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Would you please bless the shepherd, bless the sheep, and bless the preaching. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Okay, we're in Acts chapter 11. We continue with our Bible study on Thursday nights on the book of Acts. Now Acts chapter 11 is pretty notable due to the fact that it's the chapter that has the verse in 26 where it talks about how they were first called Christians in Antioch. So it's a pretty notable chapter because of that. And what we see here is that they're referring to the disciples being first called Christians in Antioch. And I'm actually going to talk about that this Sunday, so I'm not going to talk too much about that tonight. By looking at verse number 1 here, it says here, And the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with them, saying that, Thou wentest to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them. So first and foremost, we see that Peter is suffering rebuke at the hands of the Jews. Now, what is it that we're picking up on here? In chapter 10, Peter gets this vision about Cornelius wanting to hear the gospel. He basically is commissioned by God to go to Caesarea. He sends men over there, or men actually come to him to come get him from Cornelius. They go to Caesarea. He goes and preaches the gospel to them. And of course, this is due to the vision that he receives of the sheet that was knit at the four corners with all the unclean beasts. And God is basically teaching them, hey, you need to go to different nations, you need to go to different Gentiles, you need to give the gospel to everyone. He has to repeat this vision three times in order to get it in his head. Hey, don't keep preaching the gospel to just the Jews. You need to go to different nations and get them saved as well. So he does. He goes there, gets Cornelius saved, and his household, many of his associates as well. And he baptizes them, and the Bible says that the Holy Spirit falls upon them. Great story. Comes back, the apostles and the brethren, they hear of what's taking place, and they're just amazed by it. But then there's this specific group that gets upset at Peter. Now, here's what's so stupid about this. They're not even focusing on the fact that these people got saved. What are they harping on? The fact that he just ate with them. It's just like, oh, just forget the fact that these people just got saved, and they just trusted Christ as their savior. You know, a bunch of people got saved. They didn't rejoice with that. In fact, they began to criticize Peter because of the fact that he's eating with unclean people. Bunch of racists, right? So we don't know if this is saved or unsaved Jews. Obviously it says the circumcision, but the reason it kind of opens up for interpretation whether it's saved or unsaved Jews is because of the fact that verse 18, the people who are responding to the story that he tells them, basically they recognize, oh wow, God has granted repentance unto the Gentiles as well. So then they begin to praise God because of the fact that they got saved. So this could either be saved or unsaved Jews or just both. You have a group of saved people who are Jews and a group of unsaved people who are Jews as well, and that's who he's referring to. It's pretty ridiculous if you think about it. Now obviously we weren't there 2,000 years ago to witness this, but it is ridiculous because of the fact that these people should know that God wanted to reach other people than just Jews, right? I mean, Jesus Christ commissioned them to go out, to preach the gospel to every creature and every nation, and then aside from that in the book of Acts, you have these miraculous divine appointments that God is doing through evangelists, through apostles, to go out and reach different people. You have Philip being sent to who? The Ethiopian eunuch? This divine appointment to just say, hey, get out of Jerusalem, I want you to go to the Ethiopian eunuch who's not a Jew and I want you to give him the gospel. You would think that they would wake up to that and say, well, I think God wants us to go reach other people than just Jews. He's willing to send Philip the evangelist and carrying him away to this eunuch for him to be saved, but then aside from that, you have this divine appointment with Peter and Cornelius as well, and I think really what God is trying to do is just kind of wake them up and say, hey, guys, this is where the fish are biting, right? These are the people who are actually receptive to the gospel. They actually want to get saved. You need to stop focusing on these Jews and go out there and reach a different people group, but we see them, in spite of this being as obvious as possible, they continue to make a concerted effort to reach the Jewish groups, Jewish people. Look at verse 19. By the way, this is after the story, because Paul, or excuse me, Peter, he's describing everything that happened in Caesarea, this revival. I mean, someone comes to our church and says, hey, I went to up north somewhere and I got a bunch of people saved, we would rejoice. We would be like, man, that's awesome. That's great to hear, you know. These guys aren't necessarily doing that. In fact, look at verse 19. It says, now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phoenice and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto Jews only. So they're telling the story about Cornelius getting saved. He's like, wow, praise God. God has granted repentance unto the Gentiles as well. All right, let's go and preach the gospel to more Jews. Let's go reach more Jews. Let's just keep preaching the gospel to Jews. Even though Peter just got finished telling them, hey, we saw this great revival, these people are receptive, they want to hear the gospel, and it's just like, it just goes over their head. It's ridiculous. Now, this is partly the reason why after chapter 12, the spotlight turns from the apostles and it goes on the Apostle Paul, right? Actually, the Apostle Paul and Barnabas, because really they're making a concerted effort to reach the Gentiles and they begin to receive from the Jews and focus on those other nations. And so, you know, and by the way, you would think that Peter, I mean, Peter's the one that God tells to go witness to Cornelius. You would think you would wake up as well, but he doesn't. Now, here he defends what he's doing. He's like, hey, God gave me this vision. That's why I went there. But we see later on in his ministry that he's still holding on to those Jews, is he not? Go to Galatians chapter 2. Go to Galatians chapter 2. It would be ridiculous for us to focus on one people group today, you know? And the only reason, if we were to