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O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
O'er the land of the free and the home
of the brave?
O'er the land of
the free and the home
of the brave?
O'er the land of the free
and the home of the brave?
O'er the land of the free and the home
of the brave?
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
And the Bible reads,
Therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.
Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them.
And the people with one accord gave heed unto these things which Philip spake,
hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them,
and many taken with palsies, and that were lame were healed.
And there was great joy in that city.
But there was a certain man called Simon, which before time in the same city used sorcery,
and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one,
to whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest,
saying, This man is the great power of God.
And to him that regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.
But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God
and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Then Simon himself believed also.
And when he was baptized, he continued with Philip and wondered,
beholding the miracles and signs which were done.
Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God,
they sent unto them Peter and John,
who when they were come down prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost.
For as yet he was fallen upon none of them,
only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
And when Simon saw that through laying onto the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given,
he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power,
that on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the Holy Ghost.
But Peter said unto them, Thy money perish with thee,
because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.
Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God,
if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.
For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.
Then answered Simon and said, Pray to the Lord for me,
that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.
And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem.
And preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.
And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise,
and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.
And he arose and went, and behold, a man of Ethiopia,
and eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians,
who had the charge of all her treasure,
and had come to Jerusalem for the worship,
was returning and sitting in his chariot,
read Isaiah the prophet.
Then the spirit said unto Philip, Go near and join thyself to this chariot.
And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Isaiah,
and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?
And he said, How can I? Except some man should guide me.
And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
The place of the scripture which he read was this.
He was led as a sheep to the slaughter,
and like a lamb done before his shearer,
so opened he not his mouth.
In his humiliation his judgment was taken away,
and who shall declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth.
And the eunuch answered Philip,
and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this, of himself,
or of some other man?
Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture,
and preached unto him Jesus.
And as they went on their way,
they came upon certain water,
and the eunuch said, See here is water,
what doth hinder me to be baptized?
And Philip said, If thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest.
And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
And he commanded the chariot to stand still,
and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch,
and he baptized them.
And they were come up out of the water,
the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip,
that the eunuch saw him no more.
He went on his way rejoicing,
but Philip was found out as it is,
and passing through, preached in all the cities,
till he came to Caesarea.
We thank you, Heavenly Father, for your precious words.
Dear God, we thank you for our salvation,
for this wonderful church, and we ask that you please bless our pastor
as he preaches your word tonight. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Amen.
Okay, we're in Acts chapter number 8 this evening,
and this particular chapter deals with three specific events
dealing with three main characters.
Paul, Simon, and Philip the Evangelist.
Those are the three main people
that Acts chapter 8 is referring to.
And really this is a popular chapter
because of Philip the Evangelist
going to win the Ethiopian unit.
We often go to that passage of scripture
to prove that you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
You need to be saved before you get baptized,
and that's often what we'll use there.
But this entire chapter is great.
We're going to learn a lot of things from this.
In fact, I'm probably going to not say too much about Philip the Evangelist
because a lot's been said about that.
I might touch on some points there,
but I'm going to focus more so on Saul,
who we would know as Paul, and Simon as well.
Now in the latter end of chapter number 7,
we get a preview of Saul, do we not?
We see Saul holding the coats of them,
or should I say they were laying the coats at Saul's feet
when they were stoning Stephen to death.
So we see a preview of Saul.
Obviously he's not saved.
And we see later on in chapter number 8
In other words, he was in agreement
that Stephen should be put to death
because in his mind Stephen was a heretic,
Stephen was preaching false doctrine,
but obviously we know that's not true.
And then in chapter 9 we see Saul getting saved, etc.
We'll get into that just a bit.
Now look what it says in verse number 1.
Let's touch on some points here.
First and foremost, we're going to see the scattering yet gathering.
Look what it says in verse 1.
It says,
And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria
except the apostles.
So what we see is that the latter end of chapter number 7,
they're persecuting Stephen, they kill him,
and basically the Pharisees and the council,
they become emboldened to continue to persecute the believers in that area.
And so while Stephen's put to death,
so they start persecuting the church there in Jerusalem,
which causes them to scatter into Judea and Samaria.
Now a couple things to take note about this is that
though these people were a tool to basically persecute the church there,
God is actually the one who allowed it.
And I'm going to explain to you why.
You see, in Acts chapter 1 verse 8,
prior to Jesus Christ's ascension,
he's given the great commission to his disciples for the fourth time.
And he specifically says,
To remain in Jerusalem until you are being due to a powerful mountain high,
ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, in Judea, Samaria,
and the uttermost parts of the world.
So God's plan for the apostles was to leave Jerusalem,
to leave Jerusalem and start reaching the Gentiles.
That's what he said.
Hey, yeah, preach the gospel in Jerusalem,
but then you have to go to Judea and Samaria,
the uttermost parts of the world.
Well, we see thereafter, they weren't doing that.
They were sticking around in Jerusalem,
trying to win more Jews to the Lord,
they're trying to stick around and just preach the gospel to the Jews,
and the Gentiles were being completely neglected.
They're failing to take care of the task that God had given to them.
So what does God do?
He begins to stir up the nest, right?
And he allows persecution to come upon the church
in order to motivate them to get out of town.
You know, when you get persecution, people are just rejecting you,
common sense says, okay, it's time to go somewhere else.
Now, as I mentioned, God is the one who's allowing this stuff.
And I remember back in the day, a preacher used to say this,
you know, when you don't do an Acts 1-8,
then what God's going to do is an Acts 8-1.
When you're not out there fulfilling the Great Commission,
you're not preaching the gospel,
you're not reaching people in your surrounding cities,
God's going to allow some sort of tribulation into your life
and persecution in order to stir up the nest and get you working for God.
And that's exactly what we see here.
They're all scattered, brought into Judea and Samaria,
but it's funny because it says, except the apostles.
So these apostles, Peter, John, they're like,
Yeah, get out of here, guys, you get out,
but we're going to stay here in Jerusalem still, you know.
They stuck around.
And even then, you know, you have Philip the Evangelist
and some of the other apostles, they're going into Samaria.
They're preaching the Word of God there.
But what happens even after they see Simon saved?
They go back to Jerusalem.
It's not until Philip is caught away in the Spirit
and is told to go to the Ethiopian eunuch
that he begins to cover more ground further away,
even to the point where he reaches Caesarea,
which is in Philippi, going out into what's considered,
you know, Samaria or the uttermost parts of the world for them.
