Acts Chapter 5 vs 1 thru 14 (2009)

Did because of the wonderful covenant had the order of God.

Everything that church did please God.

You know why?

Because it was the mind of God.

God the Father.

He actually dealt with through his Son, His Son, those apostles.

Uh, that's the scripture first of all.

I think before we according, let's let's go to uh Isaiah first because we're talking about that.

We have to actually see coming across the Red Sea.

That's wonderful to see conversion.

But we can't stop there.

We have to see the other crossing.

He roll back to uh the mighty waters of the Red Sea.

Thank God for that.

But it's this other crossing that actually allowed us to see Canaan.

You'll never see Canaan land just being conversion, which is just a conversion.

You'll never see the operation of God, his order.

You'll never see his ways, his thoughts, uh, with just a conversion.

The Bible says, and we often quote it, uh, his ways.

His ways are not our ways.

Uh his thoughts, our thoughts, and not his thoughts.

As the heavens are higher above the earth, uh, so is his thoughts above our thoughts, and his ways above our ways.

And so, how can we actually know the ways of God?

Uh we can know his acts, and the Bible said he made his acts known to the children of Israel.

Uh He actually rolled back to the Red Sea.

He gave them manner and the willingness.

Uh, he gave them quails when they desired flesh to eat.

Those were the acts of God.

But the Bible said he made his ways known unto Moses.

Uh, that's the ministry.

And he made his acts known unto the children of Israel.

And so it's one thing to know all the great things that God has done, but what about his ways?

What about his ways?

Uh brother, that has to do with the mind of the Lord.

And so here, uh, where was it?

Isaiah 28, I think it is.

Let's get that from it first.

Isaiah 28 and I don't want to go too much into this, but I'd like to touch it as we head to the book of Acts.

You have to approach the word of God with a sober reverence.

That's why we sing the wonderful songs of Zion, trying to get this trail dust off of us from working all day and being carried away with the cares of this world.

But when you begin to sing the songs of Zion, the Bible said, stir up the Spirit of God.

Stir it up.

That's the Holy Ghost.

And so as you begin to sing these songs, the Holy Ghost began to uh quicken inside of you, begin to come alive, and your spiritual antennas uh begin to go up that you can actually hear from the third heaven, hear from the glory world, that the Lord can put you in the right channel.

That's why in the body of Christ uh we don't have anything premeditated.

We don't come, even in a Bible study at night.

We don't come with uh a text message of what we're gonna say, what we're gonna do, but we believe the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost will put you in the right channel.

It'll turn you to the right, it'll turn you to the left.

Uh it's a bit that's in the oxen's mouth.

And the oxen, of course, being the ministry.

And so we have to sing.

Paul said, I sing with the spirit.

Uh then he said, I sing with the what?

Understanding also.

So as you begin to sing those wonderful songs of Zion, as you begin to reach your hand, I'm talking not physical hands, but I'm making reference to an act of surrender.

As you begin to lift your heart, lift your hand to the Lord, the Holy Ghost began to put you in a channel to let you know which way to go.

And so as we approach this book of Acts, as we get back into it, we want to do so with a godly reverence, a godly appreciation for the Lord actually leaving us a record.

He has on record uh that is the operation of that New Testament church.

And that's the church.

That's the church that we have to pattern after.

Not the church up the highway, down the highway, across the highway, and thank God for all those places.

But there is a church that's on record, uh, that's been documented by the by this holy writ that actually pleased God.

And so uh this church, everything about it, can found the natural mind.

Uh, there was some people who God had actually called out for himself in the land of Egypt.

Uh, that was the nation of Israel.

He brought that nation out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.

But that was his people.

That was his first, uh, the Bible calls it his firstborn.

It was his first son.

Uh, but that people, do you know what the Bible said about them?

Uh brother, they honored the Lord with their lips, but their heart was far from him.

Well, then when they began to see the ways of the Lord, they actually rejected.

Lord, help us not to be that type of people.

Help us to always remember, brother, the Lord, the Bible said God is in heaven, will on the earth, let our words be few.

Uh, we don't want to speak and think presumptuously.

And so here you can see how the Lord would actually confound our thinking.

Uh, where is that?

Isaiah 28, I was going.

Um my God, this is I don't want to uh I don't want to go too far back.

But uh let's just look at uh first of all, let's go to the seventh verse of Desiree.

We're picking up from the seventh verse and we're trying to head to the book of Acts.

But it's good to see some things as we head there, give us the right appreciation for it.

This is talking about those religious leaders of that nation of Israel.

Uh here's some people the Lord was actually dealing with first.

The Bible said the gospel is first to the Jew, and then is to the Greek and to the Gentiles.

But look at what happened.

Here's where they missed out.

Here's where we can.

Look at uh for the verse verse seven for the sake of time.

He said, but they have also what?

Error through wine.

Well, he's not talking about alcohol there.

The word wine uh has many meanings in the Bible.

Uh huh.

You can get drunk off of anything.

And here are some people who was drunk off of their doctrine.

They were drunk off of their interpretation.

He said they have error.

That is, they miss the Lord.

They error through wine.

He said, and through strong drink, they're out of the way.

Look how he said it.

Out of the way, uh, the way.

The Bible says there is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end there are all the ways of death.

Well, that's the ways of man.

And so he said, Okay, they're out of the way, they're out of his way.

And who was it?

The priest, that's the minister, and the prophet.

That's what the Lord spokesman.

They have error through what?

Strong drink, they're a swallow-up of wine, they're out of the way through strong drink, they error, they're error in vision, and they stumble in what?

And all for all tables.

Brother, whether you're eating from the table of the priest or whether it was a table of the prophet, there was more concern about the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Estacines, the Zillok, the Herodians, their denominational teachings than what they were about the true word of God.

And so look what he said, all table, for all tables.

Didn't matter if you were eating off the Pharisees' table, the Sadducees' table, the Essenes table.

He said, For all tables are full of what?

Vomic and filthiness.

You know what vomic is?

That's something that you puke up.

That's something, brother, that you've uh you put in your system, and now you just you puking it up.

And brother, that's all they was doing.

They wasn't hearing from heaven.

It's something they have corrupted, and it was it was putting it out on the people.

And he goes on to say, listen, he said, For whom I love this, that so there was no place clean that is off of those tables.

But aren't you glad the Lord actually prepared a table that is for us in the presence of his enemies?

That began with the teaching of those apostles, brother.

That was a clean table.

That claim didn't have any vomit on it.

That was new wine, uh, that was new teaching.

But look what Jesus Christ said, even before that table was spread.

He said, Listen, no man having drank old wine straightway desired anew, for he says the old is better.

Once I've been taught a certain way, and someone began to show me something different out of the word of God, that doesn't taste so good.

I'm not familiar with that.

That's why I say the old is better.

It's not that it's better, it's something I'm familiar with.

And so I want that old teaching.

But brother, thank God, I want the truth of the word of God.

Even if it crosses me, I still want the truth of the word of God.

And so here he said, listen, he asked a question.

He asked this question.

He said, Whom shall he teach what?

He's not gonna teach it to those strike, those uh Pharisees, you're not gonna teach it to those Sadducees.

Who shall he teach knowledge?

Who shall he really make to understand his ways?

Whom shall he teach knowledge?

And whom tell and whom shall he make to understand what?

A doctrine.

A doctrine is fundamental basic teaching.

Whom shall he teach doctrine?

He did he answer that question.

Here he is.

He said, them that are weaned from the milk.

Well, what's the milk?

That's the simplicity of the word of God.

That's the simple things.

We have to be weaned from the milk.

