Now, of course, we're picking up where we left off last week in Acts 27, where they
got through that harrowing story about being on the ship and they were out at sea for weeks
on end without seeing the sun, moon, or stars. Horrible storm. They all thought they were
going to die, except for the fact that God had made a promise unto Paul that everyone
on the ship would survive. It was a pretty amazing promise, because the ship ended up
getting stuck in the water, where the front part of it was wedged in, and the back part
was being beaten and destroyed by the waves. People literally had to just jump into the
water and swim to the shore. Other people who could not even swim were just grabbing
pieces of wood, pieces of the ship, and they just barely made it. But because of God's
promise, they all actually made it safely ashore, miraculously. And it says in chapter
28, verse 1, and when they were escaped, this is when they escaped the treachery of that
shipwreck. Then they knew that the island was called Melita. So they get there and they
find out where they are, and the barbarous people showed us no little kindness. And by
the way, no little kindness means it was a big kindness, all right? And it says, for
they kindled a fire and received us, everyone, because of the present rain and because of
the cold. So it's raining and cold, because if you remember, they're coming out of this
big storm. And when they get there, everybody's nice to them and kindles the fire and gets
them under some shelter. And it says in verse 3, when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks
and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat and fastened on his hand.
So Paul's trying to help out by getting some wood for the fire, and he grabs a piece of
wood and he throws it into the fire, and apparently inside that wood, there was a snake living
inside the wood. You know, if you ever have a wood pile, that's where all the black widows
are and all the creatures are. I just moved some wood around today and there were all
kinds of lizards and everything running out of it. So this creature, this viper, this
snake, is living in the wood. So when he grabs this bundle of sticks and throws it into the
fire, basically this snake, you know, jumps out. And when it jumps out, it bites Paul's
hand, and it was a venomous beast. It was actually a poisonous snake bit onto Paul's
hand and fastened on his hand. It says, and when the barbarians saw the venomous beast
hang on his hand, they said among themselves, no doubt this man is a murderer, whom though
he has escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast into
the fire and felt no harm. Albeit they looked when he should have swollen or fallen down
dead suddenly, but after they had looked a great while and saw no harm come to him, they
changed their minds and said he was a god. So this is a typical reaction that a lot of
people have, and it's the wrong reaction that when something bad happens to someone else,
we just assume, oh, they must have done something wrong to deserve that, right? This is exactly
why Job's three friends. When they found out that Job's children had died, that he had
lost all his possessions, that he had been afflicted with a physical disease and boils
all over his body, they assumed that he must be living in sin and God's punishing him.
And they kept begging Job to just admit what it was. Tell us what you did. Why have you
sinned against God and brought all this on you? Job is just trying to tell him, look,
I didn't do anything wrong, I'm not perfect, but I've been living a righteous life, and
they wouldn't believe him. So we've got to be careful not to look at people's lives and
see if bad things happen and just assume, well, God's judging them, God's punishing
them. That's not always the case. Job was not being judged or punished. Job was the
most upright and righteous man living upon the earth at that time. That's what the Bible
says. And he was afflicted because he was being tested, and Job said, when I am tried,
I shall come forth as gold. It was a purifying joke. It was trials that God was bringing
him through to make him even more righteous, to make him stronger and more steadfast. And
so we should never look at someone going through something bad and assume that they've done
wrong. But also, even in our own lives, sometimes we'll make a decision to do something different
in our lives, and then something bad will happen. And then we just say, oh, this is
a sign from God. I made the wrong decision. See, you can't base decisions on that. You
got to base your decisions on the Bible. Base your decisions on what the Bible says, because
you can't always properly interpret the circumstances of life. For example, let's say you start
going to a new church, and then your car breaks down on the way to church. Oh, see, this is
a sign from God. God doesn't want me to go to this church. Or let's say you go soloing
for the first time, and somebody attacks you or touches you out or something. You know,
it's a bad sign. We got to get off all these signs. Just read the Bible and do what the
Bible says, and reading the Bible should tell you what's right and wrong. Because sometimes
when you start doing the best things in your life, bad things happen because it could be
the devil that's attacking you. Maybe the devil's trying to keep you from going to church.
