Latest / Scripture Unscripted / Acts chapter 9

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Acts chapter 9 · Scripture Unscripted

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  Acts Chapter 9, let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, here we are
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  again. Lord, we're coming to learn from
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  you. Lord, I pray that you'll give us
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  the divine revelation and divine counsel today.
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  Quiet our own understanding. God, I pray that you'll quiet
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  all of our own thoughts. Lord, I pray that our
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  interpretation will go by the wayside.
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  Father, I pray for your divine words.
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  God, I pray for your divine mind.
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  God, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ that you will speak today
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  boldly and loudly. God, I pray that you will speak
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  with clear authority. Lord, I pray in the name of
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  Jesus for your theology and your doctrine to reign supreme upon
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  the hearts and minds of the men and women through all
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  generations. God, I pray that we'll capture
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  the heart of Christ. Lord, I pray that our emotions,
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  our feelings, Lord, will be subject to the reality of your
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  divine counsel and your divine will for our lives as we attach
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  ourselves to you. God Almighty Lord, we are laid
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  down lovers of you, Yahweh, Lord, we are your bond servants,
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  I deny. And Lord, we desire for you to
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  come and have your way and come and have your will in our lives.
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  God, we get out of our own way, we get out of our own
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  understanding. And God, we step into the light,
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  we step into the reality that you are moving everything in
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  accordance to your will and you're perfect and pleasing
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  purposes for this time, for right now.
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  So God, I pray that as we open up your word today, that your
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  word will jump off the pages and become real to us.
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  Let us hide it in our hearts, God, so that we will not sin
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  against you. Lord, I pray that our actions
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  will match our words. Lord, I pray that we will not
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  only be hearers of the Word, but doers.
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  God, I pray that you will fuel us and that you will funnel us
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  into the great adventure that you will fuel and funnel us into
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  your perfect and pleasing will for our lives.
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  Help us to remain pure in heart. God, I pray that as we operate
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  within the senses that we have inside of our mind and bodies,
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  Lord, I pray that you will hijack us with the Holy Spirit
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  God, and we will be filled with Your divine words and divine
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  thoughts. God, we only want to please you.
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  We only want more of You, God. Let us get rid of all of the
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  dross and the impurities. God, let us get rid of all
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  malice and deceit. God, let us not live a lie,
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  Father. But Father, let us walk in the
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  light. Let us walk in truth and
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  righteousness. Father, I pray for peace today
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  over our minds and hearts. God, I pray for our testimony to
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  be shared with many. God, I pray that you will
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  increase the faith in our lives. God, let us to have, let us have
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  childlike faith. Father and God, I pray that your
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  Holy Scripture will come alive in US.
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  Let it quicken in the inner man. Father, I pray that we will live
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  out these words for today and for such a time as this.
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  God heal us in the name of Jesus Christ.
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  Heal cancer today in the name of Jesus Christ.
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  Heal hypertension today in the name of Jesus Christ.
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  Heal asthma today in the name of Jesus Christ Lord.
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  Heal diabetes today in the name of Jesus Christ Lord.
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  Heal mental illness today in the name of Jesus Christ Lord.
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  Heal addiction today in the name of Jesus Christ Lord.
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  Heal our selfishness today In the name of Jesus Christ.
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  Lord, I pray you'll heal our childhood trauma.
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  Today, in the name of Jesus Christ, Lord, heal broken
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  marriages. In the name of Jesus Christ,
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  Lord, lead the prodigals back home.
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  In the name of Jesus Christ, Lord, I pray that it is the name
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  of Jesus Christ that is high and lifted up.
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  The banner over our houses, the banner over our workplaces, the
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  banner over our very life. God, it's Jesus Christ high and
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  lifted up. We love you, Lord Jesus, Holy
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  Spirit, come and fill us today. Teach us, give us discernment,
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  give a supernatural understanding.
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  Today, God, soften our hearts and break up the fallow ground
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  so that we can receive the Word and let it soak and let it sink
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  deep down into fertile soil and produce fruit.
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  We are your sheep and we hear your voice, the Good Shepherd.
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  We love you, King Jesus. Listen, your holy, righteous and
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  precious powerful name that I pray.