If we really want to understand knowledge, if we really want to understand doctrine, we have to be weaned from the milk.

Well, what do you mean milk?

Uh-huh.

Uh-huh.

A baby, uh, an infant.

They're not able to eat anything that's more solid, but they're able to uh to be sustained by the simplicity of the mother's milk.

Uh it's this it's the most powerful uh uh form of food.

It doesn't require teeth, you don't have to chew it, uh-huh, you don't have to have strong jaws, you just suck it.

And so when you first come this way, the first thing you learn is to be converted, to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, to find a ministry that can actually teach you the good word of God.

Wherever the Lord leads you to be, to find his hand, and that's what you want to subject yourself to.

Well, that's the milk.

But then there's some things when you begin to hear it, you know, meat that takes a little bit more chewing, doesn't it?

Meat requires some muscles, some joint muscles, and some teeth.

But when you begin to hear these truths of the word of God that crosses my nature, things that goes against uh my concept, brother, that's a little piece of meat.

When you begin to tell me, brother, who the devil is and where he sit, that it's not somebody out there that I have to overcome this way of thinking, brother, that takes some digestion.

That's not too easy.

When I begin to find out that the real enemy is not the neighbor next door or the guy who's throwing bill bottles in my yard, and I have that happen every day since I relocated, but that's not my enemy.

That enemy is the one that gets angry when that happens.

The enemy is in here, and brother, that takes some digesting.

That takes some real digesting.

So he calls that a doctrine.

That's me.

Look what Paul says.

He said, and uh, I don't want to go too far out here, but uh get this for me over in Hebrews.

I think it's Hebrews chapter 5, around the 13th verse.

Hebrews 5 · chapter mention

He said, when in the time, talking to those Jews, for when the time you ought to be teachers, look what he said, for in the time you all to be teachers, you have need that one teach you uh again the first principles.

Listen to this of the articles of God and are become such as have need of what?

Milk.

In other words, he said we had to stop and tell you about being converted, receiving the Holy Ghost over.

No, he said, listen, and not what?

Strong meat.

Let me go to the next verse, verse 13.

For everyone that uses milk and see that I'm not I'm not trying to uh minimize milk.

You need milk.

When you're first an infant, you need milk.

But brother, you'll never grow up if all you ever have is milk.

If all you can tell me is the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and tell me that one day I can have eternal life, and tell me, brother, that I can be a good person.

Well, that's true.

But brother, after a while, I need something more than it to sustain me.

I need enough of the word of God to bring this old wretched man under subjection.

Paul said, Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?

Well, it's gonna take something stronger than milk.

He said, For everyone that uses milk is what?

Unskillful and the word of righteousness.

Why?

Because he is a what?

He's a babe.

And here's the church Paul established in Corinth.

I think it's the third chapter, 1 Corinthians.

He put it this way He said, I fed you with milk and not with what?

Not with meat, because you're not able to bear it.

In other words, Paul said, I couldn't really get into the strong doctrine and tell you about your nature and your spirit.

I couldn't get into those things.

Why?

He said, Because you're still a babe.

Why'd he know that?

He said, because you're carnal and you walk as men.

And so here you can see these things is not given to everybody, but thank God that New Testament church, brother, that was, he said, whom shall he uh uh whom shall he make rule in his kingdom?

Those that are able to give, listen to this, to give to their maidens uh meat in due season.

When to give someone meat, when to really begin to get into the doctrine of the word of God, it takes some maturity because everybody from eating meat, I want you to have a slab.

But brother, it'll choke a baby, it'll kill a baby.

I would love to see everybody choke uh get a piece of meat, but you don't want to kill anybody.

And so you want to make sure we're grown up enough to eat the meat of the word of God.

It's gonna take meat to deal with this nature.

And so uh uh let's go back to uh Isaiah 28 if we can.

And let's try to follow this on down.

Verse 9.

Whom shall he teach knowledge?

Whom shall he make to understand doctrine?

Then uh wean from the what?

From the milk.

That's a simplicity.

Thank God you always won't remember it, but you can't live off of that.

That's a simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That's the milk.

But do you realize?

Do you realize uh the Bible says that him that overcometh, he shall give the eater the what?

A hidden manner.

Now that's meat.

What do you mean, hidden manner?

Brother, that's the deeper things of God.

That's the thing that it takes a little teeth to begin to digest and to eat it.

And see, you don't get that on the surface.

Jesus told those those religious leaders, he said, Your fathers, your fathers, talking about those who came out of Egypt, they ate manner in the wilderness, and they are what?

They're dead.

But whosoever eateth of this, this bread, they shall never die.

Well, that was hidden bread.

They were looking right at the bread of life.

They didn't know who he was.

All they could see was a little man, uh brother who uh was born in Bethlehem and was a carpenter's son, and Mary, uh, that is his mother, and Joseph, uh his stepfather, and his brothers and his sisters.

All they could see was the natural man, but they couldn't see the one brother who actually created all that you see.

All things were created by him and for him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

They didn't realize that was the word of life, walking in shoe leather.

When you saw G-E-S-E-S-U-S, you saw the word of God in flesh.

They couldn't recognize that.

You know why?

Because the Lord had given them eyes of slumber that they couldn't see and ears that they couldn't hear.

You know why he did that, brother?

Because uh I'm gonna tell you why, because they was drunk off of being in what they was in.

Lord help me not to be so deep in anything that I can't go on with God.

I don't want to get drowned in nothing.

Nothing means that much to me that I want to lose my soul.

Absolutely not.

And so here, uh let's try to, I'm trying to head over to Acts, but I'd like to make sure I can appreciate this book when we get into it.

This whole Bible prophesies, the whole Old Testament, it prophesies about the teachings of Jesus Christ in that New Testament church.

All the Old Testament looks toward to that to that wonderful day, brother, that this church would actually be birthed.

And now here we are on this side of it.

We're looking back at it.

Don't you want to imitate that church?

Don't you wouldn't you like to be a people that was just like that church that came out on the day of Pentecost?

Look what the Bible said about that people.

Look what it says about it.

It said it was a glorious people.

He said that never been the like, neither shall it be again until the years of what?

Many generations.

That's 2,000 years before you'll see that same church come back into fruition.

Thank God we live in the time of that later reign church.

And so uh we're a people.

We have a vision.

We're not here trying to build a community church, but brother, we want to label on the Lord's project, and that's to restore that which was torn down by man and his concept and his ideals.

Brother, let's get back to New Testament order.

Let's get back to New Testament truth.

Let's preach the same thing the apostles preach.

Let's not add to it, let's not take away from it.

If it's Bible, let's embrace it.

If it's not Bible, let somebody else do it.

I know this is right.

Your wordy ideas may produce something, but I know this will produce what the Lord's looking for.

And thank God, brother, if it's the word of God, every seed produces after its own kind.

If it's the word of God, it's gonna produce the desires of God.

Do you believe that?

Well, I believe that.

Absolutely so.

And so they call me a fanatic.

I don't argue with them, brother.

You know, uh, brother, brother Jeff, you like football, you like baseball.

They use the word a fan.

You know what fan represents?

It's a short for a fanatic.

You can be a football fanatic, you can be a baseball fanatic, fanatic, you can be a soccer fanatic, but brother, why I can't be a fanatic for the word of God?

Why I can't be a fan of the word of God, why I have to take load for that.

I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

It's the power of God under salvation for everyone that believes it.

Thank God, call me a fanatic.

I just say amen to you, brother.

I'm a fan of the word of God.

I'm not gonna be ashamed of that.

Why would I be ashamed of that?