Maybe the devil wants to stop you from soloing. Maybe the devil doesn't like a change that
you made in your life. So you can't always just read the circumstances of life and say,
oh, God's not in this because things are going bad for me. Oftentimes when we're doing the
right thing, that's when the most bad things happen. And sometimes when you're doing the
wrong things, things will be going great because of a delayed reaction, because God's chasing
and God's judgment doesn't always happen instantly. Many times he's long suffering with us, and
his judgment lingereth and it doesn't come right away. And so we ought not let the events
of life determine what we believe is right and wrong or what we believe about ourselves
or other people being in or out of the will of God. Use the Bible to determine that. If
someone gets bit by a snake on the camping trip, I'm not going to say, well, what kind
of sin have they been into? What have they been hiding? Tell us what you did. See, that's
what these heathens are doing. But they were wrong because Paul hadn't done anything wrong,
and they're basically proven wrong when he shakes off the beast into the fire. He just
puts it right back in the fire where it came from, and it says he felt no harm. So they're
waiting for it to start swelling up and for it to be in pain. And watch, it says that
when they saw no harm come, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. So they
started out thinking, this guy's a really bad guy. He's a murderer. And then like five
minutes later, he's a god. It's funny because earlier in the book of Acts, we had the opposite
happen. Do you remember that story? He walks into town, and they think he's a god because
he healed somebody. He performed a miracle. And then basically just a short time thereafter,
the Jews came and poisoned a well about that and told everybody how bad Paul was. And then
they stoned him. And they thought he was dead. That's the only reason they stopped stoning
him. He just barely survived that encounter. And so sometimes the same people that will
worship you and call you a god are the same people that are going to turn on you the fastest.
Think about that. The people that will call you a god in one minute and they'll practically
worship you are the same minute that they'll turn on you and watch you dead the next minute.
Or vice versa. In this story, we have the exact opposite, going from wanting him dead
to he's a god. And this is the way people are. They go to these extremes. And whenever
somebody is very flattering to you, and they're almost inappropriate in how much they just
praise you, you know, and I mean, it's not that we're giving somebody a compliment, but
where people just like worship you, you know, those are the same people that are going to
turn on you. Because it's just all lip service. It's the flattering tongue. You know, you
got to watch out for that. And that's the way people are sometimes. But look what it
says in verse number seven. It says, in the same quarters, or in the same area, it's saying,
were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius, who received
us and launched us three days courteously. And it came to pass that the father of Publius
lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux to Paul entered in and prayed and he laid his
hands on him and healed him. So basically, because of this whole snake thing, he gets
a better place to stay, you know, because everybody knows how many guys were there?
So there are 276 on the ship. So there are 276. Well, because of Paul, you know, living
through this snake bite, then he gets to go stay as the chief guy of the island's house.
So he got to stay in a nicer place. And then for three days, he heals this guy's father.
Now you say, are we just Christians? Should we all be able to lay hands on people and
heal people? I remember when I was in high school, there were all these Pentecostals
at my high school and they would lay hands on people and he'd try to heal them and they
would try to perform all these miracles. And these are like these worldly teenagers, you
know, bumping all their rap music and just, you know, they don't know the Bible. They
live a worldly and sinful life. And then, but they're going to heal everybody and they're
going to lay hands and they're going to rebuke the devil in the name of Jesus and throw out
the, you know. The Bible is clear. When Jesus Christ sent out his apostles, he sent out
12. Later he sent out 70. He gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out and
to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. Guess what? He did not give that
power to every single believer. That's why the Bible says a little bit earlier in the
book of Acts, it says special, did you hear me? Special miracles were done at the hands
of Paul. Special miracle. Now if everybody was doing it, it wouldn't be special. It was
special because it was something that only the apostles could do. That's why Paul also
in his epistles talked about how he had wrought the signs of an apostle among them. Because
he had proven that he was an apostle by performing these miracles that the apostles performed
because the apostles had received special power from God where they could heal people
and cast out devils. Not every single Christian can cast out devils or heal people. And you
say, well what about, are there apostles today? No. Because the apostles were people who physically
been sent out by Jesus Christ. They saw him in his resurrected form. And if you remember
Paul, go to 1 Corinthians 15 and I'll show it to you real quickly. 1 Corinthians 15.
Here we talk about the, here he talks about the resurrection of Christ and witnessing
the resurrection of Christ. And you know, in Acts chapter 1 if you remember, they wanted
to replace one of the 12 apostles. Because if Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ, turned
out he never believed on Christ, he went out and hanged himself, he fell and broke his
body. And when they went to replace him, they said that it needed to be someone who
had been with them the whole time. You know, beginning from the baptism of John until the
days when he was taken up from us, must one be ordained, and this is the key, must one
be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. So the apostles basically were
those who had witnessed his resurrection. And I'm going to prove that to you right here
in 1 Corinthians 15 as he equates those two things. It says in verse number, let's start
verse 3, for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and that he rose again
the third day according to the scriptures, and that he was seen of Cephas, that was Peter,
that's another name for Peter, then of the 12, after that he was seen of above 500 brethren
at once, those are people that are saved, that's what he means by brethren. You're like,
wow, that's a big family, that's just me and people that are saved. 500 brethren at once
of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are falling asleep. So he's
saying, you know, a lot of those guys are still alive today, but he's writing 1 Corinthians,
he's saying. After that he was seen of James, and then watch this, then of all the apostles.
So he was seen of what? All the apostles. So, are there more apostles than just 12?
Absolutely, because earlier it said he showed himself to the 12, then it says he showed
himself to all of the apostles, because there were 70. First there were 12, then there were
70 that Jesus sent out, that's why Barnabas was called an apostle. He must have been one
of the 70 to be called an apostle in the book of Acts. And so the Bible basically says here
he was seen of all the apostles, and then look at verse 8, and last of all he was seen
of me also. So, has anyone seen the resurrected Jesus Christ bodily since the apostle Paul?