And so they're obviously disobeying,
but this is why he's doing this.
Now, this is what's interesting about this,
because Saul really is the one responsible
for causing them to scatter abroad, right?
We see that he's just wreaking havoc on the church there
and causing the apostles to just go to Judea,
Samaria, the uttermost parts of the world.
Well, then Saul gets saved,
the apostles return back to Jerusalem,
and then who's going to the Gentiles, Paul?
So he was responsible prior to salvation
to get them to go into the uttermost parts of the world.
But even after the salvation, because they're not obeying,
he ends up going to the Gentiles and becoming successful.
God is still using them.
And it kind of shows you that God can use unsafe people, right?
You know, obviously they don't have the Spirit of God,
but sometimes he could orchestrate a situation
in such a way that to fulfill his will.
Now look at verse number two.
Look at Saul wreaking havoc in the church and says,
verse number two says,
And devout men carried Stephen to his burial
and made great lamentation over him.
As for Saul, he made havoc of the church,
entering into every house,
and hauling men and women committed them to the prison.
Now, what do we see here?
We see Saul just really ramping up the persecution for the church.
I mean, this guy's committed.
He's not going from house to house preaching Jesus Christ.
He's going from house to house arresting people
and getting them persecuted and, you know, hauling them
and bringing them into the prison.
Now, this is an important point because,
you know, there's a common teaching out there
regarding the apostle Paul.
Obviously, he wasn't the apostle, an apostle back then.
But there's this common teaching that says,
well, Paul was a murderer.
You know, Paul, that thing's hanging on by a thread.
You know, Paul's a murderer.
You know, he killed Christians.
How many of you have ever heard that?
Many times, okay?
Everyone's focusing on, he's got it, guys.
Don't worry, all right?
Everyone's like...
You know, people often say Paul, you know,
killed Christians, he's a murderer.
But you study the life of Paul even prior to his salvation,
you don't see anything like that, okay?
What do we see?
Now, we see him, you know, arresting Christians.
We see him persecuting them.
And, yeah, the Bible says that he was injurious
because he probably injured some people trying to arrest him.
But we never see him killing anybody,
killing Christians, murdering them.
This is a false teaching that comes from liberal churches.
And I'm going to explain to you why they try to make that claim.
They make the claim in order to defend wicked reprobates, okay?
Because the only time people have ever made that argument to me
is when I'm preaching against Kanye West,
who's blaspheming said that he himself was Jesus, right?
He himself was God, just completely, you know,
just doing the sins of the Antichrist himself.
Or when you talk about Ted Bundy,
because people claim that Ted Bundy got saved,
this massive serial killer murderer rapist,
oh, yeah, he got saved, you know?
Or you talk about Jeffrey Dahmer, this sodomite cannibal
who did some heinous, horrible, wicked and vile crimes,
and they'll say, oh, no, he got saved, though.
And when you say, no, those people are burning in hell.
Those people are devils.
From Kanye West all the way to Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer.
And this is what they'll say, oh, were you trying to say
that Paul the Apostle didn't get saved?
Because he killed Christians.
You know, he killed Christians.
He murdered Christians.
And by the way, I'm not saying that murderers can't be saved, okay?
Obviously, murderers can be saved.
People who kill others can be saved.
But this caliber of murder that these people committed is different.
This is something that's done only by psychopaths,
people who are past feeling,
people who the Bible would refer to as being reprobates,
you know, these people who are just filled
with all unrighteousness, right?
That's not your average murderer, okay?
This is referring to someone who, you know,
is filled with murder, according to the Bible.
But they make this claim, you know,
when I preached against Kanye West,
or when I uploaded that clip,
I mean, I can't tell you how many times they said that,
oh, then Paul the Apostle must have not been saved
because he killed Christians.
And I'm like, where did he ever kill Christians?
And even if he did, obviously,
there's a big difference between the two categories
that you're presenting there,
but it never says that he killed Christians,
it never says that he murdered them.
What does it actually say?
You know, Paul the Apostle stated that Jesus enabled him
for that he counted him faithful,
putting him into the ministry,
who was before what, a blasphemer?
It says that he was a persecutor and injurious,
but here's the difference,
he did it ignorantly and unbelief.
So there is ignorance on his part
when he committed these things, folks,
whereas the people who commit these heinous crimes
like Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Kanye West,
I mean, they're doing sins that only psychopaths can do.
You know, and people get mad about Kanye West,
and it's like, well, he didn't know better, folks,
if he's calling himself God.
This is not a sin that is common to man.
You understand?
He is blaspheming the name of Jesus by claiming to be,
I mean, the only person who really does that
is like the Antichrist who sits in the temple of God
showing himself that he is God.
And that's exactly what Kanye West is doing,
but yet people want to compare him to the Apostle Paul.
Ridiculous.
Oh, he's reaching so many people.
Yeah, with this damnable heresy, he's reaching a lot of people.
Damning a whole lot of people to hell is what he's doing.
And this is the argument that they'll say,
well, you're saying that Kanye West blasphemed Jesus,
here it says that the Apostle Paul also blasphemed,
but here is the major difference between that,
okay, as I mentioned, Kanye West blasphemed
in the sense that he actually claimed to be God,
which is blasphemy.
Paul, he never claimed to be God.
Because what does it mean to blaspheme?
To blaspheme means to speak impiously
or irreverently of the things of God.
You know, to rail, to revile,
and that's exactly what he's doing,
because he's arresting people,
he thinks that they're a part of some wicked organization,
they're a bunch of heretics,
and he's sincerely doing, in fact,
he thinks he's serving God.
I'm not excusing what he did,
but this is what he sincerely feels is right.
You know, the Bible says that he was zealous
of the law, right?
So the type of blasphemy that he committed
is not the same blasphemy that Kanye West does, okay?
But again, he says that he did it
ignorantly and unbelief.
Now go to Philippians chapter three, if you would,
Philippians chapter number three.
Look at verse number six of Philippians chapter number three.
Because, you know, you have Kanye West
who says that he was Jesus and all these things,
and, you know, when supposedly he got saved,
did he change his life?
You know, do you see him just like,
I'm just gonna renounce all this nonsense
of hip hop and all these things?
No, he's still doing it,
he's still making a bunch of money.