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  Amen. Let's start in verse one.
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  And Saul yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter
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  against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest.
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  So here is a main figure in the Bible, this Saul of Tarsus, who
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  will later become the apostle Paul.
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  And you can see here that he was part of the Pharisees.
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  Perhaps he was in the temple whenever Jesus taught and
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  whenever they pronounced the death sentence upon him.
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  Perhaps this lawyer, this Pharisee of the law, perhaps he
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  was there and he actually knew Jesus and had sentenced him to
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  death. And now he is thinking that he's
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  doing God's work by killing and imprisoning these followers of
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  the way. Verse 2 And desired of him
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  letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any
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  of this way, whether they were men, women, he might bring them
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  bound unto Jerusalem. So here Saul is asking for a
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  letter so he can go and arrest any of the new converts and look
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  at how far Christianity has spread so quickly.
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  It was like wildfire. And here Saul is wanting to go
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  all the way to Damascus to arrest and bring back anyone
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  that was found following the way.
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  Verse 3. And as he journeyed, he came
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  near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a
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  light from heaven. So this was a light brighter
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  than the sun, this blinding light.
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  And it was the light of Christ shining all around him.
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  And we are a lot like the moon, where we can only reflect as
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  much light as we take in from the sun, SON.
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  And here you can see that this bright light went and shone upon
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  the apostle Paul. And as he lived his life, this
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  was the fullness of the revelation of Jesus Christ, that
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  he was shining everywhere that he went.
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  Four And he fell to the earth, And he heard a voice saying unto
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  him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?
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  5 And he said, Who are you, Lord?
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  And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you persecute, it is hard
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  for you to kick against the pricks.
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  So verse 4 and verse 5, you can see here that Paul was
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  travelling, whether it was by foot or by horse we do not know.
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  But he was travelling along the road to Damascus.
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  And here this bright light shone upon him, and his natural
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  reaction was to fall to the ground.
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  And here you can see that Paul acknowledges the Lord Jesus
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  Christ as his Lord, which is very similar to the woman caught
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  in the act of adultery, and it's very similar to the thief on the
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  cross. You have to come to this
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  revelation that Jesus is Lord. Can you say that today?
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  I pray that you can. I pray that you know that Jesus
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  Christ is Lord. And here he's telling him it's
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  hard to kick against the goads. And a goad would have been
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  something that was put behind an ox, and it was a board that had
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  a nail in it. And as the ox was refusing to
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  tread the grain, as the ox was refusing to go to work, it would
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  kick in rebellion, but it would only be met with these sharp
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  points, and it would teach the ox to carry on.
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  And here Jesus Christ is telling Paul, it's hard for you to keep
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  resisting me, and the more you resist me, the harder it will
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  get. And that is our story.
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  And for every single blood bought born again believer, we
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  lived in rebellion to the good news of Jesus Christ as we were
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  kicking against the goat. But the reality is God will
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  always have his way, and we can do it the easy way or the hard
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  way. And Jesus is telling Paul, quit
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  kicking against the goat, quit trying to outpace me, quit
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  trying to go around me. No matter where you go, you're
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  going to find that I am the Christ, that I am the Messiah.
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  And here Paul had been studying the life of Jesus Christ.
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  He knew all of the Jewish laws, he knew the history, and he knew
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  that either Jesus Christ had to be the Messiah, had to be the
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  Son of God, had to be the long-awaited, or he was a
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  lunatic. And he was wrestling with this
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  reality. And here Jesus is revealing to
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  him that he truly is who he said he was and that he was alive and
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  was resurrected and was seated at the right hand of God.
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  And Paul had been wrestling with all of these things.
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  And now in this moment, Paul has to make a decision. 6 And he,
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  trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what will you have me to
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  do? And the Lord said unto him,
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  Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told you what you
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  must do. This is the way of the Lord.
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  Jesus always takes us to our next step, but He never shows us
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  the finality of His plan for our lives.
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  And a lot of us are not OK with that.
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  We want to know the beginning from the end and the end from
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  the beginning before we ever make a decision for Christ.