Thank God, brother, it hadn't finished his course limit, but it brought me to this good day, and I believe it's able to finish our course.

And so here he says, okay, here's who he's going to teach it to them.

Those that are weaned from the milk.

Uh that is, brother, they've gone beyond the simple things.

And now they begin to grow some teeth, beginning to grow up uh in the things of God.

Look what he says here.

He says, listen, he said, for I love this.

He says, for uh, and drawn from the what?

From the breast.

You know what the breast is in the Bible?

The Bible talks about breasts, it talks about wings.

Well, it's not talking about some organs on a physical woman.

The breast is where a baby gets its milk from.

And the Lord, this Bible has two great breasts.

It has the old and it has the New Testament.

And that's where you draw the simplicity of the milk from it.

The Bible said, I have a little sister in Song of Solomon.

He says, What?

She has no breast.

There's other symbolists, there's other people of God.

This is not the only place.

And my brother, I wouldn't want to go to a woman who don't, if I'm a natural baby and has no breasts, where I'm gonna get milk from.

He said, we have a little sister, she has no breast.

Get that from me.

That's a Song of Solomon, isn't it?

Yeah, Song of Solomon.

She has no breast.

And so you even the simplicity of the word of God, some places you can't even get that.

She's a little sister.

Uh, those are people, brother Michael.

Uh, there's a semblance that thank God for them, regardless of the size of them, maybe big, maybe small, but if they can't teach you, brother, that you need to first receive a conversion.

You need to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

You have to come out of the world and a world way of thinking, the world way of talking.

If you can't be purged from that, brother, you're you got a mother who don't have any breasts.

Uh, get that from me.

We have a what?

Read it with me.

We have a little sister.

That's an Bible talks about uh to the elect lady and her and her uh and her children.

And then he said, thy elect sister greet you.

Well, that's talking about a symbolist.

We have a little sister and she has no what?

No breasts.

No breast.

What shall we do for our sister in the day she shall be spoken of?

Well, we don't want to throw stones at her.

Look what we're gonna do.

Verse 9.

If she be a wall, if there's any kind of ministry there and the wall is for protection, thank God we're gonna build upon her a what?

Palace of silver.

Silver in the Bible represents salvation.

And if she be a door, if there's an open door, we're gonna enclose her with what?

Boards of cedar.

Cedars in the Bible, it comes from a tree.

There's different trees.

There's a bay tree.

The Bible said the wicked spread themselves as the a crooked.

You ever watch a bay tree?

You don't you've never seen a great bay tree grow straight up.

They go out to the earth.

But then you look at the at the boat, the Bible talks about the cedars of Lebanon.

They go straight up.

That's a man whose aspiration, desire to straight toward God.

And so, brother, thank God we're gonna build with her a board of cedars.

And so uh I'm trying to get back to uh Isaiah.

Let's go back to Isaiah and verse 10.

I'm trying to get down to this.

I gotta let time get away from me.

He said, for precept, here it is, precept must be upon what?

And then precept upon precept.

You can't just dump into the deeper things of God.

Brother, you have to first get some basic precept.

The Lord has an order.

Uh uh the Bible said the head of the woman is the man, the head of the man is Christ, the head of Christ is God.

Thank God that's an order.

That's a precept.

Before you can get anything else, you have to get those basic truths down.

You have to begin to get that precept down.

You say, well, I'm gonna get it straight from God.

God doesn't feed that way.

When Jesus Christ took the two fishes and the five loaves, he didn't give it to the people.

He did not give it to the people.

The Bible said he told those disciples to have the people to sit down and cutness of fifties and cupness of tens and cupnets of hundreds.

He took those two fishes and five loaves, he acknowledged his head, he acknowledged God the Father, he gave thanks, and then it went from Jesus Christ, he gave it to the apostles, and the apostles gave it to the people.

That's how you get fed.

It comes from God the Father through Jesus Christ through the ministry right out to the people.

God doesn't substitute his order.

I can't just go out on some hiking me in my Bible.

I'm going to a seminary and get these truths.

Thank God you got to sit.

I have to sit.

We all have to sit at Jesus' feet.

He has an order of how he feeds.

And so those are basic precepts.

He said, precept must be upon precept, line upon line, and you're not going to get it in one place.

It's what?

Here, come on, it's here what?

A little and what?

What do you mean here a little?

Brother, we leave read some Isaiah.

We read some Acts.

We go over to some Corinthians.

It's here a little and it's there a little.

You can't just open up a Bible and try to get a doctrine or a concept in one place.

The Bible said, out of the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established.

You don't, it don't come that way.

Brother, you got to burn some midnight off if you want to get the truth of the word of God.

You got to go a space.

Every man, every boy, every woman, every child who's going to go up in the things of God.

The Lord blessed you on credit when He gives you the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

He gives it those that asked, but you're going to have to pay your installments.

You got to make your payments.

You've got to learn to burn some midnight off.

Take the word of God serious.

Uh-huh.

Uh-huh.

Uh set aside some time.

Don't let sleep jump on your eyes, brother.

Bring that old man under subjection.

Sit down.

Light that candle up.

Read the word of God.

When you're tired, read it anyway.

Why?

Brother, because of that I'm going to find eternal life.

I'm going to find a path of eternal life.

This is what's going to actually lead me to an order.

It's going to give me the right precept.

It's going to um I'm going to begin to build line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little.

But look at this next verse.

Listen to this, verse 11.

He said, For with what?

With stammering lips.

Now, do you know this is something the religious world despise?

He said, For with stammering lips.

And a what?

Will he speak to what people was that?

That was Israel.

He was going to speak to them.

And that happened on the day of Pentecost.

With stammering lips and another tongue, he said, I'm going to speak to this people.

Listen to this.

Verse 12.

To whom he said, This is what he said to Israel, this is the what?

Read it with me.

This is the what?

This is the rest wherewith you may cause the what?

Brother, don't you know Israel had to be weary, brother, with bringing those sacrifices year after year after year, uh, keeping all these ceremonies and keeping all these traditions.

Brother, you know their soul had to be wearied, had to be tired of doing these things every year.

Every year they got to bring a sacrifice.

Every year I got to go to Jerusalem three times a year.

Uh brother, I got the peace offering, the sin offering, the wave offering, the peace offering, the burnt offering.

Oh God, my Lord, you throw that don't wear a person down.

The soul had to be weary.

If you ever went to church and you went to church, you kept learning and learning, but you never learned, you kept going and going, but you never grow.

You kept going through the same ritual, and brother, your soul got hungry, your soul got tired.

Surely there has to be more to this than this.

I used to go to the poor up to the uh altar every Sunday and repent.

I did.

Before Sunday to Sunday, I did a whole lot wrong.

And I went back to my chair feeling good.

The problem when service was over with, and I walked out the door, I was right back to the old wretched man that I was.

And my soul was so weary.

My soul was so tired.

And Jesus Christ, He He actually picked that verse up.

What is that?

Matthews 11, 28.

Come unto me, all you that are laboring what?

Heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Well, what was that rest?

What was the rest he was talking about?

Is he gonna get all my problems away from?

He's gonna make my wife act right and my kids behave.

And uh is he gonna make my finances enrich?

What's the rest?

Well, let's read it.

Verse 12.

He said to whom he said, This is the rest wherewith you may cause the what?

This is the refreshing, yet they would not what?

Would not hear.

Brother, this is the refreshing.

This is the refreshing.

This is the rest.

What is the rest?

What is the refreshing?

Uh what is that?

Acts?

Give me Acts of uh what is that, 319?

He said, listen to this.