This is the reason why people convert to Christianity
when they're all famous.
You know, to reach into a new pool to get more money.
Same thing with Justin Bieber, you know,
and all these other fools who claim,
and look, I just saw an interview with Justin Bieber
and he's just like, Jesus changed my life.
He's like, well, what did you have to do?
Well, at first I thought it was just by trusting Jesus,
but then I realized you gotta repent of your sins.
And people are gonna tell me that guy is saved?
You know, but these are the same people
that are buying his albums.
He's playing them for fools.
He's making merchandise off of them is what he's doing.
Let's see what Paul did.
Philippians chapter three verse six says,
concerning zeal, persecuting the church,
touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless,
but what things were gained to me
those I counted lost for Christ,
yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things
and do count them but dung that I may win Christ.
So to him, he says, everything that I've ever done
is dung in my eyes.
Is that what Kanye West is doing?
Are those things dung?
No, he's actually using everything that he had before
to propagate his false gospel, okay?
Not the same thing.
So go back to Acts chapter eight.
So what I'm saying is this is that Paul
never murdered anybody.
This is a false teaching.
This is a false conception that people come up with
to try to put them on the same pedestal
as these other psychopaths, to try to prove
that sodomites can be saved.
The reparations can be saved.
The psychopaths can be saved.
It's false.
Verse number four says, therefore,
they that were scattered abroad
went everywhere preaching the word.
So because he's hauling men and women
and he's persecuted the church,
therefore, they that were scattered abroad
went everywhere preaching the word.
So they're highly motivated.
Apparently Paul is doing some hardcore persecution there.
Verse five says, then Philip went down
to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them.
And the people with one accord gave heed
unto those things which Philip spake,
hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice,
came out of many that were possessed with them
and many taken with palsies,
and they were lame, were healed,
and there was great joy in that city.
So great work's being done.
Philip the evangelist is preaching the word of God,
but he's also doing a lot of miracles.
He's fulfilling what God told him to do, right?
But now let's look at some great one,
as he himself would put it.
Verse nine says, but there was a certain man
called Simon, which before time in the same city
used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria,
giving out that himself was some great one.
So he's just like, hey guys, I'm the great one.
He's giving out that he's some great one,
that he's a man of God,
that he has the power of God upon his life.
Verse 10 says, to whom they all gave heed
from the least to the greatest,
saying this man is the great power of God.
So this man has some clout in his area, right?
Very popular, people liked him.
He had a lot of influence from the least
unto the greatest, and not only did he say
he's a great one, but people are even
attesting to it, saying this man
is the great power of God.
Now, let me just say this is that obviously
his influence is superficial, right?
Because the Bible says that he's influencing
them by bewitching them with sorceries.
Now I don't think he's like casting spells
or doing some sort of supernatural magic.
I believe what he's doing is just kind of
flattering people is what he's doing,
because that's how you can bewitch people too.
You can basically speak, or maybe he's just
using some sort of magic by sleight of hand,
and that is the representation of his power.
He's able to beguile people, unstable souls,
through his sleight of hand,
or whatever sorceries that he's doing.
But no matter what, he is bewitching people,
he's enchanting them, he's deceiving them
to the point where everyone thinks,
man, this guy must be from God.
He's doing all these miracles,
I say, you know, he asks me what card
am I thinking of, I say the jacks,
and he's like, there it is, you know,
and he pulls out the right card,
man, he freaking, he hid the coin in his hand,
it came out of my ear, the shekel,
the Roman coin, or whatever, you know,
they're just fooled by this guy,
by his enchantments, by his sorceries.
Look at verse 11.
And to him they had regard,
because of a long time he had bewitched them
with sorceries.
Verse 12 says, but when they believed Philip,
preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God,
and the name of Jesus Christ,
they were baptized, both men and women.
I love this.
Because what Simon kind of reminds me of
is a Pentecostal pastor, right?
Where they try to bewitch people
by taking off their coats and, you know,
trying to heal people, and trying to, you know,
say they can slap someone on the forehead
and heal them of their cancer,
and this is like, get that nonsense out of here.
Just preach the gospel, the power of God.
That's where the power is.
You know, I know there's power when they slap you
on the forehead with the palm,
but it's not enough power to get you saved, folks.
So Simon is one of these Pentecostal
Charismatic types that believes, you know,
you can heal people by praying over them
and holding them, and, you know,
all the sicknesses come into your body,
and he's using sorceries.
Which Pentecostal is basically what they use.
That's a form of sorcery, right?
Bewitching people.
And most Pentecostal pastors are like Simon
because they can't really do anything.
You know, it's sleight of hand is what it is.
They're pushing your forehead,
and the only reason you even fall down
is because they're pushing you.
It's not because any, you know,
Holy Spirit is touching them or causing them to fall.
You know, it's a farce is what it is, okay?
But then Philip comes and is like,
let me preach the word of God for these people.
Let me preach the gospel.
And you know what?
They heard it, and they believed.
You know why?
Because the gospel is the power of God into salvation.
We don't need to do any miracles.
We don't need to do any of these weird stuff
and speaking in tongues
and act like we're doing miracles
and do sleight of hand and
You don't need to do any of that.
That's all a show.
All we have to do is bring a Bible in hand
and preach the word of God into them,
and that is the power of God.
For the word of God is quick and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword.
Sharper than any, you know,
Pentecostal too, right?
They're as sharp as a marble, amen?
So they believe, Philip,
and the preaching, the things concerning the kingdom of God,
and they were baptized.
By the way, Acts chapter 8 is great when it comes to this
because it's proof that you have to believe
in order to be baptized.
That is the order that we see here constantly,
throughout the book of Acts, but especially here.
Verse 13, now this is a great thing here,
this is verse 13,
Then Simon himself believed also.
That's great, isn't it?
And when he was baptized, he continued with Philip
and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs
which were done.
So thank God, you know,
and look, this proves that sorcerers can be saved, right?
There are some sorcerers out there that can be saved.
You know, maybe they're just deceived
or maybe they're just full of themselves.
You know, they're raised in a Pentecostal church,
Charismatic church, or whatever.
You know, but the proof is right here.
Simon got saved.
Not only did he get saved, he got baptized,
which is a big step.
Now in our church, we typically see baptisms
like every single week,
and sometimes people tell me like,
how do you baptize every single week?
And we just ask them.
We use no sorceries.