focus on a people group, it would probably be for a season because of the fact that maybe those people are just receptive to the gospel, right? You know, but it would be ridiculous for us to say, no, we're only going to reach Hispanics. Our pastor's Hispanic, therefore we should only reach Hispanics. What? Or we want our church to only be a black church. We can only reach black people. They need the gospel. Or we need to make a concerted effort just to reach Asian people. There's churches like that where they only want to focus on one people group, you know, because that's what they're comfortable with. Whereas, you know, once you're in Christ, there isn't either Jew nor Gentile. And we need to go to the people who just want to be saved regardless of what color of skin they are, right? We don't ever want to become this racist church where it's just like, well, we just want to be an Armenian church, right? Or we just want to be a Russian church. We just want to be this type of church with this type of race. And the reason I say this is because there are churches like that. I mean, I've literally heard of churches where it's just like it's an Indian church and people try to go there and they're like, hey, just to let you know, this is Indian speaking only and only Indians are welcome here, you know? And it's like a Baptist church. It's like, what in the world? These people obviously don't read the Bible. They don't recognize that, you know, God wants us to reach all types of people. And it's better too. When you have a church that has just a conglomerate of different races and cultures and just different, you know, come from different backgrounds, it's great. Because then you actually learn something about other people, right? I mean, look, folks, I didn't know much about Armenians until I came to this church, even though I'm like 5, 10 percent Armenian or something, you know? I didn't know much about Assyrians. I didn't know much about, I knew a lot about white people because I married to one. But there's different people groups that I didn't know much about until I came here. I didn't even know what a Serbian was until I met Milan. You know, Milan, he's a faithful word now. I'm just joking. But what I'm saying is this, is that, you know, we should never have this mentality, oh, we only want to reach this people group, okay? Now, look, you have, for example, Spanish churches, and that's what they do. They specifically reach Spanish speaking people. And, you know, even to that extent, I don't really agree with that. You know what I mean? Now, you said, why not? Well, here's the thing, because I kind of battled whether I should start like a Spanish church. But the thing is, is that the vast majority of Spanish speaking people, the younger crowd, so to speak, they speak both. And even if they speak Spanish fluently, they actually prefer an English speaking pastor, believe it or not. They prefer to hear preaching in English. Really, the people who want to hear Spanish preaching only is who? Yes, Spanish speakers, of course. We got Sherlock Holmes right here, man. I'm talking about the older generation. The ones who don't speak English whatsoever, you understand? So, even then, I've entertained the possibility of starting like a Spanish ministry here, but only for like the elderly Spanish generation who just don't want to learn any English whatsoever, okay? But you have Spanish churches where they're just like, we only go into Spanish groups, we only want Spanish people to come to our church, and it's just like, well, you know, that kind of defeats the purpose of what a church is. It's supposed to reach everyone. Because what if you get someone saying, now, obviously, we run into people who speak Chinese, right? We reach people who only speak Spanish, and we invite them to come here, but here's the difference. English is the main language of America. So, it's like, you should expect to come to an English speaking church when you come to a church in America, right? So, anyways, you know, I've met churches that are just like, you know, they're just, they refuse to reach anybody else other than Hispanics, okay? And I'm not saying that's 100% bad, I just think that you're going to hinder yourself, and you're going to alienate a lot of people who you can potentially reach, okay? You know, you should just preach in English and have different ministries, maybe they speak in those languages that can reach only those specific people. And look, I've been to churches, Spanish churches, where like if a Hispanic comes there, and they speak both languages, they say, hey, you need to only speak Spanish, you know? And if they speak a little broken Spanish, they're like criticized for it. Like, oh, what are you, like a pocho or something like that? You just can't even speak, you know? And it's just like, you're only, and look, I had a friend who was like that, and he literally was just like, hey, you need to only read the Spanish Bible, you know, only reach Hispanics, you know, you're trying to read all the gueros and everything, reach all them, but, you know, you're a rasa, you know, you're supposed to be a rasa and reach only Spanish speaking people, and I remember, I literally tried, I was like, all right, I'll just try to read the Spanish Bible only, but here's the thing, my heart language is English. Now, Spanish was my first language, but once I went to school, it was just like Spanish is gone. And even then, like I learned it later on, but I learned how Spanish, which is not very good, okay? It's like slang, words that don't even exist in the Spanish language, you know? The way we say catch is cachale. When I say, I'll see you later, they say, ai te huacho, you know? It's like phrases don't even exist in Spanish, you know? But I remember trying to read the Bible, I was just like, I'm not getting this. I know what it's saying, but in order for me to understand spiritual truths, I kind of need to read a Bible in my heart language, which is English, okay? That's what I grew up learning. So anyways, you know, we never want to be respecter of people. We want to be able to reach everyone, okay? And obviously, the vast majority of people who are going to come to our church are English-speaking people, okay? But look, let me just say this, if you live in America, and you're like 30, even 40, it doesn't matter what race you are, you know English, okay? The reason I say this, you go to some doors, and like some Chinese person opens, you know, answers the door, no English, no English. But they have like a car, they have a house, they live in Omani. Like yeah, no English, you not only know English, you know Spanish as well, okay? That has, you know, well said, that doesn't