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  And it never works that way. He only gives you your very next
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  step. But most of us are stuck in
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  perpetual suspended animation where we refuse to take the step
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  because we want to know the fullness of God's plan before we
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  can take that step. And we keep relying on our own
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  senses, we keep relying on our own emotions, and we keep
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  relying on our own feelings. And it keeps us in this
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  perpetual state of stuckness. And to get unstuck, you must
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  obey the revealed will of God for your life before you can
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  start seeing and hearing the unrevealed will for your life.
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  And God is so perfect in all of his ways that He has given us 66
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  books for us to know the revealed will of for our lives.
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  And that is how amazing God is. But we must get in the book, and
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  we must read it and obey it. It's not about interpretation,
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  it's about obedience, friends. And here Paul had to obey this
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  first step to rise and go. 7 And the men which journeyed with him
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  stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man For all
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  accounts. We do not know if this divine
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  encounter with Saul of Tarsus led to any conversion for any of
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  his companions who were going with him to Damascus, who were
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  Co signing on his rebellion against Jesus.
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  They heard the voice but saw no man.
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  And Paul here is going to be radically changed.
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  But we do not know how these men were affected. 7 You can see
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  that just because you are close to somebody who is walking with
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  Jesus doesn't mean that it is going to overflow and affect
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  you. You must have that personal
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  relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ.
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  And the way he deals with each of his disciples is different in
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  variation in degrees, and He only gives us as much as we will
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  allow Him to fill us, as we empty ourselves of self.
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  A saw arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he
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  saw no man, but they led him by the hand and brought him into
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  Damascus. So he was blinded by the light,
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  and here he's going to do a three day fast with no water and
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  no food for three days as he sits.
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  And he gets taught by Jesus Christ in this state where all
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  he had was his mind's eye and his mind's ear to sit and to
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  think about all of the visions that he was receiving, of the
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  things that he must suffer and who Jesus Christ is.
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  And he was, I am sure he was going back and searching all the
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  scriptures in his mind that pointed to Jesus Christ being
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  the long-awaited Messiah. And by the time these three days
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  are finished, he's going to be so convinced of it that he is
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  willingly going to go into martyrdom. 9 And he was there,
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  he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.
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  10 And there was a certain disciple at Damascus named
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  Ananias. And to him said the Lord in a
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  vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here,
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  Lord. That is our appropriate
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  response. And you can see this Ananias is
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  just inserted quickly in one little part of Scripture, and we
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  know nothing before and we know nothing after.
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  And this is just the way of God. We should desire to be an
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  ananias. We should desire to not be known
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  by anything but our radical obedience unto the Lord Jesus
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  Christ in the greatest time. This Ananias was going to usher
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  in the writer of 1/3 of the New Testament by his obedience.
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  And our only response when Jesus speaks to us is yes Lord,
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  whatever you say is what I will do.
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  Wherever you want to go is where I will go, no matter how
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  uncomfortable it is. We need to develop the same
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  obedience that we see in Ananias.
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  Behold, I am here, Lord. 11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise,
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  go into the street which is called straight.
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  Inquire in the House of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus,
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  for behold, he prays. So we know that the Pharisees
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  would have these long winded prayers, but they meant nothing.
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  And now we can see that for the first time Saul of Tarsus is
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  actually praying, and he's praying to God through Jesus
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  Christ. And we can see here that that's
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  all Ananias needed to know is that behold, he is praying.
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  If you find a praying man, you will find a place of peace, you
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  will find a House of peace. You will find that that is where
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  the Lord abides and that is our lifeline unto the Father.
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  That is all the tools that we need in our tool belt is prayer
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  and we need to cultivate a prayerful life.
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  We do not need to go through life and be prayerless.
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  It is the power that is available to us and we need to
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  cultivate a prayer life that is 247365 not compartmentalized
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  just unto the secret place, but it is a lifestyle where we are
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  constant in prayer. Pray without ceasing.
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  Pray about everything. No matter how menial and mundane
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  it might seem to you, it is important to God to up our
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  communication with Him so that not only He hears from us, but
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  that we can hear from Him. Friends 12:00 And had seen in a
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  vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand
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  on him, that he might receive his sight.
