We see Saul yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the church of Jerusalem.
We saw Saul in chapter number 7 at the end of chapter 7 when Stephen was stoned.
If you remember, they laid down their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.
And Saul was consenting unto his death.
We saw in chapter 8 that Saul was continuing to persecute the believers.
And in chapter 9 it says,
And Saul yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord went unto the high priest,
and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way,
whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
So basically he's not satisfied anymore to persecute the believers at Jerusalem.
Now he wants to go actually into a foreign city.
He wants to go into another nation.
He wants to go into Syria, into Damascus, and just find all the believers that are there who are of Jewish descent,
and basically drag them back to Jerusalem to put them on trial for what they believe.
So Saul is just vehemently persecuting the believers.
Now in 1 Timothy, the Bible explains to us a little bit about Saul.
It says that he obtained mercy.
He said, I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
It said in Galatians that he thought it was good to persecute them.
He was just trying to excel in the Jews' religion.
So he was sincere, but he was sincerely wrong.
And so he's persecuting God's people.
Well, look what happens in verse 3.
It says,
And he said,
Now let me stop here and just point something out here.
I want to give Brother Garrett, this is the NIV, you know, one of the newer versions of the Bible here.
And I want to warn you about these new versions because they don't stay true to the word here,
and they actually pretty much chop out almost two complete verses here.
So I'm going to have Brother Garrett turn in Acts chapter 9 in one of these modern perversions of the Bible,
and I'm going to show you why we don't use these things and why this church is King James only.
And Matt, you can go ahead and look it up in that one if you would.
You got it, Brother Garrett?
So everybody, if you would, look down at your King James Bible in Acts chapter 9,
and look at verse 4, and Brother Garrett's going to read verses 4 through 7,
and you look down at your Bible while he reads.
Nice and loud, Brother Garrett.
He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him,
Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?
Who are you, Lord? Saul asked.
I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, he replied.
Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.
There you go.
So did you see a huge chunk that was missing?
He basically left out the whole part where he said,
It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
That's all gone.
So pretty much you have that whole thing gone.
Now look, the Bible warns us not to add to or take away from his word,
and these new so-called versions are taking out whole chunks of the Bible,
whole pieces of these famous stories, and you can't even recognize them.
You know, the same thing with the New American Standard Version here.
We're not going to take time to look at it.
But basically, Paul, who was at this time called Saul,
later he's going to be called the Apostle Paul,
he's going down the road, he's on his way to go persecute the Christians,
and all of a sudden there's just this bright light from heaven,
and he's just in shock as he hears this voice that says,
Saul, Saul, why persecuteest thou me?
And he said, Well, who are you?
And he says, I'm Jesus, what's thou persecutest?
And he tells him at the end of verse 6, if you look at your Bible,
he says, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
So God doesn't really tell him what he must do.
He doesn't really tell him how to be saved.
He doesn't give him all the information.
He just sends him to the man who's going to show him,
which is a man named Ananias.
So it says in verse 7, The men which journeyed with him
stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.
And Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened,
he saw no man, but they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
So basically, when the light goes away and the voice goes away,
he's completely blind. He can't see anything.
So he actually has to be led by the hand into the city.
So the people that are journeying with them,
they take Saul by the hand and guide him into town
because he's completely lost his eyesight.
And it says in verse 9, And he was three days without sight,
and neither did eat nor drink.
So he's so shook up, and he doesn't really know what to make of all this,
so he can't see a thing, and he just doesn't want to eat, doesn't want to drink.
He's just fasting, just seeking God.
And it says in verse 10, And there was a certain disciple at Damascus
named Ananias.
So this is basically one of the guys that he was going to go try to arrest.
And it says, To him said the Lord in a vision,
Ananias, and he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.
And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the street which is called Straight,
and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus,
and behold, he prayeth. So you see he was praying and fasting.
And it says, He had seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in
and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight.
Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man
how much evil he has done to thy saints at Jerusalem.
And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.
So God is telling this man Ananias, Go find Saul.
Go lay hands on him. He will receive his sight.
And then you are going to basically preach the gospel unto him.
And he says, Wait a minute. I have heard of this guy.
He is here to arrest the believers.
So he does not want to do it.
But God tells him in verse 15, But the Lord said unto him,
Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name
before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.
