Latest / Scripture Unscripted / Acts chapter 11
Transcript
- 0:01Acts Chapter 11, let us pray, oh Lord God Almighty, who reigns on
- 0:10high, Lord, I pray that you will be honored and glorified and
- 0:15magnified in the highest God. It's your name, and it is only
- 0:19your name that we worship. We worship you Father.
- 0:23We worship you El Elian Adonai. We worship you God Almighty, the
- 0:30God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Yahweh.
- 0:34We love you Father. We lift you up higher than our
- 0:38own circumstances and minds. We lift you up higher than our
- 0:43bodies and emotions. We lift you up higher than money
- 0:47and family. We lift you up higher than our
- 0:50abilities and notoriety. We lift you up higher than any
- 0:55of our self perceived pride, God.
- 0:59We lift you up higher, God, and we lay low.
- 1:03We want to be humbled and we want to be humiliated, God.
- 1:09We want to be a base for you, Father.
- 1:13We just want you Lord, and we get out of our own way.
- 1:17And Lord, we put you on the rightful throne of our hearts
- 1:21and minds. We put you on the rightful
- 1:24throne over the King of the universe because you are the
- 1:28only uncreated. You are everything.
- 1:32We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ.
- 1:34We thank you for the blood shed on Calvary.
- 1:37We thank you for the remission of sins.
- 1:39We thank you for the comforter. We thank you God, that we're
- 1:44going to stand before you covered in the blood of Jesus
- 1:47Christ, knowing that it is nothing that we've ever done,
- 1:50but it's everything that you have done.
- 1:52So we reach out in faith today, we grab a hold of the hem of
- 1:56your garment today, Lord, we come by faith, knowing that you
- 2:02are leading us home, that you are leading us in triumphant
- 2:06processions through this earth, God, and this earth is not
- 2:10worthy of us. Father, I pray God, as we go
- 2:14into the fire, Lord, I pray that we will see those that you have
- 2:18marked and that are chosen, predestined and elected.
- 2:23God, then we will snatch them Father, snatch them out of the
- 2:28fire, snatch them out of the incurable disease that they
- 2:33possess, the sin self. Father, we want to see this
- 2:38world all around us the way that you do.
- 2:40We want to see you more and more.
- 2:43We want to see you God, We want you to fill us today.
- 2:49Empower us today. Heal all the diseases that we
- 2:55are riddled with. Father, I pray God that you'll
- 2:59give us a sound mind today. God, I pray that you'll give us
- 3:03able bodies today. Let our bones be strengthened.
- 3:07God, gird up our loins so that we can stand in your holy
- 3:11presence. Lord, put the mantle of your
- 3:14ministry upon us today. God, I pray against all the
- 3:19schemes of the enemy. God, I pray against the fiery
- 3:22darts of the enemy. We raise our shield of faith up
- 3:26over our head. We remember our salvation story.
- 3:30We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the words of our
- 3:34testimony. Lord Jesus, Lord, I pray that
- 3:39you will help us. Help us to put on the full
- 3:42armor. Help us to run the race well.
- 3:45Help us to finish well. God and we just think about
- 3:50today, we don't worry about tomorrow.
- 3:53Lord, for today give us Our Daily Bread.
- 3:58Lord, give us the manna from heaven.
- 4:00Lord, give us the living water, give us the bread of life.
- 4:07God, let us dine sumptuously with you.
- 4:11Lord, we want to eat your flesh and drink your blood.
- 4:14Lord. Jesus, we want to be part of
- 4:17you. Wash our feet today, God, give
- 4:20us a washing for today. Lord, cleanse us of any sin.
- 4:26Lord, cleanse us from any wrong thinking.
- 4:31Cleanse us from the root of bitterness that is crept in.
- 4:35God, cleanse us from division and discord and gossip and
- 4:39slander. God Almighty, I pray you'll
- 4:43cleanse us from being stained by this world.
- 4:47God cleanse us from our addictions.
- 4:49Lord cleanse us from wrong theology and wrong doctrine.
