Acts Chapter 11

Of God, who Jesus Christ had established on the day of Pentecost, which they was not, what really proves that uh Jesus Christ Himself said, By the fruits you'll know them.

And of course, they didn't bear any good fruits.

Their fruits withered on the vine.

And so, because of that, he had no idea where they were sitting.

Uh, they were sitting in the very uh judgment seat of Christ, is what Paul calls it.

Um, and because that ministry was on the divine order of God, uh, there was no leaven in it, it was able to pronounce the judgment that was absolutely eternal.

First, it was against uh a man only, then you will see it's gonna be against a nation.

That's the nation of Israel.

Uh, just kind of introducing uh uh as we get into the 11th chapter.

The 11th chapter of the book of Acts is a very uh very simple chapter because it is a repeat, almost barbatum, of the 10th chapter.

And the reason for that is because Peter did something that all of his life, all of his life, he was absolutely against, he was trained to be against it.

That is to make a difference, to make no difference between the Jew and the Gentile.

Every Jew, every Jew, from the time they came out of the womb, you're talking about not racism, because they didn't know what the term race was, they didn't use that, but you're talking about national pride, my Lord, and Jews felt like they were supreme to everything else on the earth.

Just because God had given them his laws, his statutes, and his judgment, it was not so they would be exalted in the spirit, it was so that they could make the whole world know what is the order, the precepts, and the statues of God.

But they felt miserably.

As Isaiah said, they said, Come not near me, for I'm holier than thou.

That's the attitude they had toward all other nations.

And so Peter, though he had a foul mouth, he walked around with a sword, cutting ears off.

It wasn't the first time he had the sword, I promise you.

Yet in that, he could always say, I'm a Jew.

I'm gonna make a statement here tonight because I don't see any any other demographics but us.

I read this, uh fascinated me that someone would really record it.

And I verified, you can verify it on Chat GPT.

Uh Lennon Johnson made a declaration.

He says, as long as you can convince, you can chat GPT, it is documented.

He did say it.

Lyndon Johnson, your president with the uh with the with the New Deal, he said, if you can convince the poorest white man that he's better than the most wealthiest black man, he said, heck, you can pick his pocket.

Well then you don't have to pick his pocket, he'll just give it to you.

Yeah, that's documented.

And so that's the concept that Jews had.

Uh, if you get even Peter, if you get the lowest life backslitten Jew, if you could convince him that he was better than the best Gentile, uh he felt superior just because he was a Jew.

And so here the Lord dealt with him first in a trench, uh vision, in a trance.

A trance.

That is uh this sheet, and of course you would read it again, that was let down from heaven knitted the four corners, and inside every all kind of creep and crawling things, four-footed beasts and fowls of the air.

And this voice said, Rise, Peter, slay, kill, and eat.

He said, Not so, Lord, that's disgusting.

I've never eaten anything common.

And that what do you mean by common?

That's unclean, that's for the Gentiles.

Nothing common of unclean ever into my mouth.

So this happened three times, and we're gonna read tonight.

And when the Lord showed him what that meant, he was submissive enough to God, he was obedient enough to the Lord Jesus Christ, he obeyed it, but in the back in the recess of his mind, even though he had a revelation that God was no respected person, he did not want to bear that reproach of one going into the Gentile's house because that was forbidden.

So we'll pick that up tonight, and uh there'll be some golden nuggets.

And so, again, the the construct of races, there's nothing God has ever thought of, like uh parents offering their children in fire.

I bet brother, I bet, I bet brother Levi glad that his father wouldn't offer them up in the fire.

But they they did offer up their children to Molach to show how much they were dedicated.

And God said, such things never entered to my mind.

And now we're dealing with things like racism, and just the term race never entered into God's mind.

He made nations, kindred, and tongues, but he never created what you would call races.

The pigmentation of people void of melon in the skin is a result of where they was living, not the way God created them.

Uh, that's an absolute fact.

And so uh there's only two nations of people that God took note of in the Bible, Jews and Gentiles.

And Gentiles means nations, or call them heathens, and that was a multiplicity of them.

So either you was in the kingdom of God, that is by circumcision, either prosely, you proselyted to be a Hebrew uh religion, or you was born there.

And so that's the covenant people, everyone else was Gentiles.

Today, you got black disciples, white disciples, you have Latinos disciples.

That's that's respect of person.

That's something God never created.

It'll never be eradicated until Jesus set up his everlasting kingdom through the thousand years.

You're not going to eradicate it.

Um, but doesn't mean you have to succumb to it.

Uh, we're no better, we're not any less than anybody else.

We mean I don't care what your nation's is.

Well, let's get into the good word of God.

I done talked enough.

Hope I got your attention.

Uh again, as I stated, we need to pray.

We hadn't prayed, I was just waiting till the starting time.

And it's 7:33, so we're at good time.

Uh, in a special prayer petition, I want to thank God for two outstanding reports today.

One of which, uh, Brother Raman Hodge was given an offer from the city of Austin and he accepted it.

And so, amen.

In two weeks, he will be a Austonian.

He will give me turning his two-week notice uh tomorrow, if not today, and he'll be making a permanent transition uh that it is to Austin uh to work in the kingdom of heaven in that location, which I'm so so glad.

And then the second report is like until the first one.

Sister Tisha.

Uh, she and brother Daniel moved from uh uh Fort Myers, Florida.

It's not Fort Myers.

No.

Uh-uh.

North Fort.

It's Northport, Northport, which is neighboring.

Northport, Florida, drove across five state lines to get to Austin to be a part of the assembly there.

Of course, he was trying to move here.

I tried to dissuade him because uh people from urban areas have a hard time in a rural area.

I live to see that.

And so rather than having to go through that great hard transition, uh, it's the same ministry there.

So uh he hearkened to counsel and moved to Austin.

He is working, but his wife will start tomorrow after several months of trying and trying and weathering a storm.

God has extended grace and letting them out of the uh the status of unemployed and to the status of employed.

So amen.

Thank you, Lord.

Uh so I want to pray for those two that God give them great favor on their jobs.

Uh I thought about Caleb on that people working for the same city.

Uh Caleb started off with a decent income.

And um in the span of 12, 14 months, got like a$50,000 raise promotion.

Yeah, so it's not where you start, it's where you get promoted to.

And so uh let's pray that God has showed the same favor again.

Uh remember Brother Elton, he's doing well, but as brother LJ says, let's pray that God keep his heart tender and he will listen.

Um I I I understand men is stubborn.

But my mother used to tell me all the time, maybe your mother talked to you like that too.

My mother told me a hard head makes a solve behind.

And they're gonna get tenderized by pain.

And so Brother won't get us, he won't get a whipping uh physically, but if he's not listening, he'll wish the God he had.

I doubt it, but he said he's listening.

We're gonna pray for him anyway.

Brother, I've been knowing you for a lot of years.

I ain't never known you to listen.

You listen more, and you still probably got a way to go.

Yeah.

Okay, we're gonna pray for him and for brother Alton Fletcher.

God is doing something absolutely phenomenal in his life to see him go through stage four of cancer and to receive these treatment.

Uh PSA numbers was like 22, and it's put the safe number is between three to five, and it is all the way down to one.

That's nothing less than phenomenal.

Yeah, so let's keep him in prayer that God give him a full recovery.

Any other special prayer petition?

Those who be testifying to.

Those who we're reaching out to.

That's a good petition, sir.

Uh, we do want to do that.

We want to show ourselves uh faithful in the things that God Jesus said, freely you receive, freely we should give.

So we should have a heart for all people.

Yes, yeah, man.

My sister in Florida, she might be on the back.

Jesus prayer also.

Your sister in Florida.

Okay.

Jesus didn't preach.

Amen.

Well, we got a testimony with people who's going through cancer and has gone through cancer.