Brother, you want to repent that your sins may be blurted out when the time of the refreshions comes from the presence of the Lord.

Well, that's again what's talking about receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

And when you see that book of Acts, brother, you see a Holy Ghost filled or Holy Ghost-led people.

But they was a people who was taught.

On this side, we get it backwards.

We get the Holy Ghost, and then we're taught.

That first century church of those apostles, they was taught by the Master.

Jesus Christ Himself taught them first, and then they received the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost was able to bring to remembrance all the things that he had told them.

When I received the Holy Ghost, he couldn't bring nothing to remembrance because I wasn't taught nothing.

So all I had was just the Holy Ghost.

Ignorance of toenail with a bad spirit.

Puffed up, proud, thinking I know nothing, something and new, absolutely nothing at all.

Well, I don't have to feel so bad.

When I realized, brother, something happened to the New Testament church, and what brother uh man began to put a tool of iron on it, and everything, everything you see a man put his hands on, and brother, it may be good for man use, but it'll never do what the Lord intended for it to do again.

Never.

Never.

We often use this piece of wood.

You know, this is actually uh oak, and it's nice.

It made a wonderful Bible stand.

But at one time, this was a living organism.

This was a tree.

That's what the Lord planted.

He didn't build a Bible stand, the Lord planted an oak tree.

And that oak tree, as long as it was alive, brother, it beared oaks.

It was beautiful.

Acons, I'm sorry.

It had acorns on it.

It could be a plum, it could be a piece of pecan.

And uh it's wonderful as long as it's bearing those fruits.

But a man, you know, he looked at that tree.

He said, I don't need another oak or acorns.

I want a Bible stand.

So he put an axe on it.

He cut it down, he chopped it, he planed it, and look what they made out of it.

We put stain on it, Sister Judy.

We put varnish, and you say, Boy, that's a beautiful Bible stand.

It is, but that Bible stand is organized.

It's been cut and shaped by man, and it'll never bear another fruit.

If it was a pecan tree or it was a maple, it'd do all those wonderful things that man desired for to do, but it'll never bear fruit again because man put his tools on it.

And the same thing the Lord planted a vineyard.

His vineyard was the New Testament church.

Man came in and he began to break up into denominations and sectarian groups and cults and schisms, and they look good.

They build great cathedrals, they have goodly words, but brother, they'll never produce the fruit the Lord looking for.

That is a soul coming into maturity.

All you can learn in an organization is what that organization teaches you.

But you're not free to learn the whole word of God.

You only can go as far, the Bible said, Jesus said, a servant is not greater than his master.

No one will be greater than the one who's teaching you.

You can only be equal to his knowledge.

You can't supersede it.

And so if I'm on a ministry, brother, that can only teach me water baptism, that's all I know.

If I'm on a ministry that can teach me the water and the Holy Ghost, that's all I know.

But if I'm a place, brother, they teach me that I soul, I can actually come into maturity.

My soul can grow up in the things of God, that I can actually become mature, I can be an overcomer.

Thank God, brother, that's what we want to learn about.

That's what the New Testament church preached.

They didn't preach denominationalism, they didn't preach sectarianism, they didn't preach cultism, they didn't do those things.

They call them a sect because they wasn't one of those denominations.

A sect is another word for a cult because they wasn't a Pharisee, they wasn't a Sadducees.

Jesus Christ said, if a man come in his own name, that is, I'm a Pharisee or Sadducee, you receive him.

He said, but I come in my father's name.

I don't have a title over me.

And brother, you're not going to receive him because I'm not of a denomination.

Well, that's man.

In other words, where's your title?

Where's your tool of iron?

What school to learn that you come from?

My God.

And so, brother, uh, did he get that scripture for me?

Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out when the what?

Time of refreshing.

When the time, listen to these terms, rest, time of refreshing.

And so Paul picks up on that.

He picks up on let you know what that rest is.

Uh, while we back in uh Isaiah 28.

Uh, let's let uh he actually gives you a key here, but then let's see how the New Testament ministry, let's see how those apostles use these verses.

Look at verse 12 again.

To whom he said, well, verse 11.

With what?

And what you ought to underline that.

For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

That's to Israel.

They was full of unbelief.

Israel only believed, they only believed what their denomination told him.

They believe what the Pharisees says, the Essene says, the Zillach said, but they couldn't see beyond that.

He said, Listen, when he speaks to this people, to whom he said, This is the what?

Well, what is the this?

Stammering lips and a what?

Um Isaiah 28 and 11.

For with what?

And what?

That's the subject to whom he should speak to this people, to whom he said, This is the rest, wherewith you may cause the weary, that's those who is under those laws, uh, that is to rest.

And so Paul picks that up.

He picks that up.

And I in uh 1 Corinthians 14.

Let's go with this.

When you read the wonderful New Testament, brother, you're reading uh that is the teaching of those apostles.

Brother, before man put his leaven in it, before we begin to lift things up out of his context and come up with denominational teaching.

I like to be able, and I'm not there yet.

But brother Jeff, I'm looking forward one day, brother, when we just eat the whole scroll.

We can eat the whole scroll.

Um what is that?

Uh 1 Corinthians 14.

I'll go down to the 20th uh 20th verse.

Look at verse 18 for the context.

I thank my God.

Here's a subject here, and you know what religion would do?

They'll use they'll do violence to the scriptures.

They'll butcher the word of God to hold to their tradition.

And so some men will actually use his passion to say, Well, you don't have to speak in tongues.

Uh, that's passed away.

And Paul said, I don't speak in tongues.

That's not what he said.

The subject here is when you're in church.

When you're in church, we're not people who are without order, you know, to stand up and speak in tongues without an interpreter.

Speaking, if I'm speaking to you in an unknown language, I'm not propheting you.

So when I'm speaking to you, I should speak to you in a language that's easy to be understood.

Because I'm talking to a group of people.

But when I'm talking to God and my soul wants to communicate to God, I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to God, then brother the Holy Ghost, the Bible said, help it with our infirmities, with only which what cannot be uttered.

Now that's different.

And so here, Paul is addressing when you're talking to the church, when you're talking to the church, he says, now verse 18.

He said, I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than you all.

Yet where?

That's the key.

Yet in the what?

I rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also.

Why?

Because I'm talking to the church.

Then 10,000 words and a what?

Because you don't understand.

Now here's the key.

He said, brethren, be not churing in what?

Howbeit in malice, when it comes to doing evil, that's something I don't want you to have knowledge of.

Don't do evil.

Howbeit in malice be ye churren, but in understanding be ye what?

Now Paul reaches over there.

A thousand years before this, uh, Brother Michael, before he wrote this, he reached back over in Isaiah, he lifted the scripture up and he shows you what it really meant.

Look what he says.

He said, In the law, that term means the Old Testament.

It is written.

We just read what was written.

For with what?

Come on, with what?

With men of what?

Other tongues and what will I speak to who?

This people, yet for all that they will not what?

They still can't see that.

This is me.

They still can't see that.

They still will reject this.

And so what causes that?

That's a denominational teaching.

You don't have to receive the Holy Ghost, you don't have to speak in tongues.

Well, let's just tear the Bible to pieces and let's just all go fishing, because that's not what we read.

And so this New Testament church, when it was inaugurated on the day of Pentecost, it was by a people who had been taught the good word of God.

Jesus Christ himself taught it.

He taught those men as long as they can keep their eyes open.

He pounded their ears with the precepts of God, with the teachings of God, with the word of God.

Jesus Christ said, My doctrine is not my own.

And so we say we're built upon the foundation of the what?

Apostles and prophets.