We don't try to be witch people.
It's just that when we give a clear presentation
of the gospel and they get saved,
we say, now you gotta get baptized.
Let's go.
You know, we strike with an iron.
It's hot, right?
And they're in the moment,
and they're just like all emotional about their salvation.
They're like, yeah, let's do it.
And then they find out that the water's
just like boiling hot,
and I'm like, we're gonna baptize you in fire, okay?
By then, it's too late.
You know, Miss Ashley over there,
she got baptized in a Jacuzzi.
She came out, her skin was just missing
and everything.
No, I'm just kidding.
So Simon gets saved,
and he's following Philip,
and he's just in wonder over the miracles
and the signs which were being done.
Look at verse 14.
It says,
Now when the apostles,
which were at Jerusalem,
heard that Samaria had received the word of God,
they sent it to them,
Peter and John,
who when they were come down,
prayed for them,
that they might receive the Holy Ghost.
For as yet he was falling upon none of them,
only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Then laid their hands on them,
and they received the Holy Ghost.
So what do we see here?
You know, they give a report back to Jerusalem,
and they said,
hey, these people in Samaria are really receptive.
A lot of people are getting saved.
They're getting baptized.
You know, why don't you come down,
and you can lay hands on them.
Now what is it referring to
when it says lay hands on them,
that they may receive the Holy Ghost?
This is referring to an ordained person
laying hands on someone
in order to evoke the Holy Spirit's
power on their life, okay?
This is what's known as being filled with the Spirit.
Because it's not referring to
them receiving the Holy Ghost
because they got saved.
You understand?
This is referring to
not the indwelling,
but the filling of the Holy Spirit.
You say,
well, why would they have to do that?
So they can go preach the gospel, right?
Now,
let me make a couple points in that regard.
You know,
the difference between the indwelling
and, you know,
the Holy Spirit being filled with the Spirit.
You know, obviously we know
that this is not referring to that
because the prerequisite
in order to be indwelled by the Holy Spirit
is to trust in Christ, right?
The Bible says,
in whom ye also trusted,
after that ye heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that ye believed,
ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance.
So when we get saved,
the Holy Spirit takes
permanent residence within our,
you know, being, so to speak, okay?
It quickens our dead spirit
and it basically,
we become the temple of the Holy Ghost.
Look at verse 17.
It says,
then lay they their hands on them
and they received the Holy Ghost.
So,
a couple things that I want to talk about here
and I preached this a couple weeks ago
when I talked about the examining the Holy Spirit,
but it's worth reiterating
is that a lot of people get, you know,
kind of caught up or stuck on these passages
when referring to
the indwelling of the Holy Spirit
of the New Testament believers
versus the fact that the Old Testament believers
did not have that indwelling.
And you know who capitalizes on this,
is who?
Dispensationalists.
You know, dispensationalists will say,
this proves that salvation was different
in the Old Testament
than it is in the New Testament
under the gospel of grace
because of the fact that,
you know,
in order to have the Holy Spirit
dwelling within us,
we need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well,
when they believed on the Lord back then,
but they didn't have the indwelling Holy Spirit,
it shows you that it was a different gospel.
It was a gospel that said you have to believe on the Lord,
but you also have to do the animal sacrifices
and the ordinances
and all this stuff.
Now, this is completely false
and all it takes is just a casual study
of the Holy Spirit to understand why that was, okay?
Now, go with me if you went to John chapter 7.
John chapter 7.
You see, the Holy Spirit was definitely present
in the Old Testament.
We see him coming upon different believers,
Saul,
you know, we see him coming upon Samson,
upon Moses,
upon David.
Now, yeah, he did not indwell the believers.
He would come upon them,
but the Bible actually says that he dwelt with them.
So he didn't dwell in them,
but the Bible does say that he dwelt with them.
The difference is,
he was not within them.
Now, look what it says in John chapter 7, verse 38.
He that believeth on me, as the scripture had said,
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
But this he spake of the Spirit,
which they that believe on him
should receive,
for the Holy Ghost was not yet given,
because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
Isn't that interesting?
Because keep in mind,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
physically in our Bibles
is in the New Testament.
But the events within Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
is actually considered Old Testament.
New Testament doesn't begin until the death of Christ,
the death of the testator.
At that point, you have the New Covenant.
So when this is being said,
it's not the New Testament.
It's actually still the Old Testament.
And this is why he's saying,
hey, you know,
you guys are going to receive the Holy Ghost
when I'm glorified.
But notice that it says,
on them that what?
Believe.
Does it say on them that believe
and keep the sacrifices and the ordinances?
No, because we see here that it's still by faith.
It's always been by faith, okay?
Go to John chapter 14.
John chapter 14.
Now in John chapter 20,
we see that Jesus Christ
breathes on his disciples
and says unto them,
receive ye the Holy Ghost.
Because at that point, he's glorified.
So he gives them the Holy Ghost.
He indwells them at that point.
Look what it says in John 14 in verse 16.
It says,
and I will pray the Father,
and he shall give you another comforter,
that he may abide with you forever,
even the Spirit of truth,
whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth him not,
neither knoweth him,
but ye know him,
for he dwelleth with you,
and shall be in you.
So here's the thing.
The Holy Spirit was not some enigma
to the believers in the Old Testament.
Because here it says that they knew him.
Right?
Because in order for any believer in the Old Testament,
including these disciples,
to do any type of work,
they have to be filled with the Spirit.
And mark it down.
The Holy Spirit,
when he would come upon believers,
he would fill the believers.
He just wouldn't dwell within them.
But here it says,
for he dwelleth with you,
and shall be in you.
Okay?
And here's what they'll say.
Well that's proof, brother Mejia.
You know, that salvation was different,
because you have to believe on Jesus Christ
in the New Testament,
sleuter,
you know,
in order for you to have
the indwelling Holy Spirit in you.
But these guys are cunning, aren't they?
They're crafty.
You know, and they plan the ignorance of people
to try to teach their false doctrine.
So, well, how do we explain this then?
Why didn't he not indwell
the believers in the Old Testament,
but now he indwells the believers in the New Testament,
even though it's by faith alone in both?
Why is that?
Well, it's a simple explanation like this.
He would dwell with the believers.
Yeah, he would dwell with the believers.
He didn't dwell within them,
because his permanent dwelling in the Old Testament
permanent dwelling place, so to speak,
on earth was what?
