I'm going to make it out here a live soul.

But Brother Michael, somebody else, that's not going to hinder.

You may be here when the Lord actually started reaping in the seven and a half years.

Let me keep read, keep going here.

He said, Behold, I show you, Mr.

We shall all sleep, but we shall all what?

Here's how, verse 52.

And a what?

This is talking about the individual.

In a moment, in the twinkling of a what?

At the last trump, that's the last trump of the Gentile world.

Come out of her my people.

For the trumpet shall sound, that's the restored ministry sounding this trump.

And the dead shall be raised what?

And we sh listen it, and we shall be what?

What dead is that?

That's those that are under the altar.

They're going to be raised incorruptible.

They'll never die.

They'll never go to the grave.

Listen to this.

For this corruptible, that's this body, must put on what?

And this mortal must put on.

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this is talking about me as an individual, and this mortar shall have put on what?

Immortality.

Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is squallowed up in what?

That's the end of it.

That's not talking about the church world.

That's every individual.

You go through this.

You have to be changed.

There has to be a transformation.

This body has to go to the dust, and your soul can get out of here.

Thank God for that, Brother Elson.

And there's gonna be some who won't taste that way.

Some are gonna go to the grave, get up in the final resurrection, finish their course, and inherit eternal life.

But we're not here with that message.

We have a message of not even going to the grave.

We don't, that is, we don't have to, my soul doesn't have to fall asleep.

The only reason I don't have to go to the grave is because I did not come to maturity.

I may have a lot of Christ's ways, but I died and I still had green spots on me.

I was not mature, I was not grown.

I'm a servant of God.

The Bible said an heir as long as he's a child different nothing from a what?

From a servant.

I'm no different than those in the Old Testament.

I have to go to the grave because I did not come to maturity.

And the Lord cannot, will not, shall not have an immature bride.

He's not gonna do it.

I don't understand men when their wives uh are deceased, they go get them an old bd bopper.

What you gonna do with a bd bopper?

Somebody 20 years younger than you, what am I gonna do with you?

I need somebody who has some experiences.

I need somebody who I don't have to raise and wait for you to grow up.

That's a silly.

That showed me that man is childish.

Well, that's gonna keep me young.

That's gonna keep you foolish.

What you gonna do with that?

What you gonna do with that?

I'm 55 years old, I'm gonna marry somebody 25.

That shows how childish you are.

Something is wrong with you.

I'm 49.

I think Sister Grace is 48.

I tell her all the time she's getting too old for me.

But every year I'm getting one year older than her, a year and a half.

But the point is, I need somebody who I can relate to.

You think Jesus Christ is any different?

What are you gonna do with a beady bopper?

Somebody don't understand the laws and the ways of God.

How are you gonna rule and reign a thousand years through the millennium and oh, you don't pour out no vial on them?

A nice little people.

Oh, we ought to just suffer with them a little longer.

You think Jesus Christ is gonna have time to be talking to you, Sister Tara?

Did you not read?

That's why we're trying to grow up.

Amen.

That's what we're here for, to grow up.

To grow up.

There's millions of good Christians.

I'm not unchristianizing them.

But the bride is not for people who are just Christians.

These are for those who have fallen the Lamb wheresoever he goeth.

These are those who have come into fruition.

They have his ways, have his spirit, have his mind, have his judgment, have his understanding.

They're not judging by the seeing of the eyes, nor the hearing of the ears.

It's not about that.

How does God see it?

His ways is not our ways.

His thoughts are not our thoughts.

Let this mind be in you, which was.

Amen.

I'm gonna stop.

But thank God Stephen was a mature saint.

He had came to maturity.

And I won't take the time to read it, but brother, read Revelation chapter 14.

Revelation 14 · chapter mention

Verse, what's that, 13, 14, 15, 16?

Thank God, Brother Michael.

There was a voice in heaven with a cry with a loud cry.

Huh?

Put in thy sickle for the harvest of the earth is ripe.

He put in his sickle and he reaped.

He didn't say he put it in and he raptured.

He put it in and he reaped.

And don't send the C D out to nobody.

Absolutely nobody.

Let's be peacemakers.

Amen.

I have brothers.

Uh my God.

I say that, I say that intentionally because I have brothers.