All right guys, just bear with me, this is my first time doing it without mowing in several
months, so I'm just going to make sure we're done.
All right, let's welcome the spring crest, let's turn our handles over to page 457,
and we'll get started here on the first, 457.
whether it needs a bulletin police in the back.
If you'll turn your bulletins there to the first page,
our service times are Sunday morning at 10.30,
Sunday evening at 4.30,
and our Wednesday service is at 5.30.
So, winning time is Sunday at 2 p.m.
And then we have the memory chapter of the week,
Key Bruce 1.
Mean the memory chapter is Hebrews one. Sorry. We're in verse one of Hebrews one
And it's God who had sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time passed unto the fathers by the prophets
so
souls
one year to date is
one
Was this with the seven already? Yes, so we have five more so 164
Sorry about that. So we're at 164 for the year
Which is a big contrast to 28 we had last year not to diminish the 28 last year because every soul is important
But it's always better to have more numbers, which is nice
And then we had all we have a bunch of birthdays coming up my daughter's birthdays on the 27th
Aubrey, the Matos, they are not here at the moment, but they'll be back is on the 26th.
Victor the Matos is on the 28th. Kevin Rogers is on the 28th. So that's basically Sunday and Monday.
And then we have all the anniversaries there in the middle. And then we had our soul-winning marathon
this 19th and we had seven souls for the
19th with 13 soul winners but then also on Sunday we had five more souls added to
that that's how we got to the 164. This Saturday is the church work day so
whoever can make it we would greatly appreciate it. We'll be here from about
nine till you know whenever depending on who shows up and what's available we'll
play it by ear but we'll definitely be here through lunch. The church will have
breakfast and lunch so if anything else you'll get a couple of free meals out of
Well, not necessarily because I'm gonna ask you to work don't eat and then leave but uh, and then uh, we have a couple of
And I need to update this so America if you'll remind me
Uh, we have the measure retreat with steadfast august 14th through the 16th
And then we have the fire breathing baptist fellowship august 27th through the 31st
And then we have the soul winning
Mission strip with steadfast september 8 through the 12
In addition to that we have a soul winning marathon in another church work day
I might switch those around. I just this afternoon as I was preparing for the sermon
Worked it out with pastor Anderson. So pastor Anderson will be here August 22nd, which is a Friday. I
Think it's August 22nd. Can you get?
August 22nd. Well, that Friday of the 22nd. I think that is the date correctly. I just
work that out. And so we'll get that set up. He'll probably preach about 7 or 730. I'll work that out with him
as the time closes. And then we actually have a soul wedding marathon the next day. So that'll
work out. So it'll be a fun weekend. But let's go ahead and get that promoted. Let's make sure we have a
Pastor Anderson is probably one of the first people I wanted to invite, but he's just, you know, the busiest of all the
NFB guys, and so it's it's harder to pin down and what how it actually he beat me to the punch
And I'm glad he did what actually happened was when I was at the King James conference
I said, hey, you know, let's let's have a chat back and forth and invite you to come preach for us
And he's like, well, I'm going to be gone for a couple of weeks
on the case show of the family in a sew-in mission
trip so that I intended to reach out to him afterwards.
And then, of course, with life and work and busyness,
I just got sidetracked.
And I was actually thinking about it this week.
It's almost like he read my mind and he beat me to the punch.
So it was great.
We'll have him come out and preach for us that weekend.
And I'm pretty sure it has to do with.
the fact that the next week he's gonna be at the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship.
So, you know, for those of you who are gonna go to that,
there'll be, you know, you'll get to listen to them twice.
I don't have a problem who you like better, who you want to listen to.
Pastor Anderson draws a big crowd.
If you only come to listen to him, at least you came to church once a year.
You could be, we could count you a Baptist Catholic for that one week.
I mean I would prefer you come more but if that's what starts getting you in the track then that's fine by me
I have no problem with it
Prayer requests there are in the back. I did add a couple that'll come out on sunday
So just I think it was sister christian asked for somebody's healing
Sister shina asked to be put on the prayer list for
I guess healing as well and her son theo and
And then I think it was your your sister-in-law who's yeah, so those will all be on there
If nothing else, it is good to have Brother James Perry with us.
He, I don't know, he's like a non-member member of a lot of churches because he travels
the world.
God's given him the ability to work remotely.
He spends most of his time in the Philippines at Pastor Stuckey's Church and supporting
that's where most of his residence is but when he's around he shows up to different churches
it's always a blessing to have him and he'll jump out and go soul-winning with anybody I know that
for a fact so it's good to have him we'll do some fellowshiping with him and have a good time if
you'll turn your handles over to page 167 and then just pray because brother Moe it's bittersweet
my flesh is sad that he left us because he had to go get a job like in the real world
and the church isn't big enough to support him full-time yet so that's good for him
it's sad for us so that's why you see me behind the pulpit I think still Sundays he'll be here
but he's working basically I think they're like 12 hour shifts and so it's really hard for him to
get off on wednesdays maybe as he gets better at his job he can ask for that time off but he's
just starting out when you're the lowest band the totem pole you don't have a lot of leeway on that
and that's that's quite all right everybody's got to start somewhere
but do pray that it doesn't interfere with his church life.
If he doesn't help me, that's irrelevant,
but that it doesn't interfere with his church attendance
because that's actually the most important thing.
So turn your handles over to page 167.
One, is it wonderful words of life?
Is that a word?
Is that?
I thought we had picked another,
I thought there was another one that we had practiced.
I'm kind of confused.
Was it 182?
How did we even get one night to
My goodness honey, that's how you know that brother most night here
I I don't even know how I got that what we practiced a totally different one
earlier to prepare and I
Have no idea how we you know what I've told people and I just this is just an aside note
That I really do believe that I have slight
dyslexia. It's never been diagnosed, but I do that on occasion where I'll just invert numbers or get some backwards.
So 167 is what we're thinking, which is actually better because the one we practiced earlier
I didn't quite know so well, but this one I know very well. Wonderful words of life, 167.
We'll sing Psalm 150, which by the way, I know Brother Mo started this and I'm glad he did.
I guess we never really explained it in the sense that these are the actual Psalms in the Bible.
And, you know, the Bible tells us that we should edify each other with hymns and spiritual songs and Psalms and so that's why we've integrated this into our regular service and sorry if I butchered it, but basically there is no, you know, God didn't leave us, he left us the songs, but he didn't leave us the music behind it.