For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
And Ananias went his way and entered into the house
and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord even Jesus
that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest has sent me
that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales
and he received sight forthwith and arose and was baptized
and when he had received meat he was strengthened.
Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were Damascus.
So basically he gets there. He meets Ananias.
Ananias heals him of his blindness. Ananias preaches the Gospel unto him.
He gets saved. He gets baptized.
Go to Acts 22 because we are going to see a little more detail on this in Acts 22.
Later on in Acts 22, Paul is going to look back to this
and tell this story again with a few more details this time.
Look at Acts 22.
This is Paul later telling the story and he says in verse 8
And I answered, Who art thou, Lord?
And he said, I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecuteest.
We already saw that part.
But if we go down to verse 10 he says, And I said, What shall I do, Lord?
And the Lord said unto me, Arise and go into Damascus
and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.
And when I could not see for the glory of that light,
being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.
Jump down to verse 13.
He came unto me and stood and said unto me,
Brother Saul received thy sight in the same hour I looked upon him
and he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee
that thou shouldest know his will and see that just one
and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.
For thou shalt be a witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.
And now why terriest thou? Arise and be baptized
and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
And it came to pass that when I was coming into Jerusalem,
while I prayed, and we'll get to that in a second,
but wait a minute. Let me ask you something.
When did he get saved?
Because most people will preach, I've heard them preach my whole life,
Oh, Saul got saved on the road to Damascus.
Saul's conversion on the road to Damascus.
Hold on a second here.
The Bible says here that it was after he got with Ananias
and Ananias preached unto him,
after Ananias laid hands on him,
that he called upon the name of the Lord, washing away his sins.
That did not take place until three days later.
So he didn't get saved on that road to Damascus.
He called upon the name of the Lord three days later
when Ananias preached the gospel unto him.
And the reason I want to make a point about that
is because all throughout the Bible,
God uses people to win other people to Christ.
He used this man Ananias to win Saul to Christ.
You see, Jesus Christ does not just appear unto people
and just get them saved.
Because if he did, we wouldn't have to preach the gospel.
The Bible, Jesus said,
as long as I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world.
But he just said it at the right hand of the Father,
and he said, as my Father has sent me, so send I you.
And the Bible says that he's committed to us,
the ministry of reconciliation.
He told us, go ye therefore and teach all nations.
He said, go ye into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature.
That's our job to preach the gospel to our fellow man.
God uses man to preach the gospel unto man.
And so Jesus, instead just appearing to Saul in the way
and just preaching the gospel unto him
and getting him saved right there.
No, he just directed him to the man
that he needed to see to get the gospel.
He said, look, you're on your way to Damascus.
He said, you need to go find this man Ananias.
He'll tell you what you need to do.
He'll tell you how to be saved.
He'll preach the truth unto you, and that's what happened.
We're going to go over it next week,
but in Acts chapter 10, pretty much the same thing happened.
Because in Acts chapter 10, there was a man named Cornelius,
who was another guy who was very sincere.
He was a good guy, but he wasn't saved.
He didn't know Jesus Christ at all,
and he was just following the Jewish religion.
He was mixed up. He didn't understand salvation.
And what happened is God sent his angel and spoke to him again.
He just directed him to the man he needed to see.
He told Cornelius, go to this place.
He said, you're going to find a man named Peter.
Peter's going to preach you the truth.
Cornelius went. He found Peter.
Peter preached unto him the gospel.
Go to Acts 10 quickly.
Well, keep your finger in Acts 22,
because I want to show you something in Acts 22.
Keep your finger in Acts 22,
and I'm going to show you something in Acts chapter 10.
Because a lot of people will try to misconstrue this story also
and try to say that baptism saves.
Let me show you something in Acts chapter 10,
because this is just the next chapter where a similar story takes place.
Peter basically is preaching the gospel to Cornelius.
Cornelius has been shown in a vision that he needs to find Peter.
And he's preaching, and here's what he preached in verse 43.
This is Peter preaching in Acts 10, 43.
To him give all the prophets witness that through his name
whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
So that's what salvation is. It's whosoever believeth, right?
So he says, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
And look at verse 44.
While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished,
as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost,
for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.
Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized,
which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord,
then prayed they him to tarry a certain date.
