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Acts chapter 21 · Scripture Unscripted

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Acts chapter 21 Let us pray our Lord God who reigns on high.
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Lord, we are here today to learn more about you.
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Hide me and hide my words. Hide my thoughts.
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Holy Spirit, You say whatever it is that you want to say today.
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Lord, I get out of the way. And Lord, I just pray right now,
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God, that this will go out to the ends of the earth.
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Lord, I pray for every nationality.
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God, I pray for every people group.
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God, I pray for every language and every tongue.
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God, I pray for all men and women across this entire globe,
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Father, to come to know you as their Lord, to come to know the
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Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.
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God, I pray for a supernatural outpouring of the Holy Spirit
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all throughout every single continent.
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Lord, I pray for a global revival.
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Lord, I pray that we come in to the saving knowledge that Jesus
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Christ has come and that Jesus Christ will come and that Jesus
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Christ is coming. So Lord, we cry out.
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Maranatha, Lord, we just want more of you.
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Lord, we want to dine and to Sup with you.
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Lord, we want to feel your presence and to know that You're
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near, to know that You are for us and not against us.
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God, we want to know that you're fighting our battles.
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Lord, we do the natural, but we're asking for the Super.
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God and I know together we will do supernatural things together.
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Lord, let us see miracles and visions.
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God, let us see visitations, God, upon those who do not have
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the gospel available to him. Father, I pray for the men in
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white to be revealed to them, Lord Yeshua ha Messiah, Lord, we
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pray that He will reveal His messianic title to those all
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over this world. Father, just continue to outpour
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into all nations. God, we specifically pray for
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Israel. Lord, we pray for Jerusalem.
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Father, we pray for protection and deliverance from their
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enemies. Father, I pray in the name of
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Jesus, Lord, that you will bring about all of your plans and
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purposes and prophecies that are contained in this infallible and
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errant word that we hold in our hands.
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God, we get out of the way. We give you center stage, we
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give you the whole space. We give you our everything.
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We give you all of ourselves. Nothing held back.
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Fill us today in the mighty name of Jesus.
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God, fill us with the Holy Ghost.
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Give us the mind of Christ. God, give us a sound mind.
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God, we pray against confusion, in the name of Jesus.
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Lord, we pray against mental illness.
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In the name of Jesus. God, we pray against cancer and
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diabetes, In the name of Jesus, we pray against hypertension,
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heart disease, in the name of Jesus.
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God, we pray against Alzheimer's and dementia in the name of
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Jesus. God, we pray against tumors.
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Lord, we pray against childhood illnesses.
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God, we pray, Father, for sound bodies, Lord, that are able to
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do the work that you have called us into.
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Lord, let us look up and see that the harvest is plenty, but
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the workers are few. And Father, restore our bodies
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so that we can do whatever it is that you've called us into for
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today. Not to live selfishly, not to
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live for pleasure and pleasantries, God, but we want
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to be found putting our hand to the plow and locking eyes with
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you. Help us not to be distracted,
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God. We just want Christ and Christ
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crucified. We want to know you and all your
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sufferings, God, we want to know you intimately and deeply, Lord,
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we want to see you high and lift it up over our houses.
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The banner over our families, God, we wave that banner of
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Yeshua over every single emotion and circumstance, every single
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feeling. God, we make them subject to the
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reality that Jesus is Lord. Open up our hearts and our minds
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today as we open up Your word. Let us hide it, God, so that we
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might not sin against you. Come Lord, come the Spirit and
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the bride says come and it's in Jesus Christ.
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Holy precious, powerful name that I pray, Amen.
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Well, let's start in verse one. And it came to pass that after
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we were gotten from them and had launched, we came with a
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straight course unto Coos, and the day following unto Rhodes,
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and from there unto Patara. So here we go.
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We know that Paul has set his face like a Flint towards
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Jerusalem. It should be a place of peace.
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But all we find here in this passage, and even when Christ
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was heading into that place, and all you're going to find is a
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bunch of controversy and strife because it has not been made the
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place of peace that it will become in the thousand year
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reign of Christ. Friends, it will be a peaceful
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place, and all the nations will flow into there to learn about
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the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
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And you're going to see here that Paul has launched out, even
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though he knows that he's going into the frying pan, he knows
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that he's going into the lion's den.
