Good evening, sorry for being a few minutes late.
Let's go in our hymnals to song 162.
Let's go to song number 162, To God Be the Glory, there in the first.
To God be the glory, great things he hath done,
So loved he the world, that he gave us his Son,
Who yielded his life and atonement for sin, And opened the life gate that all may go in.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice,
O come to the Father through Jesus the Son, And give him the glory, great things he hath done,
O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood, To every believer the promise of God,
The vilest offender who truly believes, That moment from Jesus, aboard and receives.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice,
O come to the Father through Jesus the Son, And give him the glory, great things he hath done,
Great things he hath taught us, great things he hath done,
And great are rejoicing through Jesus the Son, But purer and higher and greater will be,
Our wonder, our transport when Jesus we see. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the earth hear his voice, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the people rejoice, O come to the Father through Jesus the Son,
And give him the glory, great things he hath done.
Very good singing. Brother, sorry, will you go ahead and pray for us?
I'm losing my breath.
Amen. Let's go ahead and go to our next song, song 227.
Song 227.
Saved by the Blood.
Song 227, there on the first. Saved by the blood of the crucified one,
Now ransom from sin and a new work begun,
Sing praise to the Father and praise to the Son,
Saved by the blood of the crucified one,
Glory I'm saved, glory I'm saved, My sins are all pardon, my guilt is all gone,
Glory I'm saved, glory I'm saved, I'm saved by the blood of the crucified one,
Saved by the blood of the crucified one, The angels rejoicing because it is done,
A child of the Father joiner with the Son, Saved by the blood of the crucified one,
Glory I'm saved, glory I'm saved, My sins are all pardon, my guilt is all gone,
Glory I'm saved, glory I'm saved, I'm saved by the blood of the crucified one,
Saved by the blood of the crucified one, The Father he spake and his will it was done,
Great Price of my pardon, his own precious Son, Saved by the blood of the crucified one,
Glory I'm saved, glory I'm saved, My sins are all pardon, my guilt is all gone,
Glory I'm saved, glory I'm saved, I'm saved by the blood of the crucified one,
Saved by the blood of the crucified one, All hail to the Father, all hail to the Son,
All hail to the Spirit, the Great Three and One, Saved by the blood of the crucified one,
Glory I'm saved, glory I'm saved, My sins are all pardon, my guilt is all gone,
Glory I'm saved, glory I'm saved, I'm saved by the blood of the crucified one.
Very good singing. If you need a bulletin, Brother Darnell has one back there. He can get it to you.
On the inside we have our service and soul winning times as well as totals down below.
Was there anything to report for the last few days on soul winning by chance? Anything extra?
We had two this evening so praise the Lord on that. Looks like y'all have had lots on Sundays
and been doing really well so keep up the great work on soul winning. Also we're on our Bible
memory passage Romans chapter 8. We're on verse number 4 and so keep working on that.
Also we have a baby shower April 11th for Miss Jubilee Balen if you'd please and our baby girl
and they're registered on Amazon and Walmart if you'd like to participate. It's April 11th
at 2 p.m. and also please also keep all the other expecting mothers in your prayers.
We have several ladies that are expecting and if you have any prayer requests throughout the week
you can always submit those in to the church and we'll try to get those either mentioned
on the midweek service put them in the bulletin or whatever we can. That's pretty much all that
I have. Oh there is a sign-up sheet on the back cabinet for the men's conference so if you are
planning on participating please put your name, email and the dates that you're going to be
attending. We're going to be there the 20, 21st and 22nd which is a Thursday, Friday,
Saturday and so the itinerary is going to be pretty similar to what we had last year where
we're kind of going to show up that Thursday morning and then we'll be there all day Friday
and then Saturday morning we'll probably do something similar where we have breakfast,
let some of the men preach and then we'll kind of head out after Saturday kind of mid-morning
or so. So if you just want to have an idea of just kind of the general timeline if for whatever
reason you can't make it on Thursday you're still welcome to come on Friday or something like that.
I know Pastor Anderson is going to be preaching that Friday and so that's going to be definitely
a special treat and so I'd really encourage you to come out for that. If you have any questions
you can always ask me as we get a little bit closer we know who's coming I'll send out
very specific information to all the men that are participating as far as like what you should be
bringing at least this year have a little bit better idea of some of the things you should
be bringing. Last year I didn't even know and it was like it was kind of a prison camp okay
this time it'll be a little bit elevated from that all right and so we're gonna have lots of
fun and I'm really looking forward to it. Also we have other events and things that are going
to be scheduled for the future but that's all I have at this time. Let's go to song 314
more love to thee
song 314 more love to thee there on the verse more love to thee oh christ more love to thee
hear thou the prayer i make on bended knee this is my earnest plea
more love oh christ to thee more love to thee more love to thee
one's earthly joy i crave sought peace and rest now the alone i seek give what is best
this all my prayer shall be more love oh christ to thee more love to thee more love to thee
to thee let sorrow do its work sin grief and pain
sweet are thy messengers sweet very frame when they can sing with me
more love oh christ to thee more love to thee more love to thee
then shall my latest breath whisper thy praise this be the parting cry
my heart shall raise this still its prayer shall be more love oh christ to thee
more love to thee more love to thee at this time we will turn our bibles to act chapter
nine brother brandon can you read for us and we'll pass the offering plate
all right well we're there in acts chapter nine and the bible says and saw yet breathing out of
threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the lord went into the high priest and desired
of him letters to damascus to the synagogues that if he found any of this way whether they
were men or women he might bring them bound unto jerusalem and as he journeyed he came near
damascus and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven and he fell to the earth
and he heard a voice saying unto him saw saw why persecutest thou me and he said who art thou lord
and the lord said i am jesus whom thou persecute it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks
and he trembling in astonishment said lord what wilt thou have me do to do and lord said unto him
arise and go into the city and it shall be told thee what thou must do and the man which sojourned
with him stood speechless hearing a voice but seeing no man and saw arose from the earth and
when his eyes were opened he saw no man but they led him by the hand and brought him into damascus
and he was three days without sight and neither did eat nor drink and there was a certain disciple
at damascus named ananias and into him said lord in a vision ananias and he said behold i am here
lord and the lord said unto him arise and go into the street which is called straight and inquire in
the house of judas for one called saul of tarsus for behold he prayeth and he has seen in a vision
a man named ananias coming into coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive
his sight then ananias answered lord i have heard by many of this man how which evil he have done
to thy saints and jerusalem and there he hath authority from the chief priest to bind
all that call on on thy name but the lord said unto him go thy way for he is a chosen vessel
unto me to bear my name before the gentiles and kings and the children of israel for i will show
him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake and ananias went his way and entered into the
house and putting his hands on him said brother saul the lord even jesus that appeared unto thee
in the way as thou comest hath have sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with
the holy ghost and immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales and he received
sight for with and rose and was baptized and when he had received meat he was strengthened then it
was saul certain days with the disciples which were at damascus and straightway he preached in
christ in the synagogues that he his the son of god but all that heard him were amazed and he said
is not this he that destroyed them which called out of his name in jerusalem and came hither for
the intent that he might bring them abound unto the chief priest but saul increased the more in
strength and confounded the jews which dwelt in damascus proving that his that this is very christ
and after the many days were fulfilled the jews took counsel to kill him but their laying with
weight was known as known of saul and they watched the gates that gates day and night to kill him