The tabernacle.
The temple.
That's where the presence of God was, right?
So the presence of God was in the tabernacle,
and once the tabernacle was done,
they edified the temple,
that's where the presence of God was
during the Old Testament.
Now, when the New Testament came along,
the temple was no longer sanctioned by God.
In fact, the Bible says that when Jesus Christ died,
the temple was rent and twain from top to bottom.
Now, if the presence of God,
the Holy Spirit, dwelled in the tabernacle
and in the temple in the Old Testament,
what does the Bible refer to as the
tabernacle and the temple in the New Testament?
Our bodies.
That's all it is.
So in the New Testament, the Bible says,
Know ye not that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost,
which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
So look, folks, the reason why the Holy Spirit
did not indwelt them is because
he was dwelling within the tabernacle and the temple.
And once that was vacated,
and once that was done, the Holy Spirit
vacated the temple and the tabernacle
and indwelt us, which the Bible refers to as
the tabernacle and the temple of the Holy Ghost.
Simple as that.
And it has nothing to do with salvation.
Zero to do with salvation.
Okay?
Look at Luke chapter 11, if you would.
Look what it says in Luke chapter 11, verse number 11.
Still in the Old Testament, by the way.
It says here, If a son shall ask
bread of any of you that is a father,
will he give him a stone?
Or if he asks a fish, will he,
for a fish, give him a serpent?
Or if he shall ask an egg,
will he offer him a scorpion?
If ye then, being evil,
know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your heavenly Father
to them that ask him?
Now this isn't referring to salvation,
because when someone gets saved,
they don't ask for the Holy Spirit.
They're like, oh God, please give me your Holy Spirit
so I can be saved.
Most people don't even know what that is.
They don't even know what you're talking about.
Okay?
What this is referring to is to be filled with the Spirit.
And so God is saying, hey,
if you ask for God to fill you with the Spirit,
he'll give it to you.
Because he's always willing to give good gifts
unto his children.
You understand?
So people were filled by the Holy Spirit
in the Old Testament the same way
we're filled today, by asking.
Okay?
And it's important to be filled, amen?
Go to Acts chapter number eight.
So I just want to touch on that real quick
just to help you to understand.
These dispensationalists,
they're just crafty, they're conniving,
they have sleight of hand.
You know, they want to deceive,
and they'll use these cryptic passages
to try to confuse people,
but it's very actually easily explained.
Look at verse 18.
And then when Simon saw that through
laying on the, of the apostles' hands
the Holy Ghost was given,
he offered them money,
saying, give me also this power,
that on whomsoever I lay hands,
he may receive the Holy Ghost.
But Peter said unto him,
thy money perish with thee,
because that thou hast thought
that the gift of God
may be purchased with money.
It's pretty crazy here.
So this guy thinks
that he can just write out a check,
give it to the apostles,
and the apostles will give him the authority
to be able to lay hands on people
and ordain them basically.
He's like, how much do I got to pay
to get this power?
Right?
It's pretty nonsensical thinking.
And Peter just rebukes him.
He's just like, get that money away from me.
You know?
You think that the gift of God
can be purchased with money?
No, he's not referring to the gift of God's salvation.
He's referring to the power of the Holy Spirit.
Or should we say the ordination,
the authority to be able to do this, okay?
Now, I was thinking about,
what's like a modern day application to this?
And the thing that kept coming to mind
was Bible college.
Right?
This is your modern day Bible college student.
Why?
Because a lot of them go to college
and they pay for classes
because they think that the power of God
can be purchased with money.
You know, they think that the authority
to be able to lay hands and ordain people
can be obtained by money.
You know, they purchase, you know,
countless semesters
and countless years.
I just got to do my four years, my five years.
Then if I buy it, they'll give me
a little piece of paper
that says you're a bachelor in pastoral theology.
You give that to a pastor
and they say, okay, great.
You're ordained.
You can have the power of God
because you purchased it with money.
You know, to give them the benefit of the doubt,
really it's the leaders who think
that the power of God can be purchased with money.
Right? Because they're the ones who are selling it.
Okay?
And that's not to say that there's not students out there
that go there for that purpose.
And look, you know,
obviously there's Bible college students out there
that are sincere.
And they go to Bible college in order
because they think they want to receive a biblical education.
Their pastor tells them, hey, if you want to be a pastor,
this is what you have to do.
Then they're going to believe it.
You're going to be like, all right, well if that's what my pastor says,
that's probably what we have to do.
But it's still wrong.
Now look, I went to Bible college.
I thought the same thing because that's what my pastor told me.
Now fortunately,
you know,
I'm not talking trash about my father-in-law.
He went to Bible college too.
Now here's the thing.
Fortunately with my father-in-law
or with our Bible college is that it was on site.
You know, a lot of these Bible colleges
they're states miles away.
They send you away from the local
New Testament church.
Me on the other hand, I was able to get trained
and stay in my local New Testament church.
So that was a plus for me.
And look, I'm not going to bad mouth Bible college to the point
where they're all wicked.
And actually that's not true.
Because I went there, I survived.
I'm a survivor of Bible college.
And look, I learned some good things.
I learned some good principles.
You know, obviously the doctrine was pretty bad
because most Bible colleges are filled with
dispensationalism and Calvinism.
You know, and you
pay obviously to learn the Bible and it's just like
you're paying, you're overpaying
for crap food, you know.
Because they're giving you, you're paying
for a steak but they're giving you tofu
kind of thing.
But this is an example of
your modern day Bible college student.
Literally, you have Bible college students that will go
to Bible college for four years, five years,
six years and what happens? They get their little
diploma but they know jack squat
about the Bible when they come out.
They purchase the power
of God with money or what they think is the power
of God. They're ordained
as pastors.
They're not even qualified.
They're not qualified because they're not married.
They're not qualified because they don't have children.
They're not qualified because they don't even
know the Bible. And look folks,
I sat in a Bible college next
to people who knew jack squat about the Bible
and they didn't care if they ever learned anything about the Bible.
And that used to
tick me off.
Because I was there, I wanted
to learn the Bible, I wanted to be a pastor,
I wanted to preach the word of God,
I was hungry for the word of
God, but I was forced to sit next to people
who can care less.
They were only there because their mama and dad sent
them to go there.
And it was ridiculous.
But yet, they think they can
purchase the power of God.