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Let's see how it turns out for him.
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Verse 2 And finding a ship sailing over unto Phoenicia, we
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went aboard and set forth. 3 Now when we had discovered Cyprus,
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we left it on the left hand and sailed into Syria and landed at
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Tyre, for there the ship was to unload her burden.
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So we can see that Paul is traveling along and he was a
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traveling minister, taking the whole word to the whole world.
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And that is our call. That is what we are called to
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do. Friends, we cannot just sit on
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our blessed assurance. We must take the word out to
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Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, out to the ends of the earth.
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And we know that that is the Lord's heart.
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It's for all people. Yes, the Jews are His chosen
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people, but His heart is for all people.
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For we know that God so loved the world that He gave His only
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Son. Whosoever will believe in him
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shall not perish, but have eternal life.
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You see that his heart is not just for the Jews, but it's for
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the Gentiles. And we know that the Jews are
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blessed because of the Messiah and the lineage, and they were
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trusted with God's Word to preserve it.
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And look how we're still talking about Him today for and finding
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disciples. We tarried their seven days who
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said to Paul through the Spirit that he should not go up to
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Jerusalem. So it's amazing how we're not
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told in prior passages about there being disciples entire,
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but he found some, which proves that this early Christian
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movement has affected all of the lands around it.
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This story of the carpenter's son going to the cross and
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claiming to be the Son of God and then being resurrected on
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the third day and appearing to many and ascending to the right
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hand of God. And all of the stories connected
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and talking about John the Baptist.
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This is all rocked the world, friends, and it has reverberated
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all the way to this day and this hour that you and I find
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ourselves in. There's been many campaigns to
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dispute, to discredit the Word of God, but it is always
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resulted in the demise of anyone who has set themselves against
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Yeshua and against Yahweh. What you need to know is that
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anytime you try to push down the seed, it only springs up and
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becomes more fruitful. Any any time you try to kill the
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life source, it only multiplies. And you've seen many people who
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are hostile towards God and towards His church and towards
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His Holy Word. And you see those same people
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become believers. Because as you peel back all the
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layers, it proves itself. Archaeology proves it.
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History proves it. You cannot shut it up.
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You cannot shut it out. It will breakthrough because it
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is life and life everlasting. The Word of God became flesh,
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and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
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And you need to know that it is only by Jesus Christ that we're
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going to make it unto the Father.
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So here these disciples that were in Tyre said to Paul
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through the Spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem.
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So these disciples were hijacked by the Holy Spirit and they were
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given visions of what Paul was to suffer, and then through
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their carnal thinking, after receiving this vision, through
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their carnal thinking, their warning him not to go.
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But Paul knows that it he must suffer.
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He was told about it all the way back on the road to Damascus,
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whenever he was on Straight St. and Jesus was showing him all
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the things that he must suffer for his name's sake. 5 And when
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we had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way,
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and they all brought us on our way with wives and children
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until we were out of the city, and we knelt down on the shore
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and prayed. So here you can see Luke is with
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him, this physician, the writer of the book of Acts, he's with
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Paul at this moment. He's saying.
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We knelt down and prayed. They all followed him out to the
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boat, and there they were hugging him and wishing him well
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and trying to get him not to go to Jerusalem because they knew
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it was going to result in the loss of his life.
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And they all knelt down and prayed.
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How amazing is this scene? I pray that you can see it in
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the theater of your mind. 6 And when we had taken our leave, one
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of another, we took ship, and they returned home again. 7 And
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when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Pilatimus
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and saluted the brothers, and stayed with them one day. 8 And
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the next day we that were of Paul's company departed and came
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unto Caesarea, and we entered into the House of Philip the
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Evangelist, which was one of the seven, and abode with him.
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So here we know that this was Philip who was chosen to help
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administer to the Hellenists and the new converts and the
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apostles decided that it was better for them to preach the
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Word and to set their faces to prayer.
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And we know that Philip was chosen in that.
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And then he was also the one who helped the Ethiopian eunuch come
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to salvation, and he baptized them, and then he disappeared.
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And look, we find him here again in Caesarea.
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How amazing is the Word of God, how it supports itself and it's
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all congruent and it's all beautiful.
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It is the tapestry, layers upon layers.