Uh, come out of victorious.

Sister Darlene, I think she went through it three times, four times.

My God.

Look at God.

And so we have living testimonies.

So we definitely want to keep her up in prayer.

That's uh Sister Tyra.

I talked to her this evening.

She went through the surgery, she's having some pain, including back pains.

So let's trust that God will uh remember her for the good.

Uh, she's been a dedicated, faithful saint since the time she's been here.

Uh, she's never wavered, um, she never wobbled, uh, she never fell.

God has kept her.

Uh, she stayed faithful here, so let's remember her in prayer.

Anyone else?

Okay, and let's go for the remainder of this meeting before time gets away.

I won't say much more.

Uh wow, we've already lost nine minutes.

So let's pray that the good great God of heaven, the God of mercy, and God of our Father of all comfort would guide us, help us, lead us, and meet all these petitions.

You may unmute.

Let's just all pray in unisance.

We thank you, Lord, for your mercy, for your loving kindness, for your grace, Lord.

We ask that you would spread forth your hand tonight.

Touch those who have need of you, Lord, who are afflicted in their bodies, that you will remember them, raise them up for a testimony, Lord, of your glory, your power, your might.

Dear God, we thank you for who you are, for being a faithful God, a merciful God, a long-suffering God.

Touch our minds tonight, Lord, that we may receive with meekness your engrafted word that's able to save our soul, illuminate our understanding, Lord.

Oh God, let your spirit shine upon us, Lord.

In Jesus' name.

We thank you, Lord.

Amen.

Okay, we're gonna go straight into the book of Acts, and we're going to go to the 11th chapter.

We've taken the time, uh, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, and brought us up to this good point.

And I won't be redundant by telling you the importance of this book.

There's not another one like it.

It's the only history of the church and this holy writ called the Bible.

There is not another book that gives you the history, uh, none other, of the New Testament church, how it started, uh, how it went through the fire, how it um overcame adversities, and how it went from a Jewish people uh to Samaritan people, then in the 10th chapter, right on out to the Gentiles, that's you and I.

And here we can begin to see in the 10th chapter how Paul himself, though he did not want to, I'm sorry, Peter himself, he did not choose to, but God chose him.

He was submissive and obedient, and he went and proclaimed the gospel to Cornelius, a man who was a Gentile.

He wasn't practicing Judaism, but yet he was faithful to the things he knew.

And when it got time for the Gentile people to come into the kingdom of heaven that was established on the day of Pentecost, all of his almdies, his charitableness, and his devoutness, it came up as a memorial for God.

And so God brought him and his family, his household, his friends in first.

And immediately after, this is where we pick it up in the 11th chapter.

And so remember that the head of this woman, which was a New Testament church ministry, was in Jerusalem.

Even when the persecution arose, uh, the disciples scattered, but the apostles stayed in Jerusalem, because the time was not yet for the judgment of Jerusalem to be executed.

So, and the apostles, and this is a continuation, and the apostles and brethren.

When he sans brethren, it's the apostles, and you read to the 15th chapter, he doesn't call them the apostles and brethren, he calls them the apostles and elders.

And so when you see that word brethren, he's talking to the ministry, and typically another term for it is elders or ministries, is those who have been adain of God, those who've been ordained of God to care for the people of God.

And uh, so when they heard, when the apostles and brethren that was in Judea, that's back in Jerusalem, heard that the Gentiles had received the word of God.

Now I hadn't just heard it, they received it because they spoke with tongues that the Spirit of God gave them utterance.

When a person speaking other tongues that received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, that is a remission of all sins that are past.

There's two baptisms that you can bear witness to.

Well, all three, but two essentially.

The first one is water baptism, the sign of that somebody's wet, they're emerged in water.

The second one is a Holy Ghost baptism for which people will always utter a tongue, a tongue that's foreign to them, whether it's other tongues or whether it's unknown tongues.

Either way, it's a language or a dialect they don't know.

I won't get too far into that.

That's how they know they had received it, not just heard it, but receive it.

And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, showing what he means by Judea, when he came up to Jerusalem, that was the that was the mother church's birth, it's where it was.

And they that was of the circumcision, the circumcision means those who were Jewish people had been circumcised and was under the law of Moses or made the transition.

Look what happened very carefully.

When the when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that was of the circumcision contended with him.

I'd like for you to uh underline that word for a moment because uh it gets a little deeper.

It wasn't a discussion, they was arguing with him, they put pressure on him, and uh uh they found fault with what he had done.

And look what they said, verse 3 saying thou wentest in to men uncircumcised.

The word circumcism simply means that they went into um on the eighth day, they went into the temple and was circumcised as what the law of Moses was given.

And so by that circumcision, every Israelite was now in a covenant relationship with God, and everyone else, he was considered dogs and outcasts.

And for Peter to literally go into a Gentile's house was inconceivable.

Now, these people was Christians, and in their mind they had not made the transition that the law of Moses is over with.

You do not live by the law of Moses any longer.

And though they said it with their mouth, and their hearts and their minds, they still was Jewish people.

And the Lord's gonna show you.

He tore down the mill of water petition, neither Jew nor Gentile.

And so they continued with him, they put heat on him.

Uh, but look now in verse given, and look, I'm straight, watch this carefully.

Saying verse 3, thou wentest in unto men uncircumcised, gentiles, and did eat with them.

Eat means you fellowship with them, uh you commune with them, you socialize with them.

They put it on heavy, and Peter, um, watch his response.

He feels the heat, he feels the pressure.

And what he's saying is, he'll give you a discord of what happened, or what he's trying to tell you, blame God, don't blame me.

I I didn't ask to go.

Uh tell you what happened to me.

I didn't have any choice.

And that's what he's saying.

If I had a choice, I wouldn't have done it.

I really wouldn't have.

I it's this is not, this is not something that was my doing.

So he rehearsed it.

Watch.

But Peter rehearsed, look at the key word, the matter from the beginning, letting them know how all this started.

Uh, I didn't wake up one morning and say, hey, I'm gonna go talk to some Gentiles, go to their house.

That's not what happened.

And he expounded, that is, he explained it by order, first things first, unto them saying, showing his innocence.

He's trying to push back uh against this heat.

And by the way, we can see ourselves in that.

When we reach out to people, maybe of a different persuasion or a different concept.

Sometimes people whom God hadn't dealt with in that area don't criticize you.

Or you say, if I do this, what people gonna think about me?

Or we can find ourselves in here.

And so verse five, this is Peter rehearsing.

I was in the city of Joppa, and got Jewish people, that's where I was, and I was praying, and in a trance, I saw a vision, a certain vessel descended, as it had been a great sheep let down from heaven by the by four corners, and it came even to me, it's personally, it came to me in this trance, in this vision, upon which, when I had fastened my eyes, I looked at it, I mean I locked my eyes on it, I considered and saw four-footed beasts of the earth.

What he's talking about is animals that wasn't kosher, that wasn't fit for Jew to eat.

Uh, that's what he's describing.

Uh, and wild beasts, and creeping things, wow, and fowls of the air, hawks and uh buzzards and disgusting things.

That's what he's describing.

Upon the witch, I just read that, I'm sorry, verse seven.

And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter.

So no doubt he was punished.

Slay that word means kill and eat.

But I said, Not so, Lord, for nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth.

I've never, I've never eaten crawfish, and I've never eaten crabs and shrimps like them cages down in South Louisiana.

By the way, that's not kosher.

It really is not.

11th chapter of the book of Leviticus gives you a diet that the Jews had to keep.

And what was in the water didn't have fins and scales, you couldn't eat it.

I've never seen a fin or scale on shrimps, crawfish, and crabs, and uh oh my god.

So Peter said, Look, I've never eaten anything like that.

Um into my mouth, verse nine, but the voice it answered me again from heaven.