No, that was the last one, because this is written decades and decades after Paul has
seen him on the road to Damascus. He said, last of all he was seen of me, and the next
time we see him, it's going to be, behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall
see him, and they also which pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall well the
cousin of him, and so he met. So it says, last of all he was seen of me also as of one
born out of due time, for I am the least of the apostles, that I'm not meet to be called
an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God, but by the grace of God I am what
I am. So he was as one born out of due time, and what he's saying is, he was a late comer
to being an apostle. He was a late comer, he was like one born out of due time, because
all the other apostles were ordained as apostles previously, and they saw the resurrected Christ
previously. He was lastly to see him, and to basically take up that mantle of being
an apostle. And so, you know, although there are churches where the pastor calls himself
an apostle, that is not biblical, because the ones that he called apostles, just get
this down, the ones that he called apostles were the ones that he laid his hands on, gave
them power against unclean spirits, gave them power to perform miracles and heal people,
and sent them out two by two, starting with the twelve, then the seventy. He did the same
thing with Paul, late. He met him on the road to Damascus, sent him out, gave him a mission,
appeared unto him. We do not have apostles today, and we do not have people who go around
that can just heal everybody that they lay hands on and cast out every devil. Now is
that to say that people cannot be healed today? Absolutely not. Of course God can heal people.
Of course God can perform a miracle. There are people in the Bible who God used to perform
a miracle that were not apostles. All throughout the Old Testament God used people to perform
miracles. But they were more few and far between. Not to the extent where with Paul, just, you
know, or the shadow of Peter, you know, the special miracles where the shadow of Peter
could just fall on somebody and they'd be healed. Or the special miracles where they
just lay hands on anybody and they would recover. That's not just an everyday normal occurrence
unless you're at a Benny Inn per se. And the funny thing is, you know, you look at
all these people and here's the biggest proof that it's a fraud. That these healing lines
are frauds. And I'm not saying God can't heal. I'm not saying God can't perform a miracle.
The Bible commands us that when someone is sick and dying to call for the elders of the
church and to pray for that person and to lay our hands on that person and anoint them
with oil in the name of the Lord and pray that they might be healed, the Bible says
in James chapter 5. It's not that God can't heal. But it's not like just an automatic
just anybody I touch is going to be healed because I'm, you know, Pastor Steve Anderson,
apostle. That doesn't mean that God won't choose to heal some and not heal others. He
will perform miracles. God can perform miracles. But I'll prove to you that this healing line
thing and all those kids at my high school are all frauds. Every single one of them believe
you can lose your salvation. Every single one. I mean you never run into somebody who
says eternal security believer you can't lose your salvation. It's by faith alone. It's
by grace through faith plus and minus and it's eternal. You can't lose it. That'll then
be, you know, believing in healing lines and tongue speaking and all this other stuff.
The two go hand in hand. Losing your salvation doctrine and work salvation and lordship salvation
are a prerequisite to believing in that stuff. You know, and if you look at the preachers
that do that stuff, they're not Baptists. They don't believe in Bible doctrine. They
deny the doctrines of eternal life and everlasting life. And they've already been exposed as
frauds and, you know, people have gone backstage and showed how they're frauds. I mean if you
call for it, you're a pretty gullible person. You know, if you can watch Benny Hinn and
you think it's real as he, you know, whacks people with his decade and they're falling
down. I mean slain in the spirit. Slain means you're killed. Why would that be a good thing?
Why would you want to be killed in the spirit? You know, and he gets this weird voice and
he's slapping people and they're falling on the ground. That is not a guy. It's wicked.
And I believe that a big part of it is just to make Christianity look stupid to the world.
They look at that and they think it looks stupid. You know, people look at this Harold
campaign with this May 21st billboard. The Bible guarantees it. Yeah, what verse is that?
But it's just designed to make Christianity look stupid. Because, oh, the Bible guaranteed.
May 21st, 2011, nothing happened. And then Harold campaign says, oh, it just happened
spiritually. That's what he's saying. Well, it did happen. It was just a spiritual thing.
And the world's still going to end on October 21st. So now he bought himself another six
months. But it's all just designed to make Christianity look foolish, to make it look
stupid to the world. Because they think of Christianity, they think of these people falling
on the ground and flopping around and everything. It just makes it look foolish. It doesn't
change the fact that the Bible's true. And these atheists can mock all these phony Christians
all they want, but it's not going to make Hell any cooler for them. And so back to Acts
28, we see that Paul was an apostle. He was clearly an apostle, and he clearly had the
power to perform special miracles that an apostle could do, like just healing people,
casting out devils. That was a special power that he was given as an apostle. And so he
healed all kinds of people. First he healed Publius and said in verse 9, so when this
was done, others also, which had disease in the island, came and were healed, who also
honored us with many honors. And when we departed, they laid to us with such things
as were necessary. And after three months, we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which
had wintered in the isle whose sign was Castor Apollos. So they waited there for three months,
their ships destroyed. So now they got a hit to ride with another ship. So they hop on
this ship of Alexandria, verse 12, it says, and landing in Syracuse, we carried there
three days. And from that we fetched a compass and came to Regium. And after one day, the
south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli, where we found brethren, and were
desired to tarry with them seven days, and so we went toward Rome. And so they found
people that were saved, they found some believers there, and they got with them. And it says
in verse 15, and from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as
happy form. And the three tabards, who when Paul saw it, thanked God and took courage.