They think the power of God
can be purchased with
money. That's why you have these churches
today that are
pastured by these
you know, Simons
right?
Who purchased the power of God, what they think it is
with money, and the church
crashes or they go liberal.
They know nothing about the Bible.
I mean, they can't even
give a sermon
on salvation if their life counted on it.
Oh, but they have
a diploma.
Oh, but you know, they
graduated from this college or whatever.
They went to Golden State Baptist
College, where they teach you how to dress
like a queer.
Oh wait, I'm sorry, that's West Coast
Baptist College.
You know, they graduated from
Golden State Baptist College
where they teach you how to dress like a preppy
little queer
and know how to buy the best
tie and the best suits, the most
expensive suits and the most expensive this and that
but they can't even
teach the Bible, folks.
You know, the pastor
of that Bible college
by the way this week was praying
on his knees on the corner
you know
for the $10,000 fine that they gave
him.
And you know, Baptist
because they just must have gone to Bible college
too or something. They're over here
praising him.
Oh, this man is suffering for righteousness sake.
Oh, you mean Jack Treibert?
And this is what I asked.
So do false prophets, when they get fined
are they suffering for righteousness
sake or is God just punishing
them for making merchandise off of the flock?
And this is what he does.
He goes on the corner
of his church
no joke, gets on his
knees and someone just
happened to find him
and take a picture of him.
Now one of two things. Either
he told someone, hey take a picture
of me real quick as I'm praying
so he can post it and people can feel
sorry for me.
Or he hit the selfie
timer or whatever on a tripod
and did it himself.
He didn't read Matthew 6
but he went to Bible college.
He went to Bible college.
The reason they don't
understand these basic Bible truths
is because most of the time they went to Bible college.
Now look, I went but I didn't depend
on Bible college to learn the Bible.
Most of my studies, if not all my studies
were outside of Bible college.
Most of my training was outside of Bible
college. Thankfully my pastor
started a church,
a church plant. I went
there and I learned how
to administrate a church, how to
lead, how to organize.
I learned the ins and outs of church
planting but it was on the job
training.
Okay.
And let me say this. You know if there is a Bible
college out there
that was free
and they taught the right doctrine
and it was
you know
it was located at
the local New Testament church, I'd be for it.
Right?
Who wouldn't want that?
Some extra Bible teaching, I think that'd be great.
But it doesn't exist.
It doesn't exist.
Nor will it ever exist.
If they did those things, I'd be all for it.
Now let me say this.
This year I was going to start
a two semester class in our church.
Four pastors only.
And the only reason I wasn't able to do it is because of COVID-19.
I'm planning to start it in 2021 though.
And you say well what are the classes
going to be? Well the classes are not
going to be about the Bible because you get everything from the Bible here.
Sunday morning, Sunday night, Thursday
night. The classes are going to be
what I wanted when I was in Bible college.
Which is how to
administrate. You know
how to organize a missions trip.
How to organize a soul winning
marathon. How to deal
with live stream technology.
Right? How to deal with the church
finances and legalities of
the church. These are things you need to know
as a pastor. But these are things
that they did not teach us.
You understand? How to deal with people.
I'm a pastor. I thought we were only supposed to preach the word
of God and that's it. No.
It goes a lot more into pastoring than that.
And if that's what you think, that's all that pastoring
is, you're a novice, you're not ready to go.
Okay.
There's a lot more that goes into that.
And I was telling my wife, I was like I want to have a
class where I teach the guys, the men who want to be
pastors, how to set up
wires for live stream.
I know that sounds
super exciting to you, but I guarantee you it will
benefit you in the long run.
I was like, what we're going to do is on a Friday, I'm going to lay out
all the equipment and explain what
it all is. And then I'm going to say
on Monday, you and brother so
and so come to church on
Monday night. I'm going to tear
down, we're going to tear down all the equipment and
it's your job to set it up and get it ready
for Thursday.
You're in charge of the
mics, you're in charge of the live stream, you got to
know how to do it. And if you screw
up, I'm going to cloud up and
rain on you.
That's good training.
Hey, at least when you do it,
when you go start a church,
you don't have to call some company,
you just know how to do it yourself.
You know all the terms, the cables you need,
the mics you need, the live stream,
you know the cameras you got to get,
you go there already prepared.
I think that's great. I wish I would have had
that training.
You know, what kind of insurance do you need to get
for the church? You know,
501c3, should I do 501c3 or not?
What is 501c3?
Okay,
things like that. So the classes are not
going to be for
doctrine because you get that in church.
And look folks,
I don't care what anybody says, you get more
doctrine on a Thursday night than a
semester in Bible college.
Fact.
And I know because I was in Bible
college. I know what I'm talking
about. I remember this one pastor
he got up and he taught in an intensive,
you know it was a five-day
intensive, and it's literally
for how many hours a day, Ulysses?
Four hours a day.
So Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
four hours a day, I mean you get me four hours a day
for, I mean we can do a lot.
This guy was teaching through the book of Revelation,
seeking to debunk
the pre-trib, excuse me, the post-trib,
pre-wrath rapture.
And he's like, we're going to just demolish this thing.
The guy didn't, the guy didn't even,
he could even build up his own case, let alone demolish
anything else.
Students were asking questions, he wasn't able to
answer them. People would say, hey what about
this? And he would say, great question.
I'll get into that in just a bit. Never got into it.
He's like, great question, I just need more time.
I was like, we just started.
What are you talking about?
And this is what he's saying, you know when people, because the
controversy amongst them is like, you know,
replacement theology.
And he's like, here's the
answer,
the elect are the Jews.
And then you have students
in the class who are like, hmm,
elect are the Jews.
And I'm like, this is a joke.
Are they being serious? And they're paying
for it.
They think that the
power of God can be purchased with
money. They got themselves
a bad deal.
You know, they got one of those Amazon purchases
where you pay all this money
and you get this crappy product
and you're just like, what is this? It's already
broken. But the only difference
is, they don't know that it's broken. They think, oh, this is
great.
A lot of
Simon's out there, okay.
And look, I know no one in here would ever want
to go to Bible college, because we talk so much trash about
Bible college, you
would have to just like,
I don't know, you would just be deaf or something.
You can't even understand what I'm saying.
You know, in order to go there.
Okay.
Here's your Bible college right here.
Right?
Getting an hour's worth of teaching,
you know, get some fellowship in,
all good. Okay.