So we see right there, first they believed, and they'd already received the Holy Spirit,
then they were baptized after they got saved.
They were already saved, they heard God's word, they believed God's word, then they got baptized.
The Bible talked about in Acts chapter 8, a guy who wanted to be baptized,
he said, If thou believeth with all thine heart, thou mayest.
And the answer said, I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
But here's why people misunderstand this verse.
Go to Acts 22 again.
Here's why people get confused.
Because baptism is a picture of salvation.
But baptism is not salvation itself.
A lot of people confuse the picture with the real thing.
For example, this ring on my finger is symbolic of the fact that I'm married.
Now if I take this ring off, I'm still married, right?
Or am I not married anymore?
I'm still married, it's just a symbol, okay?
Now if I take it off and put it on someone else, that doesn't make them married to my wife, does it?
This is just symbolic.
Look, if I didn't wear a wedding ring, I'd still be married.
But why do I wear a wedding ring?
To show other people that I'm married.
It's not to show me, I already know I'm married.
But this way, people just see right away, they know, hey, this is a married man.
And that's why I wear a ring, to show that unto others.
Well, baptism is a picture also.
It is also symbolic of salvation because it pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And the Bible talks about the fact that if we believe on Christ, you know, basically, we are a new creature in Christ.
You know, pictured by the resurrection.
And just as Jesus Christ was raised up, we will be raised up at the first resurrection as well to be with Christ to meet the Lord in the air.
And so the Bible is clear that baptism is not salvation.
It is just a picture of salvation and it takes place after salvation.
But see, here's where people get mixed up.
Look at Acts 22, it says in verse 16,
And now why terriest thou? Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord.
Calling upon the name of the Lord is what brings salvation.
That's what washes away your sins.
The Bible says He's washed us from our sins in His own blood, Revelation 1.
Not just in the waters of a river or waters of a baptistry tank.
The Bible says unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.
Now, is baptism a picture of salvation? Yes.
But baptism does not bring salvation.
The Bible says that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
It says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
And so Paul got saved by calling upon the name of the Lord.
Because the Bible says for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
He believed the word that Ananias preached unto him.
He called upon God, washed away his sins, and then got baptized.
Now, let me prove to you that baptism doesn't save.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1.
And one thing you need to understand too is that baptism didn't even exist until John the Baptist.
I mean, in the Old Testament they weren't baptizing people.
But they were still saved by calling upon the name of the Lord.
You know, looking forward unto the Messiah that should come.
But look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1.
And you tell me whether you believe that baptism saves.
Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 14.
I thank God, 1 Corinthians 14,
I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius.
Now wait, baptism saves? I mean, you think you just want to baptize everybody? You can't.
But he said, I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius.
Lest any should say that I had baptized in my own name.
And I baptized also the house of Stephanas.
And besides, I know not whether I baptized any.
For Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel.
So let me tell you something. Is baptism the gospel?
No, because he said, I was not sent to baptize, I was sent to preach the gospel.
So we're talking about two different things here.
You see, preaching the gospel is something that we all do.
Who here has ever preached the gospel to somebody?
Probably almost every hand would say, hey, I've opened the Bible and showed somebody the gospel.
Who here has baptized somebody?
What? You see the difference?
Because not everybody is sent to baptize, are they?
But let me tell you something, every single one of us is sent to preach the gospel.
But the gospel does not involve baptizing someone.
It involves you preaching the word and they believe on Christ.
Baptism is a step of obedience.
You see, if baptism is somehow washing away the sins itself, then why was Jesus baptized?
Jesus didn't have any sins. Jesus didn't need to be saved.
Jesus is the savior.
But Jesus was baptized picturing his death, burial, and resurrection,
which is the exact same thing we picture when we get baptized.
That's all that is.
And the Bible teaches you should be baptized after you get saved,
just as a step of obedience.
I got saved when I was a six-year-old boy and I got baptized when I was nine years old.
But the point is I was still saved when I was seven, I was saved when I was eight,
because I got saved when I was six and I was eternally saved.
Let's go back to Acts 9 with that in mind.
So I want to get the story right here.
God appeared unto Saul on the road to Damascus
and just basically directed him toward the man that he needed to see that would preach the gospel.
Because God uses a human instrument to preach his word.