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Friends, you can never touch the bottom.
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And here we find. And he has a wonderful title
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attached to his name. He was Philip the evangelist.
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Can that be said of you, friends?
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Are you an evangelist for the Lord Jesus Christ?
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Do you go to your workplace and do you count the cost and not
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care if you are ridiculed and made fun of and held back from
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promotions because of your faith?
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I pray that your witness is so strong, like Daniel, when they
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tried to bring up and drudge up some kind of dirt on them, they
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couldn't find any. I pray that that is your
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calling. I pray that that is your story
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is that you have integrity, and because of that integrity, your
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workplace finds you invaluable. And because they find you
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invaluable, they turn the other way whenever you evangelize.
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That is what we're called to. Too many times you see people
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who are legalistic in their approach to God, but they do not
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have the love of Jesus and their workplace finds it very easy to
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let them go. They're looking for a reason to
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let them go. And whenever you cross the line
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and try to witness to others because of your dogmatic
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approach and you're unwilling to love like Christ, it's a whole
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lot easier for them to call you into HR and to let you go.
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We need to be so incredibly good at what we do because we work
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unto the Lord and not to man, that when we evangelize, they
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have to wrestle with it. Friends, praise God.
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Hallelujah for workplace evangelists.
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I pray that you're 1, 9 and the same man had four daughters,
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virgins, which did prophecy. We're not necessarily told here
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any of the prophetic revelations of these four daughters.
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We just know that Philip was blessed to have these daughters
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who were known for their prophetic office and prophetic
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gifts. 10 And as we stayed there many days, there came down from
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Judea a certain prophet named Agabus. 11 And when he was come
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unto us, he took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and
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feet, and said, This is what the Holy Ghost says.
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So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owns this
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belt, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.
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So this old Agabus had a corner on this prophetic vision of what
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was to happen to Paul, and he's already been warned by the
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disciples entire not to go, that the Holy Spirit revealed to them
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what is going to happen to him. And then it is confirmed here by
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Agabus and that is the way of the Lord.
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I want you to know friends, God will confirm and reconfirm His
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will for your life. He knows that we are daft.
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He knows that we need repetition.
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He knows it. That is why he re tells the same
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stories over and over and over again in the Word of God.
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If so, that it'll stick. And when He calls you into
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something, we cannot be led by emotions.
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If somebody can talk you into something, somebody else can
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talk you out of it. We need to be resolute in our
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convictions because we know that they're from God.
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And if you have a calling placed on your life, God is faithful to
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reveal it and re reveal it to you again to confirm it in your
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lives. And that is what is happening
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here. Paul had already been told about
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it, about the things that he must suffer, and then he told
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them whenever he was preaching that they would not see him
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again. And then the disciples of Tyre
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tells him not to go because of what he's to suffer.
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And then here comes Agabus, and he does a whole display here of
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taking Paul's belt and tying his hands with it, and saying that
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Paul would be bound like this. 12 And when we heard these
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things, both we and they of that place begged him not to go up to
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Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, What do you mean,
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weeping? And to break my heart, for I am
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ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem.
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For the name of the Lord Jesus. Paul goes on to say that to live
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is Christ and to die is gain. And that's what you need to
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understand here, friends, is that Paul is not afraid of death
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and we should not be afraid of the chariot that God chooses to
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come and to carry us home. We cannot let fear be our
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motivator throughout this life. Fear is a liar.
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Fear is of the devil. Fear and faith cannot
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cohabitate. And even when you still have
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that stage 4 cancer report, even when you still have that prison
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sentence hanging over you, it does not mean that God is not
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all powerful. God can do anything.
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He can dissolve those cancer cells in a moment and restore
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you. God can remove and give you a
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good judgment and 'cause you your whole case to be
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exonerated. But what you need to know is
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just like John the Baptist when you're left in prison, and just
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like Stephen, whenever you are stoned to death, God is right
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there with you. We cannot be afraid of death.
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We must put that to bed, put that to rest.
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Take it outside in the streets. It cannot cohabitate with faith.
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No matter what circumstance you find yourself in.
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Increase your faith today. Increase your prayer life today
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and watch how God is closer than the skin on your body and watch
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how He's there with you and He gracefully walks you through
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that process. 14 And when he would not be persuaded, we
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ceased saying the will of the Lord be done.