- 4:54God cleanse us from relying on self and not increasing our
- 4:59faith. God cleanse us today.
- 5:02We love you, King Jesus, we worship you.
- 5:05King Jesus, we cry out. Maranatha, we cry out.
- 5:10Come, Lord, come. We have filled our lamps, we
- 5:18have trimmed our Wicks. We look up and see that our
- 5:22redemption is drawing near. Lord Jesus, be pleased with the
- 5:28reading of your words today. Holy Spirit, fill us.
- 5:32I decrease as you increase. King Jesus, we love you, Father,
- 5:38and it's in your holy and precious name that I pray.
- 5:41Amen. Well, let's start in verse one.
- 5:49And the apostles and brothers that were in Judea heard that
- 5:55the Gentiles had also received the word of God.
- 6:00So here we know that whenever these early 1st century
- 6:07Christians right after Pentecost would go out and they were
- 6:11spread abroad, scattered as the Word of God tells us, they would
- 6:16look for Jews to share the good news of Jesus Christ.
- 6:23They did not yet understand the words that were pinned through
- 6:29all the prophets of old all the way up until Christ told us.
- 6:35They did not understand it was for the Gentiles as well.
- 6:39And aren't we Gentiles eternally blessed by the words that we
- 6:44find right here on these pages? And so now the Jews are
- 6:53perplexed and wondering what God is up to as he infiltrates the
- 6:59camp of the Gentiles. Let's see how the story goes.
- 7:04Verse 2 And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were
- 7:11of the circumcision contended with him.
- 7:16So this was a very lively debate.
- 7:21And Peter has come into Jerusalem and here the apostles
- 7:26and the brothers, they are wanting to know what does he
- 7:30mean by entering into the House of the Gentiles and dining with
- 7:35them and entertaining these Gentiles, which would have been
- 7:41a traditionally not a law, but it was tradition.
- 7:50And so here is where the rubber hits the road and we start to
- 7:56understand the mind of Christ. We start to understand the
- 8:00eternal plan of God for the ages and it's all being birthed out
- 8:05of this moment. So let's lock in and pay
- 8:07attention. Verse 3 saying you went in to
- 8:12men uncircumcised and did eat with them.
- 8:17So we know that Abraham was given the circumcision to mark
- 8:24his people differently from the rest of the world, and he
- 8:28circumcised Isaac on the 8th day.
- 8:31And we know that this was a mark of the Hebrew Judaism.
- 8:37And these men of the circumcision thought of
- 8:40themselves as pious and better and holier than thou, and they
- 8:45look down the nose at anyone who is not a Jew and who is not of
- 8:50the circumcision. And so here you have to
- 8:54understand, in the early church, prior to this time, if someone
- 8:58wanted to be a Christian, they first had to go in and uphold
- 9:02all the laws of Moses and go through Moses and then get to
- 9:07Christ. And we know that Christ will
- 9:10take second place to no one. He is preeminent.
- 9:14He is eternal, He is the only way.
- 9:17And so here we're going to break down all of these traditions and
- 9:22all of these man made ideas of how to approach God.
- 9:29And Jesus is the cornerstone and he's removing, He's removing
- 9:33every single obstacle to come to him.
- 9:37And the gospel of Jesus Christ is a simple gospel.
- 9:41You must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and
- 9:46that God raised him from the dead, and you shall be saved.
- 9:50And that is the simplicity of it.
- 9:53And later we're going to learn that they should not eat meat
- 9:56that has been sacrificed to idols, and they should remain
- 10:01sexually pure. And so here we're seeing all of
- 10:06the Jewish obstacles of the kosher meats and all of their
- 10:11dietary restrictions and all of their traditions being removed.
- 10:20And Jesus says that he did not come to abolish the law, but to
- 10:23fulfill it, and all the law is fulfilled and loving your
- 10:28neighbor as yourself, and loving God with all your heart and all
- 10:32your mind and all your strength. Everything is wrapped up in
- 10:35those two. So as long as we are upholding
- 10:38those two, we are honoring God and we are honoring the law, and
- 10:42we are honoring Jesus Christ by loving our neighbors and loving
- 10:46God supremely over everything and not relying on Mammon.