then the disciples took him by night and let him down by the wall in a basket and when saul was
come to jerusalem he as made a say to join himself to the disciples but they were all afraid of him
and believe not that he was a disciple but barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles
and declared unto them how he had seen the lord and the way and that he had spoken to him and how
he had preached boldly at damascus in the name of jesus and he was with them coming in and going
out at jerusalem and he spake boldly in the name of the lord jesus and disputed against the gretians
but they went about to slay him which when the brethren knew they brought him down
to ciceria and sent him to tarsus and then the churches rest throughout all judea and gallely
and samaria and were edified and walked in the fear of the lord and the comfort of the holy ghost
were multiplied and it came to pass as peter passed throughout all the quarters and came
down also to the saints with dwelt and lydia and there he found a certain man named enos which he
kept he had kept in his bed eight years and was of the palsy and peter said unto him enos jesus
christ may the hole and rise and make thy bed and he rose immediately and all that dwelt lydia and
sauron saw him and turned to the lord and these was the and there now there was a japa a certain
disciple named tabitha which was which by interpretation is called dorkus and the woman
was of good works and all on these which he did which he did and it came to pass in those days
that she was sick and died whom they had washed they laid her in the upper chamber and for as much
lydia was nigh to japa and his disciples had heard that peter was there and then he sent unto the men
desiring them him that he would not delay to come to them then peter arose and went with them and
when he was come they brought him into the upper chambers and all the wid widows stood by him
weeping and showing the coats and garments which dorkus made while she was with them but peter put
them all forth and kneeled down and prayed and turning him to the bod body said tabitha arise and
open she opened her eyes and when she saw peter she sat up and she gave her hand gave her his hand
and lifted her up and when he had called the saints and widows presented her alive and it was known
throughout all japa and many believed in the lord and it came to pass that he tarried many days in
japa with one simon and tanner but jeff would you like to pray for us yes um
so
we've been going through the book of acts and acts chapter 9 is really an action-packed chapter and
it has a lot of great information and we've been kind of being introduced to a person named saul
he was mentioned in chapter 7 as being consenting of the death of stephen and then in chapter number
eight it mentions saul again and we see sauls is kind of being brought up and and all of a
sudden we kind of focus in on saul here in chapter number nine and it says in verse number one in saul
yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the lord went
unto the high priest and desired of him letters to damascus to the synagogues that if he found any
of this way whether they were men or women he might bring them bound unto jerusalem and we know
that stephen he was killed for the cause of christ and the apostle paul you know who's saul at this
point in the bible who he's referred to as but the same person he was consenting to his death
but in verse number one it says that he was breathing out notice this threatenings
and slaughter so this guy is is very willing to kill the disciples of jesus christ he's very
willing to kill and murder people who believe on the lord jesus christ those who are saved
and he's desiring to get permission to basically do this and what you have to understand is this
isn't an intense amount of persecution that is coming on god's people where they literally have
people that are going out hailing them to prison on a regular basis searching for them finding them
threatening them with death and with horrible types of persecution and the person that's
really you know kind of spearheading this movement is saul himself saul is one of the main people
here that's you know trying to hunt christians down and is going around he's kind of a basically
the the the biggest persecutor as it were for them and and we have to understand is
there's often throughout the bible seasons or times in which great persecution happens where
there's a particular individual or maybe even a cluster of individuals that are seeking intense
persecution against god's people we could think of pharaoh you know pharaoh wanting to kill and
murder all of the baby children we could think of harry wanting to kill all the baby children
and all throughout the old testament there's stories when there's intense levels of persecution
but it's never permanent you know it's never like this permanent status it's never just always
happening it's usually just a season it's a moment of time and what we have to understand is that we
may very well go through a period like that in our lifetimes you know you know god god willing we
wouldn't you know one of the prayers you know is that the lord would deliver us from evil and evil
means harm you know we should pray that we don't have to go through intense persecution that we
don't have to suffer these type of evils that could happen to us but they may happen and if
they do happen i think some people have this doom and gloom attitude of well if that is happening you
know let's just go on hiding and quit and you know it's over and and whatever but we have to
realize is that just like in the bible these intense seasons of persecutions come and go
they too also could come and go in our lives where even if we go through a really intense level of
persecution for a period of time it could completely change you know the way america is
set up you know we may have presidents coming and going that change the political or spiritual
culture of our society to where a particular president could come into power and cause really
intense persecution against god's people but then the next president comes along or somebody else
and then it changes again and so we don't want to have this attitude of like a doom and gloom or
it's always going to be a certain way because things can change things can evolve and if we
go through an intense period of persecution that we should try to be steadfast even through it
and hoping for the lord to get us through that type of persecution you know we don't want to
just quit just because of saul exists in the world right and what you have to understand about this
is at that time you know it's kind of similar to the catholic church how the jewish structure
exists because we have to think about is he's going to get permission right from the high
priest the high priest is like this person who's kind of over everything and it's kind of similar
to the structure of a catholic church where they kind of have the pope and the pope kind of has
this universal authority over all other catholic churches and so he's kind of seeking that from
this high priest to where essentially the high priest is getting him power and authority that
he can go and and basically do whatever he wants in other synagogues and go around having this
potential authority this is not a political authority though okay this is not necessarily
uh something that's being asked of the romans this is being asked of the churches and the
churches have some realm of political and spiritual authority but it's mostly in the
spiritual realm and we have to realize is the enemies of christians is typically you know not
going to be just a political agenda it's a spiritual agenda and the enemies here are
spiritual enemies in the sense that they are trying to promulgate their false religion and
judaism onto people and even willing to death and we have to understand is that there's a synagogue
like everywhere and it's kind of an interesting concept go to acts chapter 15 go to acts chapter
15 now the word synagogue is not a word that we're very familiar with you know it's not a word
that we pretty much use in a regular basis we typically associate it with jews but synagogue
just is very synonymous with the word gathering so it would be very similar to the word church
in the sense what church is like a congregation congregation is an assembly or a gathering
and a synagogue is also a gathering or assembly but i like that the bible uses these two different
words because our assembling is the church of god their assembling is the synagogue of satan okay so
there's a difference there they're both gathering and it's both religious but it's completely
different type of gathering as far as what religion that they're practicing
now look at acts chapter 15 and look at verse 21 the bible says for moses of old time hath in every
city them that preach him being read in the synagogues every sabbath day so some people
would associate the religion of judaism is like it's only in jerusalem or it's only in israel
it's only concentrated in this one area but we have to understand is that the jewish religion
was actually wild worldwide wide it was it was spread over the face of the earth where there was
pockets of jews everywhere and you know this happens through lots of different means he's
pointing to the fact that even by moses they had the scriptures in every single city but even if
you look at the despora whenever they in the time of babylon's captivity they were literally spread
jews were spread they scattered throughout the entire area through the all regions all