There's only one voice from heaven, it's got to be from God.

He said, What God has cleansed, call not thou common, and this was done three times.

It was a reason done three times because there's three men's coming, so you get a revelation when you see those three men's, things begin to click.

And interesting enough, remember now there's 12 apostles.

At this time, only 12.

No one else had this trance.

No one else had this revelation.

You would have thought that God would have been merciful enough to let them all have it and send Peter.

He didn't tell nobody nothing, just Peter.

And Peter didn't try to explain it.

He was obedient because let's keep reading.

Watch what happened.

Uh, and this was done three times and was all drunk.

Okay, brother Joey, I'm sorry, sir.

I didn't see your hand.

Oh, that's no problem.

I didn't want to disturb you.

I was just trying to wait for you.

That's okay.

Stop me.

Stop me.

It's a Bible study.

This is what we do.

Okay, so uh I'm gonna go back briefly with Peter, with them continuing with Peter.

And uh I guess my question is what was the punishable offense for that offense for a person going to the house with you?

Was it stoning?

Was it being cast away?

Uh it had to be something where no, but they did it, they what was called is put away from the people, meaning you were disfellowship.

You could no longer be counted among the people of God, which means you couldn't sell your you couldn't sell your crops, no one could buy your crops, you couldn't buy theirs.

You were ostracized.

Uh wasn't punishable by death, but you was this fellowship ostracized.

And no one wants to be ostracized.

And though Peter was, when you name the, each time you name the 12 apostles, you'll always see Peter's name first.

Not that he was greater than anybody else, but he was the chief among equals.

And even that, I do appreciate this part about it.

He was held accountable, even though he was Peter.

He wasn't left to himself.

These men could put fire under him.

They held his feet, as the old cliche is, to the fire.

And that's showing you God has never ever left one man to himself.

So the myth that you hear about the Pope is fallacy.

And what you see behind the broad walls of Babylonian religion, about the pastor being infallible, and uh, that's all folly.

There has to be accountability.

And so you can see it even here.

And so Peter was concerned about just that.

He did not want to be ostracized or cut off uh from the people of God, whether they were Jews or whether there was a New Testament church.

And so, as he's explaining this, and uh the key verse is 10, you'll understand it in verse 11.

This was done three times, and the reason it was done three times, always drawn up again, and he tells you, and behold, immediately, as soon as this happened, there was three men.

Now that's not a coincidence.

Now I understand why this this vision happened three times, and why the Lord told it to me three times.

Now, here's these three men, the Gentiles, was already come to the house where I was, sent from Caesarea to me.

Wow, to me, he's saying it.

Not to not to James, not to Andrew, not to Partholomew.

He was sent to me.

The reason because Jesus told Peter, unto thee I give the keys of the kingdom.

The keys of the kingdom is the knowledge uh to use the word of God correct and let people enter into the kingdom.

And so once the doors is open, as it was to the Jews, all Jews could come.

To the Samaritans after that, all Samaritans could come.

And once the door was open to the Gentiles, all Gentiles is free to come because the door has been opened.

So it had to be done by Peter.

And so, then verse 12.

Now here's the confirmation.

He's seen those three, he understood that vision.

But if that wasn't enough, the word is always confirmed by the Spirit.

The Spirit bade me, instructed me to go with them.

This is listening, key word, doubting nothing, or nothing doubting, because uh this was against Peter's lifetime of living.

Moreover, these six brethren.

Now, I'm gonna hold this for a second.

These men came with them from Joppa.

Uh, these were ministers.

Uh, Peter never went anywhere by himself.

None of these ministers traveled by themselves because Jesus sent them out two by two.

They were trained by the masters.

And so he said, six brothers, these are people who came down from Jerusalem with them to Joppa.

I can go over with you need me to.

There in Joppa, he brought even those elders with him.

Because Peter, you finna go to a Gentile's house?

Uh-huh.

Everybody said, I got to see this.

So they went with him.

Oh, and that was God because if he had gone without witnesses, he would have been in big trouble.

So these six brothers went with them.

That's what he's saying.

So look, it's not just my testimony.

Moreover, these six brethren, ministers, they accompanied me, and we, not just me, enter into the man's house.

That's the man who sent for us.

Codnes back in the 10th chapter.

And he showed us, he being the man, Cornelius.

He showed us how he had seen an angel in his house.

Which, if you go back to the 10th chapter, he's called a man.

So the angel didn't flop down from heaven with wings.

Uh that blows people's mind when you find out angels don't have wings.

You go to any cemetery, and every angel you see he's got two things.

He's got a big pot belly, and he's got some wings.

That's that's that's sad.

Every time an angel appears in the Bible, they appear as a person.

If you saw something flopping down with wings, you don't even want to talk, you're gonna take off running.

So that's that's just unreal.

Let's show you how religion of Babylon plays with your mind.

Um let's keep reading.

Yes, sir.

So how did he know he didn't know that this was an angel?

Not that momentum.

Oh, because it appeared.

It it it let's we'll go back and look at the 10th chapter.

He asked, How did Cornelius know uh that that was an angel?

Let's go back to 10th chapter just real quickly.

Um verse three give you it was a vision, and he saw in a vision.

This is Cornelius, verse one calls his name.

He was a centurion.

A centurion is a soldier over 100 soldiers.

That's what he called him, centurions, uh, over 100 soldiers.

Um he saw in a vision, evidently the ninth hour that's of the day, that's three o'clock, an angel of God coming into him, saying, Cornelius, and of course, uh, is in a vision.

So he knew it had to be an angel, it wasn't just a natural man.

Uh verse 7.

And when the angel that spake unto Cornelius was departed, that is, his visions over with, he called um two of his household servants.

And then not only that, but a devout soldier, that's the three men who went.

And so if you go back over to the 11th chapter now, uh the 11th verse, by the way, let me share something else with you.

Golden nuggets just for your benefit.

An angel cannot, a third heaven angel, a celestial angel cannot preach the gospel to you.

Did you know that, Brother Levi?

No, they cannot.

It's a total that's why he tells Cornelius to go send for Simon Peter.

An angel can only give a message that the Lord is sending to an individual.

Remember how the angel appeared unto Mary?

Remember how the angel appeared unto Joseph?

It can only give you the message, it cannot give you the gospel.

The gospel is for those who have been redeemed.

Now, this is gonna shake some people's concepts, but an angel cannot be redeemed.

There's no such thing when the Bible talks about a fallen angel.

That's not a third heaven angel, that's a terrestrial angels, that's ministers, men on the earth who falls.

They're called fallen angels.

They're messengers sent by God, but they didn't keep their first estate, they didn't stay in a spiritual state, they went out into the earthly ways of men.

That's another subject.

But this is why the angel told him to send back to uh verse 13.

Uh, 1030, thank you.

Um go to uh that's okay.

Go down, read down to this.

I want you to watch this carefully.

I'll read verse 13 again.

He showed us how he, that's Genelius, has seen an angel in his house.

That's in his dream, in his vision, which stood and said, Send men to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter.

Surname means that's not your birth name.

We would use the term a nickname.

That's a name that's been given to you.

And by the way, Simon is his birth name.

Peter is the name that Jesus gave him.

He called him Peter because he was he was hard.

The word Peter means pebble, a rock.

And so he gave him that name.

But anyway, verse 14, who shall tell thee words?

This is the key, brother Levi, Peter, that's to who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all that house shall be saved.

If the angel could have preached the gospel, he would have did it.

He could not, and because this is a message of redemption, and only a redeemed entity can proclaim this gospel.

And so he said for Peter, and as began to speak, now this is Peter telling you, as I began to speak, he didn't tell you all he said, you can read back in the 10th chapter.

The Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning.

Beginning of what?

The beginning of the New Testament church on the day of Pentecost.

It just fell.