- 10:51You cannot serve 2 Gods you will love 1 you will hate the other
- 10:59for. But Peter rehearsed the matter
- 11:03from the beginning and expounded it by order unto them.
- 11:07So he was detailed. He didn't just shoot from the
- 11:12hip. He was not unscripted.
- 11:18He was very detailed in his recount of everything that had
- 11:23happened and it was seared in his mind, these events.
- 11:27This wasn't just a man who was self willing.
- 11:31All of this. This was angelic divine
- 11:34encounters that was happening in the House of Cornelius and
- 11:38happening with his servants and happening with the soldier there
- 11:41and happening with Peter on the rooftop.
- 11:44And he wisely had many who could affirm all of these events that
- 11:52were happening all at once. And it was God speaking loudly
- 11:57and boldly to the New Testament church.
- 12:02And He's rehearsing the matter. Five.
- 12:06I was in the city of Joppa praying and in a trance.
- 12:09I saw a vision and a certain vessel descend, as it had been a
- 12:14great sheet let down from heaven by four corners, and it came
- 12:19even to me. 6 And upon the witch, and I had fastened my
- 12:24eyes, I considered and saw 4 footed beast of the earth, wild
- 12:28beast, creeping things, and fowls of the air. 7 And I heard
- 12:34a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter, slay and eat.
- 12:39So we know that this is a foreshadowing of the Church, the
- 12:45Gentiles and the Jews alike coming in, and we can see that
- 12:51the gospel is for the whole world, every tribe and every
- 12:55nation, every tongue in every people group is invited to the
- 13:01supper of the marriage of the Lamb.
- 13:05We see it all unfolding right here as this sheet is being let
- 13:10down and Peter is getting a front row seat to what God is
- 13:15doing after the outpouring of the Holy Ghost as Jesus ascended
- 13:22to the right hand of God and the Comforter has come.
- 13:25And we can see here that God is going to give His stamp of
- 13:30approval for allowing the Gentiles in to eternal abode.
- 13:37So we also know the story that Jesus told where the King was
- 13:42giving the banquet for his son. And we know that he invited the
- 13:48Jews first, but they were too busy, they had too many things
- 13:52going on. So the servants came back and
- 13:56they said that there were still much more room.
- 13:59And the King said, go out into the highways and the hedges.
- 14:03And you and I, we are just the ones who were not first invited,
- 14:12but we sure got there. I'm so eternally grateful for
- 14:19the Jews who did not come in at first, so that you and I could
- 14:24come in to that great mighty banquet of the Supper for the
- 14:30Lamb. And we are eternally blessed by
- 14:35the Jews not coming in first. And it is by them looking on the
- 14:40other side of the coin and looking back and seeing the
- 14:43Gentiles pouring into eternity that's going to cause them to be
- 14:49jealous and to come to the Lord Jesus Christ and to acknowledge
- 14:55Him as their long-awaited Messiah.
- 14:58They're going to stop waiting for their Messiah, and they're
- 15:02going to see Jesus Christ as their long-awaited Messiah.
- 15:07How beautiful and how amazing is the mind of God who knows
- 15:14exactly how to fulfill all of His purposes and all of His
- 15:19plans. And don't forget that He could
- 15:21have easily kept the tree out of the garden.
- 15:25He could have easily kept the serpent out of the garden.
- 15:29But everything is done for His great glory, and God has drawn
- 15:36many straight lines with crooked sticks, and His ways are not our
- 15:41ways. And blessed is the one who is
- 15:44not offended by Him. And we can look at the current
- 15:48geopolitical news, we can look and we can be offended by all of
- 15:53the things that are happening, especially concerning the nation
- 15:57Israel. But we need to know that we do
- 16:01not need to be offended by the ways of God.