Go to 1 Timothy chapter 4.
So these guys
they go to Bible college in order to
pay, to have the ability
or the authority
to lay hands on people, ordain them
and just have that
authority, that power. And he thinks he can
pay money with that. Well, you know,
whatever pastor's out there talking about
Simon, criticizing him,
he needs to look in the mirror because he probably did the same exact
thing. Okay.
You know, look,
man, I can go off on this more and more
and more. I know a pastor
personally who did this
and he not only did it through
money means, he did it through just conniving
and lying and deceit
in order to gain a position, folks.
And look, there's people, there's Bible college
students in Bible colleges that the
only reason they want
to be a pastor is just
so they can have authority and take advantage of people.
They see it
as taking the opportunity
to take advantage of others.
Okay. It's wicked.
And I remember someone put it
this way, Bible college
teaches wolves how to look like sheep.
Bible college teaches
wolves how to look, talk
and act like sheep. Now the good thing
is this, their fall shall be made
manifest. So they
can look like a sheep all they want, talk like one
all they want, eventually they'll expose
themselves. It always happens.
Okay. Look at 1 Timothy chapter
4 verse 14, it says
Neglect not the gift that is in thee
which was given thee by prophecy
with the laying on the hands of the presbytery.
So how did Timothy get
the gift? By Paul.
By the congregation recognizing
this guy was, you know, he's
fit, he works, and then the
apostle Paul lay hands on
him. And look, in our church
if you ever want to be a pastor in our church
obviously you got to fulfill 1 Timothy chapter 3.
That's baseline.
But you know what you also have to do?
You have to be a fruitful
productive team leader
to prove that you're able to work
with people, to prove that you're able to be fruitful
and prove that you're able to get along with others
and lead.
But the second thing is this,
you got to take those 2 semesters
of just administrative tasks
here.
When we start that next year.
We'll also finally get ordained by the end of the year, pastor.
Then you're not
the man for the job.
Not the man for the job.
And by the way, the 2 semesters
and the leadership
being the team leader, that's only
for me to even consider you
to be a pastor.
It doesn't mean you are one.
So don't come to me after you're done like, well I'm done, you ready to lay hands
on me or what?
I'll be like, well
you revealed your heart.
I know what you're after.
Okay.
Laying on the hands of the
respiratory.
We're running out of time.
Go back to Acts chapter 8.
What was the sin of Simon?
Look what it says here in verse 21.
Thou has neither part nor law in this matter.
For thy heart is not right in the sight of God.
Repent therefore of this, thy wickedness
and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine
heart may be forgiven thee.
For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness
and in the bond of iniquity.
Why does he say that?
You're bitter and you're in the bond
of iniquity.
And you wonder, why did he say that to Simon?
Was he bitter towards the apostles?
Well, apparently he was.
And you know why.
Because prior to the apostles coming, he was the big shot.
He was the guy who was
in charge.
He was the guy who everyone was
going to.
And everyone thought he was the man of God.
He was the great one!
What was the sin?
The sin of them is what he wanted.
You see, he didn't want the power of God to change lives.
He didn't want to be a pastor
so he could preach the word of God,
lay hands on people, ordain people
in order to start more churches,
see more people saved, do a great work.
That wasn't his goal.
He just wanted an authority.
He just wanted to be preeminent among the
believers and that was his sin.
Okay?
You know, like diatrophes.
You know, hey guys, check your hearts.
What's the reason why you want to be a pastor?
Is it because you just want to
label pastor so and so?
You know, because you think you can tell
people what to do, you want to be YouTube famous
or something, you want to be able
to have a video go viral or something.
You know, if those aren't your
motives, you're probably not, I'm not saying
you're not qualified to be a pastor, but definitely
not right now.
Gotta check your heart.
The desire to want to be a pastor should be,
I want to preach the word of God.
I want to lead people.
I want to help families.
I want to rally a group of people
together for a common cause.
You know, one of my favorite things about
pastoring this church aside from preaching God's
word and seeing people saved, my favorite thing
about my job is being able to rally
the troops for a common cause.
Because for so long, I felt like it was
just me and my wife.
But now we have a group of people that we can
work together and get a lot done.
And what's the cherry on top?
We're like-minded.
We believe the same doctrines.
So when I cast a vision,
everyone gets on board, we get a bunch of
people saved, and we laugh along the way!
We have a great time together.
This is a dream job for me.
Well, how much are you getting paid, though,
pastor?
You know, do you have possessions?
Are you stealing money? Are you doing this and that?
Well, if you're asking, that's probably what's in your heart.
I find it interesting
when people try to accuse you of those things,
they're basically portraying
what's actually in their heart.
You understand?
If you're getting into the ministry for money,
you're in it for the wrong reasons.
The purpose of the ministry is to see a bunch of people
saved. And look, I'm in it for rewards.
You better believe that.
I'm in it to be rich!
In heaven.
I'm in it to inspire
people, to exhort people,
to raise leaders, to start churches,
to see people saved,
because I understand there's an eternal reward
at the end of the road, and that's what interests me.
That's what peaks
my interest. That's what motivates me.
Let thy money perish with thee.
It's not bad to want to be great.
We all want to be
great for God. We all want to see
a lot of people saved, do great things,
but it's when you want to be great for yourself.
It's when you want to be the preeminent one.
It's when you want to be like a
diatrophies or a Simon. Now, thankfully,
Simon got right. He's like, I'm sorry.
And look, he was a novice.
He had just gotten saved, obviously.
So this guy, you know, he was a novice.
He was a babe in Christ.
But lest we should ever
think the same thing, we should take him into
consideration and the thought of his heart
as well. And make sure that we're always
checking our motives as to why. Now, I hope
I hope that there's many
men in our church that want to be pastors.
You know what I mean? I hope that many men in our church
aspire to be pastors. I really do.
I still want to go to
San Diego. I want to go to National
City, start satellite churches over there.
And all over California. I still want to do that.
But we need to do it the right way, though.
I never want to jump the gun
and just ordain someone just because
they fulfill 1 Timothy chapter 3.
Usually, just as a man, I want to
fulfill 1 Timothy chapter 3.
Before I was ever
a pastor, I wanted to be 1 Timothy chapter 3
because it's just good for a man to fulfill those
roles.
Here's the last
thing is that we see
Philip being carried away to witness
to the Ethiopian eunuch.