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  And Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man
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  how much evil he has done to your Saints at Jerusalem.
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  So here you can see that these early Christians are called
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  Saints here. And if you believe in the Lord
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  Jesus Christ, you are St. because your sins are cast as
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  far as the east is from the West.
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  And blessed is the man whose sins will never be counted
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  against him. And it is because of the blood
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  of Jesus Christ that covers us that we can even stand before an
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  Almighty God. Praise the Lord, Hallelujah.
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  And here Ananias is needing a little bit more security before
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  he obeys. He wants to know for certain
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  that this Saul of Tarsus, that he has heard so much evil about,
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  that he is actually part of God's infinite plan. 15 But the
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  Lord said unto him, actually, we'll go back to 14 And here he
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  has authority from the chief priest to bind all that call on
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  your name. Do you call on the Lord's name?
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  Friends, that is the power that is available to us.
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  It is the name above all names. It is the only name that has the
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  power to save. I pray that you are speaking the
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  name of Jesus Christ over yourself and over your spouse,
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  and over your children, and over your house and over your
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  workplace and over your car, and over your finances, and over
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  your friends and over your colleagues and over this very
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  globe and over the universe. We speak the name of Jesus
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  Christ, and everything is subject unto that name. 15 But
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  the Lord said unto him, Go your way, for he is a chosen vessel
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  unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings, and the
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  children of Israel. So you can see that God had a
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  plan for this Saul of Tarsus, and he was going to write 1/3 of
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  the New Testament, and he was also going to appear before
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  Agrippa, and he was going to appear in Rome, and he was going
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  to be a bondservant unto the Lord Jesus Christ for not only
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  the Jews, but for the Gentiles alike. 16 For I will show him
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  how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
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  Counted all as joy, friends, because when we enter into the
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  presence of God Almighty, everything that we have done on
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  this earth is going to either be profitable or unprofitable.
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  Everything is permissible, but not everything is profitable.
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  And as we go through this life, we're going to see all the times
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  that we suffered, how much it profits us whenever we get into
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  the Kingdom. But what does it profit a man to
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  gain the whole world, but to lose his soul?
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  17 And Ananias went his way, and he entered into the house, and
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  putting his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even
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  Jesus that appeared unto you in the way as you came, has sent
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  me, that you might receive your sight and be filled with the
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  Holy Ghost, Praise God. Hallelujah.
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  We can see the salvation of Saul of Tarsus becoming the apostle
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  Paul in this moment, this laying on of hands, this receiving of
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  the Holy Ghost. We can see that Saul has been
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  fasting for three days. We can see that Ananias has
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  radical obedience to go and lay his hands on a man who is
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  hostile towards the way. And it was so incredibly rich
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  that Ananias would obey God and that Paul would come to his
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  senses, and that you and I would be edified by all of the Pauline
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  epistles that we will study together. 18 And immediately
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  there fell from his eyes, as it had been scales, and he received
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  sight forth with, and arose, and was baptized.
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  So here you can see that he was blind, but now he can see.
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  You can see that Paul received in this three day fast, that he
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  had received his marching orders, and that he knew his
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  next step of obedience. Immediate obedience is baptism.
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  Once we give our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ, our very next
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  step of immediate obedience is baptism.
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  And we need to not drag our feet when it comes to this because
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  the devil will have a heyday in your mind if you are halfway in
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  and halfway out and lukewarm. We must continue on this journey
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  and as we give our lives over to the Lord Jesus Christ and as we
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  are immersed in the baptismal waters and we come out a
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  regenerate man, then the Lord will show you your very next
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  step. And as you take that next step,
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  He will be well pleased to show you your next step.
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  And the question is, are you taking these immediate obedient
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  steps, or are you stuck in suspended animation today?
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  Have you been a Christian for 10 years, or have you been a
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  Christian for one year? 10 times?
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  And this calls for wisdom 19. And when he had received meat,
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  he was strengthened. Then was saw certain days with
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  the disciples which were at Damascus.
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  So here you can see that Saul is there and he has received the
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  revelation of Jesus Christ is the long-awaited Messiah, which
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  Christ and Messiah are synonymous.