- 16:03We just get out of our own understanding, get out of our
- 16:06own way. And we say yes and Amen to all
- 16:09the promises contained in this book, knowing that God has an
- 16:14eternal plan not only for the Gentiles but also for the Jews,
- 16:19and they will come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus
- 16:23Christ. 8 But I said, Not so, Lord, for nothing common or
- 16:34unclean at any time has entered into my mouth. 9 But the voice
- 16:40answered me again, from heaven. What God has cleansed do not
- 16:45call common. 10 And this was done three times, and all were
- 16:50drawn up again into heaven. 11 Behold, immediately there were
- 16:56three men already come into the house where I was sent from
- 17:00Caesarea, and they came unto me. 12 And the spirit bade me to go
- 17:07with them, nothing doubting. Moreover, these six brothers
- 17:12accompanied me, and we entered into the man's house.
- 17:15So there's a little key token verse in there.
- 17:19In verse 12, it says nothing. Doubting that is faith rising
- 17:26friends, too many of us are way too intellectual for our own
- 17:33good. We approach the word of God from
- 17:37a very high intellectual level and we want to know all of the
- 17:42little details about it all before we will come fully.
- 17:46And we're a lot like Thomas, who says, unless I see, I will not
- 17:50believe. And the reality of the situation
- 17:54and the gravity of where we find ourselves is that we need to
- 17:58have this no doubt theology. That is faith in a nutshell,
- 18:07believing that God can do anything.
- 18:11So we do not need to let doubt creep in.
- 18:15If doubt has crept into your temple, it is pushing out and
- 18:21it's pushing against the faith in your life.
- 18:24We cannot have this doubt. We cannot harbor this doubt.
- 18:28We cannot house doubt and faith in the same room.
- 18:34It will marginalized one or the other.
- 18:37If you increase your faith today, you will see doubt,
- 18:42dispel nothing, doubting. 13 And he showed us how he had seen an
- 18:49Angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to
- 18:53Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter. 14 who shall
- 18:58tell you words whereby you and all your house shall be saved.
- 19:03The only way to salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ.
- 19:07So this Angel was speaking to Cornelius and telling him to
- 19:12send for Simon, surnamed Peter, and Peter would come in and
- 19:17proclaim the name of Jesus Christ over that household, and
- 19:21they will be saved. There is no salvation apart from
- 19:24the Lord Jesus Christ. 15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost
- 19:30fell on them, as on us at the beginning.
- 19:33So God was sending his stamp of approval.
- 19:36For what was happening, and he was inviting all of us
- 19:42uncircumcised in to eternal abode.
- 19:47And isn't that amazing? 16 Then remembered by the word
- 19:54of the Lord, how he had said, John indeed baptized with water,
- 19:58but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
- 20:02So here we can see that. Any time that God is stirring
- 20:11something new within His people, the ekklesia, the called out
- 20:16ones, He will confirm it by the Word of God.
- 20:20The Word of God stands the test of time.
- 20:23There is nothing that needs to be added to it for people to be
- 20:28saved. It has all the saving power for
- 20:33the entire globe, for all generations, and it never gets
- 20:40old. It never gets boring, it never
- 20:43gets out of style. It is not barbaric and archaic
- 20:47of antiquity. This is alive and active and you
- 20:51don't read it. It's reading you today, friends.
- 20:5717 For as much then as God gave them the light gift, as he did
- 21:02unto us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I
- 21:07could withstand God? You never want to withstand God.
- 21:11You never want to be found fighting against God.
- 21:14You're going to lose 10 times out of 10.
- 21:16It's OK to pour your heart out to Him.
- 21:19It's OK to tell him whenever you are offended and upset.
- 21:23It's OK whenever you go to Him and tell him that you don't
- 21:27understand His ways. But we cannot be found hostile
- 21:32and fighting against God. God will laugh as He sends the
- 21:41stone to pulverize. There is no fighting against God
- 21:47that has ever amounted to any fruitfulness.
- 21:54We can say to God we don't understand your ways.
- 21:59We can even say to God we don't like your ways, but we do not
- 22:04need to go and fight against God and try to disprove and
- 22:09discredit the word of God, disprove and discredit Yahweh
- 22:15from everlasting, disprove and discredit Christianity.