Then remembered I the words of the Lord, talking about Jesus Christ.

How he said, John indeed baptized with water, that's one.

But you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.

And so when he saw that, how the Holy Ghost fell on them and they was baptized with the Holy Ghost, he remembered the same thing that happened to us in the beginning on the day of Pentecost.

And when he saw that, he got a revelation.

God is no respective person, could not deny it.

In his mind, he couldn't understand it.

He saw it, he even said it.

But in his heart, he was taught that they was better, they was different.

Watch this.

And so he moved on.

For as much, verse 11 17, for as much then, I got this understanding, as God gave them, who's of them?

The Gentiles.

The like gift was the gift, the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

As he did unto us, that's the New Testament church on the day of Pentecost, who believed on the Lord Jesus, what was I that I could withstand God?

And so this is how he pent them in his contention.

This is what God did.

And what could I do?

How could I stop water?

Baptism.

So when someone's baptized with the Holy Ghost, it doesn't matter if they're a gangster, bank robber, mass murderer, if they receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, you have to baptize them in water.

Water baptism is the baptism of repentance.

Evidently, baptism is, I mean, repentance has been granted.

So you don't have to act.

You're wrong to forbid water.

You must let them receive water baptism.

This is what Peter is establishing, telling these other brethren, don't blame me.

It's not my doing.

The reason I'm giving you that, verse 18.

When they heard these things, nothing else they could say, they held their peace.

What peace?

When they was contending, go back to verse 2.

These circumcised Christians and ministers was contending with Peter.

When they heard this, they couldn't say nothing else.

And they glorified God, saying, Then have God also to the Gentiles, this is the key, granted repentance unto life.

When someone received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, you don't have to ask them any questions, they don't have to explain anything to you.

God has granted them repentance of all sins that are passed.

Brother Amir received the baptism of the Holy Ghost Sunday.

Now, before he could have pretended that he was uh repenting, I don't know, maybe he wasn't pretending.

He looked like a guy who could pretend to me.

He looked pretty smooth.

But when he received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, it's nothing to ask.

Repentance has been granted, according to what you're reading.

But let me show you how deep this is.

Let me deviate for a fast forward.

This happened a short span after the persecution arose with the stone and the stephen.

I can't tell exactly how long, but it was a short span of time, within within three years.

I know that.

Less than three years.

You get to the 13th chapter, the Lord is going to send Saul and Bonabas out.

The place where Saul and Bonabon was sent for is called Antioch.

Antioch was the second largest city in all of the Roman Empire.

It's a huge city.

And it became the center church once Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD.

This church was mega.

I mean, the city was mega, and so they had many churches.

But it was a Gentile church.

When Peter went there, do you know, even though he was the one who opened the doors to the Gentiles, you know when other people came down from Jerusalem, you know he withdrew himself?

He did not want to go through that contention.

Now, when they wasn't around, he ate with them, fellowshiped with them, preached to them.

But when these people from Jerusalem who had already given him, excuse my terminology, raw hell, when they came down, he slid back.

Paul, because he had the ministry, he was apostle to the Gentiles, took great offense with that.

When they're not around, you embracing them.

When those Jewish Christians, but when they come around, you act like you don't fellowship with them.

Go to the second chapter of the book of Galatians.

So you can kind of see this was in his heart.

And uh even though he had received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, even though he was a minister, showing that even ministers error.

But Paul said, I withstood him.

I didn't talk behind his back, I withstood him to his face because he was wrong.

And this is what a true man of God does and receives.

You receive corrections.

I receive it.

Everybody should be subject one to the other.

So go to the and this inflame, this inflame uh uh Paul.

His name was Saul, that's his birth name, and it was given, it was given the Gentile name is translated to Paul because that's who he was dealing with, Gentile people.

But once this uh look at the 11th chapter.

I'm sorry, second chapter, the 11th verse, forgive me.

And so Paul was rehearsing all the things that had transpired.

Now, at this point, I know it's 14 years from the time that Paul had been converted.

But watch this, a total.

And but when Peter was come down to Antioch, that's the that's the uh that's the place in which he himself was a minister.

He wasn't a chief apostle there, he was just a teacher when he was there.

He was an apostle when he went out and established churches.

When he came back, he was subject to those brethren.

How do you know that, Brother Brown?

Because they laid hands on him and told him to go.

The hands are not laid of the lesser, the hands are laid of the greater.

And so those men exercised authority over Paul and Bonhommes and told them the Holy Ghost here for you to go out and establish churches.

What they did.

And then three times he came back when they ran their missions, they came back and saved us subject to the same position he was in before.

But look, verse 11.

But when Peter was come to Antioch, that's where he was based out of, I withstood him.

That word means to oppose, to resist.

I withstood him to the face.

Wow, to his face.

Remember now, this is Peter.

This is the one whom Jesus gave the keys to the kingdom.

This is the one to whom every time you name the twelve apostles, he's named first.

Paul said, He makes a statement, whosoever it was make no difference to me.

God respect no man's person.

This is a bold stuff.

He said, I restored Peter to the face.

Wow.

Why?

Because he was to be blamed.

My God.

The word blame means to indict.

He did something wrong.

Did Peter do something wrong?

Yes.

He did wrong.

What was his wrong?

Though he knew God was no respect of person, he was not living that.

He was not living that.

Then he explains, for this is what he did, this is what he be blamed for, this is what he did wrong.

For before that, certain came down from James, James was the leader there in the church in Jerusalem.

He did eat with the Gentiles, he fellowship with them.

But when they, those ministers, those Judas, when they came, he withdrew himself, withdrew and separated himself while fearing, look at that word, them that was of the circumcision.

You worrying about them contending with you.

They must have gave him wrong hell.

He didn't want no more of it.

And so when they came down, he withdrew himself.

Listen to this.

And the other Jews, who was Christians, they disassembled.

Look that word up, it means hypocrisy.

Likewise with him, because he was the first among the 12 apostles.

He was the great Peter.

So the point is, when a leader errors, the people gonna error.

And so Peter couldn't, Paul couldn't take Peter in the back room and say, Man, you're wrong.

You did this publicly, and you got to be with you publicly.

I don't care who you are.

And Peter, you Paul uses such statements.

In the same chapter, go back.

Look at verse 6.

Chapter 2, verse 6.

But of these, he's talking about Peter and John and James, these leaders.

But of these who seemed to be somewhat, look what he says.

Whatsoever they were, it makes it no matter to me.

God accepted what?

No man person.

For they who seemed to be somewhat in conference, they added nothing to me.

They didn't know anything that God hadn't showed me.

So I wasn't intimidated by that.

Look at verse 9, he showed you the word.

And when James, Cephas, which is Peter, and John, who seemed to be Pillar, received the grace that was given to me.

So they show you who they were.

So it's not the first encounter he had with Peter.

He respected the office.

But when you're wrong, you're wrong.

And Peter, to his credit, this man accepted it.

He didn't argue, hey, do you know who you're talking to?

You weren't around when I was walking with Jesus.

You came in, Johnny, come late.

He didn't have any attitude.

When he heard the word of God, he got it right.

Just the right attitude.

You tell these religious leaders something today, you're not knowing a bishop over 17 church, yeah, but you don't know nothing about the word of God.

How do you think I got my PhD?

You bought it.

So you got it.

You went to the seminary, a cemetery, religious cemetery, and they call it a seminary.

They misspelled it.

It's a living cemetery.

Because nobody in there, but I'm gonna stop, but the dead.

Let's keep reading.

Are you with me?

And listen to this.

In verse 13, and the other Jews disassembled this hypocrisy likewise with him, insomuch that Bonabas, this is the one who was working with him.

This is his fellow apostle.

You knew better because Bonabas, everywhere Paul went, Bonnabu went with them on the first journey.

We went to nothing but Gentile nations.