It's up for interpretation and since I'm not a musician
We're using somebody else's interpretation and it takes some practice
But this one I think pastor Shelly put it together and my wife's gonna play it
She does way better than I do but God willing we got it. Let's do this on the first
says you just make a joyful sound, right? Turn your Bible over to Acts 28. We're
actually closing out our study in the book of Acts. And so we've been at this
all year. We started in January. Don't ask me what we will be doing next, because
I don't know yet, but pray for the Lord. I probably picked something in the Old
And, but we are in Acts 28 and we're wrapping up a wonderful chapter in the Bible, probably
the quintessential soul winning chapter of the Bible.
I mean, we get probably a lot of our soul winning doctrine and.
Just planning and the way we do things missions work from the book of Acts not to take away from the others
But this is I mean literally that's what this whole book is about is
preaching the gospel
Soul-winning and persecution, but let's go there to act 28 in the first verse it says and when they were escaped
They knew that the island was called Melita and the barbarous people showed us no little kindness
For they kindled the fire and received every one because of the present rain and because of the cold
And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire there came a viper out of the heat and fasted on his hand
And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand they said among themselves no doubt this man is a murderer whom thou
Whom though he had escaped the sea yet vengeance suffered not to live and he shook off the beast and into the fire and felt no harm
How be it they looked when he should have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly
But after they had looked a great while and saw no harm come to him
They changed their minds and said that he was God in the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island whose name was
Publius, who received us and lodged us three days courteously.
And it came to pass that father of Publius lay sick
of a fever and of a bloody flux
to whom Paul entered in and prayed
and laid his hands on him and healed him.
So when this was done, others also,
which had diseases in the island came and were healed,
who also honored us with many honors.
And when we departed, they laid it us
with such things as were necessary.
And after three months,
we departed in the ship of Alexandria.
which had wintered in the Isle, whose sign was Caster and Pollux,
and landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days.
And from thence, we fetched a compass and came to Regium.
And after one day, the south wind blew,
and we came the next day to Puttoli,
where we found brethren and were desired to tarry with them seven days.
And so we went toward Rome.
When the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as a P for him, and the three taverns, whom when Paul saw, he thanked God into courage.
And when he came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard, but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.
And it came to pass that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together and when they were coming together
He said unto them men and brethren although I have committed nothing against the people or customs of our fathers
Yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans who when they had examined me
Would have let me go because there was no cause of death in me
But when the Jews spake against it I was constrained to appeal into Caesar not that I had ought to accuse my
My nation of for this cause therefore have I called for you to see you and to speak with you because that for the hope of
Israel I am bound with this chain and they said unto him we neither receive letters out of Judea
Concerning thee neither any of the brethren that came showed or spake any harm of thee
But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest for us concerning this sect
We know that everywhere it is spoken against and when they had appointed him a day there came any to him
And to his lodging, to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them
concerning Jesus both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets from morning till evening.
And some believe the things which were spoken, and some believe not.
And when they agree not among themselves, they depart it after that Paul has spoken one word.
We'll spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah's, the prophet unto our fathers, saying,
Go unto the people and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand.
And seeing ye shall see, and not perceive.
For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing.
and their eyes have they close, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart that should be converted and I should heal them. Be it known
therefore unto you that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles and that they will hear it.
And when he had said these words, the Jews departed and had great reasoning among themselves,
and Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house and received all that came in unto him.
preaching the kingdom of God and teaching those things which concerning the Lord Jesus Christ
with all confidence no man forbidding him. Pastor Cobb, will you leave us in a word of prayer?
I have the title of thanks to you again this evening for your business course,
Pray to the Lord you're given the word to say that we'll bring on and go with your precious name.
I follow we pray you bless those who have come tonight and be with those who are unable to come.
Lord, we pray you direct the service and keep our procedure going. Do it all.
But if it was not our sin, we ask the name of Jesus, and before his sake, we ask him. Amen.
Amen.
Alright, well let's go ahead and close this thing out. Let's close it with a bang.
Acts 28.
And the title of the sermon this evening is, or afternoon, is Acts 28,
Preaching Without Hindrance.
And what we see at the end of Acts 28, and what we actually see throughout the whole thing is,
even though there's always opposition,
The word of God is preached and we get to the end of acts and it just turns out that no matter what
Nobody could find anything wrong and unlike Jesus who had to suffer for our death
God had a different plan for Paul and of course that plan is still being executed to this day. I mean here we are
preaching on Acts 28, and the fact that the Word of God will never be hindered, right?
No matter what happens in this world, no matter what people say, it's never going to be hindered.
And you know, that's the great thing about the Word of God, and also the great thing
about the Word of God is we're going to see here in a couple of verses, and it's going
to separate people.
It's always going to keep us, it says some believe and some didn't believe.
And that's a good thing, right?
I was, I know many of you know I run a digital business
and so I'm on a bunch of Facebook groups and forums.
I'm like, it's kind of nuts my life, right?
I'm on like Facebook groups for like the new IFB
and for, you know, Baptist listeners
and King James Council and, you know, all this stuff.
And then I'm also on Facebook groups
for like this software company
and this digital marketing thing.
It's just insane.
But there's this like a lady
And all of a sudden, she says that she's found her Christianity again, of course, she hasn't.
But what's interesting about her is that, you know, in there, she's talking about, like,
reading the Bible and this research that she's found. And the thing that I find interesting is that
God's Word always finds its way back to people.
Now, she's totally off on things,
but you know what she is doing?
You know, the Bible said some preach for strife
and some for, you know, the love of God.
And I'm paraphrasing here,
but God's Word's always gonna be in people's mouth.
It's interesting that she is opening the Bible.
There's other people that recently I would never think of,
and they're like, oh, I'm gonna buy me a King James Bible,
or I need to start reading my Bible,
or I'm really interested in reading my Bible.
to read their Bible while being saved in the Spirit,
but you've got to start somewhere.
And I mean, even if you read the, I will say this,
I don't think you can get saved
if you've never had the seed planted
just by reading the King James,
because the Bible says,
but the natural man received it
not the things of the Spirit of God, right?
For they are foolishness unto him,
neither can he know them because they are, you know,
they are, what is it, spiritually discerned,
but
What I will say is that someone who's lost, if they're reading the right Bible and they can have the seed planted.
And we know that's biblical because we saw that in Acts, right?
The Ethiopian is like, the Ethiopian eunuch is reading the Bible, he's like, hey, what is this talking about?
I want to figure this thing out.
So I'm okay with people reading the Bible and trying to figure this thing out.