So this encouraged Paul, because he finds these brethren, he stays with them seven days,
and then these brethren come and meet up with him at another place where he sailed. And
it just really encouraged him. And that will encourage you to get around God's people right
there. And that's part of the purpose why we come to church, is to get around other
believers, because it's encouraging. You know, when you're all by yourself in this world,
you're going to start to get down, and you can also get backslidden, because everybody
around you is doing everything the worldly way, and the sinful way. And so it's good
to get around other people that believe like you, so you can get encouraged, and get refreshed,
and get motivated, and not feel isolated, and feel like, you know, I'm the only one,
and it can be depressing sometimes. You know, you go out in the world, and everybody is
against everything you believe, and they might even ridicule and mock you. So it's great
to go somewhere where you can get with some real brethren, and get with people that actually
believe the Bible. And that's what's great about this church, is when you come to this
church, you're actually with people who believe like you believe. They actually love the Bible.
I mean, some of these churches, it's like everybody believes something different in
these churches. Because there's not a lot of doctrine coming across the pulpit, and
you'll go around and talk to different people, and they all believe different things. They
all have dramatically different ideas. And look, we're not all a bunch of clones here,
but you know what, we do all believe the Bible, we all believe in soul winning, and I'm sure
that we don't agree on everything, but the bottom line is we're going to agree on 90-some
percent, because we've all got the same Bible, same Holy Spirit, and we all love soul winning,
we're all motivated. I was at a church before, and I went around and just asked people what
they believed about salvation, and you get all different answers in a Baptist church.
Some people were definitely saved, other people, and look, if you go out soul winning, you
know this, you'll hear, there will be a certain church where everybody you talk to from that
church is not saved. You'll talk to 15 people from that church and they're not saved. And
then other churches, everybody you talk to from that church is saved. And then that tells
you, okay, it's a pretty good church, everybody you talk to is saved. They're telling us that
they believe on Christ and that it's eternal life and everything. But then you'll run into
these other churches, and even like an independent fundamental Baptist church, we just knocked
out, what was that, yesterday? We knocked on the door yesterday of somebody at an independent
fundamental Baptist church, and we asked this guy if he could lose his salvation, and he
says, oh yeah, you can lose it. He's been going to an independent fundamental Baptist
church for two years, and he believes you can lose your salvation. And then once Brother
Garrett explained it to him, it seemed like he made perfect sense to him. It's just that
he never heard it before, that was the problem. I mean, can you believe that? I mean, how
do you go to an independent fundamental Baptist church and not learn? And I've run into a
ton of people from that church that weren't saved, the same church. And I've run into
a bunch that were saved. But then I've run into a ton that weren't saved. And they say,
oh, we're the biggest independent fundamental Baptist church in Arizona. Well, big whoop.
Half the people we run into from your church don't even know for sure they're going to
heaven or think you're going to lose your salvation. What in the world good is that?
What's the point of it all? Thank God for a church where we can have some unity. You
know, whenever we're all going to agree on every single thing, you know, it's not going
to be perfect, but we have unity. I mean, we all know we're saved, we all believe in
soul winning, we all believe that the King James Bible is the word of God, we all have
the same authority of God's word in our lives, and we all read the same book and we all read
it a lot. And so we're going to have a kinship here. And that's what I love about our church.
I feel like I can talk to people and it's a kindred spirit there. There's a unity there.
There's a friendship there that comes from having the same beliefs. And so that's what
going to church should be. One accord, unity, one place. Not just a place where a whole
bunch of people come and get together, hear a message that's not about that much. You're
not going to really have that same kindred spirit. But when you do get in a place where
there's real believers and people that are saved and that love God, it is very encouraging.
And that's why church is so important. You know what? You may be tempted to get out of
church. And I'll tell you right now, the gas prices make it hard for some people to come
to church. But you know what? You've got to make it a priority. You've got to make
it a priority to get to church. Because a lot of people in the summertime too, the gas
prices go up and obviously the gas price is already extremely high right now. And in the
summertime it's hot and the gas is expensive and a lot of people just start laying out
of church. But you know what? You're not going to get the encouragement that you need. You're
not going to get the fellowship that you need. You're not going to get the preaching that
you need. You say, oh, I'll just tune in online. Well, I'm going to start taking the
sermons off the internet. No, I'm not. I'm tempted to sometimes. See, I'll just download
it. Are you going to download? Look around. Look around the room. Are you going to download
all these people? Are you going to download this group? Are you going to download this?