And even you gonna withdraw because of your Jewish contemporaries.

Listen to this.

So much that, insomuch that Bonham was also carried away with their dissemination.

What did he say to Peter?

He said, Well, when I saw that date, Bonabas, Peter, and all those other brothers walk not what?

Uprightly, justly.

It's the same word in the Old Testament called in integrity.

You're not Walking in your integrity according to the scriptures, according to the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, if thou, you Peter, if you being a Jew, you live it after the manners of the Gentiles, that is, we say by faith and not by the works of the law.

That's what he's saying, and not do the Jews, we're not trying to keep the law.

Why compelest thou, the Gentile, to live as do the Jew?

Why are you making a difference?

For we who are Jews by nature, we are natural Jews and not the sins of the Gentile.

We didn't live like them, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Lord, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.

Even we, that's the Jews, have believed in Jesus Christ, so that we might be justified.

Here it is by the faith of Christ.

That's faith in God.

That's the doctrine.

And this is what Paul is withstanding and rebuking Peter for.

And not by the works of the law.

For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Wow.

But a message like that, what could Peter say but amen?

I don't want to get too far off the subject, but let me show you Peter's.

Second Peter is his last epistle.

He writes before he's crucified.

And I want you to watch what he had to say about Peter.

I mean about Paul.

Go to 2 Peter.

These men did not have big egos.

They just did not.

They was really subject one to the other.

Look at uh 2 Peter's chapter 3.

This is Peter's last words before he's crucified upside down.

Listen what he says.

He's talking now.

Uh I'll just go pick it up.

I'm trying to get to the 16th verse.

Um, I'll pick it up in the 15th verse.

And account, I reckon, that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation.

That's the purpose.

Even as our beloved, look what he called him, Brother Paul.

He didn't call him Reverend Paul, Bishop Paul, the great apostle Paul.

He called him Brother Paul.

Listen to this carefully.

According to the wisdom given unto him has written unto you, for you Gentiles.

Wow.

Then he goes on, as also in all his epistles, and all his epistles mean letters.

That's what you read him when you read first and second Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, these are epistles.

And all of them.

Look, he's talking about Paul, speaking in all of speaking in them of these things, and which are some things hard to be understood, because it's deep, which they which are unlearned and unstable, twist, rasp, pervert, even as they do.

Watch this key word, even as they do, even as they do also what other scriptures.

So Peter is calling Paul's writing scriptures.

Read it.

So he didn't get into some attitude.

He realized this man speaking by the inspiration of God.

And his letters are not just letters, these are scriptures.

He used the term as he do, as do other scriptures.

So he took the correction, he made the adjustment.

Are you all with me?

So it's one thing to know something, it's something else to walk in it.

Peter knew, he said out of his mouth, and uh the 10th chapter pertaining to Canadians.

He said, I perceive that God is no respectable person.

So he had the knowledge, but to make that transition and walk in it, that's a whole nother story.

So let's go back to the 13th chapter.

I'm not 13th, I'm sorry, 11th chapter.

I can't wait to get to that 13th.

That's juicy juicy.

For real.

Okay, and so uh what verse I stopped in 18.

I'll read again.

And when they heard these things, they held their peace, quit the contention, and glorified God, saying, Then have God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

I want you to stop and think about this for a moment.

They are acknowledging that.

Because no one can receive the Holy Ghost but by God.

There's three baptisms or three phases.

There's water, that's ministered by man.

There's the baptism of the Holy Ghost, that comes only from God.

And then there's a fire baptism that only comes from God.

And so the three phases, only one is ministered by man.

When someone received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, you know that's God.

Nothing you can argue.

They knew that, but yet they still kept themselves separated.

It takes it takes more than knowledge.

God has given us a heart to receive and the strength to do it.

Knowing is just a beginning, but you have to know.

This is why knowledge doesn't save you.

It's what you do, it's not what you know.

It's not to hear the word that blessed, it's the door.

That's a big word in the Bible, do.

Biggest word in the Bible, be honest with you.

It's two letters, but that's a big word, do, do.

Okay, here we go.

So these men knew it, but you can see years later, they still saw themselves as being superior.

Now, verse 19.

Now, it's switching the settings.

It's switching the settings.

There's one last chapter, the 12th chapter, that Peter will be brought back into focus.

Just for that last chapter, because of um the persecution he's going through.

King Herod was going to behead him.

And so he put him in prison.

As soon as Easter was over, as it's called, the word is Passover, there's no Easter.

It's mistranslated there.

It was going to crucify him, but the Lord delivered him.

And after that, you won't see Peter nowhere else being the focus.

After the 12th chapter, the only time his name even comes up is when they're having a discussion back in uh the 15th chapter uh about whether or not the Gentiles had to be circumcised.

Peter's names come up.

Outside, he's not even mentioned again.

The reason because the trans the it transents it trans, I can't pronounce the word.

It's trans transition, thank you.

It's transition from Peter, who was basically the apostle to the circumcision, unto Paul, who's the apostle to the uncircumcised.

And so the rest of the book, because now it's for all people.

And so you won't see Peter focus no more.

You won't see his name again except at the 15th chapter.

And that's just in a discussion.

You won't see him again.

The focus from the 13th chapter all the way to the 28th, the remainder of the book of Acts is Paul.

It's the uh it's the message for all God's people.

But let's let's go on here.

Now it's going to it's going to bring you back, and there's some key words here.

That's gonna that's going to bear light in the in the future chapter, the 13th, namely.

Now, they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution.

This is back in the eighth chapter when Stephen was stoned, when the persecution that arose about Stephen, that's when he was stoned.

These people scattered.

If you go back to the eighth chapter, it said they were scattered.

Uh, they went as far as Thenus, Cyprus, Antioch, underline that, and preaching the word.

But look at this.

To none but the what?

Even after the 11th chapter, it was just preaching to the Jews.

Even after that, even though the Kenegis came in, the door was open to the Gentiles, they preaching just to the Jews.

But some, thank God for this some, thank you, Lord.

Some of them were men of Cyrus and Syre.

You know what Sarite is?

That's North Africa.

These are soul brothers.

No, for real.

The rest of them was Middle Eastern.

But these are brothers, they come from the motherland.

Look it up.

That's that's what was a part of Africa.

Yeah.

They didn't have racial issues upon the only reason I brought that out.

They didn't see people by race, they saw you about your nation and nothing else.

Ignorant Gentiles, we turn around and divide people up by pigmentation because you want to be better than somebody else.

I'm not the only one calling it.

Paul calls us that in the uh uh 1 Corinthians chapter 12.

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

He said, You know that you were dumb Gentiles, carried away with dumb idols, even as you were led.

He called us just that, and we still dumb Gentiles.

Simon, that's exactly that's another brother.

They didn't care about your pigmentation, you were identified by your city or your nation and nothing else.

Uh, we don't want to divide.

Well, I hate to say this, but I have to say it.

I say it Sunday anyway.

It divides so they can subhumanize you, and then people who have been in subjection to racism, we turn around and divide.

I'm a bohemian, I'm a Jamaican, I'm a Nigerian, I'm a Haitian.

They don't see that.

They see black.

I don't care what nation you came from, you black.

So we divide among us.

You know, did you not know that?

And off beat, did you know that Africans, Africans, look down on African Americans?

Yeah.

You know that Haitians feel superior to African Americans?

You don't lost your mind.

You oppressed by the oppressor.

I'm gonna give you a scripture.

No, no, no, don't don't shake.

I said I met it.

Okay, I know it's true.

He's a Haitian and the people.

I don't know.

He's a Haitian.

There's the scripture.

See if someone help me pull it up.

I think it's uh it's in Proverbs, around the 23rd verse or so.

It says, Envy not the oppressor, and learn none of his ways.

That's it.

How do you put that?