Hey, let's not just sit back and say,
well, if God really wants somebody to be saved, God will get them saved.
Hey, God wants everybody to be saved.
But it's our job to go out and preach the gospel.
Because he gave us that job.
He's not going to go do it for us.
He said, you go out into the highways and edges
and compel them to come in that my house may be filled.
You go out and preach the gospel. He's not going to do it for us.
That's our job as believers.
That's what they're doing all throughout the book of Acts, preaching the gospel.
So we saw here how Ananias is the one who won him to Christ and baptized him and everything.
Well, it says in verse 19, when he had received meat, he was strengthened.
Because remember, he hasn't eaten in three days.
He hasn't eaten or drunk in three days.
So he eats some food and he feels better.
You know, he's got his strength back.
It says, then we saw certain days with the disciples which read Damascus.
And watch this, I love this part, verse 20.
And straightway, he preached Christ in the synagogues that he is the son of God.
Now, hold on a second.
Straightway means immediately.
Now, did he wait until he got a lot more grounded?
Did he wait until he'd been in church for a few years?
Did he, no.
It just says immediately after he got saved, he started preaching.
He started preaching the gospel.
The Jesus Christ, the son of God.
You say, well, I don't know if I could give somebody the gospel.
Well, if you're saved, you should know how to be saved.
If you're saved, how'd you get saved?
Tell somebody else how to be saved.
You know, show them a few verses from the Bible.
You may not know that many verses, but do you know John 3.16?
Show them John 3.16.
Show them the verses that you know.
Show them the verses on the back of the invitation that we hand out.
There's some scriptures here.
You can right away start soul with it.
You can right away get out there and even just be a silent partner, go with somebody.
But Paul immediately, he didn't wait around.
He just immediately went out and started preaching the gospel right away.
He didn't say, oh, I'm not ready.
You know, I need to wait a little bit and get a little more grounded.
Hey, he just preached the part that he knew.
Jesus Christ, the son of God.
He knew that part.
He just started preaching it.
And so it says in verse 21,
But all that heard him were amazed,
and said, Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem,
and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound under the chief praises?
Wait a minute, isn't this the guy who hates Christianity?
He's preaching the gospel?
So they're shocked.
But Saul increased, the Bible says in verse 22,
the more in strength and confounded the Jews which dwelt in Damascus,
proving that this is very Christ.
He confounded them, meaning that he stumped them.
You know, they tried to argue with them.
They tried to prove them wrong, and he stumped them every time.
Now let me ask you something, though.
It says there that he proved to them that this is very Christ.
What was the proof?
Because if you think about it, you know,
the proof that he was using was the word of God.
I mean, he's basically using the Old Testament scriptures
to prove unto the Jews, hey, this is very Christ.
Jesus Christ, the son of God.
He didn't have some kind of a, you know, hey, here's a photo,
you know, or here's a video of him rising from the dead.
Or here's a fossil, you know, that proves that, you know,
Noah's ark was really there or something.
You know, we need to understand that if we're going to get people saved,
it's the same proof today that we use.
The Bible says faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
The Bible says that we need to preach the word.
The word is what saves. The word is what's going to commit.
The Bible says faith is the substance of things so forth,
the evidence of things not seen.
And evidence is another word for proof.
The evidence.
Faith.
Faith in what?
Faith in the word of God.
How do I know that God created the world?
Because the Bible says in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
How do I know Jesus rose again?
Because the Bible says that he rose again.
The Bible says that he died on the cross.
The Bible says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus
and shalt believe in thy heart that God is raised and for the dead thou shalt be saved.
That's how I know. That's the proof.
You know, you'll go out to someone and you run into atheists and agnostics
that will say, you know, what proof do you have that the Bible is true?
Right? Where's the proof?
Well, where's the proof that you came from a monkey?
You know what I mean?
They say, oh, where's the evidence?
You know, where's the proof?
You know, all I have is God's word.
Some atheist told me not to argue.
He said, well, you know, can you do it without the Bible?
Can you explain me how to be saved without the Bible?
I said, no.
He said, because everything I believe is based on the Bible.
You know, without the Bible, you're not going to get saved.
You know, well, I'm not just going to tell you my opinion
of some science fact of why I think the world is only 6,244 years old,
you know, and it's not billions and billions of years old,
and it didn't come from a, you know, an explosion from a mass
that was the size of a marble, you know, and then it exploded into the whole universe.