- 22:20It will never amount to anything.
- 22:23Anyone who has ever set themselves against God Almighty
- 22:30has come to their demise, has been cast into Hellfire and that
- 22:36is what you need to understand is that God is your only hope.
- 22:43There is no other salvation outside of the judeo-christian
- 22:50faith. All other religions lead to
- 22:53hell. All other religions are a
- 23:00counterfeit to to the true way to eternity, which is through
- 23:07Jesus Christ and that is period and that is factual.
- 23:14Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven.
- 23:18It's the only way to the Father. He is not one of many ways.
- 23:23So we cannot be found fighting against God.
- 23:26And Peter here was wise enough not to tell him not so whenever
- 23:34he realized that Scripture had been fulfilled and Scripture had
- 23:42been confirmed that what God was doing with Cornelius in his
- 23:46house was congruent with the Word of God.
- 23:49And that is the importance of studying the Word of God so that
- 23:54when the counterfeit slides across, you'll be able to
- 23:57identify it. And if you study the Word of
- 23:59God, when God is desirous to do something in your life that is
- 24:04not common practice amongst those that are steeped in
- 24:12tradition and religion, you will be able to see that that God is
- 24:18taking you to new heights of understanding and new facets of
- 24:23His glory. And those who refuse to get in
- 24:27line will be left behind. And that is the sad reality of
- 24:31the situation that we find ourselves in today.
- 24:34There are many who will not let go of Mammon, and they are being
- 24:41LED off into the slaughter friends, and they sure look the
- 24:46part, but they are not of him. They are not in the fold.
- 24:53And they will stand before him one day and say We prophesied in
- 24:57your name, and we cast out demons in your name, and we
- 25:01perform miracles in your name. And he will say, depart from me,
- 25:05for I never knew you. They will stand outside the door
- 25:09banging and knocking and begging to get in, but the groom will
- 25:14already go into the bride chamber and it will be too late,
- 25:18friends. And that is the sad reality.
- 25:21And we need to study the Word of God to understand the heart of
- 25:25God, to understand the map that is going to lead us to Jesus
- 25:31Christ, because He is our treasure and He is our all
- 25:37sufficient sacrifice, the atonement for sin.
- 25:41And He is our everything. And we worship Him in spirit and
- 25:44truth. And we please the Father
- 25:47whenever we let go of all the traditional religion.
- 25:52And we take care of widows and orphans in their time of
- 25:55distress. And we walk in the spirit.
- 25:58Just as Noah walked with God, we need to be found walking with
- 26:02God. We don't need to be so steeped
- 26:05in man made traditions and man made religious dogmatic
- 26:15legalism. We need to see the freedom that
- 26:21we have in the Lord Jesus Christ and walk in that.
- 26:24And here Peter knew that he should not fight against God,
- 26:28and he was wise enough to come to his senses to see that God
- 26:33was inviting the Gentiles in praise the Lord for this moment,
- 26:39friends. 18 When they heard these things, they held their
- 26:48peace and God, and glorified God, saying, then as also to the
- 26:57Gentiles, granted repentance unto life.
- 27:03So here you can see in verse 18 that Jesus through Peter
- 27:11silenced any opposition to the Gentiles coming in to the fold,
- 27:19and we are eternally grateful for this moment.
- 27:23And here as they were silenced and held their peace, they
- 27:28glorified God and said aloud that God was allowing the
- 27:34Gentiles to inherit eternal life.
- 27:39What an amazing corner we just turned.
- 27:45As you can see that the Church is growing rapidly, as now they
- 27:53have the ability to invite all in to repentance and into
- 28:02eternal life. 19 Now they which were scattered abroad upon the
- 28:09persecution that arose about Stephen, traveled as far as
- 28:14Phoenix, Cyprus, Antioch, preaching the word to none, but
- 28:20only the Jews. So you can see that here they
- 28:27are being scattered and they are going all over the area around
- 28:35Jerusalem and around Israel. And they are accidental
- 28:40missionaries just Speaking of the things that they have seen
- 28:45and they have known. And it is a natural overflow of
- 28:49the abundance that they have stored in their hearts of all of
- 28:52the miraculous that they've seen, of all of the good news
- 28:56that they have. But it's only hyper fixated
- 28:59towards the Jews and God is desirous to bring everyone to
- 29:07repentance. All nations and all people
- 29:11groups, all languages, all tongues, all skin colors, all
- 29:17continents being invited. 20 And some of them were men of Cyprus
- 29:27and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, spoke unto the
- 29:33Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus.