What I don't believe is that you're just randomly going to figure this thing out all by yourself.
The Bible says from faith to faith, like somebody has to preach the Bible to you,
but a couple of things I want to just clear up before we go into it.
I want to just touch on and I'm not going to spend too much time because I did this in the
beginning of the study, but
I do find it interesting, and you're not going to see it in chapter 28, but we do see that word accord
plastered all over the book of Acts, right? We see
75% of all mentions of that word accord or in its context is found in the book of Acts.
But what's interesting, the only thing I will say, and you find that you know in Acts 1 all the way through like Acts 15, is that
It's it's very contrasting you're either the church is praying or coming together in one accord to do what the work of God or
The Jews are in one accord to destroy the word of God
There's never like just one random accord to do nothing
And in that interesting people don't people usually gather around to do nothing like to party or to have a get-together
But that's not an accord as in like they're not all with one purpose people
You know nobody everybody always has like a different reason for showing up to like a family gathering, right?
I mean we know that for a fact because if it was all one accord then family gathers family gathers would be fun
and not what they really are, right?
People try to make it seem like family gatherings are great,
but really, there's only a couple of reasons
you show up to a family gathering.
You've gone to the stage in life
where you think family is important
and you're gonna keep your mouth shut
and you've told yourself,
I'm not gonna say anything, don't say anything,
don't be an idiot, don't get in a fight anymore,
we're past that, right?
Or you're getting there because you felt somebody
in that family wronged you.
And now it's your turn to show them how well you're doing, or how much better you are, or how much more you know.
Like it's always like a tit for tat, right? It's not a one accord. Like if they had to come together for a one accord, it just wouldn't work out.
Like, who's ever been to a family gathering and then people are trying to decide what to eat for lunch or what.
You know, unless somebody plans the menu, it's just like a free-for-all. It's just a disaster.
I know because my wife is one of nine.
If you ask their opinions, this is almost impossible.
What usually ends up happening is one of the siblings,
usually my sister-in-law Elizabeth
or my father-in-law Steve will take the lead
and then everybody will moan and gripe about it,
but then we all at least do something about it, right?
Like, and I'm not saying in a negative way,
like we actually enjoy each other,
but
It's the same thing in church, right?
When we gather together in church for just straight fellowship,
if I ask everybody, hey, what should we eat for lunch?
Forget it, right?
But when we're doing the work of the Lord,
you know, fellowshiping, prayer,
just joining each other for church,
we're doing it on one accord.
But you know what?
The enemy also does that.
18 and in Acts 19. I mean, what are they doing? They're coming in one accord. I'm just going to give you one example
It says here in Acts 18 verse 12. It says that when Galeo was the deputy of Acacia
The Jews made insurrection with one accord
Against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat saying this fellow persuaded men to worship God
Contrary to the law look the only other accord the only other union is the union against God Almighty
I mean, it's not even against you. It's just against God
It's against the things I've got.
I preached and I didn't even put John MacArthur,
I preached this weekend about Calvinism really,
but the trigger was John MacArthur.
And then I like, they didn't really do anything.
I guess in the last couple of days,
it took traction because Calvinists are like Catholics.
And I got the same type of response,
all these negative comments and it's all what?
You don't know anything.
You know, anybody who,
Who doesn't believe Calvinism obviously is not not saved we're not saved by the blood of the Lamb
But we're saved by the life of Jesus, you know just people what is it?
They're all in one accord
I mean you go against the major religion or belief system like that and they all come out in one accord
It's literally I mean I could verbatim almost
Calculate what they're gonna say next right the Catholics will say that I've never read the church fathers
That I don't know who started the church have I ever heard of this is the same thing with the Calvinists
They're like I guess you've never some guy went in there. I mean I was impressed. He's like you've not read
the confession of 1786 and the 1792 that led to the, say 18 something, that led to the thing,
that led to the southern baptism. So I was like, bro, that's a lot. All I care about is what the
Bible says, right? So we just got to be mindful that the book of Acts does two things. It brings
Either you're gonna fight for your life and for the eternal life of others or you think you're you just hate God so much
You're just gonna fight for the death of everybody and you just want to drag everybody to hell
Because I mean that's really what people are doing when they reject the Lord Jesus Christ
They've given up and decided that they're gonna just die
The reason I was reading that article from that digital person is because she mentioned another more prominent digital individual
Who supposedly was Christian, but then decided that he he became a nihilist
Which is even crazier than an atheist and then I played the clip of this guy and he basically got out on there
He's like I studied everything. I
You know, I read all the books. I even took a course. He's like I even hired a Christian
Counselor to help me through this this thing that I was obsessed about and she which is horrible
But he's because it was a he it's like she finally told me you have to make a decision
And he finally got to the point where he's like I'm saddened because I know
This is like I'm almost per I'm almost verbatim quoted me said I know it is better
But I just can't bring myself to believe it
You know, that's what the Word of God does is it literally separates and that's why it's so and you say
What does this have to do with the entire sermon because that's all there is in life?
The book of Acts is literally the separation of the sheep and the goats
Literally, there's nothing else and even this guy was talking about how he's like the reason that I was trying to find this
Meaning in my life is because I didn't want to just do all this great things
Without knowing what my purpose is
And he says, and I figured out that after you die, nothing happens.
And so all I have is what I have in this life.
What a sad existence, because everything that he has in this life,
even myself, even you, that's not spiritual is wood, hay, and stubble.
The Bible says it's it doesn't mean anything.
You know, sometimes we get all caught up in whether we were going to have
enough money or we're going to do that, then matter.
You know, it doesn't matter at all and the Lord still blesses even though even though sometimes we we worry about those things
But let's go to the first point go back there tax 28 verse 1 and the very first thing we want to see is
That no weapon formed against us show prosper. That's my first point
No weapon formed against the show prosper and I love this because us being
hard leather long
preaching the Bible as it is, we're going to draw way more context out of these verses than most people will.
Because it says here, when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita,
and the barbarous people showed us no little kindness. Now, this is like old English.
Not technically old English, but it's just written in a more proper English
So it can be a little bit confusing, but no little kindness means that they showed us
No little kindness they showed us a lot of kindness. It's the opposite. This is being a double negative
We normally don't write like this anymore. So this might be misconstrued as oh, they didn't show us any kindness
No, they would say they showed us and they didn't show us any kinds
This is no little kindness meaning they're giving us a lot of kindness and we see this in context is this for the kill of the fire
and received every one because of the present rain and because of the cold.