know one language, that only has five languages or something. And the language thou speakest now is not even the proper way of saying it or whatever, you know? Most people, they say that, but they actually speak English. Chinese people in Omani are like, no, no, no, no English, no English. This is what I go, me hau ma. And they're like, oh, oh, you speak Chinese? I'm like, oh, I guess you speak English. You know, I ran into a person one time here, and I thought I had him, I was just like, you know, he said, no English, no English. And I said, oh, okay, you know, me hau ma. And then I started speaking to him in Mandarin, and he's like, oh, no, no, kamai, you know, Cambodian. I was like, oh, yeah, because I used to go to church, there was, you know, like had a lot of Cambodians. I was like, so kamai. And he's like, oh, dang, man, you speak kamai. He's like, how you learn kamai? I'm like, well, I thought you didn't know English. I don't do it to impress them. I do it so they can slip up in English. Now you have no choice. Now you got to speak to me in English because I know you speak English, okay? But just know this, is that anybody who's in Omani, like 40, at least 40 years, maybe 40 and under, I would say, they speak English. By the way, my mom, who's like 75, she speaks English. She speaks it broken, but she speaks it and she understands it. So to say, well, you know, I don't, you know, these people who are saying, I don't want to go there because I don't understand any English, yes, you do. Okay, you make deals, you pay your bills, you do all types of stuff in English, you understand English, okay? But back to what we're saying here is Peter, he's standing so firm here and saying, look, God wants us to reach other people, but then later on he slips and he begins to, you know, slip back into his old Jewish way of, you know, oh, we just got to be separate from Gentiles, the goyems or whatever. Look at Galatians 2, verse 11, and look what happens, it says in verse 11, But when Peter was come to Antioch, Paul writing this, I would slit him to the face because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles, but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. This guy's being a weenie. Because he wants to reach the Gentiles, he knows they're receptive, but when his Jewish buddies come around, he's just like, oh, I don't want to look like I'm associated with these people because then I'm going to get it from them. He says, and the other Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. So we see that because Peter was so influential, that he actually even began to affect Barnabas. Which Barnabas, if you remember, was the one who was willing to reach out to Paul. He's the one that's going with Paul, reaching out to the Gentiles, but his influence of dissimulation was so strong that it even influenced Barnabas to go that route as well. Look at verse 14, But when I saw that they walked not uprightly, according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou be a Jew, liveest after the manner of the Gentiles, and not as due to Jews, why compelest thou the Gentiles to live as due the Jews? He said, you're a hypocrite. Why are you trying to get people to see you as a Jew if you're not even living after the manner of the Jews? You're just being a hypocrite. You're being a respecter of people. It's not right. Go back to Acts chapter 11. So we see that taking place, but prior to that, he was gun-hole about the Gentiles. He gets this vision, sees a lot of people saved, and even makes a pretty good defense regarding this. So he rehearses the events in chapter 10 verses 5 through 17. Look at verse 15. It says, And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that He said, John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. For as much then as God gave them the light gift as He did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand God? So I want to talk about this for a little bit. That phrase in verse 15, that the Holy Ghost fell on them. So I just want to remind us what that means. Because the Holy Ghost falling on them is not the same as the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. So this isn't saying that as He's talking to them, they get saved. Though that's the case, when it talks about the Holy Ghost falling on them, this is actually a separate incident that happens after salvation. When the Bible talks about the Holy Ghost falling on them, that's really referring to them being filled with the Holy Ghost. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit comes when we get saved. And it doesn't create boldness, it doesn't create a lack of fear, it doesn't create necessarily faith. What it means is just the earnest of our inheritance. You understand? You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and God gives you the Holy Spirit, you're sealed unto the day of redemption, the purchase of possession, etc. So that is the earnest of our inheritance. We have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. God gives us His Spirit, you understand? But after that, God wants us to be filled with the Spirit. He wants the Holy Ghost to fall on us. Now let me just say this, this doesn't require for you to be a Christian for very long. Like, oh man, I want to be filled with the Spirit, but I just got to be in church more often. No, that's not the way it works. You could actually be filled with the Spirit right off the bat. Right off the bat, because that's what we see with them. As soon as they got saved, they were just gung ho, filled with the Spirit, ready to go. Now you say, well, how is that possible? Well, a lot of people would kind of flinch at that because they think they see filling of the Spirit, and they just see, well, they're just going to do a lot of miracles. They're going to start preaching the word of God. They're just going to start sowing you right off the bat, stand up for righteousness, and do some great exploit. But that's not necessarily what that means. To be filled with the Spirit just simply means that you're walking in the new man. And if you're walking in the new man, you're going to want to do the things that are pleasing unto the Lord, okay? That's what that means there, okay? We would say this person is Spirit led. You understand? Now, I've known people that as soon as they get saved, they just jump right in. I mean, haven't you met someone like that? Even in our church. Someone who just gets saved, even they get saved here. Even they get saved here. And then you know what? They get baptized right away. That's Spirit led. That person is filled with the Spirit. Why? Because the flesh doesn't want to get baptized. The flesh is embarrassed. The flesh doesn't want to