Jesus Christ himself being uh and the Bible say they continue in the uh what?

Apostles' doctrine.

But it wasn't the apostles.

Where did he get it from?

And it wasn't Jesus where he got it from.

He got it from the Father.

And so it comes down in that order from God through Jesus to the ministry out to the people.

Thank God, brother.

I like for the Lord.

We have an opportunity.

Let's just let's just peel off all these uh, what is this, uh 400 years of Protestantism, 1,260 years of Catholicism.

Let's get back down to the root of the word of God.

Let's take away all the blindness and the narrowness of our mind and get back to the good word of God.

Let's look into this book of Acts.

Let's see how that church operated.

What was its order?

What was its government?

How do they deal with issues?

Thank God, brother.

I'm glad it's in the holy writ.

We have a record.

Here's this church.

Uh let's get back to Acts now.

Do you appreciate the book?

Can you really appreciate what you're about to read?

Brother, this is no fairy tale.

This is not something you go down and get bowed for bookshelf Matthews Henry.

Brother, inside of this book, brother, it's golden nuggets.

It's golden nuggets when the Lord can touch our eyes to see.

He was showing you how that church operated.

Do you realize that church was birthed?

It was born under persecution.

It was birthed under fire.

It was criticism, opposition.

And you need that.

They needed that.

That kept those men humble.

That kept them from being puffed up with pride.

And somebody need to cross you.

Somebody need to say things about you, lest we think more highly of ourselves than we ought to.

That's healthy.

But here's the difference.

Here is the difference.

That church realized, brother, they had a covering over them.

That church had a ministry.

That ministry was covered by Christ, and Christ has always been covered by God the Father.

They didn't have a denominational covering over them.

They didn't have some pre-u-dogma in their mind.

Brother, all they wanted was the truth of the word of God.

And that caused that church, brother, they was able to grow up.

They was able to grow up in the things of God.

You can't get an understanding.

I can't get an understanding of the word of God without a ministry.

That is a total impossibility.

This book itself, it is sealed with seven seals.

As you said, I think Brother Michael quoted that Sunday in Revelation.

Revelation chapter 4.

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

It is.

It's sealed with seven seals.

It's written within and on the backside, but it's sealed with seven seals.

And the Bible says there was no man.

There was no man in heaven.

That's these elevated religious organizations.

He said there was no man in earth.

That's your earthly institution, institution of learning.

There was no man under the earth.

You won't even find it, brother, down at your college that was able to actually loose those seals and look on the book.

But thank God John began to weep, and a voice said, Weep not, John, for the line of the tribe of Judah, he has prevailed to loose the seals and look on the book.

Aren't you glad he's giving you some of these nuggets?

I'm glad he loosed the seals.

Thank God that we can look on the book.

And so, uh, what is it, Isaiah 20?

I've got to go back to Isaiah.

Am I going too fast?

I'm trying to get the hacks, but it's good.

Let's get an understanding of what we're reading.

Why is it so important to us?

Because here's the church we must imitate.

None others.

Here's the church we're trying to emulate.

Don't compare our songs, our order, our spirit, our doctrine to anything out here.

That's not what we're trying to do in the body of Christ.

Compare us to the book of Acts.

And where we miss it, that's where we miss it.

That's where we got to come up.

You know, we can entertain people.

We could get a nice robe choir and uh we can sing some goodly songs.

Brother, that's what they do in religion.

They entertain you.

And if people I want to be entertained, entertain me, entertain me.

I'm about to spend$10 going to the movies.

I'll buy DVD.

Entertain me.

I'm about to spend$100 going to a basketball game.

Entertain me.

I'll come to church and sit down for 45 minutes of an album.

Hype me up, suit me up, make me feel good.

But when I walk out those doors, the question is, did I learn anything?

Brother, you'll find everything in an organization but the truth of the word of God.

They'll find a way to draw you, to hype you up, to psych you up, to make you feel good, but you stop and ask yourself, am I growing?

Am I learning?

Am I changing?

They'll let you know whether or not you have found the body of Christ.

Absolutely so.

Well, we like to be entertained.

You know, come to church, brother, and rock me.

Sock me.

They ask the first question you testify to somebody.

They say, Well, uh-huh.

When you go to church and you tell them, you say, Boy, I love to go to church.

Y'all got a good choir?

I say, Yes, we do.

The whole church is a choir here.

They want to feel good.

Brother, we're trying to be good.

Helping us, Lord.

And so, uh, where was I going?

Back to Isaiah, wasn't it?

What was my thought?

What did I say?

Oh, I was showing how that uh you can't get this.

Uh uh 8-8.

Go to 8 and 8 and 16, how he actually sealed up.

You know what he did, brother?

Uh, go to 8 and 16.

I'm glad the Lord left us something.

I'm glad the Lord left us something.

That he did not leave us without a road map.

We're trying to get back to the old ancient landmarks.

Oh my God, brother.

I'm trying to get to the 16th verse, and no matter where I start, I won't start right.

You'll have to read almost all of it, and we don't have time to do that.

But my God.

Look at verse 11.

Here's a scripture God gave me, and brother, it still illuminates my heart when I really began to pan after the things of God.

Brother, and I went to organization.

I went to organization from denomination to the nomination.

The Lord gave me the scripture, Sister Betty.

He gave me the scripture some 24 years ago.

And I came to the body of Christ, I heard it taught for the first time, and it confirmed what the Lord was showing me.

Verse 11.

Now he's talking to Israel, but it's applicable to us today.

The Lord spake thus to me with a what?

And instructed me that I should not walk in the way of what?

This people.

What people was that?

That was Israel.

Don't go that way.

What was Israel doing?

What was Israel doing?

They were organizing.

When they came out of Babylon, they came out organized.

He say ye not, Brother Leo Brown, a confederacy.

What's a confederacy?

That's a joining together.

Don't just come together just to come together.

He said, say not a confederacy to all them to whom this people say what?

Neither fear you their fear.

Don't worry about going to hell.

Worry about trying to find life.

Yeah.

Don't worry about, brother, whether or not you've got enough money to pay your bills.

Don't worry about if you can find enough peace to go to bed tonight.

Find the principal peace.

Thank God when you find the, when you actually find the Lord, you know what you have found?

The Bible put it this way, brother.

Listen, the cattle on a thousand heels is his.

My God.

Brother, when you can become heirs of God, you're a joint heir with Christ Jesus.

So why are you worrying about crumbs which fall from the table when you can have the whole loaf?

My God.

And so look what he says.

A confederate neither fear ye their fear, nor be what?

Here's the key.

Let's try and get down to the 16th verse.

Sanctify.

Sanctify, that means set him apart.

Not the denomination, not your church, not your assembly.

Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself.

And let him be your what?

What you afraid of?

I'm afraid I'm going to miss out.

I'm afraid I'm going to lose out.

I'm afraid I'm not going to please him.

I'm afraid the flesh is going to get in the saddle and I'm going to give my life enough.

Better get labored all these years and die like Abner.

Lord, let me die, stay close to you.

Brother, I my worst fear is walking with the Lord for 20 some years, and some foolish thought hit my mind.

I don't cast it down.

It takes root and get in my heart, put me in a different spirit, and I wake up one day and say, Lord, how did I get where I am?

So I try to make sure I stay as close as I can to God.

How do I do that?

I stay close to his people.

You're the apple of his eye.

You are my safety.

That's how I serve the Lord.

It's by serving you.

Absolutely so.

The Bible says, if you love him that beget, John makes that statement in uh in 1 John, was 1 John 4, 1 John 5.

If you love him that beget, that's God the Father, you'll love him that's begotten.