So obviously this would be contradictory if it was the opposite, right?
And it says, and when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks
and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat and fastened on his hand.
And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand,
they said among themselves, no doubt this man is a murderer, whom though he hath escaped the sea,
And he shook the beast off in the fire and felt no harm,
how be it they looked when he should have swollen
or fallen down suddenly.
But after they had looked a great while
and saw no harm come to him,
they changed their minds and said that he was a God.
Now, they changed their minds.
The bad part is they thought he was a God,
but they did change their minds.
But let's go to verse three.
What do we see here? Well it says when Paul gathered what? A bundle of sticks. What do we call a bundle of sticks in Old English? A fag, right?
And so we can make a spiritual application because what's the next chapter we're going to read if we're reading the Bible in order?
Romans 1 and you say maybe you're trying to touch to tie it too much. Maybe it's too coincidental. That's fine
It still makes sense, right? It says that he had gathered a bundle of sticks and what what do you do with that?
What do you what do you do with a fag? You burn them?
Right, you really burn a fag because that's what a bundle sticks is with its for is to burn and kindle the fire
Well, what are facts gonna do in hell? They're gonna burn for all eternity
It says and he laid them on the fire and what's interesting is
What does the devil refer to sometimes, you know a snake a dragon and it says in a bit a viper came out of the heat
Well, the devil's out of hell right now and he's literally what venomous snake?
I mean, that's literally what he's doing. He's poisoning the entire world
It might be a little simplistic, but there's a lot of truth into what I'm saying in these verses
Right? There came a viper out and fasted onto his hand and what does the devil do?
He wants to basically anchor your mind with the wickedness and evil of this world.
He literally wants to program your mind. Like it says, we're going to turn on the TV.
What is it called? Television programming. Right? Or you're going to get on the, the, the,
we call it programming. Everything we do on the computer is programmed.
The A.I. is programmed to respond the way I tell it to respond, right?
And of course, the world is not all Christian.
And it said, it fastened on his hand, it says in verse four,
They said among themselves no doubt this man is a murderer whom though he had escaped he had benches suffered on and what has happened?
Well when the devil is attacking you two things you either give in or you resist and when you resist people are gonna falsely
Accused you of things that aren't even real
These people are like hey this guy must have been a murderer if this spender the snakes like hanging on him
They know nothing about him, but in that how Christianity and the world works
You know one of the problems, you know, and I'm gonna double down on Calvinism is the Calvinism would say oh
Well, you know this guy has all this bad stuff happen to him because he's not the elect
Right. Oh, he's being poisoned and he's being attacked because he's not found the grace of God because God didn't grace it
His love upon them except that that's not the way it works. You know, sometimes I mean Job
His his three friends, right miserable comforters. They were they came up to him and they're like Job. What did you do?
And little did they know that Job, he did do something.
He was one that is shoot evil.
He was, you know, he kept his life righteous.
He was living godly for God.
I mean, he was living a godly life.
And now like verse five, it says,
and he shook off the beast into the fire
and felt no harm.
And isn't that what the Christian life is?
Hey, we got to shake off and resist the devil.
We shake the dust off our feet.
And you know what?
We're not going to feel any harm.
Now, what does that really mean? Doesn't mean we're not gonna feel any pain. It's just that at the end of the day
The devil can't do anything to us. No weapon formed against the show prosper
Right even in death
Even facing ultimate death
We're not gonna we won't be twice dead. We're never gonna see the second death
We're never gonna experience that agony that
Everybody that we've talked about in the Bible or even this week, you know Ozzy Osbourne also died
You know who is not holding hands and singing kuban yah in heaven John MacArthur and Ozzy Osbourne
If anything, they're down in hell talking to each other if they if they're even allowed to talk to each other
I mean like what the hell happened because we're in hell
Can somebody dip their finger in water and quench this thirst?
Nobody's there to quench it. It says there in verse 6 how be it they looked
When you should have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly and you know, isn't that what the world does?
They're just waiting for your demise. They're just waiting for you to mess up to trip up
They just want you to make a mistake so they can call you on it
I had a mentor in my business when I was a young man,
and he said, don't even focus on your problems,
don't complain about your problems,
don't tell anybody your problems,
because 80% of the people don't care,
and the other 20% are happy that you got problems.
And then how it is even the Christian walk we have to what swallow our pride and not be like all joyful when someone's suffering
Like that's not natural for us. We have to bring it out from the spirit
It says the fruits of the spirit not the works of the spirit, right?
It says it there and they filled up, but then after that looked a great one saw no harm come to him
They changed their minds and said that he was a God and that changed their mind was what they repented
Because that's another thing we get
A lot of flak for that. We don't believe in repentance. No, we don't believe in repenting your sins
We believe in repentance. You need to repent you need to change your mind about the thing that you thought you were thinking
These guys were wrong and they're like whoops
We were wrong and then they changed their mind and actually
It's sometimes the changes slow like this right these guys are like oh Paul's a God
It's up to Paul
To clear that thing up and say no don't worship me
worship God Almighty, worship Jesus Christ, right? If you turn over to Mark 16, go to Mark 16,
we see that this was only for the book, you know, for that time, because another thing,
I'm not going to spend too much time on it, but the Bible does, you know, give us clear indication,
and that's a whole other sermon of itself, because we've got a lot of Pentecostals and
holy rollers that believe that they can still do this, you know, here in Texas, I think the South
dancing around with rattlesnakes, and then they die because, you know, they just didn't read their
Bible correctly. But, right there in verse 15 of chapter 16, it says, and he said unto them,
that believeth, and his baptize shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.
And these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name shall they cast out devils,
they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly
thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God.