countries they had jews everywhere at the time of esther the bible makes it clear that there's jews
in every nation in every area and so these jews obviously had their assemblies they had their
congregation they had where they would assemble and that's kind of referred to as a synagogue
yet we see a authority structure still existing where the high priest can give people authority
over all the synagogues and all the synagogues are basically reporting to the high priest
in some capacity in some way that's the similar to catholics catholics have the pope who essentially
has some kind of level of authority existing over all these churches now that's not something that
we practice here you know we don't have a church or a leader that is just over all you know baptist
churches or all churches that we have or anything like that and we we believe that churches should
be independent now there are cases in which a church could be dependent but why would a church
be dependent because it just doesn't have a full-time leader that's separate or distinct
from another church so obviously pure words baptist church is a completely independent
church i'm the pastor there is no other person above me as far as humanly speaking we obviously
have the lord jesus christ above every pastor and he's the one that's the bishop of the church
and the pastor underneath him is just an under shepherd but as far as an organization or
authority type structure there's no one that could come in here and say hey so-and-so said
to do x y and z and it would matter except for me you know it doesn't matter if some other pastor
shows up or some other person comes in well this other pastor came and told me this is what you
guys need to be doing it's like well that doesn't matter there's no authority there we have a flat
line structure now with steadfast baptist church since i'm pastoring there they actually have a
satellite they have a satellite in oklahoma city where they don't have another pastor there's not
another pastor and so it's a church plant it's basically we're just trying to evangelize there
and try to build a church a little bit and at the point that they have uh at the point that we have
somebody that could take on that church and be a full-time pastor then we would want to see that
church go on its own and be its own independent front of a baptist church now as far as steadfast
and pure words it's not ideal to have one pastor over both churches you know that's not the best
possible scenario it's not the most idyllic situation and so my goal is to find somebody
or eventually have someone that could pastor you know here or at least you know in in a capacity
and then to split and basically i would be pastoring one church and that person would be
pastoring one of the other churches and so you know that's the ideal structure and we we see
that there's a problem here with having one eye priest because we have a concentrated amount of
power to where all you need is the high priest to go bad or the high priest to make a bad decision
and all the other underlying churches could be affected couldn't they and that's the same with
the catholic church and that's why it's better that i believe in the new testament that we have
churches with independent uh basically leaders that are all following the same book the same
instructions but it makes it more difficult to corrupt multiple churches at the same time it
makes it more difficult for everybody to make the wrong decision because they're all supposed
to be submitted to this and we have independent leaders and so that's a better structure and i
think that makes a lot of sense now as we kind of go through here look at verse number three
the bible says and as he journeyed he came near damascus and suddenly there shined round about
him a light from heaven and he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying in him saul saul why
persecutest thou me and he said who art thou lord and the lord said i am jesus whom thou persecutest
it is hard for thee to kick against the prick so saul is trying to persecute the christian church
very heavily and he has an encounter with the lord jesus christ literally the lord jesus christ
appears unto saul on the way to damascus persecuting christians and he's saying why are
you persecuting me now that's a profound statement you know what that means that means when anybody
persecutes you jesus takes it personally isn't that kind of incredible to think about that jesus
literally takes you being persecuted personally just like if your child was being injured harmed
or threatened by someone you would take that personally that's the same way with jesus christ
with us he looks at us as a as family and anybody that's going to persecute us or the church jesus
christ is taking that personally and don't think that he is not going to defend us in fact the way
he describes this and i like this is he says in verse five i am jesus whom thou persecuted it is
hard for thee to kick against the pricks now what is a prick a prick not just like a jerk okay that's
something else but basically a prick is a long stick that has a sharp point or be similar to a
goad okay so you could use this in warfare or or you might have this as some kind of a defense
where you have certain long sticks that are sticking out with a sharp point so someone
could not approach or come close to a structure and it's saying you wouldn't want to kick the
prick because all you're doing is just injuring yourself you know you wouldn't if there was a
bunch of sharp pointed sticks at you you wouldn't want to kick it you're just going to stab your leg
or injure your body in some way and so basically jesus is saying man it's hard to do that isn't it
and basically what jesus is saying is when i defend my people it's going to hurt you
so notice that jesus defense is actually offensive in a sense where it's going to hurt the person
that's persecuting his people and god's people and you have to understand jesus christ will defend us
now whenever he's saying this to the apostle paul it's a very personal message even though
he's traveling in a company it's personal to him says in verse number six and he trembling
in his thought and said lord what will thou have me to do and lord said in him arise and go into
the city and it shall be told thee what thou must do and the men which journeyed with him
stood speeches hearing a voice but seeing no man so notice when he's talking to paul he's saying
the he's making it personal about paul or saul and also it's saying that the other men that were
with him they were frightened there was a light and they heard someone speaking to saul but they
couldn't understand what was being communicated okay and they didn't end up seeing jesus now why
is that important well first of all saul is eventually going to become an apostle okay we
know him as the apostle paul saul of tarsus is who paul is and in order to be an apostle you have to
have witnessed the resurrection of jesus christ it's a mandatory requirement because being an
apostle means you're a witness of the resurrection so it's inherently necessary it's you can't be an
apostle if you didn't witness the resurrection because that's the whole point of being a witness
okay and so for paul to have this encounter is necessary for him to end up becoming an apostle
and who he is but the other men they're with them they're not going to be apostles so they didn't
get to see the lord jesus christ they didn't have they didn't notice him they couldn't perceive him
and the Bible makes this clear go to acts chapter 22 for a moment and i want to prove this to you
that they didn't see him but in acts chapter 22 he recounts this story he he actually tells you
what happened in the story later and he says in verse number seven and i fell under the
ground and heard a voice saying and he saw saul why persecute is thou me now isn't that what we
read and he answered and who art thou lord and he said to me i am jesus of nazars whom thou
persecute is and they that were with me saw indeed the light and were afraid but they heard not the
voice of him that spoke to me now atheists and people that hate the Bible they would point to
this verse in the prior verse in acts chapter 9 they would say oh there's a contradiction because
in verse 7 of chapter 9 it said hearing a voice and chapter 22 it said hearing not the voice
well how can we understand these two things well let me explain it's very easy they heard someone
talking but they didn't understand what they were saying okay this happens all the time there's it's
for me okay i don't know about for you but my wife will will talk to me and i'm like looking
at my phone i'm reading i'm doing something else and then she'll say did you hear me
and i'll say no right but what i mean by that i'm not meaning i didn't hear noise i obviously heard
you know but i didn't hear what she was actually communicating right or if someone if you hear
someone talking and then someone says do you know what they said and you said no i didn't hear them
right that would be what you didn't hear the words that they were communicating it's not saying you
didn't hear you could you could hear the noise so they heard someone talking to the apostle paul
someone you know but it may have been a thunder might have been you know just like and they're
just like someone's talking to them i don't know what they said though so they didn't hear the
voice they didn't know what he said they didn't understand it they didn't comprehend it but they
did obviously hear someone speaking to to the apostle paul okay and so that's how we'd understand