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And that's where we've got to get to.
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In all circumstances and all emotions and all feelings, when
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everything tries to creep in and tries to drag us away into
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compromise, we must get to the place that whenever we are still
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stuck in the dungeon of despair that we say the will of God be
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done thy will and not my own. You see it modeled for us in the
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Garden of Gethsemane. Whenever Jesus is sweating like
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drops of blood, whenever he's asking the Father to let the cup
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pass from him, when he's asking him if there's any other way.
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And then you see him say, but not my will, Father, but yours.
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And we've got to get to that place, friends.
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We've got to get to the place where God's will is above our
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own emotions and feelings. And that's when you're going to
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find that God is so incredibly full and rich in your life, and
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you can be like Christ and set your face like a Flint.
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You can be like Paul, who refuses to be topped off the
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ledge. We need to know that to live is
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Christ and to die is gain. 15 And after those days, we took up
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our carriages and went up to Jerusalem.
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So here he is, he's been talking about it for a while, and now
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he's come into Jerusalem. 16 There went with us also certain
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of the disciples of Caesarea, and brought with them one Nasan
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of Cyprus, an old disciple with whom we should lodge.
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So perhaps this Nasan was one who was around when Christ was
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still living on the earth before he ascended to the right hand of
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the Father. And you can see here that a lot
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of this story models and mirrors the ministry, the last week of
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Jesus's life. How the disciples were trying to
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get Jesus not to go to Jerusalem, how it was prophesied
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that he was going to be handed over to the rulers.
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There's a lot of semblances here in Christ's walk and now with
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Paul's walk. And do not be surprised whenever
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you are walking in the Spirit if your life does not mirror that
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of our Lords. That is the whole point of the
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whole fact of the whole matter. Is sanctification becoming more
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like Christ every day? And we've got to take up our
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cross and follow him. And when you take up your cross,
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you count the cost, and you know that death is on the table,
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friends. 17 And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brothers
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received us gladly. 18 And the day following, Paul went in with
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us unto James, and all the elders were present.
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So here we go. We see that Jesus's brother,
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half brother James is presiding over the church there in
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Jerusalem. We've heard his name mentioned
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prior in connection. We see that he is the leader
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there, and we're about to find out what they all think about
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this super apostle Paul 19 And when he had saluted them, he
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declared particularly what things God had done among the
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Gentiles by his ministry. So here Paul gives a whole
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dialogue about all the beautiful miracles, and all the beautiful
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workings and wonders that God has been doing of saving to the
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utmost. 20 And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and
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said unto him, You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there
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are which believe, and they are all zealous of the law. 21 And
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they are informed of you that you teach all the Jews which are
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among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought
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not circumcise their children, neither to walk after the
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customs. These were false allegations,
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friends. You cannot find these in the
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writings of Paul. You cannot find these in the
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previous chapters. These were envious Jews who were
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not very happy that Paul had left them to go and to preach
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among the Gentiles, as he had said in previous chapters that
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he would go into the synagogues and then once it became hostile,
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he would turn to the Gentiles. And you see here that these men
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had misconstrued Paul's heart, and God's heart for that matter.
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22 What is it there for? The multitude must needs come
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together, for they will hear that you are come.
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So they're saying everybody's going to know that you're here
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and they're going to want to get together and try to figure out
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these false allegations. 23 Do therefore this that we say to
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you, we have 4 men which have a vow on them. 24 Them take purify
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yourself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may
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shave their heads, And all may know that those things whereof
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they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you
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yourself also walk orderly and keep the law.
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So here we can see that these early Christians who were
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previous Jews still wanted to hold on to a lot of their
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traditions and a lot of the laws.
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And we know that Christ said that he did not come to abolish
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the law, but to fulfill it. And Paul had found freedom.
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Paul is going to write many times as we go through the New
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Testament here, you're going to find Paul talking about this
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liberty. But then he says, should, should
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sin abound so that grace can abound all the more.
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And he says, surely not. So we know that he did not abuse
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the grace, but he was well acquainted with the grace of the
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Lord Jesus Christ. And we need to continue in
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grace, not just beginning grace, but continue in that grace,
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friends. But these legalistic Jews who
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were wanting to hold on to all of the laws and wanting to hold
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on to all of their traditions, they were not as acquainted.