be subject to the things of God. Now, by the way, if you didn't get baptized right away after you got saved, I'm not criticizing you, right? You weenie. No, I'm just kidding. I'm joking. What I'm saying is that individuals who get saved and then they get baptized right away, it's just that they're Spirit led. And by the way, just to let you know, I didn't get baptized right away, okay? So obviously I was not Spirit led. I was flesh led, okay? But there's people who, they get saved, they get baptized right away, and then they start coming to church. There's people in our church that literally they get saved, they get baptized, and what happens in the afternoon? They go sony. Right? You're like, wow, this person jumped right in. It's because that person is just being Spirit led. We would say the Holy Ghost fell on that individual. Now the Pentecostals want to use that as some display of just, you know, sizzling bacon when they're shaking and they're just like speaking in tongues and that's not what it is. When the Spirit falls, it simply means you're being led of the Spirit. It's just like, hey, you want to go sony? Like, yeah, I want to go do some sony. And then what happens after sony? Sometimes they even what? They come back to church on Sunday night. Why? Because they're Spirit led. And then they keep coming back. They start growing and learning. They start, you know, getting sin out of their life. They're just doing well. You understand? So that's a Spirit led person. Now obviously, we don't always live like that, right? So don't be confused. It's just like, well, if this person starts off Spirit led, they're just going to always remain that way. It doesn't work that way because we have the flesh. You understand? So this person could get saved, baptized, come to church, but then what happens is they go back to some sinful habit, then they're out of the Spirit, they're walking in the flesh, etc. But I just want to show you that this example that we see that the Spirit falls on them is something that even happens today. We literally have it happen at least every other week sometimes. Right? Because someone who gets saved in our church and then they get baptized right away, the Spirit falls on that person. You understand? And look, we've had people who get saved in our church and they're just like, no, I don't want to get baptized. I'd rather wait until some other time or whatever. They put it off and they're just embarrassed or whatever it is. Maybe the water's too freezing cold or maybe the water's too boiling hot or whatever and they're right about that. But there's others who just jump right in. Okay? Now go to Romans chapter number 8 because after salvation, we constantly want the Spirit to fall upon us. And that's just another way of saying being Spirit filled, being Spirit led. That's how we want to live our lives. And I want to remind us as a church tonight to be conscious about being filled with the Spirit. Because it's easy for us to just go about our lives and thinking that we're right with God but really, we need to make a conscientious effort to think and say, man, am I walking in the Spirit today? Or am I in the flesh? Am I being led of the Spirit or am I in the flesh? Look at Romans 8, verse 5 says, we're going to talk about how is it, how can we get the Spirit to fall upon us? You don't need me to smack you on your forehead. You don't need me to fling my jacket and have it hit you so the Spirit can come upon you. It's actually really simple. Okay? Look at verse number 5 of Romans 8. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. So what does it mean when someone is after the flesh? It basically means that the flesh is right here and you're coming after it. In other words, you are following the flesh. You're being led of the flesh, you understand? But if you're after the Spirit, that means the Spirit is leading you. You're walking after the Spirit. So how do you know if you're in the Spirit? Well, do you mind the things of the flesh or the things of the Spirit? Right? Verse 6 says, for to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. So if you're anxious, you're fearful, you're paranoid, you're scared, okay, you're probably being carnally minded then. Right? Because here it says to be spiritually minded is life and peace. You just have peace within yourself. You have tranquility, you have peace. And the reason I'm saying this is because, you know, the current circumstances of California have caused a lot of people to be afraid, Christians included, where the fires and, you know, what's going to happen in November and all these things, and people are afraid. They're scared. But you know what the Bible says in this very chapter? It tells us that God didn't give us the spirit of fear, but the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, I have a Father. So how do we make sure that if we're afraid, we get into the Spirit? Well, we've got to cry, I have a Father. In other words, we've got to pray to God. We say, Lord, help me to not be afraid, help me to walk in the Spirit, help me to be led of the Spirit. Because it's not right for us to be afraid. In fact, it's sinful to be fearful. It's sinful to be afraid, it's sinful to be fearful because that simply means that we're not trusting God. Understand? Look what it goes on to say, verse 7, Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so be it that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. What he's basically saying in verse 9 is this, yeah, you're in the Spirit, of course, if you're saved. You understand? Because anybody who's saved has the Spirit of God dwelling within them. Verse 10 says, And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by the Spirit that dwells within you. So what he's doing in verse 11 is he's casting vision. He's saying, look, you gotta put, you gotta mortify the members of your body, but don't worry, the same Spirit that dwells within you is gonna be the same Spirit that quickens your mortal bodies. He's referring to the redemption of our body, the resurrection. Okay, verse 12, Therefore, brethren, we are deaders not to the flesh to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, because you're led of the flesh, ye shall die. Now let that sink in your ears for a little bit. And you say, what does that mean, die? Like, you know, like, your carcass just dies and no longer has life. And by the way, it can mean, like, you start dying spiritually, so to speak, where you're just not in church, you know, your Bible reading is dying, your prayer life is dying, but ultimately, the death that it leads to is your physical death. Why? Because if you're not doing the right things, more than likely, you're gonna start