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Let's go to song 120 to start it off, 120. Jesus Save Your Pilot Me, they're in the first. Jesus save your pilot me, over life's tempestuous sea, unknown ways before me roll, hiding rock in treacherous show, chart and compass come from thee, Jesus save your pilot me, as a mother stills her child, thou can hush the ocean wild, boisterous waves obey thy will, hiding roars to them be still, wondrous sovereign of the sea, Jesus save your pilot me, when at last I neared the shore, and the fearful breakers roar, tricks me and the peaceful rest, then while leaning on thy breast, may I hear thee say to me, fear not I will pilot thee. Brandon, would you lead us in prayer this evening, please? Amen. Let's go to song 441. Song 441, Great is Thy Faithfulness. Now the verse. Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with thee, thou changest not thy compassions, they fail not, as thou hast been, thou forever wilt be. Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see, all I have needed thy end hath provided, great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, sun moon and stars in their courses above, join with all nature in manifold witness, to thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see, all I have needed thy end hath provided, great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me. Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide, strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, blessings all mine with ten thousand beside, great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see, all I have needed thy end hath provided, great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me. Need a bulletin? I think I need to grab one from you too. You can lift your hand, Brother Brando. I'll get a bulletin to you. Thank you very much. On the front, we have 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 18. And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and have given us the ministry of reconciliation. On the inside, we have our service and soul winning times, as well as our salvations and baptisms. We're getting really close to wrapping up Proverbs chapter 1. It's got a few more verses there, and so if you're able to quote this to a non-family member, you can receive a special prize. January 31st, this upcoming Sunday, we have a baby shower in honor of Miss Corinne Darnell and her baby boy. It's at 2 p.m., so that's exciting for them. Also, we have several other ladies that are expecting, if you'd please be in prayer for all of them, as well as we have our preaching schedule. Brother Cameron Hall is going to be coming here this Sunday with his wife, Jennifer. They're going to be flying down. They're in the Oklahoma City Church of Steadfast, and they're going to be coming out and preaching for you guys. Cameron's a really good guy, and so we're very excited to have him come down here. He does a lot of preaching up there in Oklahoma and does a good job, and so that'll be really exciting. Brother Ben Naim is going to be out here February 7th. And then Pastor Bruce Mejia, which that's going to be epic. So you got to get here. You got to be here to support Pastor Mejia, and if you don't know, his church was bombed by a bunch of sodomites or whatever a few weeks ago, or I guess it was like the, not this last Saturday, but the Saturday before. So it was like a little over a week ago, and they're having a hard time even figuring out what they're doing with their building. So, you know, you should be blessed that you're here in this ghetto area, okay, because even though it's ghetto, we still have a place to meet. They're having to meet in like a backyard, and they're trying to find somewhere to go, and the cops and the city's like holding their building hostage, and it's just, it's just a lot of crazy stuff going on. So just be in prayer for them, and be in prayer for their church, because obviously it's got to be frustrating and taxing on them and everything like that, but we're definitely praying for them and in support of them, and Pastor Mejia is a really good guy. Also, Brother Dylan Oz is going to be coming out here February 28th again, and so, man, you got a good lineup, really excited for that. Also, we have a Galveston Soul Waning marathon that's going to happen March 6th, and so very excited about that. Hopefully we'll have a lot of other people come down and support us in that, but really looking forward. It's Jeffrey's, you know, backyard. We're just going to go there, and we're going to knock a bunch of doors, and I'm really excited about that. Also, if you have any prayer requests throughout the week, you can always send those in. I do have some new cards over there that we brought a box of. They're God resource cards, and basically the goal with that is it's just on the back. It has a list of other languages, so if you run into someone that speaks Arabic or Hindi or something like that, you know, it's just to show them on the back. It'll have their name of their language as well as like how to be saved or how to go to heaven basically in their language there, and it has the link just godresource.com slash gospel, and my goal is to just kind of update that site and get as many gospel presentations as possible there. You know, we can promote YouTube channels and those kind of things that they can go away, so I kind of wanted to have like a site that we can just host and try to control, and so that's just an extra card, so I just keep a few of them on me, and if I run into somebody. The other day I ran into someone that spoke Arabic, and so I just kind of gave him that card and handed it over to him, and so that's just something else that you can hand out. That's pretty much all that I have for announcements. Let's go, if we would, to another song. Let's do our handouts. Let's do us almost 50. Pastor Jimenez actually came and visited us, and it was great getting to see him up there, and he came the night before to steadfast, and he was up there preaching with us, and it was a great time getting to see him and fellowship with him, and so you also you could be in prayer for them in their church. They're doing lots of great works as well over there. Psalm 150, I gave him some pure word shirts, so he was really excited about getting those, and so Psalms 150. Let's start there on the first. Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts. Praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet. Praise him with the sultry and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance. Praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud symbols. Praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let everything that hath breath. Praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Praise God the Father. Praise God the Son. Praise God the Holy Ghost. Praise God in three persons. Very good singing. This time we're going to turn our Bibles. Brother Samson's going to read for us Acts chapter number one, and I'll pass the offering plate. Acts chapter number one. Acts chapter number one. Hold on with me. Acts chapter number one, starting in verse one, where the Bible reads, the former treaties have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, as that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto apostles whom he had chosen, to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall baptize with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore will come together, they ask of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel? And he said unto them, it is not for you to know the times and seasons which the Father had put in his own power, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is coming to you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the other most parts of the earth. And when he has spoken thus, these things which they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while he looked steadfast toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye here gazing up into the heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in light manner, as ye seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter and James, John, Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotus, and Judas the brother of James. These all continue with one accord in prayer and supplications with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. And in those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said, the number of the names together were about 120. Men and brethren, this scripture must need to be have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David's faith before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. Now this man purchased a field with a reward of iniquity, and falling head long, he burst asunder in the mist, and all his bowels gushed out. And it was known unto all the dwellers of Jerusalem, insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, that is to say the field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein, and his bishop let another take. Wherefore these men which have accompanied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, being from the baptism of beginning from the baptism of John, until the same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. They appointed to Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justice and Mathias, and they prayed and said, Thou Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show whether of these two thou has chosen, that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. And they gave forth their lots, and the lot fell upon Mathias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. If I had a quick word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before you again, and thank you for gathering us together as a church family here again. I pray that you fill back for Shelley with your Holy Spirit. Let us fill us with clean meat from Acts chapter one, Father. We pray this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Amen. So we're starting a new Bible study, and we're going to go through the book of Acts. And Acts is a really exciting portion of scripture that we can go through. And as we start this chapter, there's a few things I want to kind of just point out since we're doing a Bible study. But let's read the first few verses, and we'll kind of just talk about the book of Acts for a moment. It says in verse number one, The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up after that he, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles, whom he had chosen, to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, Ye have heard of me. Now, in this first few verses, this is the first sentence that we are introduced into this book. And we get a lot of information that's related to another book of the Bible. That would be the book of Luke. And it's going to be the same author who wrote the book of Luke as who wrote the book of Acts. And we notice it says in the first verse, The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus. Now, he's referencing a former time in which he's written to Theophilus, this man named Theophilus, which we don't really know a lot about this person. Probably a person of a position of authority or, you know, over some kind of region or something. But it's someone who Luke decided to write to. And the Bible makes it clear that he had written before, and he then references what he had written to him. And that was the last few verses here. He says, what Jesus began both to do and teach, and not only that, that he was taken up, and not only that, the commandments he gave to the apostles, and not only that, his passion, the infallible proofs, and being seen of them, and being taken up. So he's kind of referencing these events that he had talked about. And so if we go to Luke chapter 24, keep your finger here and go to Luke 24, go to the very end of Luke. If you notice how Luke ends its chapter, if you notice this, it's going to be the same events that he just alluded to in the opening verse, the opening statements made of the book of Acts. He says in verse number 44, and he said unto them, these are the words which I spake in you. This is Jesus talking to the disciples, to the apostles, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, thus it is written, and thus it behooves Christ to suffer, and arise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things, and behold I send the promise of my father upon you. But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them, and he came to pass while he blessed them. He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven, and they worshiped and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen. So basically we have the gospel of Luke give us all the information about Jesus Christ, it starts out with his birth, even goes before his birth with John the Baptist, then it gets all the way to, as the Bible describes it, his passion. Maybe you heard of the movie called The Passion of Christ, right? That's a reference from the Bible here, and that passion is just a reference to the gospel itself, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, what he went through, his sufferings that he went through on the cross, that's what's the reference to. And it's saying that he had to go through that to fulfill scripture, and then after that he came to his disciples, he talked with them, and he's telling them what to do now that he's gone through all of that suffering. He's saying, look, all this had to happen to fulfill scripture, and specifically the gospel needed to be preached in Jerusalem first. Now all that's happened, you know, they've preached in Jerusalem, they had the passion, and then he gives them a commandment to wait. He's saying, okay, now I want you to wait until you're endued with power from on high. So they're kind of in this limbo state, and before Jesus, before they're endued with this power, Jesus ascends back up into heaven, or he's carried into heaven as the Bible describes it, and they even witness this, and that's going to be referenced in the book of Acts. So that was kind of what was mentioned. But I like this phrase that was also mentioned in the book of Acts. He said that he was seen with many infallible proofs. So there's a lot of ways that Jesus presented himself to his disciples after his resurrection, infallible proofs proving that he truly rose again. Because there's, you know, cults like the Jehovah's Witness or other weird strange groups that would deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. But here's the facts. Jesus bodily rose again, and that's what actually gives us the comfort to know that we too will be bodily resurrected one day, and we'll receive that same type of resurrection that Jesus did where we're reunited. And fortunately though, we don't get the same old body, we get a new body, okay? Just like Jesus got a glorified body. But in order to prove his resurrected state, he did a lot of things that proved it. And infallible means that there's no error, there's no loophole, it's airtight. I mean, this is something that there's no way to gainsay it. What are some of those examples? Well, look back at verse 36. And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and saith unto them, peace be unto you. But they were terrified and frightened and supposed that they had seen a spirit. So this is where the Jehovah's Witness, oh, it's just a spirit, you know? But wait a minute. And he said unto them, why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold, my hands and my feet. It is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me to have. So Jesus Christ is there and they think it's an illusion or it's a spirit or something. But then Jesus Christ literally says, no, touch me, you know, handle me, grab a hold of me because a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me to have. So Jesus Christ really came back to life, even his physical body, those same holes that were in his hand were still there. He even had Thomas, you know, hey, put your finger in the hole and put your finger in the side. And so that's one of the reasons you have to understand this, that Christ did not allow Jesus' body to decompose, okay, to decay or to rot because it's the same body that was on the cross as the same body that resurrected, okay? It's not a loner body, it's not a new body, it's the same body. And if that body had decomposed and rotted, then what would be the proof that Jesus rose again? Think about that, right? Imagine someone came up to you and they say, I'm the resurrected Jesus. And you're like, okay, well, where's the holes in your hand? You know, where's the hole in your side? You know, where's all these things? And so God preserved the body of Jesus Christ and as it was resurrected for them to see the infallible proofs, hey, handle me, I'm right here, you can touch me, it's the same body that was on the cross, it's the same holes, everything's exactly the same. Isn't that an infallible proof? I mean, if you can literally touch the same body as on the cross that was dead and separated from its soul, then yeah, you're like, he really did come back alive, okay? That's one. So one is the fact they handled him, they touched him, the same body. He says in verse 40, and when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet, and while they yet believed not for joy and wonder. Now that's a weird verse. It says, while they yet believed not for joy. They're so excited, they're still just incredulous. They're just kind of like, what's going on? Like, he's really alive? I don't know. Like, they're just, they're so excited of the thought of him being alive, but they're still not sure. They're still kind of like, they're freaking out about it. They're like, I don't know, like, is it him? Like, is this Jesus? Like, you know, they're just so ecstatic, but kind of incredulous at the same time. And he says, have you eaten any meat? So he's like, okay, here's another way I can prove it. Not only can you touch me, give me some food, right? And meat in the Bible, when I hear the word meat, I think like steak, okay? I think bacon. I mean, that's what comes to mind, okay? But meat in the Bible can just simply mean food, okay? So he's just asking, do you have any food? Because they're often fish. I don't think of fish as meat, okay? It's like, barely meat, okay? But it is food, okay? He says, and they gave him a piece of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb. So they give him fish, they give him honey, and he took it and did eat before them. He needed that honey because fish, eh, nobody wants that. Verse 43, and he took it and he did eat them before them. So notice, point one, they touched him, infallible proof. What's another infallible proof? He ate food. Like a spirit can't eat food, okay? So this isn't some apparition. This isn't some kind of an illusion. Jesus Christ really came out of the tomb. He really allowed them to touch his hands and to touch his feet and touch him and handle him, okay? And he really ate food with them, okay? Which gives me hope that I get to continue eating after the resurrection, all right? Because I like eating, okay? And he said unto them, these are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you. So we kind of then roll right into the rest of that passage, okay? But I just want to show you a few of the infallible proofs. What? They saw them, they touched them, they handled them, he ate. And here's another interesting infallible proof. The body of Jesus Christ was never discovered. You have to think about that, okay? The most influential person on the planet, his body is nowhere on this earth. You know why? Because it's in heaven. That's why. You know, they had to come up with some lie about them stealing the body of Jesus Christ. But here's the thing, if they did steal the body of Jesus Christ, it would be somewhere on this earth. There'd be some kind of a tomb or there'd be some kind of a grave or there'd be somewhere that a body was. But here's the thing, they don't know where his body was because it went up to heaven. Think about that. One of the coolest things, the most influential person, there's no physical evidence of his existence. You know what the only existence is? This. This is the existence that we have because we believe by faith today. And you know what? If I looked at some dead corpse, that wouldn't make me believe in Jesus Christ. You know what makes me believe in Jesus Christ? The words of God. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And people would go and fall all over themselves and find some tomb or grave or like there'd be people robbing that grave all the time. He just went up to heaven. He's alive. And not only that, he's not dead either. If Jesus Christ were on this earth, he would be alive somewhere because he is alive. But you know what? He's up in heaven. They say, why would Christ go to heaven? Well, here's the thing, because if he's alive, he's on this earth, the only thing for him left to do is to rule. And if he's ruling and reigning, then people are going to get judged real quick. So you know what he's doing? He's giving us a long period of time of long suffering and mercy. And he wants something very specific to happen. He wants the gospel to go into all the world. He wants the gospel to be preached. And that's why he has his disciples. That's why he has his apostles. That's why he showed himself unto them. Okay. They have the special privilege of not only hearing the gospel of seeing the gospel, they experienced the gospel. They felt the gospel. I mean, they got to touch the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. Go back to Acts chapter one. So what's interesting is that this author of Acts is then continuing. So he's saying, Hey, I gave you the whole gospel, but I don't want to leave you off with the gospel. I want to give you the next phase. Okay. And he says here, the former treatise have I made O Theophilus. I do want to go back to Luke. I meant to do this earlier, but let's just do it anyways. Let's go back to Luke chapter one too, and just compare these very quickly. But look at verse number one, Luke chapter one, verse one for as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things, which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. It seemed good to me also having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first to write unto thee in order most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou has been instructed. So Luke is saying, even though the apostles, they told us everything and they were eyewitnesses, I have noticed this perfect understanding. Perfect can mean complete. So he fully understands all these things that happen. And he decided also to write to Theophilus so he'd have another witness. Now this is important. You got to think about this. The Bible says out of the mouth of two or three witnesses, shall every word be established. Now God in his wisdom, he gives us four witnesses because we have Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as all four witnesses of what? Of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, of the death, burial and resurrection of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then what he did is he had other witnesses, obviously that's the Bible, but he had other witnesses. The apostles, they went out and they preached the gospel and they were eyewitnesses of what Jesus Christ did. It wasn't a cunningly devised fable. It wasn't something that they were making up. Our religion is based on eyewitness testimony. There's nothing stronger in a court of law than just the eyewitness testimony, this is a written affidavit as it were, of exactly what happened. And it's not only a written affidavit of man, they even know that it's the word of God. Because it's not just man that wrote the Bible, it's man under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and it's really the Holy Ghost words. So we go back to Acts chapter number one. What's cool is that this author also decides to go on and give us information after the passion, after what Christ did and to explain how these people went out to preach the gospel. Now you would say, well, why are there four witnesses of the gospel and one witness of the book of Acts? Well, frankly speaking, we don't have to have two or three. This isn't as important necessarily as the gospel. Only thing about it, but God in his wisdom decided to give us four witnesses to the gospel itself. Obviously all the word of God is trustworthy and reliable, but even beyond just the reliability of scripture, God gave us four whole witnesses for that information. Now the gospel of Acts is pretty unique and then it just has one continuous timeline, but we can still corroborate a lot of this from the other epistles that Paul wrote and other epistles that other men wrote. We can kind of line up certain events and we can still corroborate a lot of that, but this is kind of our one history. And we have to understand about the Bible is Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the same narrative. It's the same timeline. And then acts continues that timeline. Okay. That's the history of the new Testament. Okay. Then you only get a little bit more history at the beginning of revelation. And then it just tells you a future things, but from a timeline perspective, that is how the new Testament is written. The other epistles are in the timeline of acts. Okay. So it's all the things that were happening during acts, but from a history perspective and the same way works with the old Testament, the old Testament, it basically starts in Genesis. And then it goes all the way to the book of Esther. Okay. And that's basically the history of the Bible. And then all the other books are following basically in line with those other writings from a history perspective. And so that's kind of how the Bible works in the old and new Testament. It kind of gives you the history and then it'll go back and it'll just tell you about certain very specific events or doctrines or things that are going through it. So acts is cool because it's history, you know, it's like, it's telling you what happened now. Here's another thing you have to understand about the book of acts as we're going through this. And I know I'm kind of just laying a foundation before we get through this book, but acts since it's historical, you have to understand this. It's what happened. It doesn't mean that everything that happened is right though. Okay. Just like in the old Testament, it tells us everything that happened. That doesn't mean that everything that happened was right. You know, it wasn't right for Moses to kill someone. You know, Moses was a murderer. Yep. He was greatly used by God. You know, there's all kinds of stories of men having multiple wives that was always wrong. There's all kinds of stories of men breaking God's commandments and sinning and lying and doing all kinds of things that are not right yet. God still used them, but we have to understand in the book of acts, not everything that happens is always right. Now, everything God tells us and everything, that's the, you know, red letters, you know, we know that's right. So you still have to study the Bible and you have to understand and interpret scripture with scripture. And we get our clear statements or we get our doctrine from clear statements, not from stories, not what just happened. They're a good example in often cases, but we have to let clear statements tell us if it is a good example. And if you want to form any doctrine, it's off of a clear statement, not a story. Okay. If you don't have a clear statement that underlines any belief you have, it's probably false. Okay. If I could point to a story, if somebody doing something that doesn't mean it was right, you know, the, somebody gets a second wife. Okay. Well, is that right? Where's my, where's my verse in the Bible that says, have a second wife, you know, get another one. You know, it's like, one's enough. I promise you. Okay. You know, it doesn't, there's lots of things where the Bible doesn't have a, you know, an underlying verse for a story because the story was wrong. Okay. You have to understand the story through the commandments of God and through his other scripture. God's not going to always point out every single detail here and say that was right. That was wrong. You have to actually use the Bible itself to interpret the stories. And so that's just something to keep in mind as we go through the book of Acts. Okay. Let's get, dig in now verse five, where John truly baptized with water, but you should be baptized with the Holy ghost. Not many days hence. Now what does the word baptized mean? It's similar to the word immerse or immersion. Okay. Immerse or immersion is a complete surrounding. Okay. So when we talk about baptism, it, in order to understand, you know, what baptism is, you have to understand what that word means because it can't be sprinkling. Okay. It can't be a partial dunking. It has to be a full immersion. And this makes sense because it's to represent the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So you have to be fully immersed in water to be truly baptized. Okay. Additionally, you have to be saved for that baptism to count for what the Bible is teaching. Otherwise you got dunked. Okay. Otherwise you got wet. Hey, my brother used to love to dunk me at our pool, but guess what? That wasn't baptism. You know, according to the God's word, it was baptism. Don't get me wrong. It just wasn't the baptism that God wanted me to get after I got saved. Okay. Now understanding that then helps you understand the next phrase. Baptism with the Holy ghost. Okay. Cause there's a huge denomination today. You know, Charismaniacs. All right. Or assemblies of God or Pentecostal. They're all the same. Basically all their churches like church of it's like church of God, church of, you know, I can't even think of all of them because they're just also similar, but it's just like church of something, you know, or they'll sell, they're a full gospel church. Okay. Which again, we believe in the full gospel. They add to the gospel and then call it the full gospel. But most of them, they all believe in this thing called the baptism of the Holy ghost as being a modern day thing. But what we have to do is we have to understand what this is saying, what this is meaning in this context, then apply it to today. Okay. Because you can't just make whatever application you want. So if baptism with water is being fully immersed with water, what do you think baptism of the Holy ghost is? It's being fully immersed by the Holy ghost, right? Being filled with the spirit. Okay. Having the Holy ghost come upon you and not just impartially, but in full totality. Okay. So being fully immersed, the baptism, you know, you're being baptized by the Holy ghost in some essence. Okay. Now it says in verse number six, when they were come, when they therefore were come together, they asked of him saying, Lord wilt out this time restore again, the kingdom of Israel. And he said to them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the father has put in his own power. This is a very interesting first. Okay. And we're going to take a break from the baptism of the Holy ghost. We're going to pick that back up in a moment, but let's focus on these few verses from one. They want to know if he's going to start reigning and ruling out. Isn't that kind of what I alluded to. And I talked about if Christ was