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  But he realizes that he is the Son of God. 20 and straightway
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  he preached Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of
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  God. So you can see that this
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  Pharisee would have been over joyously welcome to speak in a
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  synagogue, but they were not ready for the message that he
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  was about to bring. 21 But all that heard him were amazed, and
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  said, Is not this he that destroyed them, which called on
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  this name in Jerusalem, and came here for that intent, that he
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  might bring them bound unto the chief priest?
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  Imagine the chief priest when they got word that the man that
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  they sent out with letters to bring people back from Damascus
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  is the very one in the synagogue's preaching Jesus
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  Christ as Lord. 22 But Saul increased the more in strength
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  and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that
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  this is very Christ. So you can see here that all of
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  his learnedness, all of the study that he had up till this
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  road to this encounter that he had on the road to Damascus, all
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  of it was being used by God to prove to himself and to everyone
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  who would hear that Jesus Christ is Lord.
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  And that is the amazing thing about God is God will use every
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  single bit of the things that you have gone through for His
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  glory. And God wastes nothing, friends,
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  He can take your misery and make it his ministry. 23 And after
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  that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill
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  him. Imagine that here is another one
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  of their wicked schemes where they delight themselves in evil
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  and they are delusional at the core and they just want to try
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  to keep silencing this very thing that they're trying to
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  hide and cover up because they know that they have murdered the
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  Messiah and now they don't want his blood on their hands.
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  So they just think that they can keep adding more blood spill and
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  that somehow that is going to silence it.
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  But it only magnifies it. And God's ways are not our ways,
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  and he does things that are counterintuitive to the finite
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  mind. 24 but they're laying await was known of Saul and they
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  watched the gates day and night to kill him.
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  Then the disciples took him by night and let him down by the
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  wall in a basket. So a lot of scholars, by
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  piercing together Scripture, will say that Saul spent three
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  years in this area. Then he's going to go on and say
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  that he did not receive any of his doctrine from the apostles,
• 31:11
  that he had only met with Peter and Jesus's brother James.
• 31:16
  And then he's going to say that he spent 8 to 12 years learning
• 31:23
  before he ever goes to preach in Jerusalem.
• 31:27
  So here there's a lot of timelines that are overlapping
• 31:31
  in this scripture. 26 And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he
• 31:39
  say to join himself to the disciples, but they were all
• 31:43
  afraid of him and believe not that he was a disciple.
• 31:48
  So imagine that for a little bit.
• 31:50
  Here's this man that is known for being violent the last time
• 31:55
  they had ever heard of him, and now he's trying to come back and
• 31:59
  play face with them. And they were afraid, naturally.
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  27 But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and
• 32:10
  declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and
• 32:14
  that he had spoken to him, and how he preached boldly at
• 32:17
  Damascus in the name of Jesus. So here's this comforter, old
• 32:22
  Barnabas, And we are eternally grateful for the boldness of
• 32:27
  Barnabas to take Paul amongst the apostles, and to actually
• 32:34
  say that he had seen him preaching Jesus, and that Jesus
• 32:40
  had met with him on the way to Damascus, and that Paul was a
• 32:45
  true convert unto Christianity. 28 And he was with them coming
• 32:54
  in and going out at Jerusalem. 29 And he spoke boldly in the
• 33:01
  name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians,
• 33:05
  but they went about to slay him. And that is the boldness of Saul
• 33:12
  of Tarsus becoming the apostle Paul.
• 33:14
  And you could not quiet him down in everything that happened to
• 33:19
  him. He counted it all as joy.
• 33:21
  And he learned contentment, whether it was in prison.
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  He learned contentment, whether it was full or empty.
• 33:29
  He learned contentment, friends, and he learned obedience as he
• 33:33
  went through his life, even unto death, as our Lord Jesus Christ
• 33:38
  did as well. 30 which when the brothers knew, they brought him
• 33:45
  down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Tarsus.
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  So here we can see that the apostles arranged that he would
• 33:58
  get out of Jerusalem so that he would not be slain, and they
• 34:04
  send him down into the very place that he was from.