getting involved in the wrong things, right? You're gonna start going back to the flesh, back to drinking, back to smoking, back to being with your buddies, or back to your hobbies that are just vain, that have nothing to do with God. They're not necessarily sinful, but they become sinful because of the fact that they're taking you away from the things of God. And what is that gonna do? That's gonna cause you to die spiritually, and ultimately, you're gonna perish. It says, if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. Folks, that's a great incentive to just keep checking yourself every single day, right? Making sure you're walking in the spirit, you're not fulfilling the lust of the flesh so that you don't die. Because he that soweth to his flesh, soweth the flesh, what? Reap corruption. It says, if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die, but if ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. What is he saying? Look, if you're in the spirit and you're repenting of your sin, you're cleaning up your life, you're getting right with God, you're gonna live. But if you don't, obviously you're gonna die. Verse 14, for as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Now, don't get this verse confused to say, well, you know, if I'm led of the spirit, it just proves that I'm saved, right? It just proves that I'm a son of God. Really what it's saying is this, if you're led of the spirit, that means it's the new man that is being manifested, basically. Ye are the sons of God. And let me just remind you, our flesh is not a son of God, so to speak. It's not redeemed, right? The Bible tells us that whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. But folks, the part of our being that's born of God is our spirit. It's not the flesh. Calvinists and lordship salvationists wanna use that to say, oh yeah, you can't sin. If you say you sin, then you know, you're not really saved or whatever, you know. Cause whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. Bunch of liars, even though they're sinning, by their stupidity, cause the thought of foolishness is sin. Look folks, we have two natures. We have the natural man, which is the flesh, and then we have the new man, which is the spirit. And God wants us to walk in the spirit, folks. He wants us to make a conscientious effort. Now how do we do that? Well that's why the Bible says we have to die to self. Right? So every morning we have to die to self. You know, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living what? Sacrifice. Holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. The Bible says, reckon yourselves also to be dead indeed unto sin, alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin, therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lustre of. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Instruments referring to your members. So God is constantly saying, hey, you need to reckon yourself as being dead unto sin. You need to constantly sacrifice yourself and put yourself on the altar, so to speak, a living sacrifice and mortify the deeds of the body. This is how you know you're walking in the spirit. It says in verse 15, But ye have not received the spirit of bondage against a fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. So go back to Acts if you would. Go to Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10. That's why it's important that, you know, once we get people saved, we motivate that as much, we try to encourage that as much as possible. What are we doing when we try to get people to get baptized right away? We're trying to motivate them to be led of the spirit. And you can see the battle in them, can't you? Like, oh, what, are you just trying to peer pressure them? Absolutely. It is good, it is always good to be zealously affected in the good thing. And we zealously affect them in a good way. So when people have second doubts, like, oh, maybe I should wait, I'll be like, why wait? Well, I need clothes, we got shorts. I need other things. I'll give you a brand new First Work shirt if you need one. Get baptized today. I try to make it as easy as possible for them to be led of the spirit. You know what, every individual who gets saved and they get baptized, they're thankful they did it. They're like, you know what, that was great. And they have this sense of renewal. Why? Because they're being led of the spirit. So look folks, I'm all for peer pressure when it comes to baptisms. Now obviously you don't want to peer pressure them where you just like trip them up and just throw them in there or whatever. Like, you don't want to hold a gun to their head. But I try to remove as many excuses as I possibly can from that individual. The ladies are like, well, you know, my hair is like, we got a blow dryer. We got cheap makeup in the back. I'm just kidding. We got anything you need. All excuses removed. Just do it. Now obviously after that they still have to make the effort into walking in the spirit. But what causes someone to be placed in a position where the spirit falls on them? What is it? Well look at Acts chapter 10 verse 42. Peter speaking to Cornelius in his household says, and he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on them which heard the word. So what helps the Holy Spirit to just fall upon people and prepare people's hearts? The word of God. It's when we're preaching the word of God unto them. Now obviously you guys want to put this on mute. Obviously we need to make sure that you know we're preaching the word of God. We're giving them verses and the person has to make sure that they're actually ready to receive the word of God. But if that's in place, we're in place, the spirit will fall upon that individual. Folks, I'm sure the spirit falls upon individuals every single service in this church. But I'm sure the spirit doesn't fall on some people. Maybe because they're thinking about lunch, they're thinking about their problems, they're thinking about some stupid TV show that they want to see after church. They're thinking about, you know, their girlfriend or their boyfriend or when is church going to be over and they're not minding the things of the spirit. Not everyone is right now. But I'm sure that certain individuals are like, well I'm ready to hear the word of God and you know what? The spirit falls upon that individual. You say, well what now? Am I going to just do some great exploit? Well yeah, how about the exploit of just obeying God? Because the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God and neither indeed can be. You can't obey God if you're not walking in the spirit. So for those people who are like, oh man I struggle so much to just obey God and do what