still alive on this earth and the only thing left from do is the rain. Okay. At this point. And they're like, so was it now? Like we're ready, you know, let's go. But notice he says this in verse seven, it is not for you to know the times of the seasons. Now isn't that an interesting verse, you know, he's basically saying you're not going to know when the end is and really it's relevant for them, but I feel like it's even more relevant for us because so many people they're so fixated on when the end is that they end up stop living. They're so concerned with the end that they don't live right now. They don't live now. They don't plan for the future. They're so obsessed with knowing exactly when the end is, but here's the thing. It's not for you to know. You're not going to know when the end is okay. And everybody's trying to predict when the end is or guess when the end is or Hey, pastor Shelley, when do you think the end is? I don't know. Yeah. But do you think it's going to be, I don't know. Now let's go to a few verses on this. Go to Matthew 24, go to Matthew 24. Anybody that tells you they know when the end is, is a liar. Okay. If someone tells you this is when Jesus is coming back, they're a liar and there's been so many failed attempts to guess when Christ is coming back and guess what? They all failed because he hasn't come back yet. Okay. And anybody that says they know for sure is a liar. Jesus Christ himself did not know while he was on this earth. Think about that. Okay. And Jesus didn't know. Why would I know? I'm an under shepherd. You know, he, he tells me what I know. Okay. If he doesn't know, then how am I going to know? All right. Matthew 24, look at verse 36. But if that day and hour know of no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my father only think about this, the angels in heaven, they can see the spirit realm. They're fighting with them. They don't even know when the end is. Oh, but I do. No, you don't. You're a liar. No one knows when the end is now. Why is that important though? Okay. Why is it important? Because think about it this way. I think you're like a movie. Okay. Like you're sitting in a movie. There's some people they're trying to figure out when the movie is going to get out. They show up. They don't know what the runtime is. The film they're just, they're always constantly sitting there guessing like when the film's going to be over. And they're just like, Oh, Oh, another part, you know, or whatever, another section or whatever. Oh, I thought that was going to be the end or whatever. And it's like, you're just ruining the experience for yourself. Just let it play out because it's going to end when it ends. And you trying to guess when it's going to end, doesn't add any benefit to the film. Okay. And guessing when the end is in your personal life, isn't going to help either. Okay. Now go backwards to a few verses here. You probably don't have to turn the page, but look at verse four and Jesus answered and said to them, take heed that no man deceive you. That's an important phrase. That's under understated. Verse five for many shall come with my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many. And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you be not troubled for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. But the end is not yet. Oh, pastor Shelley, did you know there's wars and rumors of wars? Well, what does this verse say? The end is not yet. Oh, but yeah, but we can predict it because there'll be war and there'll be rumors of war. That's a bad predictor because notice what he's saying here. That has to come to pass. Okay. But the end is not yet. Okay. And so people, they start freaking out. They're like, it must be the end. There's wars and rumors of wars. But notice what Christ is saying. The end is not yet. Don't get deceived. Don't get led astray. Don't get distracted with all the wars and the rumors of wars. Verse seven for nation shall rise against nation. Now, let me say something. And again, obviously we all understand that there will be a point in time where there's a one world government. There's a one world ruler. Okay. And his name is the antichrist. Okay. But before, before the antichrist, notice what this says, nation shall rise against nation. So you know what that tells me is this, that we're not going to be on this one world government. Okay. Before the antichrist, everybody's freaking out about a man made one world order. It's not going to happen. And they talk about all these conspiracy theories of like China and Russia and all these companies. There's this secret, you know, one, we're already under one world order or whatever. It's like, look, there's like a thousand evil people that are rulers in this world and they all want the power. None of them are like, please give it to someone else. Okay. They're all vying for the same power. And you know what that causes war and you know what's going to happen. Nation against nation. And in fact, when you study in times, the Bible makes it clear that the antichrist goes out to conquer. And you know, if you conquer something, you have an enemy. That means someone's going to be against the antichrist. That means he's going to go forth and he's going to be warring against people. But then after he conquers everything and take control of the whole world by himself. Okay. Then you're in the one world government, but you know, that's going to happen through war. That's how it's going to happen. Okay. So don't think like we're going to go into this peaceful one world order conspiracy. Like there's so many conspiracies. They're all so stupid and they're foolish and they're nonsense and they're trying to predict the end. It's a distraction, my friend. And it's trying to make you afraid of living your life right now. It's trying to get you to like, you need to get store up food. You know, you need to be a prepper and you need to go hide in the hills and how much storeable food do you have? And do you have enough guns and you have enough? Look, you're not going to win that battle. Okay. You're not going to win that fight. And if you buy storeable food, you don't even know when the end is yet still. Is it what the shelf life on that? You're probably just wasting money. You know, people sell this goods, you know, who sells this stuff? Alex Jones. And you know what Alex Jones sells? Fear. Isn't that an interesting combination? Alex Jones sells fear and then you know what he couples with that? I have storeable food. Well, that's interesting. And he's been doing it for decades. Who is really disappointed they didn't buy storeable food 20 years ago? I mean, you could have that stuff. It'd probably be rotten by now. Look, quit trying to worry about the end. The end will take care of itself. You know, I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor a seed begging bread. And look, I'm not saying that you should just live, you know, you should spend every penny as soon as you get it. Okay. I'm not saying that you can't have preparations. I'm not saying you shouldn't have guns to protect yourself. I'm not saying you can't have land. I'm not saying you can't have anything. But stop worrying about the end. Let the end take care of itself. What does he say? For nations will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be famines and pestilence and earthquakes and diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted. So notice there's going to be a lot of bad stuff that happens for a while. And you're not going to know. I'm not going to know. There's been so many horrible things that have happened in the history, the last 2000 years. And every time they could have been like, oh, this is it. This is the end. And, you know, there's some people they've literally sold all their possessions and they're standing out in a field waiting for Christ to return right now as we speak. They're going to be really disappointed pretty soon. Okay. Because they run out of food and water and everything else. Look, stop trying to guess when the end is. You're not going to figure it out. Okay. Now, obviously we should pay attention to the world we live in and we should be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. And the Bible says we should watch for his return. But you know what? Just watch the movie. Quit trying to guess the ending. Quit trying to figure out when the movie's going to get over. You know, just watch it. Just enjoy the film and do your part because notice what he told the disciples. Go back to Acts. Don't under don't miss these, these verses, because I don't think they're preached on that much. But he said in verse seven, he said to them, it is not for you to know the times of the seasons, which the father has put in his own power. Meaning what? It's not your job to figure out how long you have to work for. Your job is to work. Your job is just to do your part and think of it this way. Even if you could guess when the end is, there's no guarantee you're going to live that long. You know, you're not promised another moment on this earth. You're not promised another heartbeat. You're not promised another breath. God could smite you in a second. God could just brain aneurysm dead. God could just heart attack dead. God could just walk out in the street, car dead. I mean, there's all kinds of ways, lightning bolt dead. God could just take you right away. So here's the thing. Quit worrying about when you're going to go. Just say, all right, I think you got it. I'm just going to do what I'm here to do. Okay. And he's trying to get the apostles in the right mentality of this. Quit worrying about when that's going to happen. Let me tell you what you're supposed to worry about. Verse 8, that ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and in the uttermost part of the earth. So what's the one thing they're supposed to worry about? Being a witness for Jesus everywhere. That is the one thing they're supposed to worry about. And notice it says Judea, or it says Jerusalem, first of all. What would Jerusalem be like? It'd be like Houston proper for us, right? It'd be if you're a Houston proper. And Judea is like the surrounding area. So that's like the whole Houston, Galveston, Baytown, Spring, Conroe. That's like this area, like the greater Houston area. Because when I think of Houston, I usually think the Judea style Houston, not like the Jerusalem style, like the city proper. So when people live in like, I don't know, Conroe or something, and I'm like, oh, you live in