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And Paul talks about not being a stumbling block and not using
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our freedom to offend our brothers.
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And we're going to find it all out as we read through the New
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Testament. But I want you to know, friends,
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that because Paul has told us that everything is permissible,
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but not everything is profitable, we need to know that
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here. He doesn't want to be a
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stumbling block to his Jewish brothers, so he concedes to this
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plan of this Nazarite vow. And we saw in previous chapters
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that he had already told them that he had to do this and had
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to be in Jerusalem to make an offering.
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And this was not the offering for sin, which we know that
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Jesus Christ fulfilled as the atonement, as the all sufficient
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sacrifice. This would have been a thanks
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giving sacrifice of the sort, and you need to know that this
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was not in rebellion against the grace of God for Paul to concede
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to this vow. 25 As touching the Gentiles, which believe, we've
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written and concluded that they observe no such thing, except
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only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols,
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from blood and strangled animals, and from fornications.
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26 Then Paul took the man in the next day, purifying himself with
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them, entered into the temple to signify the accomplishment of
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the days of purification, until that an offering should be
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offered for every one of them. So here we see that Paul goes
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along with their plan, but let's see how it all turns out. 27 And
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when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of
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Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the
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people, and laid hands on him. Here comes that envy creeping
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in. You can see here that these men
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were hostile towards the love of God and they were still holding
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on to all of their legalism. And we see it today and our day
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and our our friends, we try to play God and we try to put God
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in a box and we try to figure God out.
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And he is the great I am, and God is in heaven and does
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whatever he pleases. And we would do well to get in
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tune with the heart of God, to get in tune with the mind of
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Christ, and to know that sometimes God will do things
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that are counterintuitive to all the things that we've been
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brought up in traditional thinking.
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And God will break your box. Friends 28 crying out men of
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Israel help. This is the man that teaches all
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men everywhere against the people and the law and this
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place, and further brought Greeks also into the temple and
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has polluted this holy place. So these are the charges that
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are brought against Paul and they're false.
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He had not brought the Gentiles into the inner part of the
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temple, and here they are holding on to their temple
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again. Here they are holding on to the
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law again, and they're like dogs that have returned to their
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vomit and their murderous ways in this way of cane that they
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have taken up to murder their brother. 29 For they had seen
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before with him in the city Trophimus, who was an Ephesian,
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whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.
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This is just a bunch of farce, friends.
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It is all envy, and they are trying to slap on him a bunch of
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false accusations. 30 And all the city was moved, and the
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people ran together, and they took Paul and drew him out of
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the temple, and forthwith the doors were shut.
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We're going to see in a short time from this passage, the
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history of mankind proves that in AD 70, which was just a short
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time after all of this, that God shut the doors of the temple.
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The God saw them returning back to all of their sacrifices after
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he sent Jesus Christ as the all sufficient sacrifice, the
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atonement for our sins. We're going to see that the Jews
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just kept on going and they did not acknowledge Jesus as the
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long-awaited Messiah. And God shut the doors of that
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temple, friends, and burned it to the ground.
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And that's what he thought about all this and you see that the
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Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost is full in Paul and he's not
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afraid, friends. He knew that all this was going
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to happen and it's going to actually be beneficial for the
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early church. This is not a negative.
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Men would not die for a lie, friends, but whenever we are
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resolute were unstoppable for Christ. 31 And as they went
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about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the
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band that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.
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So we know here that the Jews had very privileged autonomy
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within the Roman Empire, and we have seen God take care of that
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land and take care of those people from their inception.
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Father Abraham, the father of faith, who was called and how
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out of his genealogy we see Isaac and Jacob and birthed
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Israel and the 12 tribes. And you see there that through
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it all, God has been with them. And this autonomy that the Jews
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were so privileged to have gave them the right to kill anybody
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who was not a Jew, who came into the inner part of the temple.
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And you see how they abused a lot of these privileges.
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But God saw it the whole time, friends, and He's going to use
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it. And here it has come to the ears
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of the captain that there is an uproar.
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And we know that this was what the Romans tried to avoid with
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all cost, any kind of insurrection that the Jews would
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try to revolt. And we know from the hammer and
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from the Maccabees, we know that history tells us that they were
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a formidable foe because they had God on their side.