• 34:10
  And we're going to see that Paul continues spreading Christianity
• 34:14
  like wildfire. No matter where he went,
• 34:17
  everything he touched, the Lord blessed. 31 then had the
• 34:24
  churches rest throughout all of Judea and Galilee and Samaria,
• 34:29
  and were edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the
• 34:34
  comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied.
• 34:37
  So that's what we're going to find in the edification, in the
• 34:40
  building up of your brothers and sisters.
• 34:43
  You're going to find the comfort of the Holy Ghost in your midst,
• 34:47
  which is going to lead to many more converts and many more
• 34:52
  multiplication. But if we do not get the first
• 34:55
  part right, we will not see the latter.
• 34:58
  We will only see perpetual frustration.
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  Whenever we break down our brothers and sisters, whenever
• 35:06
  we are so competitive against each other, or when we make it
• 35:10
  about the numbers, or when we're not filled with the Holy Ghost,
• 35:15
  we will not see the multiplication of converts in
• 35:20
  our area. 32 And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout
• 35:30
  all quarters, he came down also to the Saints which dwelt at
• 35:35
  Lida. 33 And there he found a certain man named Anus, and he
• 35:44
  kept his bed 8 years, and was sick of the palsy. 34 And Peter
• 35:51
  said unto Anas, Jesus Christ makes you whole, arise and make
• 35:58
  your bed. And he arose immediately. 35 And
• 36:04
  all that dwelt at Lita, and Sauron saw him, and turn to the
• 36:09
  Lord. So you can see here Peter
• 36:12
  modeling the ministry of his Lord Jesus Christ as he goes.
• 36:18
  And just like Jesus did with the paralytic and told him to rise
• 36:24
  and take up his mat and walk, here you can see Peter full of
• 36:31
  the Holy Ghost relying on the name of Jesus Christ to heal.
• 36:37
  There is no healing outside of the name of Jesus Christ.
• 36:44
  And we can see here this boldness of Peter who has truly
• 36:50
  captured the heart of God and who has the faith the size of a
• 36:54
  mustard seed. And he is walking in the
• 36:56
  authority that Jesus Christ has given him.
• 36:59
  He is wearing the mantle that God has placed on him to carry
• 37:05
  the ministry of the church. And we can see here that Peter
• 37:10
  has finally understood that Jesus Christ has given him the
• 37:17
  authority to do greater things through the comforter that has
• 37:23
  come. 36 And now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named
• 37:31
  Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas.
• 37:37
  This woman was full of good works and alms, deeds which she
• 37:41
  did. 37 And it came to pass in those days that when that she
• 37:47
  was sick and died, whom when they had washed, they laid her
• 37:52
  in an upper chamber, and for as much as little was near to
• 37:58
  Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they
• 38:02
  sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to
• 38:08
  come to them. So you can see a lot of the
• 38:13
  overlapping of Jesus's miracles that he performed when he walked
• 38:19
  on this earth in his three-year ministry.
• 38:22
  You can see now that the disciples and Peter here was
• 38:26
  thinking about those things and they knew the authority given to
• 38:30
  him. And here you can see how these
• 38:33
  stories overlap and they mirror and mimic each other.
• 38:37
  And imagine how Jonah whenever he was in Joppa and he did not
• 38:42
  want to go and look at how Peter here as he is in Joppa, he goes.
• 38:47
  And sometimes we are a Jonah and we are in disobedience unto the
• 38:53
  will of God. And sometimes we are a Peter and
• 38:57
  we have the radical obedience unto God.
• 39:00
  And we need to know and have discernment what is the will of
• 39:04
  God and what is he telling us to do in that moment.
• 39:07
  And we need to walk in the Spirit and not satisfy the lust
• 39:11
  of the flesh, and not be afraid that if we go and lay hands, or
• 39:16
  if we command the spirits to come out, or if we go and pray
• 39:21
  for somebody, not be afraid of our own pride and our own
• 39:25
  embarrassment. If the healing doesn't come, if
• 39:29
  the deliverance doesn't come. We need to have obedience unto
• 39:33
  the voice of God, that still small voice in our lives.