That's his people.

If I love God, I'm gonna love his people.

I may not, I just might not like you, Brother Arnell, Sister Missy.

I might not like you.

And so if I don't like you, I don't care anything for your kids.

But if I love you, I don't care how bad Javante and he was one bad boy.

I don't care how bad Javante is, if I love the ones that begat, I'm gonna love those that begotten.

I'm gonna find a way to love your kids.

If you love God, you're gonna love his people.

I don't care what mistakes they make, I don't care what attitude, I don't care what spirit, they're God's people.

If you love God, you're gonna love his people.

And that's your safety.

And so here, uh, look what he says.

He says, so you let him be your fear, you let him be your tread.

That's when you want to miss out.

And he shall be a sanctuary.

Listen, not for everybody.

He said, he shall be a sanctuary.

That's for the ones who don't make a confederacy with this religious world out here.

That's the one, brother, who sanctify the Lord.

He's gonna be a sanctuary.

What's the sanctuary?

Brother, that's where you come and you present your body of what?

But listen, not to everyone.

He said, but a what?

A stone of stumbling and a rock offense to both the house of Israel.

Both, there were two houses of Israel.

That was Judah and that was Israel, the northern and the southern kingdom.

Both of them gonna stumble over Jesus Christ.

He was a stumbling block, a stumbling stone, and a rock of offense.

You know why?

Because he wasn't religious.

He came outside the camp.

You could take Jesus Christ, grab him by his ankles, and shake him till your wrist falls off.

You wouldn't find no preacher's license on him.

You could take those apostles, brother, and you could peel lail and lail skin off of those men, you wouldn't find one ounce of Babylon on them.

They didn't have a preacher's license, they didn't go to a seminary.

That's not how you get it.

Thank God Jesus Christ Himself, he showed us a way, didn't he?

Absolutely, he did.

And so uh now look what he says.

He said uh verse 12, and many among them shall what?

Verse 15, and many among them shall what?

They're gonna stumble.

That's talking about the religious element, both the house of Israel.

They're gonna stumble.

Look, they're gonna stumble and not just stumble in what?

And not just fall, be what?

And be what?

And be what?

Why?

Verse 16.

This is instruction.

He said, bind up the what?

That's what Jesus Christ did, brother.

He bound up the testimony of God the Father.

And he sealed it, get this, and he sealed the law among what?

That's what he did.

And brother, if you was gonna get it, if you was gonna have someone to lose those seals, you had to find those apostles and their teachings.

Brother, if you was gonna understand this Bible and what these things met in the Old Testament, you had to go under that New Testament ministry, those apostles, those mighty ox that was mighty to labor.

There was nowhere else to get it.

There was nowhere else to get it.

And so here, uh, let's go to the book of Acts.

My God, I was trying to get right into it.

But it thrills my soul.

This word of God it stimulates, it rejuvenates, it energizes me every time I read it, every time I think about it, every time I talk about it.

The word of God just sends electric vibes through me, brother.

I love it.

I'm an addict, I'm addicted.

And don't you straighten me out.

Here they are, this mighty, mighty ministry.

As you can see, we read chapter four.

You know that ministry, those people had such confidence in that ministry.

They had such confidence in that ministry.

My God.

They didn't criticize them, they didn't reel them down or run them down.

You know, I say this all the time, brother.

A preacher should walk around with salt and pepper in his pocket.

Brother, you know why?

They're gonna eat them for breakfast.

They're gonna eat them for lunch, and they're gonna have them for dinner.

The least you ought to do is taste good.

But brother, that New Testament church, they reverenced, they honored that ministry.

They absolutely did.

They had a revelation that here's out the Bible uses this term.

Don't get offended to me.

The Bible calls them saviors.

Because that's what they did.

Brother, the preacher the gospel they preached saved men from their soul, from their uh saved men from their sins.

Uh Jesus Christ was the savior, but they were saviors.

They preached his message.

And so uh they honored those men.

And uh just before we get to the fifth chapter, let's kind of touch a little bit of this again.

Look what happened with this great people.

Verse 33.

And with great uh, 4 and 33, and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And what?

But look what happened.

Verse uh 34.

Neither was there any among them that lacked, for as many were possessors of what?

Sold them and brought the price of the things that were sold.

Look at verse 35.

And did what with them?

That don't mean his physical feet.

That means, brother, they was at there was at their uh discretion.

That's what it means.

And he used that term think like two or three times.

They laid him down at the what?

Apostles' feet.

And then, of course, distribution was made as every man had need.

Not grief, but every man every man had what?

Need.

Verse uh 37.

Of course, it's talking about uh Barnabas here.

He said, He having land, sold it, and did what?

And did what?

Brother, you can see that term again.

That's the confidence they had in that ministry.

That's the confidence they had.

You know why?

Because those men didn't have apparitions appetites.

They didn't buy the people's uh uh, take the people's money that they presented to them uh to uh because they had confidence and go buy them a roast royce.

They didn't buy them a learjet, they didn't put their name on billboards and pictures on billboards, they didn't have that type of spirit.

I shouldn't talk like this because they didn't have uh roast royce, they didn't go buy them a stanyon, uh an Arabian uh chariot, brother.

They could have done that, but brother, a concern was for the people.

They love the people of God.

That's what they're burdened.

And so here, now look, everybody saw that, and this is what the church is doing, but look at chapter 5.

This is where we're trying to get into, my goodness.

He said, but look, there was a certain man named who?

Ananias.

With who?

Have you ever heard of these two?

Everybody heard about Ananias of Fire.

Well, the mistake Ananias of Fire made, thank you, Brother Rom, it's getting chilly.

The mistake that they actually made was not uh and not giving their possessions.

They were it was there to give.

Again, there was not to give.

The mistake they made was uh pretending to be what they wasn't.

They was pretending to be committed, they was pretending to be as uh uh faithful, they was pretending to be dedicated, but brother, that was a dangerous place to do that.

That first century church, brother, it had the glory of God.

And there's gonna be a church, the Bible promises that, after 2,000 years, that would have the same glory.

You know why it actually is gonna take 2,000 years?

Because it well, it was 2,000 years as given to the Gentile world, a Gentile age.

Every age, God is given approximately 2,000 years before He destroyed it.

That was an age before the flood.

The Bible called it the world before the flood.

It started with the fall of Adam and it ended with the flood.

That world was given approximately that age, the word world means age.

That world was given approximately 2,000 years.

Then the Lord judged it.

After that, world was called the Jewish age of the Jewish world.

It started with the call of Abram.

And it was given approximately 2,000 years.

And in 7 AD, the Lord executed his judgment upon that world.

And those the nation of Israel were scattered to the four winds, and then just in 1948, they became a nation again and had their own land.

The Bible said they will be judged for that long.

And then, of course, the Gentile world started, uh, that is at Cornelius house, the stone and the Stevens.

And it's given approximately two thousand, not the year 2,000, but approximately 2,000 years.

And this world, the Bible tells us in 2 Peter chapter 3, it's going to be judged with a fire.

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

And then there will be a 1,000-year reign of Jesus Christ called the millennium.

Am I making sense to you?

And so there's a what what judged that Jewish world?

What brought about a judgment on it?

Was those apostles.

You know what do you mean you judge it?

Jesus Christ said, You, what is that, uh, Matthew 20, uh 19, 19, 28, you which had followed me through the regeneration, when a son of man shall come in the throne of his glory, you shall also sit on twelve thrones.

That's not physical thrones, but those of positioned of judgment.

He said, Twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Those apostles heard the teaching of Christ.