- 29:37So here, this little mention here, we've heard it mentioned a
- 29:44couple times already, this Antioch, this was one of the
- 29:50prominent cities in the Roman Empire, and it was known for its
- 29:59looseness. It was known for being a
- 30:03debaucherous place where everything came together that
- 30:09was immoral and there was false worship that involved
- 30:19prostitution. And it's a despicable place that
- 30:26was formed by Alexander the Great's general and named after
- 30:32him. And Antiochus Epiphanes, which
- 30:37is a prototype of the Antichrist, is a descendant of
- 30:43this Antioch, and you can see it in his name, Antiochus.
- 30:49And there is a direct correlation between the two,
- 30:55Antiochus and Antioch, and it is a world system and it is where
- 31:02we are headed, friends, as a whole.
- 31:06And if it is a spawning and a birthing of the tribulation and
- 31:14of the seven-year reign of the beast and the false prophet and
- 31:22satanic rule on this earth, and it'll be worse than it's ever
- 31:28been since the beginning of time.
- 31:31There has never been a time on planet earth that has ever even
- 31:35compared to what this world is going to experience during the
- 31:40seven years. And the Bible tells us that if
- 31:47God had not cut those days short, no one would survive.
- 31:52And he also tells us that the pull into this immorality will
- 31:58be so strong that it would deceive the elect if that was
- 32:05possible, which we know that it is not.
- 32:09And so we cannot start to entertain the world system that
- 32:14comes at us at the 1st and in the beginning, flashy and it
- 32:19seems right. And it's much like Lot's wife
- 32:23who looked back because she longed for her lifestyle there
- 32:28in Sodom and Gomorrah. And we need to know that we as
- 32:33the called out ones, the ecclesia, we need to be found
- 32:39fixing our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ, the author and
- 32:44perfecter of our faith, who's leading us from glory to glory.
- 32:48We need to stiff arm all the systems of this world that is
- 32:53trying to come in and trying to vie for our allegiance.
- 32:58Then we need to know that it is not of God.
- 33:01Then we need to not go in that door.
- 33:05We need to. We need to not buy in to the
- 33:08propaganda. We need to be found serving the
- 33:12Lord Jesus Christ with all of our heart, all of our mind, all
- 33:16of our strength. We need to not buy into this
- 33:20culture of vanity, this culture of greed and money.
- 33:25We need to not buy into this culture of pornography and
- 33:30culture of serving self. We need to be found serving the
- 33:37Lord God Almighty with everything we have in US,
- 33:42pushing towards the finish of the race, no matter if it costs
- 33:47us our life, no matter if it costs us our reputation, no
- 33:52matter if it costs us everything, if we cannot buy or
- 33:59sell. We need to be found serving God
- 34:03Almighty all the way to the end. And then that is what pleases
- 34:09Him. We cannot shrink back and be
- 34:12cowards, friends. We must charge the hill.
- 34:16We must rely on Him for all of our sustenance for today.
- 34:22And if God gives you tomorrow, you rely on Him for tomorrow.
- 34:27But we don't worry about that. We just say thank you for the
- 34:31blessings that we have today. And that is how we stiff arm the
- 34:36enemy, stiff arm the world system, stiff arm all of the
- 34:40things that are coming down the pipeline.
- 34:43And they are prophetic and they will happen.
- 34:46Whether it's in our lifetime, our children's lifetime, their
- 34:50children's lifetime, or their children's lifetime.
- 34:53One of these generations is going to have to experience it.