• 39:37
  And we need to know that God is speaking to us and He's giving
• 39:41
  us the model for how it is we are to live in the life that
• 39:46
  He's given us, this fullness and abundance, life that he's given
• 39:51
  us friends. And we need to not shrink back
• 39:54
  from embarrassment, shrink back in pride, shrink back because we
• 40:00
  don't want to be a fool for Christ.
• 40:04
  We need to be yoked up, bond servants, laid down lovers.
• 40:08
  Completely sold out to the King of Kings and put down all of our
• 40:13
  pride and reputation and actually go and fulfill the
• 40:17
  Great Commission and actually do the things that the Lord has
• 40:21
  asked us to do in the revealed will.
• 40:24
  And then He will lead us in places that we are so incredibly
• 40:30
  full of His presence and we are living out the abundant life
• 40:35
  that He has promised us friends. 39 Then Peter arose and went
• 41:02
  with them. When he was come, they brought
• 41:06
  him into the upper chamber, and all the windows, all the windows
• 41:12
  stood by him weeping and showing the coats and garments which
• 41:17
  Dorcas made while she was with them.
• 41:19
  So this lady wasn't just all talk, she actually put action to
• 41:25
  her faith, and she was actually making items, and she was loved
• 41:30
  by many, and they were showing these things to Peter as proof
• 41:35
  of her love for the Lord Jesus. 40 But Peter put them all forth
• 41:42
  and kneeled down and prayed, and turning him to the body, said
• 41:48
  Tabitha arise. And she opened her eyes, and
• 41:52
  when she saw Peter, she sat up. So this was a model of whenever
• 41:57
  the Lord Jesus goes and heals the girl who's 12 years old.
• 42:03
  And he said, Talita, call me. And here Peter says, Tabitha,
• 42:09
  call me. And you can see these stories
• 42:13
  overlapping. And he's modeled himself after
• 42:17
  his Lord Jesus Christ. And we should do the same.
• 42:20
  And here you can see he was wise enough to put them out of the
• 42:25
  room as he performed this. And he modeled that after what
• 42:30
  Jesus Christ did that day. And she sat up.
• 42:35
  Imagine her opening her eyes from death and I'm sure she
• 42:42
  would have rather stayed in heaven.
• 42:44
  But God had plans for her on this earth and that's what we
• 42:48
  need to know if someone dies prematurely.
• 42:52
  If someone dies who knows the Lord Jesus Christ, we should not
• 42:58
  mourn like the rest of the world who has no hope.
• 43:03
  If you were to ask someone who knows the Lord Jesus Christ and
• 43:07
  is known by Him and who is passed from this life to the
• 43:11
  next, if you were to ask them if they wanted to come back, the
• 43:15
  answer would emphatically be no. They just want to stay in the
• 43:20
  presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. 41 And he gave her his
• 43:29
  hand and lifted her up, and when he had called the Saints and
• 43:33
  widows, he presented her alive. Imagine that.
• 43:38
  Imagine how this would have just reverberated and rocked the
• 43:41
  world, to know that Peter had gone in and it's spoken over
• 43:47
  this lady, and she came back from the dead, and this is a
• 43:54
  resuscitation and not a resurrection. 42 And it was
• 44:00
  known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. 43
• 44:06
  And it came to pass that he tarried many days in Joppa with
• 44:09
  one Simon, a Tanner. So here you can see God breaking
• 44:15
  down all of the division between all the Jewish laws and rituals
• 44:22
  and ceremony. And here Simon Peter was
• 44:28
  actually able to go and stay in a house where a man who dealt
• 44:36
  with animal skins, which would have been foreign to a pure Jew,
• 44:43
  who practiced all the rituals of his faith.
• 44:48
  You can see Peter is being changed little by little by and
• 44:54
  by God's going to have his way and he's going to invite the
• 44:57
  Gentiles in. And you and I are eternally
• 45:00
  blessed through the obedience of Peter here and through the
• 45:05
  obedience of Paul and through the obedience of all those that
• 45:11
  this world was not worthy of. I hope you've been blessed by
• 45:17
  this amazing chapter here. I know I sure have.
• 45:25
  I'm praying for every single one of you.
• 45:30
  I love you and so does our Lord Jesus Christ.
• 45:39
  We'll see you back here tomorrow.
• 45:41
  God bless you.