And they went forth and preached everywhere the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following
Amen, and this is obviously we see this fulfilled where in the book of Acts
This is exactly what they did in the book of Acts
It wasn't for all time. It was for a specific time. And so
It makes sense that we would see that if you go to the second Corinthians 4 go to go to the second Corinthians
I'll pick and choose but we might turn a lot to the Bible today. Just you know
There's a good closing but second Corinthians 4
And verse number 9
And we'll read a little bit. We'll give you a little bit of context, you know
The Bible tells us for we are troubled on every side yet not distressed. We are perplexed
But not in despair is persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed
Why because we're always bearing about in the body of the dine of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made
Manifest in our body and that's what Paul
exemplified both spiritually and physically and what's nice about the
day and age we live in now that's not always the case but the day we in age
we live in is most of our affliction is a spiritual affliction nobody's like
stoning us or trying to kill us yeah I know the Christianity is still always
attacked and there's groups that they get more harshly attacked but for the
most part we live a free life
in the United States and I would say even you know I don't think that it's it's that bad in
the Philippines I mean I could be wrong but I don't I don't think so you could probably go down to
Mexico as long as you don't go to like the jungles we're you know we're gonna go to Mexico City
we might get some opposition but I don't think anybody's gonna try to kill us I mean if you go to
Jew land well that's a whole other story like that's that's just you know you're asking for it but for
It's not what the end time says, right, where the whole world will be persecuted,
persecuting Christians. And then in Romans 8, you don't have to turn there, but it says,
and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to his purpose, for whom he did for no, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of the Son, that he might be the firstborn among many
of the brother moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them
he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified what shall we then say to
those things if God before us who can be against us and I mean I don't have time to go into
the context of this but because the Calvinists love this but you know predestination is just
Right? Today I put GPS coordinates.
That doesn't mean that I'm going to follow it exactly because what if there's like construction.
I have a choice not to follow the GPS coordinates.
How many times it remember when GPS first started, it's better now.
But remember, most of our children will never know this.
But I remember one time, this is back in like, I don't know, like 2008, 2009,
when the iPhone first released, I got on an Apple Maps.
and I got the direction somewhere and it literally took me to the opposite side of Houston, right?
Just because there's a predestination doesn't mean it's correct. And number two,
it's still a choice of ours to take the roads that we're going to take, right?
We have to, God preordained Jesus Christ to die for us, but it's our choice to receive it
or reject it. I mean, we're the ones that have to do that. So
We see this go back to acts 28 the first thing is that no weapon formed against the show prosper
Right second thing is that soul winners have additional powers now
I know I just said we're not gonna we're not healing and all that stuff, but you know what we do have power
when we take action in the Word of God and what I'm going to like this too is obviously we're
not going around healing people and do this but there is power in what we can do in prayer
and in going soul winning and in showing up to church and in leading our families in the
fear and admonition of the Lord like we are powerful individuals that have influence in the
world and we need not to and we need to take that seriously right some of the most persecuted
Make up a very small percentage of the world's population. I'm talking about the world's population
I'm not saying they're not big congregations, but when you say for example, I just talked about how Pastor Anderson can come
I think they run somewhere like 300 people, which is a huge congregation for Baptist numbers
But if you think about the 300 members in the grand scheme of 8 billion people,
that's a very small group of people.
And yet, the impact that that church has had worldwide is probably in the millions, right?
The impact even our church has had just here locally is probably in the thousands.
maybe the tens of thousands we don't know like because it's not just that the numbers that we're
keeping it's also the people were influencing right we don't know who's out there soul winning
because of what they heard we don't know what has I got a lot of Hispanic people that follow us
we don't know what they're doing because of the things that we've preached here or the things
that we said so that we've got to be very serious about this power that the Lord has given us
you know it says there in the same quarters were possessions of the chief of the island whose name
received us and lodged us three days courteously, and it came to pass that the father of Publius
lay sick in a fever and of a bloody flux to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid
hands on him and healed him.
So when this was done, others also, which had the disease in the island, came and were
healed, who also honored us with many honors, and when departed, they laid us with such
things as were necessary.
And because of the power, the Lord's going to bless us, right?
So we have two things.
Stop worrying about the things that God can or cannot do.
You just worry about the things God's giving you to do.
He'll take care of the rest, right?
And with us, obviously, we're not going to heal people.
We're not Benny Hinn.
You know, I'm not going to take off my coat
and starts, who's ever seen that one
where he's like healing people with supposedly healing people.
But we can affect, you know, change
by just going on and doing the work of the Lord.
And, you know, you don't have to turn it for the sake of time because I've got to be careful.
I've been really diligent about getting my stopwatch and, of course, Moses is not here,
so I forgot one thing.
So I didn't turn this on, but in James 5, verse 15, the Bible says,
And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise them up.
And if he had committed sins, they shall be forgiven.
But, you know, we do have the power of prayer.
You know, I've been preaching a series that I'm probably going to last all year on prayer, right?
We've preached on how to pray. We've preached on impregnatory prayer.
But there's also an intercessory prayer. There's prayer of supplications.
I mean, the Lord's given us ways to access His power, and we need to do that.
And you know, if you look at Paul's life, he was giving these powers,
but who gave, who did he give all the credit to? Jesus Christ.
Right the problem is most people don't give credit. They just give lip service to Jesus Christ
Galatians 6 verse 10 says and we have therefore opportunity. Let us do good unto all men
Especially unto them who are of the household of faith. You don't one of the things that we do is we just try to have a good time
And bless the congregation
I don't know if I've been perfect, but I've tried to stay true to the word that hey
The more people that show up and the more work we're gonna do for the Lord the more that I'll just try to
Divert those funds to those things on Saturday
We went soul winning if you didn't go and you like good eating you missed out right? We went to Papa does
And it was good. I'm not kidding. It was I my wife and I hadn't been there in several years
I don't know why I've always liked Papa does
But it was, I mean, and they had this new thing.
It was like a fondue, cajun, shrimp, mushroom thing.
It was delicious, you know, and we had some etouffee,
and I think fried shrimp, and calamari, and, you know, octopus.
My kids had fun eating octopus.
They thought it was funny to eat.
But I'm not trying to make you feel bad, although I am.
But you know what, God's given us those abilities.
Why wouldn't we be a blessing to that?
Like, that's the hard work.
Not I mean church workday is good, too
And you'll still get a decent lunch, but the better lunch is when you come soul winning
You know if if you had to choose
I would rather just do all the work about myself at the church and have you go out fight the battle with me
Then come clean up the church and then never go soul winning, right soul winning is where we need to be
That's the work and as long as people are doing that work and the church God allows us to we're gonna bless them, right?
Unfortunately the problem with that is sometimes people can get too excited or want to take advantage of it
But that's not my problem. You know, I leave that to God
I really do I try not to would think about it because my my human nature my business size was like I don't and I'm not
Saying anybody has yet, but as we grow that'll be a tendency
But you know what as people as long as people showing up and they're so in and preaching the gospel
That's what the Bible says that they rejoice in heaven
Where all the riches are
So if they rejoice in heaven, we should definitely rejoice down here. I mean if people get I saw this clip
It was just like a really quick clip. I guess they were giving the the rings to the Super Bowl champs
And it was a big deal
You know it was a big show and they had a big box and everything
It's a much bigger deal when someone gets saved than whoever was the Super Bowl
It's kind of a stupid thing too, right? Because it just lasts for that year. Who remembers the Super Bowl winner from
1993
Unless you're a hard-dive fan, who remembers the Super Bowl winner from 2020?