We're not going to go through the whole story, but it's a great story
because he's carried away
and he's almost given this divine
appointment, right? To meet up with
this one person, got him
saved, and that ended up being a catalyst
to going out and seeing more people
saved in the surrounding cities all the way to
Caesarea Philippi.
But it was somewhat of a divine appointment.
Something like this will never happen today, in my opinion.
I don't think God is just going to transport
you or just carry you away into the spirit.
And you're just like, I gotta...
But you know what? Through your day-to-day
tasks, as you're out and about,
you will run into people who
it's just like it's a divine appointment.
Let me finish with this.
I'll finish with this illustration.
Let me remember my son.
He got his finger, and he got 10 stitches.
So we got him to go get 10 stitches.
And then on Tuesday,
it was time for him to take him off.
So we went to the hospital, to the doctor,
his pediatrician, and she was going to remove them.
But you know, with the whole COVID-19,
both parents can't go in. There's only one parent.
And I just delegate that to her.
I said, you go take care of that.
I'll watch Bruce and Kyla. We'll go get Puerto Loco
and we'll find some park or something.
So we got Puerto Loco, and this is in a different city.
I'm not very familiar with this city. I don't really know anything about it.
And we're there, and we got our food.
And I said, come on, kids, we're going to find a park.
Let's go look for a park.
So we go to this park, the closest park,
the one that's nearest to the hospital.
We go there, we come out,
and there's some tables there.
And there's a gentleman,
probably like late 50s, early 60s,
who was there, and he was there reading his Bible.
I was like, oh, that's cool.
You know, someone reading their Bible.
So we got there, and we opened our food,
and we prayed, and we ate.
And him and I were kind of looking at each other,
and I'm like, man, if he makes good eye contact,
that's my cue, basically, right?
And so, because obviously he heard us pray,
and if he's reading his Bible,
he's probably wondering what's this guy all about.
So he looks at me, and I said, hey,
are you reading your Bible there, huh?
He's just like, yeah, I'm reading my Bible.
And I said, great, do you go to church?
And he said, no, I don't really go to church.
I used to go to Foursquare Church.
And I'm like, oh, man.
By the way, I didn't say good.
You don't say good, right?
Some of you need to pay attention when you're at the door.
It's like, oh, that's good.
Like, I'm a Mormon, oh, that's good.
I'm a Catholic, oh, great.
More important than that is like,
pay attention to what they're saying.
I just go, oh, okay.
Because I'm just like, all right,
well, that's news to me.
So I'm like, oh, okay.
And I said, well, you know what's more important
than the church is know where you're going to go when you die.
You know, are you 100% sure that if you die today
that you're saved, that you're going to heaven?
And he's like, I think so.
And he's like, I think I just have to trust Jesus.
And then we went through the whole questionnaire,
you know, can you lose it?
At the end of the day, he wasn't saved, okay?
That's basically what it was.
Now, thankfully, this is a cool thing, you know.
He asked me, he's like, wait, wait, wait,
before you go any further,
he said, what kind of Bible do you use?
I was like, I use the King James.
He said, okay, great, I got a King James here.
I'm like using the King James, he said.
He goes, the other versions are false.
I was like, man, man.
I was like, this is cool.
So he was in his late 50s, early 60s,
but he was kind of one of those surfer guys,
you know what I mean?
He was kind of like, bruh, dude, you know.
And so I started giving him the gospel,
and he's really receptive.
And look, this is rare because typically people at that age,
when you have a young man,
a young man, right, you know,
telling them the gospel or giving them doctrine,
they're kind of like, son, I've been around the block
longer than you have.
But he was very open, very receptive,
very humble.
And make a long story short, he got saved.
My kids were playing,
and he got saved, and he was like,
man, that's rad, bro.
That's rad.
He said, that's rad, dude, this is rad.
I didn't think about that.
And then, you know, I give him different scriptures,
and he was just very grateful.
At that point, like, my wife literally called,
and it was time to go.
I had to go pick her up.
And I said, well, it was nice to meet you.
You know, I didn't even get a chance to give him
an invitation or a YouTube card or anything,
because I didn't have anything on me.
But you know what that was?
That was a divine appointment.
And, you know, the whole thing with my son
just kind of bothered me when he got cut,
and he had those stitches.
But, you know, looking back, it's kind of like
God worked it out together for good.
So, you know, it's time to go to that tower
so that we can go to that park at that bench
and witness to that man for him to be saved.
You know?
So, be soul conscious, right?
You can always have a divine appointment.
You don't always see people saved at a soul-wanting
time, though, obviously, we do see people
saved during those times.
Sometimes it's just when you're casually down
the street and, you know, the Spirit moves
you.
No, I'm just kidding.
You know, talk to that guy right there.
Because the Spirit always wants you to witness
to everyone.
And thankfully, he got saved.
His name is William.
So, I probably will never see him again
other than in heaven.
Amen?
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
And thank you for the example of the apostles.
Also, thank you for the example of Simon,
even his bad example, to teach us what we
should not do, the kind of heart we should
not have.
And then the fact that he was even willing
to humble himself and get right with God
and understand that he was in the wrong.
And, Lord, help us, like Philip, be sensitive
to the Spirit, that we would be walking in the
Spirit.
And when we run into people, we take
advantage and consider every person a divine
appointment so we can get them saved.
We love you so much.
And we thank you.
We pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Song number 325, Trust and Obey.
Song number 325.
Trust and Obey, song number 325.
On that verse.
When we walk with the Lord in the light
of His Word, what a glory He sheds on our way.
While we do His good will, He abides
with us still, and with all who will just
stand away.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus.
But to just stand away, not a shadow can
rise, not a cloud in the skies, but a smile
quickly drives it away.
Not a cloud or a fear, not a sign or a tear,
can abide while we trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus.
But to trust and obey, not a burden we bear,
not a sorrow we share, but a tall heat
that richly we pay.
Not a green or a glass, not a round or a cross,
but a glass if we trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus.
But to trust and obey, but we never can prove
the delight of His love until along the altar
we lay.
For the waiver He shows and the joy He bestows
for for Him who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus.
But to trust and obey, letting fellowship sleep,
we will sit at His feet.
Or we'll walk by His side in the rain.
What He says we will do, where His hands we will go,
never fear, only trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus.
But to trust and obey.
Amen, you already dismissed.