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But whenever they turn their backs on God, God still loves
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them, but he will give them over.
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And we're going to find that out as we go into the book of
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Romans, given over to the reprobate mind.
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We're going to find that in the book of Thessalonians whenever
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we are given over to a delusion. And you see that being done here
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in this uproar, in this murderous attitude.
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You can see it, friends, in this mob rule.
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And God is not in all of the violence that these people are
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trying to exact upon Paul 32 who immediately took soldiers and
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centurions and ran down unto them.
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And when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they
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left beating Paul. So they hear they were beating
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Paul to death. And then here comes the captain
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and all the guards and they stopped.
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It's like being caught red handed. 33 and the chief captain
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came near and took him and commanded him to be bound with
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two chains and demanded who he was and what he had done.
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So here they're trying to pick up the pieces.
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They take him for his own security, mind you, but they
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take him and they bind him, just like Agabus had prophesied.
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Look at how it's all coming to fruition.
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You can't outpace God. You can't outmaneuver God,
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friends. You can't outwit and outsmart
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God. You've got the mind the size of
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a soda can, and his mind is larger than all the oceans,
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friends and beyond. Far be it from us to shake our
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fist, and to be hostile at God and try to explain him away.
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And we worship creation, and we refuse to worship the Creator.
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So here they want to know, who are you and what have you done?
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Why are they beating you like this?
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34 And some cried one thing and some another among the
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multitude. And when he could not know the
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certainty of the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into
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the castle. So imagine that this is very
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similar to Christ and all of the hoopla that happened there on
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the day that he was taken and arrested, and all of the people,
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the multitudes, could not come into agreement of what Christ
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had done. And here again you see it
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happening. This is the same satanic
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opposition of the moving of God. 35 And when he came upon the
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stairs, so it was that he was born of the soldiers for the
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violence of the people. So here Paul is going to be very
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meticulous in all of his actions and words as we move through
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this next little section. 36 for the multitude of the people
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followed after crying away with him.
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Basically they're saying off with his head.
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They're saying kill him, get him out of here. 37 And as Paul was
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to be LED into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, May
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I speak unto you, Who said, Can you speak Greek?
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So this captain was taken off guard.
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He was puzzled and perplexed that Paul was as polite and as
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put together as he was, that he could speak Greek, and that he
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wasn't just a ruffian, but he was actually a learned man from
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the school of Gamaliel. And we see here that Paul uses
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his education to insert the will of God.
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And that can be so Friends, God has disciples from all walks of
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life, from the most brilliant minds to the most base level
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characters. And you see God's infinite plan.
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The first shall be last and the last shall be first.
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And he's saying you can speak Greek 38-R not you that Egyptian
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which before these days made an uproar and LED out into the
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wilderness 4000 men that were murderers.
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So this captain has mistakenly taken Paul as an insurrectionist
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who has leading some kind of uproar, and that had fled away
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and now had come back, and he's thinking that that is him.
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And let's see what Paul answers. 39 But Paul said, I am a man
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which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean
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city, and I beg you, suffer me to speak unto these people.
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So here he's saying, listen, I'm a Roman citizen, be careful what
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you do here. I'm not just a Jew, but I'm also
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in the protected class, and may I have a word with my people?
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So this captain now is even more puzzled and perplexed at all of
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these things. Let's see what happens.
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We'll end on 40. And when he had given him
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license, Paul stood on the stairs and beckoned with the
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hand unto the people. And then when there was made a
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great silence, he spoke unto them in the Hebrew tongue sang.
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Stay tuned till next time we'll find out what he said.
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I hope you've been blessed by this study here through the book
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of Acts where winding it up. How amazing is the Spirit of God
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moving mightily. This book is alive and active
45:40
and it's reading you. You're not reading it.
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It's reading you friends. It's hiding itself in your heart
45:47
and in the most desperate times it's going to come up.
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It's going to well up. It's going to be beneficial and
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profitable for you. I can assure you that heaven and
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earth shall pass away, but not one of these words.
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God reigns supreme from on high for all time.
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I love you and I'm praying for you.
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God bless you. We'll see you back here
46:22
tomorrow.