Houston? They're like, no, I live in Conroe. And I'm like, you live in Houston, OK? They're like, no, I live in Baytown. It's like, you live in Houston, OK? When I was a kid, I thought everybody lived in Dallas-Fort Worth. But it's like Flower Mound or Carrollton or whatever. It's like, nobody cares about that. It's like, you live in Dallas. So it's like you live in Judea, right? What's Samaria? Samaria is like Texas. It's like our surrounding area. In fact, maybe even like Louisiana, because it's closer than some parts of Texas to you. But you know, it's just basically your surrounding area. And then the uttermost part of the earth, that's the world. And so the same commission that he gave to his apostles, you know what? It's the same commission we got to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. The Bible makes it clear that we're supposed to teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, teaching them, observe whatsoever I command you. And lo, I'm with you always, even under the end of their oath. So we have these commissions by Jesus Christ. He gives them the same commission, be a witness today. And you know what? It doesn't matter when you stop being a witness. It just matters that you're a witness because there's no guarantee how long you're going to be a witness. The only thing you can control is being a witness, is going out and preaching the gospel. And notice he mentioned this verse that the Holy Ghost is going to come upon them. Now think about this. We're going to play that we're the disciples of Christ and we're standing here and we're with Jesus and he's giving us this commission. And he says, don't worry about the timing. Here's your goal. Go into the entire world and preach the gospel to every single person. Your one goal is to witness to people what you saw, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Okay. What do you think would be the number one hindrance to accomplishing that goal? How about the fact that people in other areas don't speak your language? Wouldn't that be like the biggest obstacle? I mean, a second obstacle may be like traveling there, but outside of getting there, I mean, you could get all kinds of places, but if you can't communicate, I mean, you could drop me in China right now and I wouldn't be very effective of a witness. You could drop me in like the middle East. I'm not gonna be that effective of a witness, am I? Okay. So the most important thing that I would need is this to be able to communicate that to them. Wouldn't it be okay. So why do you think the Holy Ghost, if he's going to empower them to be a witness, I mean, maybe they could sprout wings and fly everywhere, but again, imagine if they were able to sprout wings and fly everywhere, but they still didn't speak that language. How much is that going to benefit them? I mean, I could transport to China right now. I could just zap, which is like China. And they're like, and I'm like, Jesus. Yeah. You know, like, that's not going to benefit me. You know, it's going to be the most beneficial thing. Me to be able to speak Mandarin all of a sudden. Me to speak Spanish all of a sudden. Me to speak German all of a sudden. You know, it'd be the least effective thing that could happen is for me to speak a language that no one understands. You know, if I was able to go to China and be like, they're going to be like, this guy's insane. Put them in a mental institution. That would be the absolute worst thing you could give me. Okay. And you have to think about this. When they're going out and oftentimes it's either one or two people by themselves. Okay. So what benefit is it going to be to me to be rolling on the ground in a foreign place? They're going to think I'm a psychopath. They're going to think I'm an idiot, but how about if I walk into a foreign place and they're speaking German or whatever, and then I just started speaking German at them. They're gonna be like, Whoa, where did this guy come from? Maybe the Bible just makes perfect sense, but the Charismaniacs make no sense whatsoever. How could you say that the baptism of the Holy Ghost is so that you can slobber all over yourself and just say gibberish and nonsense. I have this secret prayer language. That's not going to benefit you. Why can't I pray in an understanding that I have, you know, first Corinthians chapter number 14 says it's better to pray and to speak with the understanding. Why would God want me to worship him? And I don't even know what I'm doing. Uncontrolled responses. You know, that's like having a stroke or a seizure. Okay. That's not beneficial. God's not greatly, you know, worship through a seizure. You know, he's greatly worshiped. When you have full comprehension, you're fully sober. You know exactly what you're doing and you're choosing to worship him. You're choosing to give him praise. And you know, the words that you're saying, you mean the words that you're saying. I could even give it, I could say all the right words to Jesus, but if I don't sincerely mean it, it means nothing too. So how could this Charismaniac speaking in tongues nonsense ever make sense? It makes no sense whatsoever. Any rational person would understand that it's a false doctrine. It's wicked. It's of the devil. It's denying what the Bible's clearly saying. It's not the power of the Holy Ghost. It's the power of a toddler. Okay. Every toddler can speak in a foreign language. Okay. I have plenty of them. And the only interpreter in the house is the mom. Okay. She can understand. I don't know how she gets it. You know, they're just like, did anybody have a mom? And he's just like, oh, they want a snack. And you're just like, okay. Yeah. I don't know how that works. Okay. But that's not that beneficial when you're going out and you're preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Okay. So you know what they're going to be filled with? The power of the Holy Ghost, which is to preach in foreign language. Now I'm getting ahead of myself because that's Acts chapter number two, but we have to get these verses too while we're here. So then when we get in Acts chapter number two, they're going to make perfect sense. Okay. With the rest of the scripture, look at verse number nine. And when he has spoken these things, while they be held, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they look steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, the old two men stood by them in wide apparel, which also said, you men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up in heaven? The same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven. Then return they unto Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey. So they see Jesus Christ has sinned back up into heaven. He's carried back up into heaven. And you know, now they're going to go back to Jerusalem and they're waiting for the day of Pentecost. Okay. Now Pentecost is a special feast. It's the feast of weeks. And I'll probably, I may talk about this a little bit more next week. I don't know. I'll just give you a quick overview, but essentially you have the first fruit offering. Okay. The first fruit offering was that Sunday when Jesus Christ rose again, because he is that first fruit. And then the first fruit offering and according to the Old Testament law, what they would do is they take one sheaf from, they would reap it. Okay. And they just take the one and it'd be a wave offering. And it's basically before any of the rest of the crops are harvested. And it's kind of early. It's kind of premature to when you would want to reap that harvest. You don't want to reap that harvest just yet, but it's just a symbolism. Okay. And it's a symbolism. What, how Christ was going to be that first fruit. He was the first resurrection. Then 50 days later, you add this other feast, the feast of weeks, and you have the day of Pentecost and it's where you're really literally gathering in all the crops and the harvest. Okay. Well guess when they're going to get that special gift, look at Acts chapter two verse one. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come. Okay. So Acts chapter two, when we actually see that fulfillment, it's that day of Pentecost that's going to happen unto them. And they're waiting for that time. And then they're going to have a great what? Harvest. Harvest of souls. They're preaching the gospel. And so that's kind of what they're waiting for. And this is what this tells me. Okay. Cause we're, we're focusing on these verses nine through 11 about how they're supposed to just kind of wait and they're just kind of returning. Is that sometimes God, you know, his timing is to wait. You know, sometimes God has us in a season where, you know, we're not necessarily harvesting. We're waiting for that harvest or we're just in and waiting for some kind of a positive thing to happen. And you know, you could look at the last year or the last year and a half, it seems like some of our efforts or some of our mission work or whatever was kind of stifled, you know, it was kind of put on hold and you might ask like, why, like, why did God, you know, wait? Because at this point in time, couldn't they go out and give the gospel to someone to get them saved? I mean, they're fully capable. They're not going to learn a new gospel. You know, their gospel presentation isn't going to like get magically better. You know, the, the biggest difference is the fact that they're going to be able to speak a foreign language and they're having people come from all over the world to that central place and they can give them the gospel in their language. But, but here's one thing you have to think about. Let's say they didn't wait for this event. They just start going out. Well then maybe they're not going to be here for that day. They get scattered or something happens and they get distracted. They're off doing their own thing. And so they end up not having the same huge harvest they could have in God's timing. Okay. And so sometimes we just have to be patient and wait because God may say, you know what, I know you want to do this thing, but if you wait and let me do it in my timing, you have a better harvest. You have a better reaping. And so it's better to just be obedient and patient and following God's commandments consistently, because then we can have that type of a harvest. You know, we were supposed to go out and preach the gospel every creature. We're supposed to preach here. And you know, sometimes you go out soul winning and it seems like it's a week where it was just not much