those two things and so again it's a very personal message to the apostle paul now what ends up
happening because of this in verse number nine and it says and he was three days without sight
and neither did eat or drink so he ends up becoming physically blinded from this experience
of jesus christ appearing under him he sees the bright light and he can no longer see and this
is the picture something spiritual okay what what's the picture of this it's the picture of
saul's spiritual condition saul is unsaved saul is not saved he has not been saved yet okay
he doesn't he just encountered jesus for the first time in the flesh he's not like as far as
like you know seeing him after the resurrection maybe he witnessed him through his earthly
minister i can't commentate on that necessarily but this is his first encounter with the lord
jesus christ and he certainly didn't believe him he's killing those that are claiming to believe
in him he's slaughtering those that believe so at this point he's not saved so jesus christ is
blinding him to illustrate saul's current condition of being unsaved he's not saved yet
okay and that's very clear so they end up leading him by the hand is what the bible says
and taking him into damascus because that's where they were headed but they end up leading
him by the hand and they bring him there it says in verse number 10 and there was a certain disciple
at damascus named ananias and him said the lord in a vision ananias and he said behold i am here
lord and lord said unto him arise and go into the street which is called straight and inquire
in the house of judas for one called saul of tarsus for behold he prayeth and has seen in
the vision a man named ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive
his sight now again this is also interesting because what we have to understand is the apostle
paul at this point is an unsaved man and he's blind but he's praying and he's he's witnessed
lord and the lord is going to answer paul's prayer and so when you seek the lord you may be found of
you and even an unsaved person seeking salvation god can hear that prayer and i can show you other
examples of this in the bible we have cornelius we have other people that are seeking salvation
and they're trying to find the lord and look unsaved people pray all the time because whenever
i go out and knock on doors and i talk to people and i know they're unsaved they'll tell me they're
like man i pray every single day and i'm sure they're lying to some extent they probably don't
pray every day but i'm sure they have prayed many times and i've even had people tell me you know
what i was recently praying about finding the lord or figuring out how to get saved or i was
even thinking about these things and i believe that the lord is literally answering these prayers
on a regular basis that he's hearing people that seeking salvation wanting to be saved and we can
literally be that person's answer to prayer now for us it's very easy because we go out and we
seek people that are generally receptive but i really commend the faith of ananias because
ananias here is being asked a very hard task look at verse 13 then ananias answered the lord
i have heard by many of this man how much evil he had done to thy saints at jerusalem
and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name so ananias is
confused he's saying look lord i know you want me to get people saved this is like the worst person
to get saved the guy that's literally killing christians and seeking them out he's trying to
arrest me he's basically trying to find me and kill me and arrest me and you're saying go look
for him like that's you would think it's the last person that you would go look for the the worst
person to try and preach the gospel to and he says in verse 15 but the lord said on him go thy way
for he's a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the gentiles and kings and the children
of israel for i will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake now this is
very interesting because in order for ananias to do this it can only be by faith and you say what
is faith faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god if the lord tells you to do
something you just do it even though to the natural it makes no sense and i want to really
illustrate this there is literally no reason in the human mind or naturally speaking to ever go
seek for saul and to preach him the gospel from a from a humanistic perspective it would be the
worst person to look for to get saved like you would say what's the worst person to go find
it's him so the only way ananias can do this is because he just believes the lord is is telling
him to do it because the lord is saying hey you need to go preach to this guy and he's like this
is like no like i don't know and we have other men in the bible that have this story don't we
i can show you other examples of this how about jonah isn't jonah told to go preach on aninova
and he's thinking like that bloody city like why would i go preach there he doesn't want to preach
to the ninny bites he doesn't want to go to those people and you know jonah has other you know
things in mind when it comes to the ninny bites he's he's kind of just not even wanting them to
get saved but at the end of the day there could be a lot of reasons why we don't want to follow
god's commandments from a natural reasoning but the bible's clear and you say well how could
someone decide to follow god's commandments when they don't understand it or they don't they think
it's contrary to what they believe it's called faith we walk by faith not by sight by sight you
would flee from saul you would have nothing to do with saul no one wants to go talk to saul but by
faith he's going to go talk to saul now we have hindsight okay we have foreknowledge so this is
easy for us but do you think this was a good convert like of the people that you got saved
wouldn't you kind of want to be like hey i got this guy saved he just happened to be the best
evangelist ever right he just happened to start multiple churches and get multitude saved and
right half of the new testament by himself i mean isn't that a pretty good you know basically trophy
on or notch on your belt there it's like hey i got paul saved right you know that would be a pretty
good one but you know what it took an intense amount of faith to get that guy saved and you know
what the greater the faith i believe the greater reward spiritually and you know ananias took a
big step of faith here you know you have to really commend ananias's faith here in the lord to trust
what the lord is telling him because no one would want to go see saul in fact the disciples the
apostles themselves later in this chapter will find out didn't want to even have anything to do
with saul paul you know they won't have any they don't want to touch this guy and so ananias has
a great faith another thing to mention here though is that the lord is saying well look i've chosen
this guy he's special and what makes paul special well look at verse 16 again for i will show him
how great things he must suffer for my name's sake you know it makes him special he's going to suffer
greatly now wouldn't you hope it'd be something different like this guy's going to be special he's
going to have super strength like samson you're like sweet you know or this guy's going to be
special he's going to walk on water this guy's going to be special he's going to do a you know
hey what's special lord what do i get to do what's the great thing i get to do you get to
suffer greater than anybody else oh is there is there another option is there another door i can
pick you know it's like you know imagine if you got to talk to paul and he gets to read forward
in the bible because he didn't have the bible yet he doesn't know and he's reading his own literature
he's reading his own writings it's like i'm going to be shipwrecked for 24 hour for a day and night
i'm going to be beaten with rods thrice i'm going to uh basically be stoned multiple times
uh no thanks you know like i don't know if i want to do that but see here's the thing it's
actually an honor to do that and that's what's weird it's contrary to again natural thinking
to want to go through something like that but it's actually a great honor to suffer for christ
go to first peter chapter number four go to first peter chapter number four great things must he
suffer you know some people they they dread the idea of suffering they think that suffering is
the worst thing and they want to serve god as long as there's no suffering whereas the apostle paul
his calling into ministry is to greatly suffer that's what he's chosen to do that's what god
wants for him is to suffer greatly and i think some people they they they think like why would
god ever want me to go through anything hard and it's like have you read the bible you know the
prophets have to suffer greatly and you know what if you want to do something big for god you should
prepare yourself to suffer greatly in your heart and in your mind now you i don't look for trouble
and paul never looked for trouble in my mind except for obviously he kind of he went to the
jews a little too often and you know you could argue he was kind of asking for it a little bit
but he wasn't hoping that they would punish him hurt him harm him or do evil unto him he wasn't
looking forward to being whipped or beaten or basically stoned to death or shipwrecked he was
he didn't want any of those things and in fact he constantly prayed and asked for people to pray for