I'm supposed to do. No, you're just struggling to just think about being led of the spirit. You need to be in the spirit and everything will just take care of itself. You know? I struggle to read my Bible. Well just open up your Bible, read it and at that point you're being led of the spirit. I just struggle to pray. Well just pray real quick and then you now are being led of the spirit. I just struggle to go to church. Well go to church and lo and behold Eureka you're being led of the spirit. And folks, most individuals who struggle to come to church because they're just lazy or their hair hurts or whatever, once they come to church they're thankful they came. You know why? Because you are now led of the spirit because you're here. The spirit delights in the law of God after the inward man and now they're led of the spirit. They often say, man I don't want to come to church tonight but I'm thankful I came. Yes the inward man is as thankful that you came. You understand? So but what I'm saying is this is that you know the spirit falling upon someone, an individual is a result of preaching. Right? Because that's what we see. He's preaching the word of God into them. They get saved and then what happens? They're filled with the spirit. Okay? It's likened to what we see with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus Christ is preaching to them and what do they say? They say did not our hearts burn within us while he walked with us by the way and why he opened to us the scriptures? Christian heartburn right? He's like man we got excited over the things of God but it's because he opened the Bible to us. You know it's not an illustration it's not some story it's the scriptures. It's the Bible that's being expounded that fills people with the spirit of God. Okay? Look at chapter let's see here well actually chapter 11 we see the same thing verse 15 as I began to speak the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning. And I'm making a big deal about this because I want our church to be a spirit filled church right? And you know we need to make sure that we actually think about these things and not just let them bypass us and think well we're just right with God we're just going to be fine. No we actually need to put some thought into hey when I wake up in the morning I need to yield myself to God. You know you wake up in the morning and say Lord I want to die to self today I want to be filled with the spirit you get that Bible and then you get that coffee because they go hand in hand amen. No amen is okay. Well that is for me okay being led of the spirit for me is grabbing the coffee and the Bible right? And you know you read the word of God you pray and you're just led of the spirit look if you start off your day right being led of the spirit the rest of the day is going to take care of itself because you're on the right path but you know some of you moody people out there you know you're so cranky and grumpy and no one can tell you anything because you probably started off your day in the flesh and then you're just miserable the rest of the day and you make everyone's life miserable around you because you're just in the flesh. But you know pleasant people are those people who are led of the spirit they're walking in the spirit and they're producing the fruit of the spirit not them but the spirit itself is producing the fruit of the spirit because they're walking in the spirit. Look folks the longer you walk in the spirit the more fruit the spirit will produce in your life compassion love I mean all those things are present when you're walking in the spirit but the opportunities throughout the day to express those virtues will manifest itself more and more. When you need to exert compassion and love and patience and gentleness and meekness all those things are readily available for you when you are walking in the spirit it's the situations that come up in your life where you're given the opportunity to actually display those fruits okay so you know hey spirit fall on us now that sounds kind of liberal sometimes because the liberals have used that in such a ridiculous way such a stupid way but folks what that means is this Lord just help me listen to the word of God help me to delight in the law of God you know help me to love the Bible help me to be spirit led help me to focus on that which you would have for me go back to look at Acts chapter 11 a lot of problems would be solved folks if we just learned how to walk in the spirit cause all the problems that we have in life is because of the flesh like all the problems that we have in our life is because of the circumstances that are happening today we're in California folks we're in Goshen if we're in the spirit we got nothing to worry about I just I just don't know what's going to happen well why don't you go ahead and just walk in the spirit and then everything will just be dandy everything will be fine you know yeah but what's going to happen to you know our country though and our state and everyone's just like getting on California and it's burning don't worry Ben Shapiro the most wicked Jew has left hallelujah this wicked Christ hating Jew known as Ben Shapiro he left California folks I just want to let you know I'm leaving California I'm leaving California and I'm moving you know to a red state I'm going over to the Bible and I'm just like yeah no wonder the skies have cleared up right amen cause he's gone that's not very loving folks I'm in the spirit right now I'm walking in the spirit anytime you hear me rip on Jews just mark it down I'm spirit filled at that point it's true look at verse 18 walk in the spirit folks look at verse 18 it says when they heard these things they held their peace I mean what does that mean it means they shut up what are they going to say a bunch of people got saved and they're just like what can we say right and glorified God saying then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance into life well duh hello sometimes I'm like what do you mean like he didn't grant it before like Gentiles couldn't get saved before this or something it was only Jews that could get saved it's ridiculous now let me spend some time on verse 18 because I want to talk about this phrase that God also to the Gentiles granted repentance into life and what I want to talk about is this false doctrine of unconditional election by Calvinists cause they'll use phrases like this to say see God is the one who gives you the faith to believe for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourself they claim that God is the one who gives the individual the elect you know the one that God chooses he gives them the faith to believe in God it's called unconditional