going on, you know, or it didn't, it didn't really benefit that much, but maybe God wants you to just have kind of a waiting period for the next neighborhood that's going to be really receptive because even a really receptive neighborhood, maybe not as where you home that day, maybe you blow through a receptive neighborhood, just putting invites on the door and nobody was home. But if you'd come a different day, that same neighborhood would have resulted in more of a harvest. Okay. And God in his infinite wisdom knows all this. And so some weeks it's slow so that you can have a big week the next week. Okay. So don't get impatient with following God's commandments, with waiting and trying to figure out, you know, what he wants us to do. God is in control and God is going to allow certain things to happen in our lives so that we can reap the maximum benefit of the maximum harvest. We have to be patient and following his commandments. Okay. Sometimes you might think about a church, you know, church growth, or you could think about other areas of your life, maybe just personally, you know, you're kind of going through a waiting cycle or a period in your life where it doesn't seem like things are clicking, but it's just because God's waiting for his perfect timing in your life. You know, there could be a timing, maybe a move or a particular job or, you know, some kind of breakthrough in the ministry or in your personal life, or, you know, how about this getting married, you know, some people, they, they just really want to get married. And instead of kind of waiting for the right time to get married to the right person, they rush it with the wrong person. And then it ends up causing all kinds of horrible problems because marriage is, you know, till death do you part and you don't want to get that one wrong. You don't want to be impatient and end up marrying the wrong person because you were going outside of God's boundaries, right? Maybe they showed up at this house and they're thinking like, well, I don't want to just sit here and wait for what Jesus said for that Holy ghost. Let's just go out there right now. You know, let's just go storm the castle right now. But here's the thing. That's not what he told you to do. Okay. And so it could be like this. Well, I'm just impatient and finding a spouse. So I'm just going to marry the next girl that says yes, even if she's not saved, even if she's not even going to church or following God's commandments and you end up marrying the wrong person and God was wanting some other person to come in your life shortly thereafter that you could have gotten married to. Okay. And so we have to understand is you need to have patience and God's commandments because his timing is always better than yours because you don't know what's going on. I don't know what's going on. No one knows God knows what's going on. Okay. So just be patient in his commandments because there's sometimes going to be a huge harvest when you do it his way. Look what it says in verse 13, when they were coming, they went up into an upper room where both Peter and James and John and Andrew, Philip and Thomas and Bartholomew and Matthew, James, the son of Alpheus and Simon, the Lotus and Judas, the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the mother of James Jesus and with his brother. And in those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said, the number of names together were about 120 men and brethren. This scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guided them that took Jesus. Now we have some other verses here. We see that they're praying, they're fellowshipping. And here's what I like, even though they're waiting, they're still preparing because think about this. They're realizing they're lacking someone. They're lacking an apostle because Judas Iscariot has perished. So they're thinking about that and wanting to end up replacing him in this chapter. So that tells me that even though they're in a period of waiting, they're not just being lazy. They're not just sitting around doing nothing. No, they're praying. They're preparing themselves. They're, they're fellowshipping during strengthening one another. And so I'm not saying in a period of waiting, we just get lazy and apathetic. I'm saying we get patient. We pray more. We think about other ways to prepare ourselves to get in the battle. You know, sometimes there could be a ministry opportunity that doesn't go exactly how you're wanting. So, you know, you have to wait for a new one in the future. But here's the thing, in that period of waiting, just get better. Know the Bible even more and prepare even more. You know, there's been times me wanting to get involved in the ministry. I had setbacks where things didn't go right or I screwed up or whatever, and things are going to be delayed potentially. And I took that as an opportunity to say, you know what? I can just be better for the next opportunity, or I can know more, or I can pray more, or I can fix other areas of my life. It gives me an opportunity to fix those. And so, you know, we should, while being patient, continue preparing, continue working, and continue readying ourselves. Now, he brings up Judas, and I like this phrase, because he talks about Judas Iscariot, and he says, which was a guide to them that took Jesus. Okay, now this is an interesting wording. Okay, the guide, because I want to show another verse here. Keep your finger and go to Romans, chapter number two. Just flip to the right, just a few pages, Romans, chapter number two. Because some people, you know, have this stupid idea that Judas did something positive, you know, like got someone saved or something in his ministry. Or they go so far or extreme to say that Judas was the best soul winner to ever live, which is just like, it's mind-boggling, someone could even say that statement with a straight face. But here's the thing, we can prove that that's not true from the Bible. Now, he was a guide, but here's the thing, you know, the only thing he guided was Romans to crucify Jesus. That's the only thing he guided, okay. And it makes me think of this when, in Romans, chapter two, Paul's talking about the Jews. Look what he says in verse 17. Behold, thou art called the Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law, and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind. So the Jews, they think they're guides, and specifically of the blind. Now, in Romans chapter number two, to give you a quick context, he's just, he's pointing out all the Jews, they think they're saved, and they think they're righteous, and they're really confident that they're guiding the blind to salvation, and they're guiding them to the right ways of the Lord and to his righteousness. But here's the problem, they themselves are blind, okay. Now, go if you would to Luke chapter number six, Luke chapter number six, and Judas was blind. Judas did not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, he was not enlightened, he was not saved, okay. So here's the question then, Judas was a guide, but notice he was a guide to the Romans, okay. So did Judas take the Romans to Jesus and say, hey, hear what this guy has to say, he'll get you saved. Now, what was he taking the Romans to do? To crucify Jesus, to reject Jesus, to kill Jesus, to attack Jesus. So that blind guide, what did he lead those blind soldiers to do? To crucify Jesus. Now, Jesus has an interesting saying on this, look what he says in Luke chapter six and verse number 39. I think this is the verse I'm wanting to read. Yeah, look at verse 39, and he spake a parable unto them, can the blind lead the blind? Shall they not both fall into the ditch? So here's the question, can the blind lead the blind? The answer is no, because notice what he says, they both shall fall in the ditch. So when Judas leads someone to Jesus, does the person get saved? Nope, they both fall in the ditch because they both condemn and reject Jesus Christ, and they both are unsaved. And notice, he might be confident that he's a blind, he might like the fact that he's a guide or whatever. I'm sorry, not a blind, but he's a guide. But the thing is, he can only guide them to the ditch. Judas got no people saved. The only people he brought to Jesus arrested him, and they crucified him. Okay, it wasn't a very successful story, all right? And Judas, he himself, he was not a guide to anything righteous. He was not a guide to anything good. We're going to see that from other scriptures. Go back to Acts chapter one, go back to Acts chapter number one, but I think that's interesting. And the Bible clearly answers your question. If you say, can an unsaved person get someone saved? No, they both shall fall in the ditch. Notice it didn't say just one. It's not like the blind person is going to fall in the ditch and the other person's not. They're both going to fall in the ditch, okay? It's not a one or a, well, maybe if he was using the right light bulb, you know, maybe if he's using the right flashlight. Well, think about this. How beneficial is a flashlight to two blind people? Well, wait a minute. What if we turned on all the lights? How beneficial is the sun to a blind person? It doesn't help. It doesn't matter how much light they have. Look, I could load up a blind person with lights on his body. He could be a human light. He could be lit up. He could have so much light. Anyway, he'll still fall in the ditch. And so did Judas. And so did everyone following him because two blind people can't see. Okay. You have to first see and then use the light to guide your path. But here's the problem. The light isn't going to guide you if you're blind. Okay. And Judas got no people saved. I know it's a really radical statement, I guess some days, but you know, it's really clear in the Bible. Judas got nobody saved. And he, the only guiding he did was people in the ditch verse 17 for he was numbered with us and obtained part of his ministry. Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity and falling headlong. He burst asunder in the midst and all his bowels gushed out. Now this is interesting verse here that his, his bowels gushed out. Keep your finger here and go to Psalms 109 for a moment. Go to Psalms 109 in the middle of your Bible, the book of Psalms. Now the book of Psalms actually makes reference to Judas in a couple different ways and is brought up in this passage, but look what it says in Psalms 109 and look at verse number eight. Well, I actually want to look at verse 17 first. He says in verse 17 is as he loved cursing, this is talking about Judas and I'll prove that in a minute. So let it come unto him as he delighted not in blessing. So let it be far from him as he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment. So let it come into his bowels like water. So the Bible says, Hey, let Judas be cursed all the way into his bowels. And then notice when he fell, cause he hung himself after his body rotted and fell, you know, from that hanging or whatever, it burst asunder and his bowels were just all gushed out everywhere because they're so cursed. It was so rotten. Okay. Go back and go to Acts chapter number one. Let's read a few more verses here. Keep your finger and 109 in Psalms 109, because we're going to come right back to it. Now it says in verse number 19, and it was known and all the dwellers at Jerusalem and so much as that field is called in their proper tongue, Asadama, that is to say the field of blood for it is written in the book of Psalms, let his habitation be desolate and let no man dwell therein and his bishopric let another take. So it actually tells us in the book of Psalms is about Judas specifically go back to Psalms 109 and also go to Psalms 69. There's two places here that are brought up. First of all, he, he brings up this idea of his habitation being desolate and no man dwelling there. This is referenced to Psalm 69. Look at verse 25, let their habitation be desolate and let none dwell in their tents. So they're just quoting this random verse in Psalms. And then the second part of that in Psalm 109, look at verse number eight. Now let his days be few and let another take his office. So notice they quote one Psalm and they quote another Psalm and they are both about Judas and Psalm 109 is all about Judas. Okay. And how wicked he was and how evil he was and how cursed he was. Let's read a few verses says in verse four, for my love, they are my adversaries, but I give myself unto prayer and they have rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love. Set thou a wicked man over him and let Satan stand at his right hand. When he shall be judged, let him be condemned and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds and beg. Let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath and let the stranger spoil his labor. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him. Neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children. That doesn't sound very nice. Let his posterity be cut off and in the generation following, let their name be blotted out. That sounds like reprobating someone. I don't know. Verse 14, let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the Lord continually that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth because that he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart. As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him. As he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. As he clothed himself with cursing, like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water and like oil into his bones. Let it be unto him as the garment which covered them and for a girdle wherewith he was girded continually. Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord and of them that speak evil against my soul." Now after reading that, I want you to think about a statement from Manly Perry. Judas was a superstar apostle. Does that really line up with scripture? He was getting the most people saved. The Bible says he loved cursing. The Bible said that he was wicked and rotten and his days are going to be few. No one's extend mercy to him. Jesus said it'd be better for this man if he'd never been born. Yet he's going to say that he got the most people saved? It's like this is so contrary to Acts chapter number one because you're about to send out the most important soul winners on the planet. And you know what's the thing that they need the most? The Holy Ghost. And you know what Judas never had? The Holy Ghost. And to say that someone without the Holy Ghost can go out and get more people saved than the Holy Spirit filled apostles is just discounting all the work of the Holy Ghost. It's like blaspheming the Holy Ghost in my opinion to say that you don't even need it. To say you don't even need to be filled with the Spirit. That the Spirit doesn't have to come upon you to have boldness to preach the gospel. But you know what? We're going to need the Holy Ghost in the future days. And I say that not lightly. And people don't realize. Some people are afraid to go preach the gospel right now where it's easy. There's going to be coming a day when there's going to be real persecution for preaching the gospel. The apostle Paul would be beaten and stoned and screamed at for preaching the gospel. That's why he asked, hey, pray that I might have boldness that I'll open my mouth. Because when you are about to open your mouth and preach the gospel and realizing these people are going to stone you or beat you or whatever, that's going to be a real strong reason to not preach. Right now when it's like, oh, we're not interested. That's not that scary. We're busy. That wasn't that scary. Yeah, I don't have that much time. That wasn't that terrifying. I'm like, I could do that again. But whenever they're going to beat you with rods, that's a little bit different kind of a story, isn't it? And you know what? You need that Holy Ghost to give you that power and that might to preach boldly even with the fear of possibly being persecuted or afflicted or something horrible happening to you. Because you know what? We're supposed to preach the gospel to every creature. Look what he says in verse 21. Go back to Acts chapter 1 and look at verse 21. Wherefore of these men which have accompanied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John on the same day that he was taken up from us must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. Now this is a good verse here to help you understand that an apostle has to be a witness of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. If someone calls himself an apostle, my question is when did you see Jesus? And you know these people that call themselves apostles, they're liars. They didn't see Jesus. And there's only specific apostles in the Bible. The apostle Paul tells us later as we study the Bible that he was last of all the apostles. He was one born in due time. And that phrase is specific because he wasn't there. He didn't actually see it. So it was a miracle that Paul became an apostle because Jesus just decided to show himself to him by some kind of a miracle and he got to see that resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. Without that miraculous experience, he couldn't be an apostle. No one could. And so this is a time-specific group, isn't it? They're saying we need an apostle here, but it has to be someone from the baptism of John all the way to now knowing every single thing and was a witness of the resurrection, which was a small group of people. I mean, we're talking like hundreds, okay? Probably not even thousands. He showed himself in a 500 brethren at once. We know there's a 70, but it's probably not even above a thousand people that were eyewitnesses of his resurrection, okay? So this is a small grouping and they end up only eliminating it down to two people. They have two people that basically fit this criterion. Notice what it says. And they pointed to Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justice and Matthias. So basically they're saying, hey, we need someone from the baptism of John all the way now to the eyewitness resurrection, okay? How many guys do they have in that candidacy? Two, okay? And so like, let's pick one, all right? Now it says, and they prayed and said, thou Lord, which knows the hearts of all men, show whether of these two thou has chosen, that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place, that's hell. And they gave forth their lots and the lot fell upon Matthias and he was numbered with the 11 apostles. So we see Matthias ends up getting picked. Now, I'm not saying this is the right way to do things. It's like, you know, they're just casting lots, basically like heads or tails, you know, they're just flipping a coin. But before they do this, they ask God to basically divinely pick who he wills, okay? And this is life, okay? Life is full of lots of heads and tails and even more variables than that, okay? Where you're just picking people and doing things and you just have to do life because you don't know. They didn't know which one to pick. They're just hoping God will, you know, divinely guide that process. And when it comes to this church, you know, I don't know what God really is doing in all these works. I'm just asking to help guide my process. When we go soul winning, we're just picking a random neighborhood. You know what? We're asking God to help guide us in that process. You know, when you ask people to read or preach a sermon or do these type of things, you don't really know. Sometimes it's flipping a coin. Is it like, is it this guy or is it that guy? You know, like, I don't know, you know, but at the end of the day, you know, you're hoping that God is guiding and God is leading and you're following his will in these areas. Now, go if you went to Proverbs 16 for a moment and I want to show you a couple of verses and we'll be finished, okay? But this is an important point because people will talk about this, the calling of God, the calling of God in their life, okay? How do I know the calling, okay? Well, look what this verse says and then I'm going to explain the calling. It says in Proverbs chapter 16 verse 33, the lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. So, basically he's saying, you know what? You know, the chance is going to be kind of cast into your lap and you're going to kind of have this free will option and, you know, opportunities are just going to come to you. But he's saying that God's ultimately still in control of that, okay? Now, go if you would to 1st Corinthians 7 and I'll explain what I mean by this and what I believe the Bible is teaching us here is this. Where you find yourself in your life is for a reason, okay? And I believe that God is divinely putting us in the positions that we're in and giving us the opportunities that we have for a reason. And that God's calling is not a mystery but rather it's an accepting of reality, okay? It's not a mystery, it's an accepting of reality. If I want to know, if I were to wake up tomorrow, okay, which