him that he'd have boldness to preach the gospel because he knew as soon as he opens his mouth it's
over you know as soon as he starts preaching they're going to hate him they're going to get
very mad at him angry at him kill him or try to kill him and the bible says in verse peter chapter
four look at verse 12 beloved thinking not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you
as though some strange thing happened to you you know i talk to people and it's like they get this
when everything's good it's like we're people in here they're not even being persecuted they're
not suffering right now it's fine they're like oh yeah we're gonna suffer okay then they start
suffering for righteousness sake and they come to me like why would god want me to suffer this is so
weird it's so strange why would anything bad ever happen pastor shelly someone's lying about me and
i'm thinking like yeah but but they're lying they're saying that what i'm doing and serving
god is wrong and they're lying about it they're falsely accusing me you're like yeah it's not
strange you know he's why would he have this verse because people are going to think it's weird
people are going to think like oh why is this happening what's happening to me you know why
would something evil happen to me look you shouldn't think it's strange what are you what
should you do what it should be the honestly the legitimate reaction verse 13 but rejoice
and as much as your partakers of christ sufferings you know you should go light through life and get
excited when you're suffering for righteousness sake which is so weird and i'm not it doesn't
make sense naturally it only makes sense spiritually it's like literally going to your
work and your boss walks in and says you know what i just figured i'm going to give you a
bonus today ten thousand dollar bonus now would you be like that's terrible why no i don't want
that tear up the check you know or would you be like thanks you know sweet and then when you go
home you're all like yes i got a bonus today that's great that's what persecution should be like
you should be going to your normal day just doing your job serving god and then you know what
someone lies about you and you're just like yeah you know someone you know gets mad at you for
doing something that's right you're like yes why because that is what it's like to be like christ
to be a partaker of his sufferings you know you don't want to go your whole life and be like man
nobody got mad at me for doing anything nobody ever found any fault with me for serving god or
doing that which is right i've never had a bad look you know i have five-star google reviews
i mean just everybody thinks i'm the best everybody loves me you know i'm wonderful you're
not serving god then you know you're not serving the lord and you say why would people be mad
at you know you serving god have you ever heard the story of jesus they crucified him and he never
did anything bad not one time zero in fact he's healing everybody can you imagine someone walks
into houston heals every single person they're completely healed he's walking on water he's
feeding everybody just by miracles and everything he says is the per is perfect truth and he's
expounding the word of god like you've never heard in your life and then it's like everybody just is
like let's kill this guy you'd be like what in the world you know what's happening that's how the
world responds to truth that's how the world responds to a righteous person they hate the
righteous person they want to kill the righteous person they don't like the fact that the righteous
person is breathing air kane and able kane hated his brother able because he was righteous
he didn't hate him because able you know flipped the bird to him or you know called him a dirty
name or you know beat him up one day or put a noogie on him or you know whatever he didn't like
him because he was better than him because he was a righteous person and so what i'm telling you is
when you have someone lie about you don't be upset about it get excited about it you know what
you if you're like the apostle paul where life is constantly suffering for doing right you're going
to have great reward in heaven if you go your whole life and you never suffered your rewards
are going to be really small you're going to have you're not going to have anything to show for it
you want to be suffering constantly for righteous sake now what would be worse than going your whole
life not suffering for righteousness sake is going your whole life suffering for your faults
okay that's obviously the worst okay you don't want to do that and the bible makes it clear
it says in verse number uh 15 but let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evil
doer or as a busy body in other men's matter so he's saying hey don't get excited when that happens
don't get excited when the cops knock on your door to arrest you because you killed someone
get excited that the cops knock on your door to rescue because you preached the gospel to
someone got someone saved you know i recently preached to some uh young individual preached
them the gospel made it very clear how to get saved and they didn't respond very well to the
message they were a mormon or something and their uh their father didn't like that message they went
home and told their father so their father came down to the church and got in my face and was
trying to threaten like he was going to you know kill me or something and you know i'm thinking
inside like this is great and i was like this guy's about to punch me like i'm not joking
like i was i think i was about this close from the guy just starting to try and beat me physically
okay because he and again he didn't care about covet for sure because he was getting like this
close to me you know i'm just like you know excuse me now if i had sent anything like you know
sarcastic or kind of like dug at him a little bit or been a little offensive i think he would
have started punching me okay i personally believe that i can't prove that i'm just saying my
personal opinion but i'm not going to do that my goal is not for someone to punch me in the face
okay but let me tell you what i would have been more excited if he had punched me in the face
than if he hadn't because i would have been suffering for righteousness sake but not because
i did anything wrong if i had you know i'd been like you know what back off loser why don't you
go to hell and then he punched me i wouldn't feel very good about it but if i had been loving and
meek and kind to the person and then he started you know punched me in the face or getting mad
at me then i would have been like great why because i'm suffering for righteousness sake
when we should want to suffer for righteousness sake and i'm not looking for a fight i'm not
looking to get hit i'm not looking for something bad to happen to me but what i am telling you is
when something bad happens to you for doing right you should have a good reaction you should be
excited about it you should praise the lord about it and say hey i get to i'm you know counted
worthy to suffer look what it says in verse 16 yet if any man suffers a christian let him not
be ashamed but let him glorify god on this behalf the bible is clear i can show you hundreds and
hundreds and hundreds of verses about this but see i want to make it clear now because you'll
be like okay great and then someone would be like oh this bad thing happened to me because
i did something right and i'm just thinking like rejoice it's hard to rejoice but if you get the
right mindset you can go back to acts chapter nine go back to acts chapter number nine and
this is kind of a theme in this chapter a little bit that's why i'm giving these verses you know
the bible says wherefore let him that suffer according the will of god keep or i'm sorry
according to the will of god commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing as unto a
faithful creator you know what if if god wants me to get punched in the face for preaching the
gospel then so be it that's what he wants me to do then i'll do it you know and i'm going to commit
myself unto him and say you know what if that's what god thinks i need then i'll do it if god
believes that something evil needs to happen to me for whatever reason i should just be willing
to accept it and embrace it and rejoice and and go through that and just trust that he's not going
to put me through something he doesn't want me to go through at least when i'm doing right god is
not looking god god is not saying you know what i know if you tell the truth they're going to punch
you in the face so you should just lie just don't say it you know i know they want i know i saw it i
want you to go soul winning but you know you could get in trouble someone could be mad at you just
don't just don't do it this week you know just take it easy why don't you just kick back eat
some grapes you know take a nap or whatever no he's not going to tell you to do something
that he doesn't want you to do everything he's telling you to do he wants to do even ananias
ananias could literally be walking into his own death a death trap with saul right he doesn't know
but he's just going to do what the lord wants him to do and is it going to work out oh yeah it's
going to work out it's not a bad it's not a problem look what it says in verse number
17 ananias went his way and entered into the house and putting his hands on him said brother saul
the lord even jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest has sent me that thou mightest