election like they have no choice but to want to just believe that's what it means it's just unconditional so aside from the fact that they believe in this false doctrine of the elect meaning that God has chosen people for salvation they cake on top of that unconditional election which basically means like you know how do you know you're saved well do you have a desire for God well only saved people can have that you know only the elect can have that desire so you must be the elect so they don't call upon the name of the Lord it's just like if you're elect you've always been saved you just come to the saving knowledge you know once you realize that but they'll use verses like this where it says that God that God has also given to the Gentiles repentance into life he's granted that to them so you can kind of see how they can twist that where he's like well I'm going to give you the ability to believe and let me just let everyone know God has given everyone the ability to believe right? just as God takes away some people's ability to believe okay? every individual starts off with the ability to believe sorry circumcision God has always granted repentance unto life to the Gentiles to everyone he's the savior of all men but especially of them that believe so everyone starts off with the ability to believe but folks some people just cross the line like Ben Shapiro and they can no longer believe okay? now how do we define what's being said here well look at verse 20 actually verse 21 it says by the way this doesn't say you know repentance of sin and the evidence of that is verse 21 where it says they turn unto the Lord okay? they basically stop believing in whatever they're stop trusting whatever they're believing in and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ now go to 2 Timothy chapter number 2 if you would 2 Timothy chapter number 2 well how do you know this doesn't mean what they say unconditional election he gives them the ability to believe well because of the fact that what it's stating here first and foremost this is someone speaking it's not the Holy Ghost speaking here that's not the narrator so this is someone of the circumcision who's making that statement that God has given the Gentiles the ability to believe so first and foremost this isn't God saying that right? so if it's not God saying that this is someone's opinion or someone's statement that they make that's just untrue and how do we know that? because there's Gentiles even during Jesus' time and even in the Old Testament who are getting saved they have that ability to believe what this is referring to is the fact that God gives people He enlightens people that's what that means He gives them the ability to believe yes well that comes as a matter that comes by them responding to the light that God gives them because all of this is in context of who? who is this in context of? who's the individual who got saved? Cornelius and last week we talked about Cornelius and how he responded to the light that God gave him therefore we see that God granted him repentance unto life he was able to believe because of that cause look faith in Jesus Christ the prerequisite to faith in Jesus Christ is for people to just respond to the light that God gives them that's how they come to that point where they can trust Christ as their savior I mean I met many people, myself included who I knew the Bible said believe in the Lord Jesus Christ but I didn't understand what that meant I saw and I saw until a soul winner came and expounded the word of God unto me and showed me what that actually meant and at that point I got saved okay look what it says in verse 25 of 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 24 it says if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth what is that? that's God enlightening people to the truth no no no no no this means that God is going to give them he's elected them to believe well look what it says in verse 26 that same group says that no one has free will right? the Calvinists say people don't have free will well look at verse 26 so they get the acknowledging of the truth so that they can recover themselves not God recovering them they're recovering themselves that's why the Bible calls us what? overcomers God obviously he overcame but we overcome when we believe on Jesus Christ right? what does it mean to overcome by our faith it means we recovered ourselves from the snares of the devil by how? by acknowledging the truth and believing the truth okay who are taken captive by him at his will now go to Hebrews chapter 6 Hebrews chapter 6 you know sometimes people wonder like when does someone actually become a reprobate and when we talk about reprobates we're talking about people who have been rejected of God the ability to believe is actually removed from them okay the Bible would call this ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth now it's interesting because we literally today brother John and I were out soul winning and uh I saw this individual in a vehicle and I went up and I handed that person the invite and I was like oh man this is a sodomite this is this this thing is is a sodomite so you know and John just kind of like backs away he said what did you do did you rebuke them did you walk away I gave that person the full gospel the entire gospel let me explain to you why because if they're sodomites obviously I hate them so you know what I just did I just damned them even more and too I knew well you know because I'm talking to this individual this individual is like oh yeah I believe that I believe that I believe that I believe that and here's what I'm thinking once we conclude this whole thing they're going to say they don't believe any of it because they can't believe if it's a sodomite they're not capable of believing you say well why waste your time well to me it's just like I just relocated that individual to like a lower part of hell is what I did because I just gave them more truth you understand so I'm giving them the gospel and I'm already knowing like well and that was thorough I want to make sure that I just kind of like like just giving you the best seats and I'm giving the gospel and they're like yeah I agree with that I believe that I agree with that I agree with that so I'm about to finish and then literally this thing just completely changes and says well yeah I can't agree with all that yeah exactly I can't agree with all that literally right isn't that what she said or she or he or whatever it was because I couldn't really tell because it looked like a she but it had a mustache so I didn't so then I looked at this person by the way like when I went through all the points I'm talking about believing