Learn in at the oppressor.

I guess you want to get that from me.

I think it's Proverbs 23.

I'm sorry.

I think you messing it up with I think you saying a uh go now with an angry me.

What is learning the way?

3 and 31.

I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you, sir.

I was it seemed like you it was you was uh had it two scripture cannot combine because one scripture says, Go not with an angry man, let you learn the way to tell me.

Yeah, I think that's what it I don't think.

Okay, go to three and thirty-one.

Someone just gave it to me.

I couldn't pull it up.

I think this is a scripture.

Every oppressed people need to learn this.

Oh every minority to learn this scripture.

Uh someone read it for me.

Oh, let me read it.

I'm I've only got the mic.

Yeah, and so this is both spiritual and it's natural.

The reason I detest denominations is because the Bible calls them prisons, it calls them dens and caves.

You know what they do?

They oppress people, they don't want you to be educated, they don't want you to be intelligent, they don't want you to learn, because when you learn, you're less likely to be manipulated, and that's a fact.

This is why you find most churches, mostly women, because men don't readily let another man oppress them.

You're learning the ways of your oppressor.

When you're telling people you don't need an education, when you tell people you don't have to learn the whole Bible, you know, it don't take all that.

You you're you're oppressing people.

And this is what your slave master done to you.

They didn't want Africans to learn to read and write, they didn't want slaves to learn to read and write.

You become a thinker and you become a problem.

And so they learned that from the oppressors.

Are you following me?

And the same thing spiritually.

People don't want you to learn the Bible, they give you excerpts out of it, out of its context, not knowing the setting, so how do you know what it means?

And so now you're gullible, you're exploitable, you're manipulable.

Uh, let me read that scripture.

Yeah, don't ask them no questions.

Don't ask them no questions.

If you can't ask questions, sir, a man, a child, or whoever you are, you're in the wrong place.

Uh verse 31, Proverbs 3.

Yes, that's it.

Even that thou the oppressor, the one who's over you, oppressing you, and choose none of his ways.

Wow, what a verse, huh?

Choose none of it, don't imitate that.

Don't imitate that.

Let's go back to Acts.

What verse I stopped in?

Verse 19, verse 20.

Oh, yeah, I picked up the soul, brother, for you all, didn't I?

And some of them men were men of Cyprus and Syri, which, when they was come to Antioch, they spake to the Grecians.

They're talking about the Gentiles, not the Jews now.

By the way, the word Grecians is not people who was just Greek.

It has two different meanings.

That term Greeks meant Gentiles, other nations.

And then when it's talking when they call the Jews a Greek, it was Hellenistic last.

They spoke Greek and they accepted Greek culture and customs instead of the Hebrew customs.

So they call them Hellenistics or they call them Greeks or Grecians.

There was a throw-off.

That was the like we call you Oreo.

You don't you never heard of you, have you?

That's somebody who made you over their image.

You're white inside, but you're black outside.

We call you Oreo.

Yeah, it's I feel like I'm a Martian.

I'm talking to a whole nother generation, even though terms.

Uncle, Uncle Tom, Oreos.

But that you've been made over like your oppressors.

They made you think they is right and everything else is wrong.

So here he uses the same term, but he's talking about Gentiles here.

They spake unto the Grecians of the Gentiles, preaching the Lord Jesus.

Thank God.

And the hands of the Lord was with them, backing him up.

Give this message to everybody.

And a great multitude.

This is Grecians.

They turned, the great multitude believed and turned unto the Lord.

Wow.

In Antioch, this became the largest church in the New Testament.

It was a church in Antioch and it was Grecians, meaning that it was all people.

Remember, there wasn't races, it's nations.

And when you say Grecians, you mean all Gentile people who was born Gentiles.

Now keep reading, it gets interesting.

And the tidings, that word means the news of these things, came to the ears of the church which is in Jerusalem.

Boy, they heard everything, didn't they?

Nothing happened that didn't get back to Jerusalem because it was the center.

But listen, and then they, when he says they, he's talking about the minister in Jerusalem.

They sent forth Barnabas that he should go as far as what?

Because that's where he's hearing these great, great number of people being added.

Who, when he came, this is Barnabas.

He came down from the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem.

He went down to Antioch.

When he came and he saw the grace of God, look at these people.

I mean, it had to be thousands.

He was glad and exhorted them all.

Preach.

The word exalt means to expound, to preach, to proclaim to them all that with purpose of heart they should cleave unto the Lord.

Stick with this till you become an overcomer.

Then it expounds about him a little bit, for he was a good man, that is Bonabas, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.

And much people was added to the Lord.

This is in Antioch.

It's pivoting.

Can you see that?

Gentile church is pivoting.

Then watch this.

Then he departed, then departed Bonabas to Tartas to seek for Saul, for Tarsus, to seek for Saul.

You know why?

They since we'll go back and read it.

Paul was so zealous.

We'll go back and read it.

When he went to Jerusalem, he caused trouble.

I mean, this guy was so zealous, he took those Jewish people and showed them, even though they didn't want to, accept it, that Jesus was the Messiah.

And it caused great persecution of the church.

You know what they did?

They sent him away.

Listen, Paul, we know God has shows you, you got a message, but we send you back home.

They put them on a boat and sent him home.

Then the Bible, the next verse said, then the church had peace.

Let's just read that.

Let's go back.

That's the uh that's just the truth.

Um I think it's the ninth chapter.

I just want to bring this back out for a reason.

Uh let me see.

The ninth chapter.

Verse 30.

Yes.

Look, verse 26.

I'm time to get away.

Okay, I got time.

Listen to this.

Uh if you don't, if you don't keep a chronological uh vision of what's transpiring, little details will fall away.

All of them matter.

Uh necessarily when you read them, they don't stand out.

But when you keep reading, it reflects back the early things that were said.

It's layered, it keeps building up.

And so here's something we read, but it now becomes more of a fact.

This is Paul after he was converted.

Uh, they wanted to kill him in Damascus because he was too much.

Uh look at verse 23.

And after many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him.

That's that's Paul.

He was preaching too hard in the synagogues.

But their line of weight was made known unto Saul, and they watched the gate day and night to kill him.

And the disciples, that disciples of Christ, that means when you say disciples, that's discipline followers of Christ.

They took him by the night and let him down by the wall in a basket.

Now he still wouldn't quit.

The brothers say, Listen, Paul, they're gonna kill you.

And so he goes to Jerusalem, where there's more that's the more Christians.

And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join himself to the disciples.

But they was afraid of him and believed not that he was a disciple.

But Bonabas took him.

So Bonabus liked this gift and brought him to the apostles and declared how he had seen the Lord in the way.

I go down to verse 28, and he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.

And verse 29 is where the trouble started.

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

This is Jews who was practicing uh Greek customs, but they went about to do what they don't kill him.

Man, this guy stayed getting killed constantly, even when he became an apostle.

One time they stoned him dead.

He rose up, went back into the same city.

Paul, they just stole you in that city, sir.

Went right back to the same city.

This guy was something, but you're talking about what do you call a uh hunting badger?

This man's a honey badger.

I'm sorry, you know what honey badger is?

Yes, indeed.

You know what a honey badger is?

Google it.

Yeah, Google it, sir.

He eats the honey badger.

Just take a he eats he eats uh cobra for lunch.

And and he's uh he gets bit by the cobra, he actually passes out.

After about five minutes, he wakes up and go find that cobra finish killing him.

But anyway, that's another subject.

Let's keep reading.

Watch this verse 29 and he spake boldly in the name of the Lord and despite.

Against the Grecians, but they went about to kill him.

Verse 30.

And when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him forth to what?

Taurus.

Look at verse 31.

Then had the churches what?

What a man, huh?

No rabbit in his blood.

None whatsoever.