You know, no, I don't have any proof that that's not true, you know,
but I got God's word right here, and the power of God's word,
and I've told these atheists, because I run into them in Tempe all the time
when I'm soloing around ASU, I'll preach them the whole gospel.
I'll give them about 15 or 16 scriptures, and I'll say, hey, I gave you 15 or 16 scriptures.
If you don't believe these scriptures, you know, I just say, see you later.
I mean, I can't do anything for you because it's God's word that's going to save you.
Look at 1 Corinthians 2, 1 Corinthians chapter number 2.
Keep your finger in an ax, we'll be back there in a minute,
but look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2.
See, today there's a movement that says, well, if we can prove creation, we'll get people saved,
if we can just disprove evolution, but hold on a second.
Evolution was only invented like 150 years ago.
Was everybody saved before that or something?
Was everybody saved 200 years ago? No.
So maybe that's not the big problem why people aren't saved,
because 150 years ago or 200 years ago, there was no theory of evolution,
and yet the majority was still not saved.
The majority still did not believe on Jesus Christ,
and there's a movement today that just says, oh, if we can just prove intelligent design and the Creator.
Look, intelligent design is not the gospel.
Hey, thou believeth that there's one God, thou doest well, the devils also believe and tremble.
You know, believing in one God isn't what's in it.
You better believe that it's the Lord Jesus Christ that's your Savior.
That's how you're saved, not just believing in a supreme being.
And the word supreme being is not in the Bible, and intelligent design is not in the Bible.
How about God design? How about the Lord Jesus Christ design?
That's what you've got to believe in.
And so it says, where did I have you turn? 1 Corinthians 2.
Look at chapter 2, verse 1.
And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom,
declaring unto you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
That's the message that the lost need to hear. That's the only message.
He said, look, when I came to you with the gospel, he said, I didn't come to you with excellency of speech or of wisdom.
I didn't have some fancy speech or some fancy, and go down a little bit.
He says in verse 3, and I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom.
He said, I didn't use man's wisdom and logic.
You know, that's the word today, logic.
I didn't use a bunch of logic to somehow logic with you, why this world is here, why Jesus...
No, he said, I didn't use a bunch of logic, because he said, I didn't want your faith, verse 5,
to stand in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God.
He said, howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect,
yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world would it come to not,
but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery.
He said, look, when somebody's saved, we preach all kinds of wisdom to them.
I mean, when somebody's saved, those that are perfect, when they come to church, hey, we'll preach them the whole book.
There's all kinds of wisdom, not the wisdom of the world, but the wisdom of God.
We'll preach them the whole book.
But somebody who's unsaved needs to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ,
the death, burial, and resurrection from his word.
They don't need a science lecture, they need a Bible lecture.
And so we need to get back to the old-fashioned method of taking the Bible in your hand
and going out there with the Holy Spirit upon you and just preaching the gospel to somebody.
And is everybody going to get saved? No.
But that's God's method.
That's where the power is.
We don't want people's faith to rest in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God.
And the power of God is in this book right here.
Jesus said, the words that I say unto you, they are spirit, they are light.
It is the spirit that quickeneth.
It's God's word that spoke this world into existence.
It's God's word that does everything that he's ever done.
And so we need to go soul winning with the word of God, not our cunning argument.
You know, I can prove the existence of God in 60 seconds using physics.
You know, I'm sick of it.
This is what we need.
Preaching the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Paul said, I was determined.
He said, I knew I was going to Corinth and you guys are into all this Greek philosophy
and your little allegory of the cave and Plato and Aristotle and Socrates.
And you've got all your worldly wisdom and all your epicurean and stoicism.
He said, I don't need that garden.
He said, I just determined I wasn't even going to get into that.
He said, I just determined not to waste my time with it.
I just wanted to go there and just preach Jesus Christ and him crucified.
He said, that's what I wanted to do.
Because he said, I didn't want to just argue you into salvation.
No, I wanted to preach the word of God.
And he said, hey, I know that works.
I know that people will get saved if I go out and preach the word.
You know, people say soul winning doesn't work.
Next time I decided this, Brother Gordon and I talked about this,
that whenever anybody says that soul winning doesn't work in a certain area
or going door to door doesn't work, here's our standard answer.