you can't lose your salvation and the thing was like yeah I believe that that's so true hey that's true this and that but then when we get to the final point about getting saved I tell it or whatever it is I said hey do you understand that what I just showed you is just different from what you previously said and they're like well I don't agree with that I don't agree with it at all and I wasn't like what I thought you I thought you got saved I thought you believed I was just like man I was right I already knew they weren't going to believe I was like alright well here's the here's the YouTube card watch it you know and I left and that was it hey I will say this when's the last time you heard the old IFB goal you know they love the sodomites so much hey here's a testimony old IFB I actually gave them the full presentation of the gospel when's the last time they did that they're so busy defending them they claim to love them so much here you have a sodomite hating pastor who actually went and actually preached the gospel possibly knowing that this person was already a sodomite reprobate you know so what happened to that individual well previous to that individual being where they're at right now as far as being a reprobate they actually got to a point in their life where someone gave them the gospel and they just said I don't want it anymore look what it says in Hebrew 6 verse 3 and this is what we do if God permit for it is impossible for those who are what once enlightened that is God giving them granting them repentance unto life it's like you're getting the truth and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost it's like they're right at the edge of salvation they are enlightened they have the light they know what the Bible says and they say no no and God says okay you were once enlightened but now you're going to be darkened now you're going to be a reprobate you rejected me even though I granted you repentance unto life now you will no longer be saved okay go to Ephesians 4 Ephesians chapter 4 so obviously what this individual said in Acts chapter 11 is not the Holy Ghost saying this this is their own opinion but let's say the Holy Ghost did say it well it still can be proven by Scripture that this is not teaching unconditional election okay look what it says in Ephesians 4 verse 17 this I say therefore in testifying the Lord henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds so he's speaking to Gentiles telling them about other Gentiles right and he's saying look there's some Gentiles that are just walking don't walk the way they walk because they're walking in the vanity of their minds having the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart this is referring to a reprobate because it's talking about that they're alienated from the life of God that means they will no longer they're foreigners to the life of God they were granted their repentance of the life they rejected it now they're foreign to it now it's alien to them verse 19 who being past feeling had given themselves over until the civviestness to work all uncleanness with greediness but ye have not so learned Christ go back to Acts chapter number 11 if you would Acts chapter 11 so what does it mean when it says that he granted them repentance unto life in other words he gives them the opportunity to be saved he gives them that enlightenment they're able to make it to that step where they're enlightened they understand what's being spoken they understand the word of God and they can be saved okay it's not teaching oh God just place faith in them to believe that's not what it means at all he gives them that light so that they can make the decision to believe but it's not that he's giving them the faith to believe okay hope that made sense I'm actually out of time so from verses 19 all the way to 30 what we see here is Barnabas encouraging the people to cleave unto the Lord people believe and he encourages them hey cleave unto the Lord you know make sure you keep walking with God do that which is pleasing we see at the end there's a dearth a famine a prophet who prophesies of this famine and then they basically send relief unto the brethren which dwells in Judea because of it so if you get anything out of this sermon get this just remember what it is what it means to have the Holy Spirit fall upon you and don't allow this watered down Christianity to manipulate what that actually looks like you know today Christianity they see some guy getting mad and rebuking people there's oh you're not in the spirit you're being too angry well the spirit gets angry the spirit gets mad that's like part of who the spirit is you know the spirit this isn't Star Wars we're not Jedis and the Holy Spirit is not Yoda God the Father is not Obi-Wan Kenobi as a ghost figure telling him not to hate you that love the Lord hate evil the Bible says that's how you walk in the spirit so you know and don't let these liberals try to redefine it like oh Holy Spirit fall upon us so we can you know dance to this CCM music and all this stuff or whatever no Holy Spirit fall on us comes as the preaching of God's word is being displayed it's being given out we adhere to it we delight in it and we obey God a result of that is obedience to God a result of that to a newcomer is that they get saved and what happens they get baptized a result of that after they get baptized they come to church a result of that after that is that they gain friends they make fellowship they apply the sermon right? you apply what I'm telling you right now you know I'm going to start walking in the spirit you're like well I'm not going to apply that you know I don't really feel like it's for me okay then be carnally minded then that's the only other option have the Holy Spirit fall upon you by just going after the Spirit not after the flesh let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer Father we thank you so much for your word we're thankful for the examples that you give us in the book of Acts help us Lord as your people to be filled with the Spirit that we would go after the Spirit the mind the things of the Spirit and when we find ourselves in the flesh maybe we're upset maybe we are afraid maybe we are depressed anxious or just carnal just worldly redirect our attention and help us to recognize that we need to be in the Spirit and we need to draw nigh unto you the Bible says draw nigh unto God he'll draw nigh unto you and we typically the way we draw nigh unto you is just by cleansing our hands and our heart and doing the things that are pleasing to you and at that point we recognize we've made the transition from walking in the flesh to walking in the Spirit and Lord help us to be in the Spirit thank you