So they sent him there, and Bonhamus knew this man was tremendously gifted.

When he saw the great grace that was upon the church in Antioch, he sinned for when God saw.

Because Saul was the one man that could bring the gospel and a greater light in Antioch.

Showing these men weren't trying to be the big man.

They wanted what's best for the people.

And so watch, keep reading.

Go back.

Verse 25, 11 and 25.

Then the part is Barnabas to sort the Tartus to seek for Saul.

And when he had found him, he brought him to what?

Antioch.

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

And the disciples was called, get to underline this, Christians where?

That's what he first called Christian.

By the way, it wasn't a compliment, it was a it was a degrading.

Back then it was a scorning.

And plus what they call Christian Day, I don't identify with that.

Nothing to do with Christ.

Let's keep reading though.

I won't get into that.

And watch this.

And then stood up.

Uh oh, verse 27.

And in those days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.

I want you to watch this.

Jerusalem to Antioch.

Barnabas from Jerusalem to Antioch.

Brethren, from Jerusalem to Antioch.

It's it's it's uh a transitioning.

This church became larger than the one in Jerusalem.

It's a church, the church was in the home, but they came together often on meetings.

They were in a hall or whatever the case may be according to history.

But it was thousands of them.

And the ones in Jerusalem was just Jews.

This church was integrated, it had Jews and Gentiles, mostly Gentiles, and it kept growing and kept growing.

Uh watch this.

And there stood up one.

This is the prophet, read verse 27 again.

In those days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.

And there stood up one of them, one of what?

One of these prophets from Jerusalem, named Agabas.

You want to underline this guy.

He doesn't miss.

He don't shoot in the dark, and he didn't say what he thinks.

He never missed.

You can call him the new, you can call him the uh E.F.

Hutton of the New Testament church.

Whatever he says, sir, it's a stock you buy.

He did not miss.

Look what he did.

He signified by the Spirit, that's the Holy Ghost talking through him.

There should be a great drop throughout the earth.

Drop meaning it's going to be a famine.

No water, a famine.

Throughout all the world.

When the Bible says world, that's something else needs to be clarified.

The same word that's translated world is translated lands.

The world they're talking about is the world that was known to them, which is the Mediterranean world.

Egypt, Persia, the Middle East, that's the world they knew.

We say world, we think about the whole globe.

They knew nothing about North America.

They knew nothing about Europe.

They knew nothing about India, the North um uh Antioch.

And so when you say world, you have to put your mind in this Bible.

Uh, it's the world they knew.

It's the Mediterranean world.

They knew Greece, they knew uh Asia, uh they knew uh we called it Turkey, but it was called Asia Minor.

Uh they knew uh Europe, they knew Africa, they knew nothing about North America, nothing about South America, North Pole, South Pole, so it's that world.

Just wanted to clarify that uh so we can understand it.

Throughout all the world means that known world to them, which came to pass in Claudius Caesar's days, as in his days.

Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren that was at Judea back there, because these people were ostracized for even being Christian.

So they did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

Uh interesting, interesting chapter.

But all this is building up to the 13th chapter.

That's where it really gets a full transformation.

Jerusalem is no longer gonna be the main church.

Peter would no longer be the chief apostle or the main apostle.

It's gonna be Saul, who never be changed to Paul and his ministry, because he goes throughout.

He goes throughout the regions that God suffered in to be parts of Europe, Asia, Asia Minor, North Africa, he spread the gospel.

So I'll stop.

Are there any questions?

Anything uh left out?

Yes, sir.

Uh go ahead, sir.

Yes, sir.

Can't can you all hear me on on Zoom?

Can't hear you.

Good.

You can hear him?

Yeah, Brother George.

Okay.

All right.

So my question is, Brother Brown, in regards to uh the statement that Paul made about no respecting the no respecter of persons, and that was that was a subject that you were going to get on on Sunday.

My question is when Paul rehearsed this, even in the uh when this was rehearsed in the in the 11th chapter.

That's Peter, that's Peter, I'm sorry.

Rehearsed this in the beginning of the 11th chapter.

He's he talked about circumcision, and we know circumcision was given in Genesis chapter 17, but there are some statements that are made even in in Genesis chapter 17 about that stranger that dwells with you, and then when you read in Leviticus chapter 19, which we can go there real quick because it's gonna build up to my question, so I'll ask my question, but I'll I'll just read the scripture too.

Genesis 17 · chapter mention Genesis 17 · chapter mention Leviticus 19 · chapter mention

But when did this actually happen as far as the Jews become so self-righteous in their it's almost like they gloried in the fact of their who they were, because even when you read in Genesis chapter, I mean uh Leviticus chapter 19, verse, I'll start at verse uh 30, 34, 33, 19 and 33.

Leviticus 19 · chapter mention

And he said it, and if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him, but the stranger that dwell with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

I am the Lord, I am the Lord your God.

Even when you go back, verse 15, in the same chapter, he said, Ye shall not do no unrighteousness in judgment, thou shalt not respect the persons of the poor, and so on and so forth.

And then when you get down to Deuteronomy chapter 4, he gives them the basically the conclusion of why I called you to be a people to present you to the world.

Deuteronomy 4 · chapter mention

So I guess my question is when when Peter is writing this in in Acts chapter 11, it's almost like that self-righteousness or that respect of persons attitude had climaxed because up to the point where Peter didn't even want to associate himself with you follow what I'm saying?

Acts 11 · chapter mention

I it you're talking about the respect of persons, and the Jews had it because they were people who God has given his laws and his statutes to.

And it it be the worst, all that's in the world is three.

All sin come from three roots the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.

Of those three, the cruelest and most common is the pride of life.

Everybody wants to be better than somebody.

And so when the Lord chose them, and I can just quote you, you have to read it, you can write it down.

In the eighth chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, God explained it to them.

I didn't choose you because you were the greatest of people.

You were the fused of all people.

And I didn't, not because of your righteousness.

That's not why I chose you.

He needed someone to show the Lord, to show the world his laws, his statutes.

And because he wanted to be separated so they wouldn't be contaminated with other people's lifestyle, he they felt like we better.

They felt like they was better.

And can you imagine?

You got to, it's uh 1,500 years from the law of Moses to Christ.

So for think about it, for 1500, this country's like 400 years old.

To go back to the 16.

And look how we think we're better than every other nation.

They call it American exceptionalism, it's all folly.

Everybody wants to be better.

And they they developed this kind of pride in 400 years.

Imagine 1,500 years of feeling that your people is elitist.

Can you imagine that?

1,500 years of thinking that you're elitist, and now God's going to show you other people are equivalent to you.

Only thing that you had, you were better off because you had his laws.

But you're not better then.

And now to hear it is one thing.

To even know it is one thing, but to actually live that way, yes.

Do you know how strange it was for someone to intermarry?

For a gentile to marry a Jewish person?

Can you imagine?

So again, and did happen quite frequently, but it was frowned upon.

And so now Paul writes about that marry whosoever you will, only in the Lord.

Okay, what nation, pigmentation, and so now the plan, you have no advantage, you have no advantage over nobody.

That's humbling.

Because there goes the pride of life, it's being dissolved right in front of you, and you can't stop it.

And even if a person didn't mean it, look at Peter, we use it for an example.

It was so embedded into his culture until he didn't want other Jews to see him associating.

You call it clandestine relationships, you know.

We friends except somebody come around.

So it's just deep-rooted, sir.

And listen, you see the same thing in church world.

Well, you know, because uh I use people like the Mormons, they feel like they're superior to everybody, they won't go in your churches.

From some I wouldn't blame, I wouldn't go in it myself, except for a purpose.

Jehovah's Witness, they're not gonna go in your churches.

Everybody thinks my denomination is better than yours.

Well, see, that becomes your God.

That's your savior, your denomination.