They listened, they obeyed it, they implemented, and they judged everybody else who had a chance to hear it and rejected it.

What judged the lies the truth.

What's going to judge the Gentile world is the people.

It's a people who've gotten back to the good word of God, doing things in apostolic order, uh, submitting themselves, uh, kids submitting themselves to their parents, wives submitting themselves to the husband, husbands submitting themselves to Christ, and Christ has always been submitted to the Father.

That's the people in divine order.

Here's the people, brother, that you can't bribe.

Here's the people who is not corrupt from within or from without.

They won't bow, they won't bend, they won't break, they won't compromise.

If you take the skin off their back, it's not going to change their position in life.

Here's the people, brother, it's going to be a house of prayer for all of God's people.

Whether you was up and out, down and out, you still was out.

Whether you was rich or poor, black or white, you still need a savior.

And you'll find all of God's people from all nations, all races, all economic background, all social background, all educational background.

Thank God we'll all come together and be one people with one doctrine, with one mind.

Thank God, brother, that's the people the Lord is looking for.

And that's going to bring what the Bible calls the lateral rain church.

That'll bring in the latter rain church.

And when that later rain church comes into being, the Bible said that his doctrine is going to what?

Fall as the rain.

Thank God, brother, upon the tender earth.

That's the people of God.

And we'll all come into fruition.

That's our vision.

That's our hope.

Okay, so here they are.

Ananas, that's a fire.

Do you know their eyes was blind?

They didn't know where they were.

Look what they did.

They sold a possession and kept back what?

Part of the price.

And his wife also being privileged to it, they brought a certain part and laid it at the what?

He used that term three times in what, five verses?

But Peter, now how did Peter know they lied to him?

How did Peter know this was a you know if God puts you over people, if you don't have any perception, God didn't call you.

If you can't discern anything, the Bible calls that in uh, he calls that flat nose.

And a minister can't be flat nosed.

He can't perceive anything, he can't have a scurry or a scab, he can't be crooked back.

Uh you know, he got a crooked background, always running scams.

You know, he can't be lame.

That is, he can't walk right, he can't be broken-handed, he can't handle things correctly.

Uh, it gives you all these wonderful terminology and what they actually mean.

And so here he was.

Uh, man, Peter smelled something.

He perceived something.

Verse 3.

And Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled thy heart to do what?

Well, Ananias saying, Well, I didn't lie to the Holy Ghost, I'm lying to you.

But what he didn't know is that that was the people who was controlled by the Holy Ghost.

Everything they taught was by the Holy Ghost.

All of their judgment was inspired by God.

So Peter said, You ain't lying to me.

Brother, I'm just an ambassador.

You're lying to the Holy Ghost.

He said, Why have you lied, have Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land?

And he asked them a question.

And this is true for all of us.

While it remained, was it not in thy not thy own?

You didn't have to sell it.

And after it was sold, if you wanted to sell it, was it not in thy own power?

You didn't have to give it.

You don't have to pretend, anonize.

You know, you don't have to pretend to be what you're not.

Uh here's a testimony.

Brother, I don't pretend to be all that I'm gonna be.

But I know I'm on a beaten path that's gonna bring me to that end.

I don't stand here and say I'm on a complete overcomer.

But I'll tell you this: before I breathe my last breath, it's my absolute conviction that I will be an overcomer.

I've I'm with every breath in me, I am fully persuaded that because the Bible makes me a promise.

He will perfect that which concern me.

He that begun a good work is what?

He's able to accomplete it.

Absolutely.

If I stay on this beaten path, it's going to bring me to my expected end.

Praise the Lord.

But anyway, and so here he said, Listen, why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart?

Thou hast not lied unto men that that's all you see, because your eyes is not open, but you lied unto what?

Well, I bet Ananias say, Who do you think you are?

Do you think you're God?

That's with no doubt he thought in his mind, but he didn't get a chance to finish the thought.

And Ananias hearing these words, what happened?

Brother, do you think, do you think that didn't scare some people?

Do you think that didn't get some attention?

I bet every liar left the church and never came back.

Why would God do such a thing as that?

Brother God was making sure this church was going to be in order, it was gonna be because there's fear.

And you say, well, you know, Brother Brown, uh, you all seem too too dogmatic.

Y'all seem too hard, y'all seem too absolute, and I don't feel comfortable.

Good.

I don't feel comfortable.

The laws of God should strike fear in my heart.

I don't mean afraid that God, some big monster is gonna get me, but if there's no consequences to my behavior, I don't have any incentive to change.

If I can do anything and act in a type of way, then that's what I'm gonna do.

Just take those speed limits off.

You know, leave the speed limit signs up there, it don't bother us.

Just stop pulling us over and giving us tickets and watch how many people zoom up down the highway at 100 miles an hour.

Take away the consequences.

Take away the consequences.

That's why when you you can go to church and you see gossiping and backbiting and whispering and mummering and fornication and adultery, and they'll preach about the guy out down the street, and the people in the church feel free because you ain't gonna bother me no matter what I do.

You're not gonna touch me, no counter how I live.

Over here, brother, in the body of Christ, we use the word of God.

We're gonna touch you.

We're gonna affect everybody, starting with me.

I can't have my way.

And you know, and one thing they don't want to do in churches, brother, they don't want to lose people because people means.

And if you give a lot, then you get away with more.

If you give some, then you don't have to give in, just come around.

They don't care how you live.

But brother, you don't see that in that New Testament church.

That was a clean ministry, and that was a clean people.

It don't mean they didn't have problems, but they dealt with it righteously.

They tried to save the person, but brother, they despised the sin.

They didn't uphold it.

And uh the Lord Himself, brother, he is a holy, he's a clean God.

We all make mistakes.

But brother, when I do something maliciously, when I do something callously, when I'm not regarding God's people, my God, there's Bible.

The Bible tells us to mark, he said warn the unruly.

Then he tells you to mark those that walk unruly, uh walk uh contrary to the doctrine that you've received.

Well, you'll you'll never see marking, noting, this fellowship and in religion.

They don't do things like that.

We do it here.

Oh, brother Brown.

Or brother, let's just tear these pages out of the Bible.

Here is a man, brother, he didn't get a chance to get noted, he didn't get a chance to get marked, he didn't get a chance to get worn.

You see, here is a perfect perfect, this is the thing that you have to remember.

Perfect.

You want a perfect church?

Do you really want a perfect church?

It brings about perfect judgment.

You know, we're living by grace because the church is not restored.

But brother, when you walk into a restored church, that's a dreadful place.

We think this is dreadful, that's a dreadful place.

And the bad thing about it, you know what happened here, brother Reber?

They mustn't have telephones.

Because when he dropped dead, nobody called and told his wife.

Nobody called and told Sophia.

She didn't even know.

Let's keep reading.

And the young men arose and bound them up and carried them out and did what?

And it was about the space of what?

Now you know in the days on the sale from it would have been three minutes, but three hours passed.

It was about the space of three hours after that.

His wife, not knowing what was done, what did she do?

And see, here's here's a wise ministry.

And Peter asked her.

He asked her, he answered, Her, tell me whether you sold the land for so much.

And she said, Yea, for so much.

Well, you say, Well, brother Peter trapped her.

He did not trap her.

Brother, every man, the Bible said, Listen, you should this saying shall not be said anymore that the church, the father has eaten sour grapes, and the churren's teeth are set on edge.

But he said, The father should not be put to death for the church, and the churren will not be put to death for the father.

Every man shall die for his own sins.

In other words, because uh the dad that the husband was a reprobate, don't mean the wife was a reprobate.

And so no doubt Peter gave her a chance to see.