- 34:58And we can see it all shaping up right here and right now as we
- 35:02enter into this digital world that gets monitored at the
- 35:06highest levels. You need to understand what the
- 35:10word of God tells us is going to happen.
- 35:13Do not be caught off guard, friends.
- 35:17If the door shuts, it'll be too late.
- 35:20And that is what you need to understand is that God is
- 35:25desirous for us to only rely on Him and him alone, not on self,
- 35:33not on self preservation, not on governments, not on our money,
- 35:38not on our strength, not on our understanding, not on our self
- 35:43will, but on Him and him alone. And he's going to lead us home,
- 35:48friends. And you're seeing it all shape
- 35:50up today. 21 In the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great
- 36:01number believed and turned unto the Lord.
- 36:05So we can see that now they are preaching not only to the Jews,
- 36:11but to the Gentiles alike, and many are turning unto the Lord,
- 36:15praise God. 22 Then tidings of these things came unto the ears
- 36:22of the church which was in Jerusalem, and they sent forth
- 36:27Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch, 23 who, when he
- 36:35came and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them
- 36:41all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.
- 36:48That's the whole fact of the whole matter of the whole thing.
- 36:52Here comes Barnabas the comforter.
- 36:54He sees all of the beautiful things that are happening in
- 36:58this Pagan city, and he rejoices because the Lord Jesus Christ is
- 37:06honored and glorified in this wicked and dark and perverse
- 37:11place. Praise God.
- 37:14That is just like God to go into the darkness and to snatch those
- 37:18out of the fire. Just remember that we cannot
- 37:22just sit in our little church and sing kumbaya until the Lord
- 37:27comes back. We cannot just build a little
- 37:30Country Club, friends of people who look like us and smell like
- 37:35us. We must be found going out and
- 37:38doing The Dirty work. Friends, we must be found in the
- 37:42dirt huts with bare feet, preaching the word of God,
- 37:47preaching the name of Jesus Christ to every single person
- 37:52who will hear, knowing that the seed is being scattered and
- 37:56knowing that most of it's going to fall on unprofitable soil.
- 38:00But praise God, Hallelujah for the seed that falls on the
- 38:04fertile soil and produces much fruit and produces a harvest,
- 38:09Friends, and look up and see the harvest is plenty, but the
- 38:13workers are few. We've got to get out into the
- 38:17harvest. Friends, put down your little
- 38:20cushy lifestyle. Put down all of your comforts.
- 38:27Let's get uncomfortable for the Lord Jesus Christ today. 24 For
- 38:38he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, and
- 38:43much people was added unto the Lord, praise the Lord.
- 38:47Can you say that? Can people say that of you, that
- 38:53you are a good man? There is nothing good besides
- 38:57God. So if you're a good man, you're
- 38:59a godly man. And are you full of the Holy
- 39:03Ghost? Or have you just dipped your
- 39:06toes in the water? Let's swim in the deep end,
- 39:10friends, knowing that we'll never touch the bottom.
- 39:13It's the Mariana Trench, let's swim in the deep end and be
- 39:18filled and drink of this living water and be full of the Holy
- 39:23Ghost today. I pray that for you and are you
- 39:28full of faith? Let's kick down all of our
- 39:34faithlessness and doubting. Let's be filled with faith
- 39:38today. Faith is believing on the things
- 39:44that we can't see as if they are, and it is faith that
- 39:49pleases God. We've got to let go of what we
- 39:54can see in the natural and physical, and we must take hold
- 39:58of things by faith as if they are reality. 25 Then departed
- 40:08Barnabas to Tarsus. To seek for Saul.
- 40:16We know that Saul had been lowered down in a basket from
- 40:21Damascus and he's gone off to Tarsus.
- 40:25And scholars say he was there about 12 years, receiving his
- 40:31doctrine from the Lord Jesus Christ alone, that no man gave
- 40:37it to him, but the Lord Jesus showed him all the things that
- 40:40he must suffer for his name's sake.