receive thy sight and be filled with the holy ghost so has paul been filled with the holy ghost
no he's not saved he's still blinded but he's going to get a sight verse 18 and immediately
there fell from his eyes as it had been scales and he received sight for with and arose and was
baptized now how did he receive that sight well in act chapter 9 it's just giving you like just
quick verses it's not saying everything that he said and every event that happened you have to
use other verses go to back to acts chapter 22 and we'll find out more of what ananias actually
said to the apostle paul in this exchange because this is important to realize that god gets
paul or saul saved by another man acts chapter 22 verse 12 and one ananias a devout man according
to the law having good report of all the jews which dwelt there came unto me and stood and
said unto me brother saul receive thy sight and the same hour i looked up upon him and he said
the god of our fathers has chosen thee that thou shouldest know his will and see that just one and
should hear the voice of his mouth for thou shalt be his witness in all men of what thou hast seen
and heard and now why terriest thou arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins calling on the
name of the lord so he wants them to do a lot of stuff okay first of all he wants them to stand up
physically all right now does anybody have to stand up physically to be saved in fact you have
to stand up physically to do anything spiritual no okay he's just telling him things hey you should
get up and we need to get baptized what does he need to do in order to get baptized believe on the
lord jesus christ right what doth hindereth me to be baptized if thou believeth all thine heart
thou mayest right so what does he need to do he needs to wash away thy sins calling on the name
of the lord how does someone get saved for whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be
saved so what is he trying to get paul to do pray and get saved so he can baptize him and then he
can be filled with the holy ghost and then he can be a great witness to go out and preach the gospel
so the lord jesus christ literally visited paul but who got him saved ananias and you know what
jesus could literally show up to every single person on this planet if he wanted to but you
know what he's ordained it that we are chosen vessels to go out and to preach the gospel and
to seek and to save that which is lost and to get them saved we are the ones that get them saved and
i'm not saying us by ourselves it's obviously the holy ghost inside of us it's obviously the word
of god that we preach it's obviously the gospel that we're getting them to believe but you know
what we're a part of that puzzle we're a piece that's a necessary component in order to get
someone saved what's other fruit well look how can you say he's saved if he hasn't washed away
his sins yet let me prove this go to revelation chapter one and the picture of him being blind
and then receiving sight is a picture of spiritual salvation okay that's why god is using that
illustration and someone who's blinded is not saved someone who has sight is saved okay and
i'm going to show that to another place but let me show you also being washed is a picture of
being saved revelation chapter one verse four john to the seven churches which are in asia
grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come and from the seven
spirits which are before his throne and from jesus christ who is the faithful witness and the first
begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us kings and priests into god and his father to
him be glory and dominion forever and ever amen now he says something what does he say in verse
five washed is that past present and future past so he's talking to churches and he's looking at
a group of christians and what is he saying about them they're washed their sins have been washed in
the blood of jesus christ meaning what they're saved so someone has not washed away their sins
what is that picture not saved okay let me show you this again go to first corinthians chapter
number six go to first corinthians chapter number six see why is this important well we want to
make sure we understand salvation how it happens who's necessary the components that it's not just
jesus christ just showing up in your living room and you get saved i've heard people tell me this
you know especially when you go to the homeless shelters all right i've been to the homeless and
addiction recovery centers and they're like oh i know i'm saved and i say how jesus came to me in
the night you know and then i saw him and i got saved and i'm like no you didn't like first of
all you didn't see jesus number one it's like what did he look like you know he's like he's got this
long hair and he's wearing you know it's like he's wearing a dress and it's like that's not jesus
that's a different person all right i'm not gonna that's like elton john's dream or something okay
that's not the lord jesus christ but you have another group look at verse number nine know
you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of god be not deceived neither
fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor feminine nor abusers of themselves with mankind
nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the
kingdom of god and look at this and such were some of you but ye are notice this word washed
but you're sanctified but you're justified in the name of the lord jesus and by the spirit
of our god so a picture of needing to wash away your sins is a picture of the fact that you're
not saved okay what having been washed is a picture of the fact that you are saved now i'm
not saying that after you get saved there isn't still verses that talk about cleaning your hands
you know clean your hands you sinners and purify your hearts and obviously you know we should
strive to purge ourselves of sin and clean ourselves up on a regular basis but that's not
what's happening in this passage what's happening in this passage is that paul is being told saul
is being told to get saved to wash away his sins in the blood of jesus christ to call upon the name
of the lord and to get saved and in being blinded also helps us understand this go to john chapter
number nine john chapter number nine this is what jesus was preaching to the pharisees and he uses
parables to explain spiritual pictures he uses carnal truths to expound spiritual truths and
in john chapter 9 looking verse 39 and jesus said for judgment i am coming to this world
that they which see not notice this might see and that they would see might be made blind
and some of the pharisees which were with him heard these words and said in them are we blind
also jesus said unto them if you were blind you should have no sin but now you say we see
therefore your sin remaineth now what is he basically teaching and this is cool i like
comparing this with paul because doesn't he say that he's going to take those that can see and
make them blind and what happened couldn't paul or saul see and then jesus ended up making him
blind and what's the picture here the picture is helping someone realize they're a sinner
jesus came not to call the righteous but sinners unto repentance and in order for someone to get
saved they have to realize they need to be saved right if you don't think you need to be saved
why would you ask for salvation why would the jews ask for jesus to save them if they believe
they're already on their way to heaven and you know what it's no different today we have to help
people become blind today before they can get saved because of most people that i knock on
their doors in america you know what i say when i ask them are you a hundred percent sure if you
died today you'd go to heaven they say yes they think they see they believe that they see the
problem is is when i ask them what they're trusting and to get them there and they say
oh be a good person go to church confess to the priest get baptized they're blind they don't even
realize it yet though i had to first help them realize they're blind say actually the bible says
something different what does that mean they're blinded i need to help blind you for a moment
i need to help you realize you you have a problem and then i can help you receive that sight then i
can help give you that sight and you know what the pharisees were unwilling to be blinded they
were unwilling to accept the fact that they needed a savior that they needed salvation they
weren't willing to humble themselves they're willing to justify themselves you know i thank
the lord that i'm not as this publican i'm not like other sinners you know i do all this good
stuff but the man that came and said lord be merciful me a sinner he was rather justified
wasn't he go back to uh acts chapter number nine and so we see the picture of saw getting humbled
before the lord him being blinded and then what receiving his sight says in verse number 19 and
when he had received meat he was strengthened then was all certain days with the disciples which were
at damascus and straightway he preached christ in the sonagogues that he is the son of god now this
is awesome you know this is what you would hope for all of your converts right you get them saved
and they're just immediately preaching the gospel to other people right and obviously that's
representative of the fact of why paul was picked why do you think paul is picked as a chosen vessel
because he's immediately preaching christ isn't he he's immediately on fire for god he's immediately
serving the lord verse 21 but all that heard him were amazed and said it's not this he that