No. And so don't let the gas prices get you down. Make it a priority. And if you need
help with gas, talk to us. We can help you out with the gas. But just get to church.
You need to be here. And don't start to fade as the summer comes because summer is the
time of fading. Summer is the time when people start to fade away. And you know what? It's
going to affect you spiritually. Even Paul needed encouragement. Paul was greater than
me or you or anybody in this room. And even he needed a great encouragement of just getting
around other believers. It says when we came to Rome, verse 16, and it says he thanked
God. And you know, we ought to thank God for the fellowship of other believers that
we have. We ought to thank God that we have a church to go to where we can fellowship.
Look at verse 16. It says when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners
to the captain of the guard, but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with the soldier
of the captain. So again, Paul is always getting special treatment. You notice that? Always.
It's like all the other prisoners, they get thrown into the general population. And it's
like, oh, you just send a soldier with them. Let him have his own. Let him do what he wants.
Man, this Roman persecution of Christians in the book of Acts is really a killer, huh?
It says in verse 17, it came to pass that after three days, Paul called the chief of
the Jews together. So keep in mind, he's dwelling by himself with a soldier that kept him. So
he just has one soldier guarding him. And he can just live on his own. So after three
days, he calls the chief of the Jews together. That's plural, chief plural, like the chief
man of the Jews. And when they were come together, he said unto them, men and brethren, though
I have committed nothing against the people or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered
prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. But when they have examined me,
would have let me go, because there was no cause of death in me. But when the Jews spake
against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar. Not that I had ought to accuse my
nation of. For this cause, therefore, have I called for you, to see you and to speak
with you, because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.
Now, from the way he's talking to these guys, these chief of the Jews, it sounds to me like
he's not sure whether they've even really heard of Jesus Christ, because he's kind of
bringing this to them almost like it's the first time they're hearing of it. He's bringing
this up saying, you know, look, I'm being bound with this chain because of the hope
of Israel. It sounds like he's going to start preaching to them the gospel and giving them
the news about how Jesus Christ is the Messiah, that the hope of Israel has come, and so forth.
But they actually had heard about Jesus Christ, because in the next verse, it says in verse
21, and they said to them, we neither received letters out of Judea concerning thee, neither
any of the brethren that came showed or spake any harm of thee. So they're saying, well,
we haven't really heard about your individual case, and we haven't really heard people,
you know, tell us anything really bad about you, but we desire to hear it be what thou
thinkest, and look at this, for as concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken
against. So they have heard of Christianity vaguely. They haven't really heard a whole
lot about the apostle Paul, but they said there's one thing we know about Christianity
is what they mean by this sect, as far as people believe me Christ. We just know that
everywhere it's spoken against. And let me tell you something, it's still the same today.
Real Bible Christianity is going to be spoken against everywhere. And the Bible says, woe
unto you when all men speak well of you, for so they did to the false prophets. He said,
marvel not, my brethren, if the world hates you. And God's word is always going to be
spoken against. And the preacher who's popular, guess what, he's preaching a watered-down
message, or he's preaching lies, or he's a compromiser, because he's just loved by
the world, and he's not being spoken against at all. Well, you know, he must not be part
of the group here, of the real so-called sect here, you know, that's not really a Bible
word, it's a word that basically is only used when they're kind of talking derogatory
about Christians, they call it that, you know, the sect. I think it'd be kind of like today
the word like cold. I don't know, isn't it in German? When I was in Germany, the word
secta, doesn't it mean cold? Yeah, so the word sect kind of has that connotation to
it, of like a cold. You know, a lot of people will look at Bible-believing Christianity
and say, oh, you're in a cold. You're in a cold because, you know, you live by a strict
life, or whatever, you go to church three times in one week, that's a cold. But here's
the thing, if you really know the definition of what a cold is, a cold is always centered
around a man, it's centered around a person. Like for example, a really common usage of
the word cold has to do with Joseph Stalin in the USSR. They called it the personality
cult, or the cult of personality around Joseph Stalin, where people literally worshipped
their leader in the Soviet Union, they worshipped Stalin. Some people had an almost cult-like
worship of Obama, like when he's running for office and they're crying, and they're
getting his autograph, and almost worshipful singing hymns to him. I remember I saw this
video of kids in school singing songs to Obama, and it was to the tune of church songs. They
took church songs that were about Jesus. They took the song Jesus Loves the Little Children,
which is a church song, who knows that song? Jesus loves the little children. They take
Jesus Loves the Little Children and they change it to a praise of Obama. So that's a cultic
mentality. Rock stars often have a cult-like following. I'm just trying to help you to
understand the word cult. There will be a cult-like following around rock stars, where
people will go backstage and they're shaking, and they're crying, and they're getting
the autograph, and it's like a worship of these stars, whether it be actors or musicians
or movie stars, whether it be a political leader like Stalin or Obama or somebody like
that who has this cult-like following, where people are obsessed, where people worship
him beyond what's normal. There are a lot of leaders that are admired. There's nothing
wrong with admiring a leader, looking up to a leader, a hero, or a role model or a
mentor. That's great. Not against that. But it crosses a line when you're crying and falling
on your face and staring at a picture of him before you go to bed at night. That's the
problem. When you have a cardboard life-size of him in your house, that's where it gets
better. So nothing wrong with looking up to somebody and admiring a politician or admiring
someone, as long as you're admiring the right people. But not this cult-like worship.