- 40:45So here comes Barnabas the Comforter, and he's going down
- 40:49to Tarsus to look for Saul, and he's going to invite him up to
- 40:54Antioch to share in the ministry of what God is doing in that
- 40:59wicked, dark, perverse place. 26 And when he had found him, he
- 41:08brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass that a whole
- 41:12year they assembled themselves with the Church and taught much
- 41:15people, and the disciples were called Christians first in
- 41:22Antioch. So here these wicked men were
- 41:30poking and making fun of these little Christ's, these men that
- 41:37modeled their lives after Jesus Christ and they were looked down
- 41:43upon and they were accused of incest because they called each
- 41:49other brother and sister. They were accused of cannibalism
- 41:55because they said they were going to eat the flesh and drink
- 41:58the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
- 42:02They had all these false accusations railed at them and
- 42:06here you can see that they are being relegated to little
- 42:11Christ. I pray that you wear that title.
- 42:17I pray that you're not ashamed of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
- 42:21Christ, that you're unashamed friends, to be called a
- 42:25Christian. 27 And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem
- 42:35unto Antioch. 28 And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and
- 42:43signified by the Spirit that there should be a great famine
- 42:48throughout all the world, which came to pass in the days of
- 42:52Claudius Caesar. So this Agabus was in tune with
- 42:57God Almighty and God was revealing to the early church to
- 43:01get ready because here comes a famine on the land.
- 43:06And whether this was a famine that was brought back or brought
- 43:11by leadership that was incompetent, which you see today
- 43:18in many nations, you see people get elevated to positions that
- 43:22they have no idea what they're actually doing.
- 43:27And you can see that it causes a lot of heartache and grief for
- 43:31the people of that nation. And it is the sad reality that
- 43:36we find ourselves in that the leadership of incompetency is
- 43:45assured for all time. And this is the ignoramus that
- 43:51we are experiencing today, that there are many people who are in
- 43:57high positions who are incompetent of understanding the
- 44:03needs of their subjects. And they got there through force
- 44:08and they got there through their cunning abilities and they got
- 44:12there through the world, beast systems that are in place.
- 44:16And now they are being used by the devil.
- 44:20And it's all shaping up exactly the way that the Bible tells us
- 44:24that it would. So we do not need to be
- 44:26surprised when we see all of these things happening.
- 44:30There will be the 10 kings who give their power over to the
- 44:35beast and give their power over to the Antichrist, and we're
- 44:40seeing it all being shaped up right now, and this time 29.
- 44:50Then the disciples, every man according to his ability,
- 44:54determined to send relief unto the brethren, which dwelt in
- 44:58Judea, 30 which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the
- 45:04hands of Barnabas and Saul. So here you can see this
- 45:11outreach, you can see this giving that is an outflow of
- 45:23their abundance. You can see that it is a natural
- 45:27response when we're attached to God to be concerned about the
- 45:32welfare of our brothers and sisters.
- 45:36It is a natural overflow that we will auto correct with those
- 45:41that have much and those that have little.
- 45:44And there will be this coming together and providing for the
- 45:51needs of those who cannot provide for themselves.
- 45:56What a beautiful string that is threaded through the heart of
- 46:03God as we see the mind of Christ and how He expects for us to
- 46:10operate in this world as we help each other out.
- 46:15You can see it modeled here in this early church, this 1st
- 46:19century church, and they got it right and it pleased the Lord.
- 46:24There is no lack in the Father's house.
- 46:27He owns the cattle on 1000 hills.
- 46:29He put the oar in the earth that we form our monetary value off
- 46:34of. Don't forget it.
- 46:37The earth is the Lord's and everything in it all.
- 46:41The universe is His creation and He can pull a fish out of the
- 46:46water and get 2 coins out of its mouth.
- 46:50He can make the axe head float on the water.
- 46:53Friends, there's nothing that our God can't do.
- 46:59Let's get yoked up. Bond up with the Lord Jesus
- 47:02Christ today. Stay prayed up and armored up.
- 47:06I hope you've been blessed by this chapter.
- 47:12No, I sure have. I'm praying for every single one
- 47:18of you. I love you.
- 47:19We'll see you back here tomorrow.
- 47:23God bless you.