destroyed them which called on this name in jerusalem and came hither for that intent that
he might bring them bound under the chief reese notice how they describe what he does to people
destroyed them he was doing some intense evil unto the church of god and he's done a complete 180
right verse 22 but saw increased the more in strength and confounded the jews which dwell
the damascus proving that this is very christ now this is also interesting because he's immediately
going in and he's the best convert he's the he's the guy that was going to kill everyone and now
he's completely convinced completely changed completely unidentified wow i was wrong so he's
coming in saying hey guys i was wrong let me show you all the verses in the bible i'm he's filled
with the holy ghost so he knows all the scripture he has the holy ghost guiding him he can prove
that jesus is the son of god from the old testament i mean he's just he's just isaiah 53 and he's
going to genesis chapter 3 that seed and he's going to genesis chapter number 12 and he's like
hey that seed is jesus christ and he's going to all the verse in the bible he's like hey remember
jonah he's like hey whereas jonah's was three days and three nights in the well's belly so shall the
son of man be three days and three nights in in the heart of the earth and he's like that was
jesus and he's like he rose again the third day and he's like hey that picture of you know in in
zechariah of someone being sold for 30 shekels that was judas selling out jesus for 30 shekels
and he's saying hey you know how that serpent was on the stick and all they had to do was look and
live that was jesus becoming sin for us and he's preaching him the gospel and he's preaching the
word of god and the whole testament's coming together like never before and it says that
they were confounded what is confound they can't say anything it's like he just basically gave you
all the answers he's like hey you had your math sheet your homework from school and someone just
wrote all the answers in you're just looking at it and you're just like this is right
but here's the problem they don't want the answer they don't like the answer wouldn't you assume
when someone just illuminates the word of god to you comes and preaches the best truth you've ever
heard wouldn't you just want to accept that wouldn't you want to embrace that wouldn't that
be great but you know there's a lot of people that won't accept the truth even though it's
been clearly demonstrated for them and confounded means they have no answer
someone says what's one plus one someone says two it's like there's no other option it's like
what about three nope you know there's no option it's it's two it's already been proven we've
already it's already settled there's nothing else they can even say we just have all the evidence
you know it's like a murder case and then someone just plays the video and it's just like it's you
and then it's like was that really me and then on the video it's like you're saying like i
am jonathan chelly and then and then you're like they're watching the video and then they kill
them and then they're like hey i just killed this person and then you're like and then never
basically the defendant is sitting there just like there's nothing else to say you know it's
just the case closed it's just it's been proven it's just over he's already proven it there's
nothing else to prove there's nothing else to say jesus is the son of god it's just a proven fact
and he just went in there and he just proved it to everybody and what do they do well
says in verse 23 and after that many days were fulfilled the jews took counsel to kill him
well that's the truth what are we going to do about it are we going to accept the truth no
there's nothing they can say they don't have another argument they're not interested in the
truth they're not going to accept the truth they're just going to reject it this is cancel
culture at its finest when you can't uh defeat the truth you have to kill the truth speaker
and you know what cancel culture existed always it's always existed you know it's not a new thing
with us you know we oh this cancel culture it's so it's so toxic it's like cancel culture has
always existed it's never not existed and in fact many countries have had a hardcore cancel culture
called islam it's called china hey in china you try to preach the gospel of jesus christ you're
going to jail or dying or being tortured in fact they're constantly raiding these secret house
churches in china right now where there's christians and they're just torturing them
destroying them i mean they have like a constant saw in their lives in china right now and you know
that's got to be horrible that's got to be horrific but you know what they're kind of
worth this upper shame for christ
and god has chosen the foolishness of the things of this world that confound the wise and you know
he took paul in there and you know the truth of god will confound the wise today because the the
the foolish truth of god's word is smarter than the smartest thing that this world can come up
with they can't come up with anything verse 24 but they're laying away it was known as saul
and they watched the gates day and night to kill him then the disciples took him by night and led
him down by the wall in a basket it's sad you know they're trying to kill him every single day
that's all they that's all they live for at this point someone gives them the truth and their life
is now dedicated to killing the one person that gave them the truth their whole life has been
dedicated to reading moses and studying moses and he just gave imagine i gave you it's like your
life goal is to solve one plus one and you're just sitting there just like you can't figure
someone writes two and it's like let's kill that guy and keep solving trying to solve the problem
let's keep studying the problem let's try to figure out because it can't be two
you know let's reject the two they're not interested in the answer they were never
interested in the answer verse 26 and when saul was come to jerusalem he assayed
to join himself the disciples but they were all afraid of him and believe not that he was a
disciple now the word assayed just means tried so he's trying he's trying to be friends with
disciples but they don't want to be his friend they're like i don't believe this guy he's
probably he's probably faking it you know he's probably going around like hey i'm a disciple guys
hey come with me but he really was a disciple now it took someone by faith to reach out to him
verse 27 but barnas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared on him how he had seen
the lord in the way and that he had spoken to him and now he'd preached boldly at damascus in the
name of jesus and he was with them coming in and going out of jerusalem and he spake bold in the
name of the lord jesus and disputed against the grecians but they went about to slay him
which when the brethren knew they brought him down to caesarea and sent him forth to tarsus
then had the churches rest throughout all judaea and galley and samaria and were edified and
walking in the fear of the lord and in the comfort of the holy ghost were multiplied now this actually
is kind of a good ending isn't it not not necessarily for paul going back to those areas
but think about it all the immediate areas of jerusalem samaria and damascus these areas were
heavy persecution go back to chapter 8 look at verse 1 and saul was consenting under his death
and at that time there was great persecution against the church which is at Jerusalem right
so at that time it was great persecution but then when saul's been converted notice they had great
rest and so it was a moment of intense persecution but then it subsided and they have rest again and
they have the ability to basically have comfort edify one another the church is growing and doing
great things and so you have to think you know if god brings persecution in your life or something
intense it may just be for a season and you just need to get through that and and now they're better
for it now they don't even have paul going and attacking them they have paul to be their shield
because guess what they're gonna all everybody wants to kill paul now you know peter and john
can kind of be like whoo you know we were kind of like the targets here but this paul guy they
really hate him you know they really want to kill him and you know for me personally i just
i'm so glad that pastor stephen anderson exists because so many people hate him so much more than
me and they want to kill and murder him they're like he is like the target and you know what praise
the lord for him you know he's going to be greatly rewarded for being persecuted for righteousness sake
but you know what the fact that he just exists as a person benefits me a lot and it benefits
other churches because he's like a shield onto other christians and it brings us peace it brings
us comfort and that's the importance of having numbers and that's the importance of having more
christians and more people because it's easy to shut a guy down it's easy to shut a couple people
down it's hard to shut thousands down it's hard to shut down big groups of people and that's why
it's important to have a steadfast group of people that love the lord that aren't going anywhere
because it will intimidate the enemy and we can actually have rest verse 32 and it came to pass
as peter passed through all quarters he came down also to the saints which dwelled at lydda