It's going to be like a knee jerk. No, you don't work.
Oh, you know, door to door doesn't work in my area.
No, you don't work in your area.
Were you coming in with me on that?
Somebody says to me, well, soul winning doesn't work in my area.
No, you don't work in your area.
Soul winning doesn't work in Australia.
No, you don't work in Australia.
Because if you work God's, God's methods work.
It's just that you don't work.
Because if you do the work, God's methods will work.
And people who say, you know, well, it doesn't work.
You know, preaching the gospel doesn't work.
Why don't they just say, I don't work?
I'm lazy. I'm a pastor, but I won't preach.
Because I'm too lazy to go out
and I don't want to get my hands dirty in that neighborhood
or, you know, I'd rather just sit in my ivory tower somewhere or whatever.
You know, if you do the work, the methods will work.
Because it's God's word that will do the work
and God's spirit that will do the work.
And so we see that, go back to Acts chapter 9.
Hey, he proved to them that it was Christ from the scriptures.
Many places where we see Paul going to the synagogues
that says he used the scriptures.
It says that he proved to them and expounded them the scriptures
just like Philip started at the same scripture in Acts 8
and preached unto him Christ.
It says in verse 23,
and after that many days were fulfilled,
the Jews took counsel to kill him.
See, Paul's method was working a little too good.
He's getting all kinds of people saved
and they said, we've got to kill this guy.
You know, he's going to preach everybody Jesus Christ
and they're going to realize that we're teaching them a false religion.
And so they wanted to kill him.
And their lying weight was known of Saul
and they watched the gates day and night to kill him.
Then the disciples took him by night
and led him down by the wall in a basket.
And when Saul was come to Jerusalem,
he has saved to join himself to the disciples.
So basically they're trying to kill Saul.
He wants to just get out of dodge.
So he basically goes to the wall of Damascus
and they lower him down in a basket at night
just to help him escape town before the Jews come to kill him.
He heads over to Jerusalem
and he has saved, that means he attempted
to join himself to the disciples.
So he gets back to Jerusalem
and he wants to start going to church, you know.
So he shows up at the door of the church in Jerusalem
and they're like, whoa, you're not coming in here
because he was the one who persecuted them in time past.
But they were all afraid of him, it says in verse 26.
And believe not that he was a disciple,
they thought he was just like an imposter,
like an infiltrator trying to creep in
and figure out who the Christians were
and really get them arrested.
It says in verse 27,
But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles
and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way
and how he had spoken to them
and how he had preached boldly at Damascus
in the name of Jesus.
And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem
and he spake boldly.
Did you notice that word just keeps coming up, boldly?
It says, hey, we saw him speak boldly in Damascus
and then he spoke boldly in Jerusalem.
Maybe that's why Paul was so effective.
Maybe that's why he had so many people saved.
Maybe that's why he started churches all over the world
because he was preaching boldly.
He wasn't some namby-pamby,
well, this is what I think or this is how I feel about it.
Well, Jesus Christ, he got up and preached boldly.
He wasn't afraid of them.
He got up and preached what needed to be preached without fear
because God has not given us the spirit of fear
but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
The opposite of fear is preaching with power.
It's not powerful about a pastor who's afraid of his own shadow
and can't get up and preach God's word when it needs to be preached
because he's afraid of what somebody's going to think about it.
It's not weakness. It's not power.
And so he preached boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus
and disputed against the Grecians but they went about to slay him.
So they're trying to kill him again in Jerusalem.
Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea
and sent him forth to Tarsus.
Then at the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee
and Samaria and were edified and walking in the fear of the Lord
and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied.
And it came to pass as Peter passed through all quarters,
he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda.
So basically we're leaving Paul now.
Paul had to get out of Jerusalem. People are trying to kill him again.
He heads down to Caesarea. He heads down to Tarsus.
Now we jump back and see where we left Peter.
Last time we saw Peter was in Acts chapter 8
when he was in Samaria helping confirm the souls that Philip had won to Christ
and praying for them, laying hands on them.
So here's Peter. He came down to Lydda. Look at verse 33.
There he found a certain man named Aeneas
which had kept his bed eight years and was sick of the palsy.
And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.
Arise and make thy bed, and he arose immediately.