2021 I didn't even know that Philadelphia was a Super Bowl winner until I saw the clip
I didn't even know who it was because it doesn't matter
Right, but one day we're gonna bump you all I always tell people hey
We don't see you again and on this earth where we're gonna see you in heaven
We're kick how cool it be when you're like in heaven. You're like hey
Remember, I remember you or I remember when we and they'll be you know what they're gonna be happy
They're gonna be like hey, thank you for leading me to Christ. Thank you for letting me so we have those powers
Matthew 5 stay there in Acts where Matthew 5 16 says let your light so shine before man
that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
You know, one of the things that I've never heard, I don't, and I'm pretty sure that somebody's
tied together, but it just came to me, we love this verse and I've heard this verse preached a lot,
like this little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. But the Bible also says in John,
You know, so I think we have a misunderstanding of this. Hey, we're gonna let our light shine
Just know that we're also just gonna piss some people off
It's just gonna happen because people don't love the light
They want to live in darkness so that their deeds are what not exposed. They're not reproved
Let's go back to acts 28. Let's go there verse 11. And so the third point I have for you, you know God
I mean, obviously no weapon formed against us
Soul winners have additional powers. We do
And why, why did I say soul winners and not just church members?
because there really is something about just regurgitating the Word of God
that keeps you on fire for the Lord. It's funny, you would think that you would get bored.
I was a jungle cruise skipper for six months at Disneyland,
and by the end of it, I never wanted to repeat that stupid spiel because I was just bored out
of my mind. You know, it was the coolest thing in the world until it wasn't. But you know,
I preach the gospel every weekend or every week that I can and every time we go out on
I'm just like, there's like more power sometime.
I read like John 316 and you think you would be bored of it.
And then you're like, oh, wait, there's more here
to unpack than was before.
It's just to, you know, you just see so much more every time.
And then the third point I have for you is that God
always what delivers.
This isn't after three months.
We departed in a ship of Alexandra, which had wintered in the Isle, whose signs was
Castor and Pollux, and landing at Syracuse we tarried there for three days, and from
thence we fetched the compass and then came to Regium, and after one day the south wind
blew and we came the next day to Petoli, where we found brethren and were desired to tarry
toward Rome. And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as
aptly for him and the three taberns. When Paul saw, he thanked God and took courage. And when he
came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captains of the guard, but Paul was
suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept them. And so what do we see? God had a plan
all along. And he told Paul on several occasions, he's like, don't worry, you're going to make it to Rome.
This ship's not going to get wrecked. Don't worry. Not only are you going to get spared,
but everybody is going to get spared. And you know what? God delivered. And God says, hey,
you have crowns and rewards waiting for you in heaven.
You know what's gonna happen? We're gonna get to heaven and we're gonna get crowns and rewards if we did the work
Hey, if I told somebody the day look if you're least in the kingdom at least you're in the kingdom
I'm not saying it's a great thing, but
My understanding is prides out the window. So it's not like your ego is gonna be hurt
Chances are the least in the kingdom still probably gonna be
You know someone who's excited about the kingdom
Because you're in heaven. I think when you get there and you just realize the like the power and extent of
You know, have you ever had that like a ha moment as you're coming of age?
Where you realize the seriousness of some things or the coolness of some things, you know
Can you imagine when you get to heaven and it finally just hits you?
You know, you ever heard those people say it just hadn't hit me yet
And all of a sudden, you know, when it's like something also negative, right, like sometimes people lose someone and they're like, it hadn't hit me yet.
When we get to heaven, you're going to be like, whoa, this is now forever.
Like, there is no end to this.
That I mean, I think that's really cool.
And we just need to remind ourselves, God's going to deliver us from everything.
He will never leave us nor forsake us.
I mean, in Acts 23 verse 11, the Bible says,
in the night following, the Lord stood by him and said,
be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou hast testified to me
in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also in Rome.
He told him, hey, you're going to make it to Rome,
and you know what, God doesn't lie.
God which cannot lie, you know which promise before the beginning let's go to ties
I got all excited. I would quote that every time but sometimes who has that happened. I haven't happened when I'm preaching a lot
Only when I'm preaching do I just like randomly forget verses, but it's okay in hope of eternal life
Which God that cannot lie promise before the world began right God is not a liar
Psalm 37 says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighted in his way
You know, we need to delight in the Lord's path for us
In 1st of the Lord is 5 verse 24 the Bible says faithful is he that called you who also what will do it?
And the Lord is more faithful than anything that we are. Oh, and that was the thing that stood out
I'm glad that that pop that I was listening to that five-minute clip of that guy
And he's like the problem with
He is scary how well he understood the gospel. He's like, you know what? I came to realize as I was doing the search
And there's really only two
Two paths now. This is not a Christian or a Baptist or King James only this guy's a digital marketer
That makes I mean literally he has a private jet. He flies around he does whatever and this guy
said something really interesting he's like there's really only two paths that
I could find he's like one path is like telling you you have to do so much to
get into heaven and he said it not me and I've used that analogy he's like so
the thing that I struggled with with that path is where's the 51% like where's
the point where you get to where you've crossed that line where you're now in
Is that you just simply believe and he says the problem with faith is that faith is you know like
He was basically trying to like it to work is like you need to like work out your faith
Right and faith requires all this stuff. Yeah, but faith just requires believe
But what he was trying to talk about is a life of faith versus the faith of believing in God, right?
There's it really is different, right? I can trust God to be my savior
I can trust Jesus Christ to save me forever
That's easy because we understand the concept of children and that's probably what it is
He doesn't have any children, right our children a baby has no like
Their entire faith is based on the fact that two individuals who they can barely see in their first days are
Going to feed them and clothe them and bathe them and love them and do all this stuff
The working faith is as they grow they trust that mommy and daddy are leading them down the right path
And then when they get older they start to think maybe mom and dad don't know everything right dad
It's two different two different worlds
One doesn't negate the fact that you're always the child of that parent, just like I'm always the child of the God.
The other one ensures that you either executed faithfully the things that you were taught, or you rejected faithfully the things.
As a Christian, we can reject faithfully the things that were taught.