and there he found a certain man named anneas which had kept his bed eight years and was sick
of the palsy and peter said in him anneas jesus christ make it the whole arise and make thy bed
and he rose immediately and all that dwelt at lydda and saron saw him and turned to the lord
so peter's going about doing evangelism and you know i think that peter is obviously being pushed
out of his comfort zone because of things that happen you have the persecution then you hear
about the apostle paul you have in act chapter number uh eight where peter and them were sent
and they heard about uh essentially philip going out and preaching the gospel so they're realizing
like we can we should be going out we should be going further than our little circle because of
the persecution it caused peter to go out of his comfort zone because the other disciples
are going out and getting people saved and they needed the apostles to come give them the holy
ghost because he saw that and was going into samaria and getting people saved now he's traveling
to other places now he's going to lydda now he's going to another area and i guarantee anneas likes
that didn't anneas greatly benefit from peter coming i mean he healed this guy this guy's not
only getting saved he's getting physically healed of the palsy right the bible says that he had the
palsy and he was in bed for eight years that's that's a horrible suffering so through the
persecution through paul's conversion anneas receives this you think he was grateful for that
you think that he appreciated that look how lord the lord orchestrated all these events so that
anneas could benefit from it couldn't he and that peter could go out and do the work of an evangelist
you know some people say peter's the first pope he's not a pope but he's an elder he's a pastor
and notice that even though he's at the church at jerusalem he's still going out and doing evangelism
isn't he because even a pastor is supposed to go out into evangelism and reach new areas and to get
people saved because it's the work of the lord that's important it's not just your little area
it's not just your little bubble and some people get so focused like i want that zip code i want
that zip code but you know what almost no does anybody even live in 77035 that's where our church
is what if i said you know what i'm only going to minister to those that live in 7735 i wouldn't
none of you would even be here right we're reaching other people other areas you know and
we shouldn't have this weird dialed in view of church is like you know what the only thing that
matters is just the people that are within my close proximity no the gospel is supposed to go
to the whole world and when we make decisions we need to make spiritual decisions that affect
all of god's people not just the ones that are the closest to us physically
and you know that's one of the reasons why i decided to help with steadfast baptist church
not because it would benefit this local church it wouldn't me taking steadfast baptist church
especially carnally speaking it's not going to benefit this church but what would it do
it'd benefit children of god it'd benefit the kingdom of god it would it would be a
a help to other people and you know that's what i love about pure words baptist church is they're
so humble to still come to a church that can make such a great sacrifice for other people and that
other people can benefit ananias gets to benefit from other people's hard work labor sacrifice
and humility and the things that they go through and you know what this church has blessed a lot
of people that they don't even realize when you serve the lord when you make spiritual decisions
you are going to make a big impact oftentimes much bigger than you even realize because philip goes
out back because of persecution and preaching the gospel causes peter and john to go out because
peter and john are going out and the gospel is being spread and then saul gets saved and then
barnabas receives him and then they hear about this peter's not going to lytta and peter's not
going to doing other things and then ananias is getting saved and guess what there's another
person in this story look at verse 23 who when he came and had seen the grace of god and was glad
and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the lord for he was a good
man and full of the holy ghost and of faith and much people was added to the lord much people was
saved not just that guy got physically saved and spiritually saved and many people got spiritually
verse 20.5 then departed barnabas dishearses for to seek saul and when he had found him he brought
him unto and i'm sorry i'm like in chapter 11 that's why it's so confusing
look at verse number 36 now there was at japa so they were in lytta now he's in japa this is peter
a certain disciple named tabitha which was which by interpretation is called dorkus this woman was
full of good works and alms deeds which she did and it came to pass in those days that she was
sick and died whom when they had washed uh they laid her in an upper chamber for as much as little
was not a japa and the disciples had heard that peter was there they sent unto him two men desiring
him that he would not delay to come to them then peter rose and went with them when he was come
they brought him into the upper chamber and all the widows stood by weeping and showing the coats
and garments which dorkus made while she was with him but peter put them all forth and kneeled down
and prayed and turning him to the body said tabitha arise she opened her eyes and when she
saw peter she sat up and he gave her his hand and lifted her up and when he had called the saints
and widows presented her alive and it was known throughout all japa and many believed in the lord
and it came to pass that he tarried many days in japa with one simon a tanner so not only did
uh this anneas benefit from that not only did uh other people turn to the lord but even in jopa
now here's the thing if peter had not been in lidda at that exact time dorkus would have been
toast it was a very time sensitive matter that peter just happens to be in lidda japa just happens
to be real close by they happen to know he's there they happen to get him he brings this woman back
from the dead and and what a great blessing this woman was we see that all things work together for
good to them that love god to them that are called according to his purpose and i tell you what you
keep serving god and something great is going to happen you may not know how you may not know when
you may not even know who you're going to affect in this world and in fact a lot of people contributed
to anneas and to dorkus that are not peter philip did and he may never know that he may know it
now because it's in the bible and he's in heaven and he's there and you can see dorkus but you know
what there's a cumulative effect everybody's serving the lord and doing that which is right
and so we have to understand that no matter what evils may come upon us no matter what persecution
may happen you know what god may be bringing that for a certain reason and we need to go out and we
need to continue just doing good work and preaching the gospel and just commit ourselves to the
keeping the keeping of our souls unto a faithful creator realizing that all things truly are going
to work together for good and if i suffer for righteousness sake then i know i'm on the right
path let's close in prayer thank you father so much for your word thank you for this great
chapter of the bible and the examples that you gave us and thank you for caring for for every
single person so much that if there's persecution you take it personally and not only do you take
that personally you take every single person personally you hear the prayers of the unsaved
you orchestrate and carry out divine plans and divine pathways for us to be used by you and i
pray that we would never look at a situation with only carnal eyes or look at a situation
and just the physical realm but we could have the faith of ananias we could have the faith of peter
we could have the faith of the of saul and barnabas and of these men who against a physical
reality see what the bible says and just continue in your commandments and continue to be faithful
and continue to be steadfast and continue to seek you and that you can use us to perform great
wonders and miracles that give glory unto you and in jesus name we pray amen
let's go to our final song for the evening
we'll turn in our hymnals 397 397 little is much when god is in it
there on the first in the harvest field now ripened there's a word
for all to do hark the voice of god is calling to the harvest calling you
little is much when god is in it labor not for wealth or fame there's a crown and you can win it
if you'll go in jesus name does the place you're called to labor seem so small and little known
it is great if god is in it and he'll not forget his own little is much when god is in it
labor not for wealth or fame there's a crown and you can win it if you'll go in jesus name
are you laid aside from service body worn from toil and care you can still be in the battle
in the sacred place of prayer little is much when god is in it labor not for wealth or fame
there's a crown and you can win it if you'll go in jesus name when the conflict here is ended
and our race on earth is run he will say to all the faithful welcome all my child well done
little is much when god is in it labor not for wealth or fame there's a crowd and you can win it
if you'll go in jesus name good singing y'all are dismissed have a blessed night