And all that dwelt in Lydda and Saron saw him and turned to the Lord.
So he heals a man of palsy, a man who's been sick for eight years.
He lays hands on him. Jesus Christ is the one who healed him.
Peter just prayed that Jesus would heal him.
Look at verse 36. Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha
which by interpretation is called Dorcas.
Well, maybe you should go by Tabitha if those are your two names.
This woman was full of good works and alms deeds, which she did.
And it came to pass in those days that she was sick and died
whom when they had washed they laid her in an upper chamber.
This woman's dead. She got sick. She was a really nice lady.
She was a great Christian, but she died.
And they washed her body and laid her in an upper room
and they're ready for the funeral.
It says, and it came to pass, or I'm sorry verse number 38,
as for as much as Lydda was nigh to Joppa,
and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men
desiring him that he would not delay to come to them.
Then Peter arose and went with them.
When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber
and all the widows stood by him weeping
and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made while she was with them.
But Peter put them all forth and kneeled down and prayed.
And turning him to the body said,
Tabitha, arise.
And she opened her eyes and when she saw Peter
she sat up and he gave her his hand and lifted her up.
And when he had called the saints and widows, presented her alive
and it was known throughout all Joppa
and many believed in the Lord and it came to pass that he tarried many days in Joppa with Simon attack.
So here Peter actually prayed
and raised a dead body back to life.
He raised Tabitha completely from the dead.
Brought her back to life.
And so this is through a pair. Look at James chapter 5.
James chapter number 5.
James chapter number 5 is the last place we'll go tonight.
James 5.
The Bible says right here
in verse number 13 it says,
Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray.
Is any married? Let him sing psalms.
Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church
and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
And the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up
and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him.
Now, here's the thing.
In the Bible, obviously Jesus when he was on this world
he performed all kinds of miracles, right?
You know, he walked on water. He turned the water into wine.
He fed 5,000 with just 5 loaves and 2 fishes.
He healed a lot of sick folk.
He also raised some people from the dead.
Like there was a young boy who had died
and Jesus walked by the casket at the funeral
and basically raised him up from the dead.
There are a lot of people in the Old Testament who did similar things.
Now, the Bible says that the apostles in the book of Acts
they had special miracles. They even used the word special miracles.
God gave the apostles special power to heal the sick
when he sent them out two by two in Matthew 10 and Luke chapter 10.
The Bible says he gave them as apostles special ability,
special power to where they could do a lot of miracles.
A lot of the same miracles he did, Peter and the apostles did.
He gave them those special miracles.
Now look, I'm not an apostle. You're not an apostle.
The Bible tells in 1 Corinthians 15 that Paul was the last apostle.
He said, last of all, me.
I've preached on that and shown that.
But he was the final apostle.
But, here's the thing, we're not apostles.
We don't have that power where just anybody we touch
is just going to be healed and all these different things
that the apostles did, these mighty miracles.
But, God can still heal today.
Do we have the special power that just whoever we lay hands on is just going to recover?
No, we don't have that because we're not the apostles.
That was a special thing that happened at that time.
But, if you look in the Old Testament, there were times
where God moved in a powerful way with men like Elisha.
If you remember Elisha, he kneeled down and prayed upon a dead body
and that body recovered.
God does answer prayer today.
Do we have the power?
Am I going to say, just everywhere I go, everything I touch?
No, because I'm not one of the apostles of Jesus Christ.
That was then, this is now.
But, God does have the power to heal because even in James 5,
he said, look, if someone's sick, call the elders of the church,
have them anoint him with oil, pray over him in the name of the Lord,
the prayer of faith shall save the sick.
Now, God does not always choose to heal those who are sick.
There are many who are sick in the Bible and elsewhere.
Paul talked about how he had a thorn in his flesh.
And he said, I besought the Lord Christ.
He said, I prayed for you.
And God said, you know, my strength is sufficient for thee.
He said, my grace is sufficient for thee.
My strength is made perfect in weakness.
And so, God's not always going to heal everybody
because look, everybody gets sick and dies and so forth.
You know, we're human beings, we're in the flesh, we're frail.
And God has a plan in our lives.
But you know what, when you're sick, you should pray to God
and you should pray for others when they're sick and so forth
because many times God will heal the sick.