Now, so how does that apply in a religious sense? Because I'm just teaching you about
the word cult in our society. It's used about rock stars. Have you ever heard of a movie?
Who's ever heard of a movie being called a cult classic? Cult classic. It just means
people are just really into that movie. But the word cult is used centering around a man
where they basically lift up a man and basically whatever that guy says, they're just going
to follow him. Now, of course, here's some classic examples. Jim Jones. Who knows who
Jim Jones is? He's a cult leader because he basically took all of his followers, he went
to live in a compound somewhere, shut out the outside world, and he was basically like
a dictator, like they obey everything he says. He dictates every part of their life. And
then he basically instructs them all to commit suicide and drink poison Kool-Aid. And some
people were forced to drink the Kool-Aid, others drank it on their own. And we're talking
literally, what was it, 900 and some casualties? Does anybody know the number? About 900 and
some. I mean, did you hear me? 900 and some casualties that drank the Kool-Aid with Jim
Jones. Okay, that's a cult. If somebody can just tell you, drink this poison Kool-Aid,
okay, that's what a cult is. You know, another cult is like Charles Manson. He told people
to do all these horrific murders and they just obeyed him. That's a cult where the leader
can do no wrong. Whatever the leader says, we're just going to believe. Now, those are
extreme examples. You know, David Koresh is another one, extreme example of a cult. But
you can look at other cults like Mormonism is a cult. Joseph Smith, you know, starts
this bizarre religion, changes everything. And basically what Joseph Smith said and taught
supersedes the Bible to them. What Brigham Young taught supersedes the Bible. And when
he says, I'm going to start marrying all these young girls and I'm going to have multiple
wives because God told me to do this? And they're just relinquishing all these girls
and young ladies to them? Well, guess what? That's a cult. Because this leader is saying
these bizarre things that contradict the Bible, but people are going with the leader over
the Bible. And really, I have to say, I think Catholicism is the biggest cult in the world.
Because the Pope is like a cult leader. Because what he says goes against the Bible, do people
worship the Pope? Oh yeah, they bow down and worship him. They get on their knees and on
their face before him. And I talk to Catholics all the time and they say, well, we don't
worship the Pope. I say, if the Pope landed at the airport, would people bow down and
before him? Well, okay, I see your point. Because guess what? People would. They'll
bow down and kiss the Pope's big toe or whatever. And that is cult-like, where you lift up first.
And people will literally just want to touch the Pope. And basically, if they can just
touch the hem of his garment. Well, you know what? That's great if he's Jesus, but he's
not. He's a human being. And guess what? People tried to treat the Apostles that way in the
Bible, where they bowed down to Peter and they bowed down to Paul. And they always got
angry and told them, get up on your feet. I'm a man like you are. Don't get on your
knees before me. Don't worship me. But Mormonism is definitely a cult because Joseph Smith
and Brigham Young, with all their bizarre doctrines about other gods and other planets
and other galaxies and other wives, are just accepted by the followers. And we all need
to move across the country and go to Salt Lake City and get away from all this oppressive
government that's telling us only one wife per man. We've got to get away from all that
stuff. That's a cult. And so, can churches become cult-like? Any church can become cult-like
when the pastor becomes a god-man who can do no wrong. That's when a church becomes
a cult, is when the pastor starts running your personal life. And basically, he's making
your decisions for you. He's running your home. And he's actually to the point where
he can preach anything. And you're just going to say, well, because Pastor Anderson said
that, I already know it's true. I don't even need to see what the Bible says. That's a
cult. But guess what? Is that how our church is? No. And really, people will say, independent
fundamental Baptists are a cult. Like, they'll put the whole gamut of all independent. And
here's the key word, independent. So we're not affiliated with any of these. I mean,
there are independent Baptist churches in Phoenix. Guess what? We're not affiliated
with any of them. Not even one of them. But they'll try to put a blanket like, independent
Baptists are a cult. Okay, well then who's our cult leader? I mean, who is the cult leader
of independent Baptists? Can anyone really point to one leader that we have as Baptists?
No. Anybody who knows anything about independent Baptists knows that we don't get along with
each other. I mean, in our church we do. But the church down the street, let me tell you
something. We don't get along with each other. Because independent Baptists are very different
from one another. I mean, there are types of independent Baptists that are night and
day from each other. And so, whoa, look at what cult? Who's the leader? I'll tell you
who the leader is. Jesus. You know, if you want to call us a cult for worshiping Jesus,
well, that's who we were. That's who we followed. That's who we bowed down to. Jesus Christ.