You can talk about my mama, talk about my daddy, talk about my wife, but don't you talk about my church.

That's your God.

And so you in that name, you're not in the name of the Lord, you in the name of that denomination.

That's what you put your boast in.

That's what you rested in.

I was talking about that Sunday.

Um, whoever's your head, that's your that's the authority over you, that's your husband, spiritually speaking.

So the Jews had that problem, but they had to overcome it.

Peter had to overcome it.

He had a knowledge and he had a revelation, he had to overcome it.

God is no respective person.

We all have to overcome it, whether it's based on your nation, because when you go to Europe, you know, I went to Germany, went to Spain, went to England, went to France.

Well, they know that you're an American, they look at you like you're uh you think you're God, you think it's your world.

Some have the test for you.

I'm not gonna lie, I enjoy the benefit of being America over there because they do treat you look nicely.

I know, no, no, because you got your president there, but they know that you spoil, they they know that you can't take anything uncomfortable, and Americans are the most egotistical people on the globe.

That's a fact.

You think you rule the world, and then same thing with becomes national pride, then it becomes don't use the word that's used, racial pride.

Oh, that's an abomination to God.

God is no respect of person.

Now, how did Paul who came up a devout Jew all his life, how did he get that so readily and implement it right away is beyond my comprehension.

Instantly.

I mean, instantly.

That's mind-boggling.

If you ask me what I thought, I can't prove it, is because he himself, where he preached Christ, he was ostracized, he was minimized, he was despised.

So he can relate to other people just from that because everywhere he went, you'll find the rest of the book from the 13th chapter on.

Everywhere he went, he got in trouble.

Yet every time he goes to the city, he goes straight back to the Jewish synagogue.

And you know they weren't gonna hear him.

But he wanted if he could just save two or three, just see him saved.

That's what he said, brother.

My desire for God is that I'm I'm about to misquote it.

My heart desire for Israel that it might be saved.

If I bear the record, they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge.

But they being ignorant of God's righteousness, went about to establish their own righteousness and submit themselves to the rights of God which is in Christ.

And so he understood what it was to be a Jew and to persecute the church because he did it.

So he's trying to tell them that's the wrong way.

I persecuted the church.

When they stone Stephen, I held their clothes, kill them, kill them.

I hauled people to prison.

I did what you're doing.

Christ is the Messiah.

And so, just like he wanted to kill the Christians, now the Jews wanted to kill him.

When you're victimized of oppression, you learn to hate oppression.

I hate it.

People come up, you have to understand my background.

I mentioned a little bit of it Sunday.

I came up at the end of Jim Crow.

I came up through civil rights.

I mean, he's from Haiti.

He came over and enjoy all these privileges.

He don't know what the big deal about.

Uh, somebody, you know, of another persuasion putting a little, a little um president and thing, it don't bother him.

I fought for what rights we have all my life.

So when you put your nose up at me and look down on me, I get a flashback to 1972, 1968, nine years old marching out there with my parents and getting spit on and breaking people witness to retaliate.

I mean, I get flashback, barren knuckling.

All that comes back to the things that we enjoy today, I paid for that.

I'm not interested in going back.

Not interested in it.

As a matter of fact, I got to stay safe.

Do unto others before they do unto you.

I never found that in the Bible, but she was persuaded of it, though.

So when I felt somebody was being discriminatory against me, I had to take some actions.

But uh, so I understand this racial bigotry.

I understand bigotry, whether it's racial, financial, educational, religious, I understand bigotry.

And all of it is evil, all of it is sin.

God is no respecter of person.

It stinks in the nozzle of God.

And to man like Paul, the tear down, I want this night just before I gone, I'll stop.

He told down the middle water petition between the Jew and the Gentiles and showed that we're all one in Christ.

Nobody has an advantage, nobody has a disadvantage.

I like it that way.

I'm gonna stop.

I could go all night.

I really enjoyed talking with you all, and by the grace of God, uh, look to see you next week.

If you have any questions, uh write them down.

We'll address them before we get too far next week.

Uh does anyone on Zoom have any comments?

Anything before we dismiss, turn out.

Yes, sir.

We're gonna keep going chronologically.

We if um I I'm tempted, but I won't do it.

I don't want to skip anything.

So far, we did every chapter, every verse, every word.

So I'm gonna continue.

Uh the 12th chapter is it's good, but I'm trying to get to the 13th.

That's that's a whole nother can of worms.

It really is.

Uh all of it is good, every bit of it is good, but this is where the transition is completed.

The transition is completed, and now the gospel is going out not to the Jews any longer, it's not to the Samaritans, it's going out to the whole world.

And so when Paul goes into a city, he goes to the Jews because that's his people, but the gospel is for the whole world, and so every city he goes to the Gentiles, the Jews first, and then to the Gentiles, every single city, and so you can really see uh not just the propagation of the gospel, but you can see the handiwork of God.

Uh, you can see it, it's astonishing.

And the things that we suffer is less than nothing.

Nobody's putting us to death, nobody is crucifying us, nobody sees our possession.

The worst thing somebody can do is talk about you.

Oh, y'all are cult.

I don't mind that.

You know, they call the New Testament church a cult.

The word is called sect, S-E-C-T.

And what it means is a group of people who's not oxido.

They're outside the norm.

And so they call us that because we're outside the norm.

We won't put steeples up, we won't put crosses up, we don't celebrate religious days.

And so y'all as a cult, wear that title gladly.

If I'm a cult, if I'm a cult, I'm better off what you in.

Because what you in is just deceiving you.

So I understand.

Uh I don't argue with you.

Y'all are cult.

Come on and join this cult.

Christ was a cult.

Really a harder.

I was gonna repeat it, but go ahead.

In this day and time, it's harder to become a bride member than it was back during that time.

I don't believe that.

I think it's all the same.

The only thing to stop us from becoming an overcomer is flush.

The flush is the same it is now as it was 2,000 years ago.

Okay.

No, I was saying because we are still living back with everything that we have in this uh well, I think every generation got their own struggle.

Every generation, I don't think any generation, as far as overcoming is concerned, had neither advantage nor disadvantage.

First of all, you're gonna be ostracized.

God's people has always been ostracized.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.

That's part of the buying the whole field.

Secondarily, you have to resist yourself, your will.

Jesus Christ Himself had the same problem.

And I mean, my God, he could he could walk on water, make the blind to see, the deaf to hear.

But he still had to pray this prayer.

Nevertheless, not my will, but I cannot do my will but the will of him that he had to keep going over this and over.

So it doesn't matter who you are, doesn't matter where you are, doesn't matter what dispensation of time you're living in, the challenge is still the same.

I think it's no easier, no harder.

Uh I really don't.

Uh I'd be thinking about like doing then it would be impaled and yeah, yeah, brother.

That's kind of rough.

If all you know, if all you know is an air conditioner, central air.

If it's too hot, you change the stermostat, too cold, you change the stermostat.

You take that central heat and air away from you.

That's the way you live your life.

And now you have no central heat and no central air, and it's 95 degrees, it's a hundred degrees.

You will think, surely crucifying me, Lord.

I can't take it.

I mean, and so it doesn't matter.

You still have to overcome.

I mean, you feel like you're really being put to death, literally.

And for you, brother Elton, all you gotta do is miss two or three meals.

And oh my god, I mean, everybody has to suffer in the flesh.

It's no harder for one person than it is for another one, is suffering in the flesh.

Okay, dear people of God.

I'm gonna keep you all all night.

Um, time is far spent.

Sister Lisa, glad to see that you're sitting up.

I understand you're not doing well.

I'm doing well, um, brother when I'm just that possessed in call.

Okay, I'm glad to be with the people of God.

I'm just love you much and glad to see you now.

So okay, there's no other comments.

Um, I guess we'll we'll dismiss.

Okay, good night, everybody.