And he definitely has the power to do it whenever he wants to, you know.
And that's why the Bible says, and I think one thing that people need to understand about prayer,
it says in Philippians 4, he said, be careful for nothing,
but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known unto God
and the peace of God which passeth all understanding
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
He says in 1 Corinthians, I'm sorry, 1 John 5.14,
he said, this is the confidence that we have in him,
that if, well, let me turn there, it's on the tip of my tongue.
1 John 5.14, and this is the confidence that we have in him
that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us.
And if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask,
we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
And so the Bible is telling us, look, if we pray to God we know he hears us.
And if it's according to his will, he will grant our petition if it's what's right for us,
if it's the best thing at this time.
And so the peace of God is when we pray to God that he'll heal a sickness
or that he'll fix whatever other problem in our life,
we have the peace to know, hey, either God is going to step in here and do this
or that's just not his will at this time.
But we know that all things work together for good to them who love God,
to them who are called according to his purpose.
But if you don't pray, you don't have that peace, you don't know.
Because James said earlier, you have not because you have not.
Now if someone's sick and nobody prays, that person could get worse or die.
And if someone would have prayed, they could have been healed.
But because no one prayed, you know, God's not going to step in.
And here's the key too.
Go back to James, if you would, go back to James 5 real quick
and I'll show you the other key to it.
While you're turning there, I'll read you another scripture.
The Bible says in 1 John 3.22,
And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, talking about prayer,
whatsoever we ask, we receive of him because we keep his commandments
and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
So the way to get your prayers answered is by keeping God's commandments
and doing the things that are pleasing in his sight.
That's who he's going to listen to the most.
That's why Elisha and Elijah had so many miraculous prayers answered
because they were righteous, because they lived for God,
because they did the things that were pleasing in his sight,
because they did suffer for the cause of Christ and so forth.
But look at, where did I have your turn?
Yeah, James 5, the one thing I wanted to show you here
is where it says in verse 16, right after he talked about, you know,
praying for the sick, that the Lord will raise him up.
He says in verse number 16,
Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another
that you may be healed, the effectual fervent prayer of what?
Of a righteous man availeth mine.
See, you know, you're living in sin and you're living a life of carnality in the flesh
and then you wonder, why isn't God answering my prayers?
Because the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth mine.
Because we know that we hear us whatsoever we ask.
He said, we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
That's why whatsoever we ask, we receive of him.
So part of getting your prayers answered is being righteous, living for God, obeying God.
And you know, if you'll be an Elisha, if you'll be an Elijah,
if you'll be like these great men of God,
you know, you could see the miracles of God at some point in your life.
You know, and God's not doing a miracle in the Bible every five minutes either.
You know, as long as we read the miracles of the Bible and don't realize,
sometimes they're 100 years apart, they're 50 years apart, they're 20 years apart.
You know, because we're reading the Bible, you know, we're reading 4,400 years of history.
We're just reading it in the pages of this book right here.
The contents of this book span about 4,400 years.
And so we're just kind of blowing through it and seeing miracles and miracles.
God can do miracles. God can do any miracle that we need him to do.
But are we righteous? Are we praying? Are we fasting? Are we asking God to do it?
And you know what? Sometimes God's not going to heal every sick person.
Every dead body's not going to come back to life,
or else there'd be a lot of people from the Bible days still walking around.
But, but, God can answer prayer. God can't work miracles today.
I don't believe this doctrine that says, well, God is through with miracles.
You know, you've heard that before. You know, God doesn't do miracles anymore.
You know, maybe people just don't have the faith.
Maybe people just start doing the praying.
Maybe people are just living the righteous life.
Because I personally believe that God can and will do miracles in the future.
You know, I'm not talking about Benny Hinn tonight, you know,
slapping people on the forehead and, you know, flopping around on stage.
That's the real thing, folks.
You know, the God that parted the Red Sea can step in and do a miracle today.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer tonight.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, dear God,
and for the salvation that we have in Jesus Christ.
We thank you so much for the power of prayer, dear God.
Help us to pray and to seek your face, to fast, to, first of all,
keep your commandments and live for you, dear God, and help us to pray.
When we need something, help us to, before we run to the doctor, to first run to you.
Before we run to our accountant, you know, not that any of us has one,
but, you know, first run to you, dear God, and ask you to help.