I, you know, God willing will, okay, I'm going to wake up tomorrow and I'm going to say, I wonder what God's will is for me. Like, I wonder what God's calling is for me. Let me tell you some things that I already know the answer to that question. God has called me to be the husband of my wife Carrie. God has called me to have four children with one on the way. God has called me to be the pastor of Pure Words Baptist Church and Steadfast Baptist Church. And you say, how do you know that Pastor Shelley? Because I'm already there. Because that's reality, you know. Now here's the thing, you say, well I don't know if that's what God's called you to do. I do because I'm there, okay? Now here's where the calling gets challenged, okay, with clear scripture. Now if I were to find myself in any position of my life and I'm out of sync with God's commandments, then I'm not in his calling, okay? As long as I'm in the boundaries of God's commandments, okay, then I'm in his calling. I'm in the calling that God has for me, okay? And there's going to be opportunities for me and I have to make decisions every single day, but they're based on my free will and God's going to give me options. You say, how do you know between Matthias and justice? Well, was justice supposed to be the apostle? No, because he wasn't picked. Matthias was the one that was picked. And you know, some people ask this question, I don't know, should I be a deacon? Well here's the thing, if no God-ordained person asked you to be a deacon, it was not God's will, okay? It's like, well is it God's will for me to marry this person? Okay, well was it in the biblical parameters of God's word? Yes, then yes. If it's not, then no, it wasn't, okay? But now that you find yourself in that situation, hey, you're supposed to abide. Let me prove that to you. Look at 1 Corinthians 7 verse 17. But as God has distributed every man, as the Lord has called everyone, so let him walk and so ordain I and all the churches. So look, wherever you find yourself, hey, that's where you're supposed to find yourself. Verse number 18, is any man called being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called an uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of God's commandments of God. Look, if I wake up, I'm not going to say, you know what, I think God really wanted me to be a, you know, a Japanese pastor. That's what God really called me to do. No, he didn't, because I'm not there. And if I was in Japan, I wouldn't be like, oh, God called me to be a pastor in Houston or Texas or whatever. You know, just like God never calls a guy to wake up and say like, oh, I'm really a woman. No, that didn't, you didn't get that calling from God, okay? He wasn't calling. That was the wrong phone number, okay? That was a spam call from the government or something. Wherever you find yourself, you know, look, you say, well, I think I would have been better as a man. No, you wouldn't. God made you a woman on purpose. And if God made you a man, he made you a man on purpose. And if you're a child, be a child. If you're a father, be a father. If you're a mother, be a mother. If you're a spouse, be a spouse. Wherever you find yourself and whatever situation you find yourself in, you know what, that's where God wants you right now. The only thing you can do is affect the future. And you say, well, how do I know it's the right way to walk? God's commandments. You just take the light that God has given you and you just keep abiding in the calling that God has you in. And don't go outside of his commandments. And then when opportunities come to you, I believe that's God's calling. You know, when I'm in a church and I'm filled with men and, you know, there's 20 guys that want to preach, okay, I'm like, I don't know which one to pick. So, I'm asking God to help guide me. But then when I come knocking on the door and I say, hey, do you want to preach a sermon? That's God's calling on that person. And they say, yes. Okay. And it's like, well, Pastor Shirley never picks me. It's because God doesn't want you to be called. Does that make sense? Look, the opportunities that are given to you are God's calling. But people, they'll sit there and they'll miss out on the calling of God. People, they'll sit there and they'll miss out on the calling of God. You know, there's this funny story and they say, there's like a flood. You know, y'all can relate to this. Okay. There's a flood and, you know, that's filling up and this guy's getting real nervous and he's starting to go to the second floor. Okay. And the first floor fills up and then it starts filling up even more. And now he has to get on the roof and now he's really scared. And he's like, I need someone to save me. And so he's on his roof and he's praying. He's saying, God, please give me a sign, you know, and save me. You know, send me some way to save me. And so he's hoping for God to save him. Well, a few minutes later, a boat's coming by and they're like, hey, do you need a ride? No, I'm waiting for God to send some help. He keeps praying. He keeps praying. Then a helicopter come by, life star, you know, and they're like, hey, do you need some help? And he's like, no, God's going to save me. Now all of a sudden the water's to his neck and all of a sudden he drowns and he dies. And he goes, he stands for God. He says, God, what happened? He's like, well, I sent a boat and I sent a helicopter and he's kept saying no. Some people, they just deny the reality of their life waiting for God's mysterious calling. Look, God's not going to do some, you know, crazy weird thing. It's normal stuff. It's normal people. It's the life that you find yourself in. And you know what? Some people just need to accept reality. They need to accept where they're at and accept the role that God has given to them and just do his bidding. And you know what? Humble yourself and you know what? God will elevate you in due time. And you know, don't worry about being in some calling that you're not in. Worry about where you're at. Some people, they think, well, I would serve God if I was a pastor. It's like, if you're not serving him now, you wouldn't if you were a pastor. Well, I would, I would lead the home if I was the husband. You know, I have really good, I make really good decisions. And it's like, but God didn't make you the husband, you know, or whatever role you're in. You know, well, if God made me the boss of this company, I would run things. Well, he didn't make you the boss. Okay. It doesn't matter where you find yourself. What matters is accepting reality of where you're at. Accept what you have to do. Don't worry about the end, guys. Just do your job. Be a witness. And look, you know what calling every single person has in this room is to be a sole winner. You say, I don't know if that's my calling. I know that is your calling. And Jesus prayed for you to be a sole winner. So let me ask you this question. How are you abiding in that calling? Are you abiding in the calling you already have? Are you being the best mother, father, brother, sister, child that you can be right now? Are you doing all of God's commandments now? Are you abiding in the callings now? Are the opportunities that are coming to you now, like Sunday morning church, Sunday night church, Wednesday night church? How are you abiding in those callings? Okay. Look, it's not a mystery in serving God. It's just an accepting of reality and doing what God has called you to do already. Okay. And if you do that, God will show you great wonders through your life. Acts is an incredible book. But you know what? These guys had to abide in God's calling. And you'll see this as a theme that they kind of wanted to do their own thing and God had to push them in the right direction. They want to just preach in Jerusalem. And he's like, get out of here, you know, go to the Gentiles. And then Paul concludes the book and he's like, finally, like the Jews suck. You know, it's like the Gentiles that receive the gospel. I'm paraphrasing. All right. But you have to just say, you know what? I don't care about what I want anymore. What does God want me to do with my life? And just say, you know what? If God cast the lap, the lot in my lap, I'm going to do it. And if he doesn't, I'm still going to serve them. You know, I hope justice still serve God even by not being picked. And he didn't get discouraged or disappointed that he wasn't picked because he wasn't the right guy. So don't get disappointed at where you're at. Just do the best that you can where you're at. Let's go some prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for your word. Thank you for this great chapter and the fact that you give us a calling, that you give us the most important job in the world, that's the preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, the exact same job you gave to the apostles, the most important job in the world you've given to us. And I pray that we would not take that lightly, that we would not look down upon preaching the gospel or think that it's meaningless or trivial or that we don't matter, but rather we'd take your commandments seriously. We'd take the calling that you put in our lives, that we would take the area that we're located in seriously, that we preach in our Jerusalem and our Judea and our Samaria, and then eventually into the uttermost parts of the earth. And I pray that you would help fill us with the Holy Ghost so that we'd have boldness to preach the gospel as we go out. And I pray that you'd bless this church. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Let's start our last song for the evening. Let's go to song 27. The Old Rugged Cross, song 27. There on the verse. On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame. And I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown. Oh, that old rugged cross so despised by the world has a wondrous attraction for me. For the dear Lamb of God left his glory above to bear it to dark cavalry. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown. In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, a wondrous beauty I see. For it was on that old cross Jesus suffered and died to pardon and sanctify me. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown. To the old rugged cross I will ever be true, in shame and reproach gladly bear. Then he'll call me someday to my home far away where his glory forever I'll share. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown. Very good singing. You are dismissed. Have a blessed night. you