That doesn't make us less safe. It just makes us more stupid, right? Like it just makes us dumb
So I don't know that made any sense
But I think that's what he's struggling with and the reason is because
Nobody said and the problem is because he's never had anybody just explain the gospel to him
And then the saddest thing he said
What he said hey, I had a lot of people reach out to me and said just give me five minutes
And I'll explain he goes don't he's like I'm good with my decision
I'm content with the decision that I made and I'm not kidding. My heart like almost broke not for him for anybody in that situation
because you realize the devil has just won and
There's he's getting to the point. I don't know. There's still hope for him
He didn't necessarily say he hates Christ, but he ended the worst scariest part. He just said I understand
You know what happens here?
Paul is gonna get to Rome because a lot of people were like you almost had me remember that
Almost, but not quite.
So we need to move you to the next level.
You need to go up to Festus and Felix and Agrippa.
And then, you know, I might've gotten Festus
and Felix backwards, but, and then now you gotta go to Rome.
And what happens in Rome?
Let's start wrapping this thing up
cause I don't have a timer and I can get along with it.
You know, verse 17 of Acts 28,
here we're gonna see what some will believe
and some will not, right?
But we still need to preach it anyways
This isn't it came in the past after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together
And when they were coming together he sent in to the men and brethren though
I have committed nothing against the people or custom of our fathers yet was I delivered from a
Delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans who when they had examined me they would have let me go
Because there was no cause of death in me, but when the Jews spake against it
I was constrained to appeal and to Caesar
Not that I had ought to accuse my nation of not that I had anything to accuse him of
For this cause therefore have I called for you to see and speak with you because that for the hope of Israel
I'm bound with this chain and they said unto him it's interesting these guys hated Paul pay attention here
Remember they followed him everywhere, but the minute it got to the top dogs
There was no more complaints. You see that right here. It says and they sent him
We neither receive letters out of Judea concerning thee, neither of the brethren
that came showed, or spake any harm of thee." They said, we don't even know what you're talking
about, Paul. Are you okay? You're saying all these people accuse you, but what do we see?
They almost killed them, right? It says, but we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest
for as concerning this sect. We know that everywhere it is spoken against. What did
This is when he had appointed him a day there came to him into his lodging to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God
Persuading them according to Jesus both out of the law Moses and out of the prophets for morning till evening and some believe the things
Which are spoken and some believe not hey Paul didn't just say oh well. Hey, I didn't get blamed. So whatever
They said hey, we want to know and he's like I'll tell you
You know a sign of a good church and a good congregation and a good pastor is that they don't care about scrutiny
If people want to know where we stand on things, I'll answer.
If I don't know where I stand on something, I'll just tell you, I don't know.
I'm more comfortable, I wish in my youth I would have been like that, but I'm more comfortable
just like sometimes people come to me and they're like, hey, what do you think about
this verse?
I was like, I don't know.
I haven't figured that one out yet.
Other times people ask us about our salvation, that happens a lot recently.
I don't know.
Recently we've been out so many people are like, oh, so you're saying you're 100% sure
you're going to heaven?
I'm a hundred percent sure. I have no problem. Let's go through it. How do you know? Let's go through the gospel
You know, let's just get it done. So let's just for the sake of time go through these go back there to act 28
The next point I have for you is that some
Will never see because God rejected them and I'm not going to reprieve this sermon actually preach the sermon on Isaiah 6
Which is what Paul quotes here, but this is a prominent
I think it's like six or seven times in the New Testament
that Isaiah six, these specific verses are quoted.
Isaiah six, like nine through 11, right?
It says there in verse 25,
and then when they agreed not among themselves,
they departed after the Paul spoke in one word,
well spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah
as the prophet unto our fathers.
So when they, they didn't agree amongst themselves,
they, what, they left, why?
After Paul spoke one word, in other words,
when did the disagreement come?
When he called him out hardcore, he said like let's turn to the book of Isaiah
Chapter, I mean obviously they don't have chapters in but he's like let's turn to the book of Isaiah and read
Saying go unto this people and say hearing you shall hear and shall not understand and seeing you shall see and not perceive
For the heart of this people is wax gross and their ears are
dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed, lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should
heal them. Be it known therefore unto you that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles,
and that they will hear."
Why are they mad? For two reasons. Number one, you probably have some sympathizers
Just like a bunch of Baptists today who are like, well, I don't believe
The guy would never give it. I think people can get saved to the very last minute. Who's ever heard that?
Except that that's a problem. I mean, this is a major theme in the New Testament
Six or seven times quoting the Old Testament these verses and Jesus quoted them himself. It's pretty serious
That's number one, but number two
Who are the people talking to him the majority of the people are Jews listening to him and I don't like it
Because they're like, what do you mean to the Gentiles? I thought it was by race not by grace
I mean, that's literally what what's being expounded here
They're mad
that Isaiah himself, one of the fathers of their church, they would say the father of our early church,
would preach that God sent salvation to who, the Gentiles.
And isn't that the same problem we face today?
I mean, it's it's just like clearly evident. It's so bad now that I've literally now here
I've heard several clips of like because of all this supposed anti-semitism and I'm hearing now clips of like you saying
Hey, oh as a matter of fact in that thread of that lady that made that thing
Some Jew got in there and he's like I'm a Jew
And I believe this this and that and she responded
By saying oh, I support the Jews. It's funny pay attention. I'm just paraphrasing like I support the Jews
I believe that in the end times blah blah blah blah, but I'm a Christian. I believe in Christ. It's not exactly like that
I don't even think she saved
His response was interesting. He said I'm confused about your response
Because we don't recognize Jesus
He's like, I don't understand how Jesus has pre-eminence as a God when we only believe in
One God and what they mean by that is they don't believe in the triune
God the father the son the holy ghost they just believe in this entity that's called God
That's his response on a public forum with thousands of people to see
He's like I was hoping that you would clear up the Christian viewpoint because it's confusing why Christians
Relate to us when we don't relate to you. That's literally what he was saying in that thread
I don't even have to make this stuff up like that's literally within minutes of preaching the sermon. I saw that
So it's wild I just you know
This is what it is well, let's close this thing out
Last point is the point we see right the word of God will not be stopped
In verse 29 it says,
No, man forbidding him. Hey
God put him through all these trials that seem to be impossible only to make him even more free
for two full years God said
Go for it. Nobody's gonna stone you. Nobody's gonna throw you in jail. Nobody's gonna tear you apart
I mean isn't this what he's gone through in the last basically
Almost ten chapters. Nobody's gonna do any of this. Just preach the word
No, man forbidding
You know, I mean, that's what we need to learn from this is that we need to start we start out strong Paul starts out strong
Right, he gets converted and he's kind of got this free free reign
Right the church ordains him as an evangelist or preacher, you know
They send him out on his first missionary trip. There is some opposition
But he's got Barnabas with him and then he's got Ananias with him, but then it gets a little rough, right?