And we don't have any leader. No one else can point to a leader. I mean, name the leader.
Because I guarantee you, if you named any big famous independent Baptist leader, less
than half of independent Baptists would even like that guy. And the rest of them would
say, hey, I don't want to be anywhere around that guy. If you named the big name preacher
or something like that. And in our church, this isn't a cult because we have hard preaching
and go to church three times a week and do a lot of soul winning. Is anybody making you
do that? Is there anybody where I'm making you go soul winning? Or I've made you change
your life. Okay, honey, you're my wife. No, I'm just kidding. Our family is a cult. But
anyway, the thing is, nobody ever has told you, hey, you need to make this change in
your personal life. You have to change the way that you dress. And you have to change
jobs. And you have to do this. And you have to be out soul winning. And you have to be.
Nobody's ever told you that because you're not in a cult. Okay. So that's what a cult
is. And that's what the world will try to get you to be ashamed of going to church or
something. Oh, you're in a cult. You know, if you're not a Catholic or if you're not
in a big mega church, you must be in one of these cult churches. Well, just ask them,
well, who's my cult leader? And whoever they tell you, it's like, well, what did he ever
tell me to do? What did he ever make me do? And so that's what a cult is. So I just want
to make sure that you know what it means. Because a lot of people don't even know what
a cult means. Sometimes people just throw words around and they don't really know what
they mean. So hopefully that helps you to understand what the word cult means. And the
word sect pretty much means the same thing. It kind of has the same connotation. So back
to the message here. It says, this sect, concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken
against. And when they appointed him a day, there came many to him under his logic. Must
not have been that small of a place if that many people could come over. I mean, a big
group is coming over to his logic. To whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of
God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets
from morning till evening. So he's preaching to these people all day long. I mean, he starts
in the morning and he preaches to them the Bible. What's he preaching about? One word,
Jesus. And what's he preaching out of? And which part of the Bible? The Old Testament.
The Old Testament, the law of Moses and out of the prophets from morning. You know what
that tells me? That tells me that the Old Testament must talk a lot about Jesus. I mean,
if he could get up and preach for 10 hours or 12 hours, all about Jesus using only the
Old Testament, that shows me that the Bible talks a lot about Jesus and the Old Testament.
That's why it says in Acts 10, 43, they would give all the prophets witness that through
his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive permission of sins. Verse 24, this
is the reaction whenever you go soloing. Whenever you preach the gospel unto people. In any
scenario, whether it's in your house or at somebody else's house, some believe the things
which are spoken and some believe not. That's the key right there. Some believe it, some
didn't. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed them. After that, Paul had spoken
the word. Well spake the Holy Ghost by his eyes, the prophet unto our fathers, saying,
Go unto this people and say, Hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing
ye shall see and not perceive. For the heart of this people is waxed and gross, and their
ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their
eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted,
and I should yield them. Be it known therefore unto you that the salvation of God is sent
unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it. And when he had said those words, the
Jews departed and had great reasoning among themselves. Paul dwelt two whole years in
his own hired house, and receiving all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of
God and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence,
no man forbidding him. Now let me just finish up with this one thought. I brought this up
a few weeks ago, and I want you to read about it and think about it and digest it for a
few weeks until we got to tonight, the final ending of the story here. Every church that
I've pretty much been to, or every time you hear preaching on the Apostle Paul, or you
hear this in Bible college, you get this in history books, will tell you that Paul was
beheaded by Rome, by Nero. And that's when he died a martyr's death for the cause of
Christ, and Nero was burning Christians at the stake, and he cut off Paul's head. Now,
is there any evidence of that in the Bible? Now, let's just stop and think about this,
okay? I'm going to show you some evidence against that really quickly before we go.
Look at the last two verses. These are the two final verses of the book of Acts. Now
let me ask you this. Do you think that we're missing part of the book of Acts? Is there
like a chunk that's missing? Or is this how God intended the book to end? I believe that
this book is complete. God's word is complete. This is not a partial copy of the book of
Acts. These are the final two verses of the book of Acts. It says, And Paul dwelt two
whole years in his own hired house. So he has his own house. And is it one that he owns
or rents? Well, he's renting it, because it says his own hired house. So he's renting
out a house. He's renting a house. And received all that came into him, preaching the kingdom
of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at this. With
all confidence, no man forbidding him. So is anybody saying, hey, you're not allowed
to preach the Bible? You're not allowed to preach Jesus Christ. You're breaking the law.
You're doing something wrong here. No. No man forbidding him. He was legally allowed.
I mean, he was within his rights here. Totally legal for him to be there for two years in
his own house and preach the gospel and teach the Bible. Nobody's gotten him. Now, what
happened after that? Because something happened at the end of those two years, didn't it?