Let me see if she's honest.

Maybe she might want to be saved.

Did you sell the land for so much?

Oh, yes, we did.

Uh-oh.

Verse 9.

Then Peter said unto her, How is it that you have agreed together, talking about you and your husband, to do what?

Tempt the Spirit of the Lord.

Behold, uh oh, somebody came in.

The feet of them that have buried thy husband, they're at the door.

They just came in and shall do what?

Brother, you know what he did here?

He pronounced a judgment.

He pronounced a judgment and could nobody say nothing.

Look what happened.

Then she did what?

And brother, she wasn't trying to leave the rest of the money there either.

No, she yielded up the ghost.

That means she died.

And the young men came in and found her dead and carried her forth and buried her by her what?

Thank God if there was any more reprobates hanging around.

Verse 11 says, and what?

Came upon all the church, and upon as many as what?

Now, can you see that?

That was a New Testament church.

That was divine order, but it brought about divine judgment.

But you can look at this.

And by the hands of the apostles was many signs and wonders wroth among the people, and they was all with one accord.

Every time you see that term acknowledged, except for Acts 2 and 1, it tells you where.

Where?

In Solomon's porch.

But get this, verse 13, and this is why a New Testament church doesn't mushroom.

It doesn't grow up overnight.

It won't grow up over weeks and over months.

It will not.

Here's why.

Let's read this verse together.

And of the what?

Durge no man do what?

Join himself to them.

You know why?

A New Testament church in order is just like Jesus Christ walking on the earth.

The Bible says when we saw him, there was no beauty that we would what?

Well, look, look, what is attractive about us?

Where's your robe choir?

Where's your entertainment?

But where's the kiddie's church?

Y'all stay in church too long.

Y'all too serious about the Bible.

You read too many verses.

Does it take all of that?

It takes a whole lot more, but because we're we're so limited and still fleshless, all we can take at this moment.

The New Testament church, they came together daily.

We struggle with three times a week.

That's because we're so fleshly.

The Lord has to help us.

And we put them on a watch.

Lord?

Uh-huh.

You got liberty.

As long as we're out about another hour.

You know why we don't put clocks on the wall?

Of course, you don't have it don't help anyway.

We have them on our on our wrists.

Because the flesh would have gravitated and watched that clock.

We look at that clock.

And see, the Lord is not like us.

He's not like us.

Absolutely not.

The Lord, He moves by inspiration.

We do everything by time.

We get up at a certain time.

We go to bed at a certain time.

Well, most of us go to bed at a certain time.

We go to work at a certain time.

We eat lunch at a certain time.

We're regulated by time.

The Lord moves by inspiration.

Let's keep reading and try to finish this out.

Now, but I love this.

The rest mean the ones who was not serious about the things of God.

He said, but the people magnified them, that is those apostles.

Now in verse 14.

And what?

Believers.

Are you there with me?

Believers was more, not they didn't join the church, but was what?

Added to the church, added to the Lord, I'm sorry.

Multitudes of both what?

Now here's, I'm gonna try to finish this up real quickly.

Here's what made that ministry so great.

It wasn't because they just had the word of God, and thank God they did.

But brother, here's a people whom you couldn't strike fear in their heart.

Here's a people that didn't bend, they didn't compromise, they didn't break.

Do you know what caught what makes a preacher intimidated?

You know what scares a preacher?

He's afraid people might leave.

You know, and so he preached the gospel with fear.

He don't want to say things that's gonna offend people.

He won't do things that offend people.

But a New Testament ministry, you can't have rabbit in your blood.

If you can't have fear govern you.

The Lord has to be your fear.

You must be more concerned about losing out with God than losing people.

But uh, because we're afraid of their afraid, I refuse, and I may have their tendencies, but I say, Lord, help my unbelief.

I don't want to ever let myself be subject to who's gonna stay, who's not gonna stay, who's gonna leave.

If I do that, I'm a hireling.

I'm not a shepherd, I'm a hireling.

And uh let me use some terminology here.

This is I came up in the country, you've got to excuse me.

We use terms like gristle.

Y'all know what gristle is?

A gristle is when you're too young to have a spine.

You know, I used to pick up a cons and I tell my mother, my back is hurting.

Back, back, at 13 years old, boy, you ain't got no back, you got a gristle.

You don't get a back till you get 20.

Well, but you can't a minister, a New Testament minister, you got to have a backbone.

You can't have no gristle.

You know, a gristle, it's it's it's flexible.

And I don't see what she's saying when I got older.

My back started getting stiff, it does hurt differently.

But when you're young, you're more flexible.

But when you get old, you get rigid.

You get a real backbone.

You absolutely will.

Like falling off that floor, four-wheel.

I've I felt a few times, but I never broke no bone.

My bone wasn't that rigid.

But this time, my brother, when I hit that ground, something had to give.

And the collarbone broke.

Well, I'm more rigid.

And so a minister, a New Testament minister, you can't have a gristle.

You have to have backbone.

You have to stand for what's right no matter what happened.

No matter what the consequences are, you can't be, you can't lead by popular consent.

A New Testament minister shouldn't be voted in.

That way the people can't vote you out.

God has to put you in, and when He don't want you no longer, He'll take you out.

If you don't have enough sense to subject yourself and get out of the way, the Lord can pull the shades down on you, blow it off wind.

One day you walk walking for me and brother, I'm over there in Italy somewhere, man, fishing.

What happened, man?

The Lord blew them out.

If that don't work, the Lord knows how to take you out.

If God puts you in, he can take you out.

But if people put you in, then people can take you out.

And that becomes your Lord.

You're worrying about losing people, worrying about their influence.

Maybe a group of people might rise up and vote me out or overthrow me.

Thank God, I'm glad the Lord has a New Testament ministry.

Who's gonna vote Peter out?

Who can put James and John out?

Who's gonna tell Andrew you're no longer an apostle over us?

You didn't have the authority to do it.

A New Testament minister, he ministered by delegated authority.

Delegated.

Brother Rom, you have a daughter.

You have authority over that daughter.

How did you get it?

Did she vote you in?

Being a father is not an elected position.

It's delegated.

By virtue of giving life to you and raising you and caring for you and being responsible for you and putting you ahead of myself, I have designated authority over you.

Of course, the laws of the land trying to circumvent that, but they can't do that.

That's delegated authority.

Do you hear me, Javon Tane Jacoby?

Your mom and your dad is your mom and your dad don't care how you feel about it.

That's who they are.

You subject yourself.

You say, but they're wrong.

Well, when you're grown, then you can do it differently.

But under their house, you subject yourself to those that have a rule over you.

Well, you ought to say louder than that.

But that's a fact.

But when you when you when you're governed by popular consent, that's the spirit of Saul.

That's what Saul did.

His fear was the people.

His fear was the people.

But our fear better be God.

Okay.

I didn't even finish it.

I'm getting worse on this.

I didn't finish the fifth chapter.

Time is too far gone.

I'm gonna have to stop.

At first night, I didn't even finish a chapter.

Are we gonna finish this book?

Eventually.

But you can see, just to even approach the book of Acts, all the Bible, it takes a godly uh mind.

You cannot, let me say this before I let you go.

Before you even read the word of God, brother, you need to sit down and decompose yourself.

Not too long the flesh to get in the saddle, but sit down and get things off your mind.

Think about the Lord.

Sing one of those wonderful songs of Zion.

Get your mind right.

Approach the word of God with the right attitude.

And then you begin to feast on milk and honey.

Amen.

I'm gonna stop uh here.

Before I let you go, did I say anything needing clarifications?

Any questions?

Okay.