He gets to like chapter 19 and now they basically imprison him
for 20, 21, 22, and I'm not, I mean, I'm kind of condensing this, but that's literally what they did.
It's hot potato. Oh, this guy, this guy, he's basically imprisoned.
And then he gets to roam to the big dog and they're like, we don't know what you're talking about.
We just tell us what you, what you know about this thing called Christianity.
We're kind of curious. And then after that, they're like, well, just go and then where does he stay?
For two years preaching the word of God with nobody forbidding him
That's why we can't give up but most Christians will start out strong and then halfway through they quit
And I think you know, I am glad that I I had good mentors before even before I got saved
I had a mentor of mine
I'll close out with this and then we'll go to the last I'll have you turn
You know turn over to Psalm 119 turn over to Psalm 119 and then I'll close out but
I had a mentor who liked to tell this story because he was white, like he was Scottish white.
He was a tall white guy, like 6'1", red head, his skin was red, but he grew up a missionary Baptist in Mexico.
So he spoke really good Spanish, so he had this thing called the caca story.
And I don't know if you know what caca is, but caca is poop, caca is feces.
He's like life, but the Christian life is the same way you like life is like this
When you're born or when you jump into anything new you basically jump into a cow patty like you jump into the poop
Like you're jumping into the cock-a-pile
He's like and you're walking through you're waiting through your what through it you're waiting your way through it
You got cocking your eyes, and it's in your nose, right?
It's in your ears
It said you're covered in everything and so you're kind of tired of it
It stinks now you're impregnated with it and the problem is you're gonna get to the other side
And there's this hard crusty shell right the cow patties pastor you grew up on East Texas, right?
They dry up in the Sun
and they're hot they're they're they're hard on the outside but they're really soft on the
inside right have you ever stepped on the cowl pad he's like oh you crack through it and you
and he says and the problem is you get to that hard part
And what you end up doing like an idiot is you turn right back through all the you have to wait through all that crap
You know your your eyes are still covered you come out and what do you have to do?
Well now you're gonna get on a new venture
We got to jump into another cow patty and he's like the people that succeed are the ones that break through and go through it now
That's a worldly example, but it applies God's gonna refine us though with the fire. Thank God
It's not with poo right, but it's it's it's a good example of like the fact that you just can't quit when the going gets tough
That's exactly the time when you're about to make your greatest breakthrough is when it's just the darkest before the light
Isn't that what we've always heard and the Bible makes that clear, you know, because in Psalm 119
Let's go to Psalm 119 and right there in verse 89. We have this promise
And before we read 89, let me just let me just find it here. Let's let's just read it in the context, right?
It says forever, O Lord, verse 89, thy word is settled in heaven.
Look for us as Christians, we will go through anything because this word is settled forever in heaven.
It's true. And he says I will never leave thee nor forsake thee and greater things than Jesus we will do.
Didn't he say all that?
So when we're going through the tough times, we just got to remember
It's settled. He says thy faithfulness whose faithfulness God is unto all generations
That was established the earth and it abided they continue this day according to thine ordinances
For all are thy servants unless thy law hath been my delight. I should then have perished in my inflection
I will never forget thy precepts for with them. That was what quickened me. I am thine save me
for I have sought thy precepts, the wicked have waited for me to destroy me, but I will consider
thy testimonies. I have seen an end of all perfection, but thy commandment is exceeding
broad." Which is an interesting term, right? Because narrow is the way, but broader is commandments.
And as long as we do what the Lord asks us to do, yeah, maybe we're, maybe we're, we
stepped in a cow patty, but you know, if we just keep walking, we'll get back to the barn
house and turn on the hose and spray it off and we can go back about our business, right?
Whatever, however you want to apply that.
But the one thing about the book of Acts that I love is that from beginning to end, it's
just trial and trial.
And the Lord ends it great, right?
I mean, in his providence, he gets, he, it's, it's not all.
Biblical books and like that some of them just kind of end abruptly, but x28 and it's cool, right?
It's almost like a story like a really good story
Except it's real Paul goes through all this only to get to like Rome and then be there two years
It sounds like he had it going on like it was great. It's like hey
Nothing's gonna hold you back. Just preach the word and Paul's like this is this is exactly what I want
You know one of my prayers I tell Pastor Cobb all the time is I wish that I just didn't have a job
So I could just be doing the work of the Lord always, right?
But maybe that's what God needs me to do,
so that maybe one day I'll just get to the end of my life
and just be like, I just can preach the word every day
because nobody's bothering me.
I don't know.
I mean, we don't know what the Lord's doing in our lives.
So let's go ahead and close in the word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you so much for today.
Thank you for your blessings, Lord.
Thank you for the book of Acts.
Lead me and guide me to the next book
that we should preach on on Wednesdays.
But for now, let us just enjoy the fact that not only was Paul victorious, but at the end,
even if it would have ended negatively, we're victorious in you, Lord. You've given us the
victory eternally. So, Lord, just thank you for all that you do. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Turn your hymnals over to page 438. Let us sing a closing hymn, and then we will be dismissed.
This is a new thing we're implementing because it just always felt a little
think this is the one that we were singing but let me see if my wife's coming
make sure you coming thanks some I can do a cappella some I need music this is
Come here, come on quickly
What all right, you can stay there for 38
Come on quickly quickly quickly quickly quickly
We got it close we got it close go sit down go sit down with your brother and sister for 38
Savior like a shepherd lead us, much we need thy tender care.
In thy pleasant pasture feed us, for our use thy folds prepare.
Blessed Jesus, thou hast bought us thine we are. We are thine through thou who friend us.
Be the guardian of our way. Keep thy flocks from sin defend us. Seek us when we go astray.
bless it Jesus hear oh hear us when we pray bless it Jesus bless it Jesus
hear oh hear us when we pray thou has promised to receive us poor and sinful
power to free blessed Jesus blessed Jesus early let us turn to the blessed Jesus blessed
Jesus early let us turn to the early let us seek that
blessed Jesus thou has loved us love us still blessed Jesus blessed Jesus thou
has loved us love us still you are dismissed
you gotta turn it off Lucy let me show you