Because it doesn't say he was there three years or four years or five. It says he was
there two years. What happened at the end of the two years? Now, would this make sense
to you? We just read a couple of chapters where it's told us how he's getting all this
special treatment and we don't even need to guard him. Just put one soldier over there
and whatever. He's being treated very well. He's being put up at the Sheridan on that
island. Everybody else is thrown into, they're around the campfire or whatever, and he's
in the nicest building in the whole island. He's being treated well as a prisoner. The
Romans don't really care about the charges against him because they said this man has
done nothing worthy of death or boss. He's in his own house. Would it really make sense
to say, you know, he preached the kingdom of God, no man forbidding him, and then they
cut his head off the next day? I mean, but that's what basically I've been taught my
entire life. I mean, who's heard that before in church? You know, Paul was beheaded. I
mean, that's what you hear. It's not true. Go to 2 Timothy. Now, 2 Timothy is the last
book that Paul wrote because he talks about it and how his life is pretty much over and
how he's pretty much finished all the work that God gave him to do. So let's go to 2
Timothy and let's look at the last book, or I'm sorry, 2 Timothy, the last book that the
apostle Paul wrote. And while you're turning there, I'll read for you a verse from Philippians
chapter 4. It says in verse number 22, all the saints salute you, chiefly they that are
of Caesar's household. So right here we see that some of Caesar's household were saved
because Paul is passing on a greeting to the Philippians saying, hey, all the Christians,
all the saints say hi, and by the way, especially those of Caesar's household. That sounds pretty
good. Look at 2 Timothy chapter, let's start in 2 Timothy chapter 3. It says in verse 10,
but thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity,
patience. Look at verse 11. This is Paul talking to Timothy. The end of his life, the last
book he wrote, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium,
at Lystra, what persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. So
he talked about, hey, I've been persecuted, I've been afflicted, but out of all these
persecutions and afflictions, the Lord delivered me. Look at chapter 4, verse number 6. 2 Timothy
4 says, for I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. Now
the word departure is used in the Bible about death. And he says, the time of my departure,
have you ever heard of like your departed loved ones? It means they died. He says the
time of my departure is at hand. It's about to happen. I have fought a good fight. I have
finished my course. I have kept the faith. Heads forth there is laid up for me a crown
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not
to me only, but in the all and also that loves appearing. So we see here that first
in chapter 3 Paul said, you know, God has delivered me out of all my persecutions and
afflictions. Then in chapter 4 he says, you know what, I'm about to die. My life is over.
I've finished the work that God gave me to do. I've finished my course. I've kept the
faith. The time of my departure is at hand. So does Paul realize that he's about to die?
He knows that. He's predicting that. He's saying, I'm about to die. The time of my departure
is at hand. Okay? Now look at verse number 16 of chapter 4. And my first answer, no man
stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me. And by the way, he'll always stand with you when
no one else will. And strengthen me that by me the preaching might be fully known and
that all the Gentiles might hear and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion and
the Lord shall deliver me, that's future tense, the Lord shall deliver me from every evil
work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom to be glory forever and ever. Amen.
So the last epistle that he wrote, the last thing he said, the last statement out of his
mouth and the last epistle is that the Lord is going to deliver me from every evil work.
I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. I was delivered out of my persecution. I was
delivered out of these afflictions. And then he just gives the greeting in verse 19, you
know, salute, priska, quilla. He just gives the greeting. The last statement was hey,
I'm going to be delivered from everything. Now does that, if the time of his departure
being at hand meant that he knew he was about to get his head cut off, would that make any
sense that he says, yep, and I was delivered from all the persecution. But I'm also, did
I mention I'm about to have my head cut off. But God's going to deliver me from every persecution
but I know that I'm about to have my head cut off. Well, that's not deliverance. You
know, having your head chopped off is not being delivered from the persecutions and
the afflictions in the mouth of the lion. And there's no vital evidence at all of that.
It's just a fairytale. It's what it is. It's a fairytale. He died of natural causes. He
says here I'm about to die but he says it's not my persecution. It's not that I'm going
to be killed for the cause of Christ or murder. He's just saying my life's over. I'm about
to depart. It's about done. And he was in that higher house for two years and that's
the end of the story. The end of the two years was the end of Paul. And so be careful
what you just blindly believe and accept because search the scriptures and you'll see that
there's no evidence of Paul being dead. There's no evidence in the Bible of the Roman Empire
persecuting Christians at the time that the Bible was written. Not that they didn't later,
you know, but that's outside the scope of the Bible. I don't care what happened later.
I'm talking about what happened during the Bible days. You won't see it. They were trying
to protect them from the Jews that were trying to persecute them. So that's what the Bible
teaches and that's the end of the book of Acts as far as it's never worth a prayer.
Father, thank you so much for your word and the book of Acts and the great truths that
we've studied and read over the last 28 weeks as we went through the book of Acts. And God,
I pray that you just bless these truths down to our ears and help us to apply them to our
life and help our church to be a book of Acts kind of church that's out living the exciting
life of reaching the gospel, winning souls for Christ. Help us to be following the great
examples that we see in the book of Acts and avoiding some of the mistakes that people
made in the book and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.