(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

You You You Good evening, you want to turn to your first song this evening. We'll turn to song 66 at Calvary Song 66 at Calvary There in the verse There was multiplied to me there my burden so found liberty By God's Word at last my sin, I learned then I trembled at the law Till my guilty soul imploring turn to Calvary Oh Mercy there was great and grace was free But and there was multiplied to me Then my burden so found liberty at Calvary Oh the love that drew salvation's plan oh The grace that brought it down to man. Oh The mighty goal that God did spend Calvary Mercy there was great and grace was free But and there was multiplied to me there my burden so found liberty at Calvary Now I give to Jesus everything Now I gladly own him as my king Now my raptured soul can only sing of God Marie Mercy there was great and grace was free But and there was multiplied to me there my burden so found liberty at Calvary Good singing brother Nick, would you listen prayer this evening, please? Amen our next song let's go to 262 262 The light of the world is Jesus 262 There in the first the whole world was lost in the darkness of sin the light of the world is Jesus Like sunshine at noonday is glory shown in the light of the world is Jesus come to the light is shining for thee Sweetly the light has dawned upon me Once I was blind, but now I can see the light of the world is Jesus no darkness have we who in Jesus abide the light of the world is Jesus we walk in the light when we follow our guide the light of the world is Jesus come to the light is shining for thee Sweetly the light has dawned upon me Once I was blind, but now I can see the light of the world is Jesus each wellers in darkness with sin blinded eyes the light of the world is Jesus go wash at his bidding and light will arise the light of the world is Jesus come to the light is shining for thee Sweetly the light has dawned upon me Once I was blind, but now I can see the light of the world is Jesus no need of the sunlight in heaven. We're told the light of the world is Jesus the lamb is the light in the city of gold the light of the world is Jesus Come to the light is shining for thee Sweetly the light has dawned upon me Once I was blind, but now I can see the light of the world is Jesus Good singing If you need a bulletin brother Brandon can get you one on the inside We have our service and so winning times and we have our totals I think we had two out so winning today was there anything to report outside of today's so winning by chance this week one okay great and Then also we have our Bible memory passage. We're on Romans chapter 8 verse 8 and If you can quote that to a non family member you can receive a special ice cream treat on the right We have the list of expecting ladies if you please keep all of them in your prayers As well as we have our upcoming men's conference and there should have already been an email did anybody sign up and not Get an email already or not notice the email Okay, well we sent an email. Please just respond to that and then there's gonna be another follow-up That'll have a little bit more instruction as far as just some reminders details of stuff. You should bring And everything like that But I'm really excited about our men's conference and then also if you have any other peer requests throughout the week You can either submit those via email More let me know about that. And so that's pretty much all I have four announcements at this time Let's go ahead and go to our third song for the evening. Let's go to song 404 when the battle's over Number 404 when the battle's over and this one's a little bit different because you sing the the verse first like that chorus Twice because you have the two they're right there clumped together and then you go down and sing that chorus all together So sing the first two on line one and then we'll go out on the chorus down the first Soldier of the cross And shall I fear to own his cause or blush to speak his name And when the battle's over we shall wear a crown. Yes, we shall wear a crown Yes, we shall wear a crown and when the battle's over We shall wear a crown in the New Jerusalem Wear a crown Wear a crown Wear a bright and shining crown And when the battles over we shall wear a crown in the New Jerusalem Must I be carried to the skies on flowery Beds of these while others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas and When the battles over we shall wear a crown. Yes, we shall wear a crown Yes, we shall wear a crown and when the battles over we shall wear a crown in the New Jerusalem Wear a crown Wear a crown Wear a bright and shining crown And when the battle's over we shall wear a crown in the New Jerusalem Should I must fight if I would reign increase my courage Lord I'll bear the toil Enjoy the pain Supported by thy word And when the battle's over we shall wear a crown. Yes, we shall wear a crown Yes, we shall wear a crown and when the battle's over we shall wear a crown in the New Jerusalem Wear a crown Wear a crown Wear a bright and shining crown And when the battle's over we shall wear a crown in the New Jerusalem Very good singing At this time we'll turn our Bibles to Acts chapter 11 brother Brandon's gonna read for us Acts chapter number 11 fall along as he reads the entire chapter All right, we were there in Acts chapter 11 and the Bible reads 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 thou wentest into to men uncircumcised and didst eat with them But Peter rehearsed in the matter from the beginning Expounded it by order unto them saying I was in the city of Joppa praying in a trance I saw a vision a certain vessel descendant as it had been a great sheep I let down from heaven by the four corners and it came even to me upon The which would I had fastened mine eyes and I considered and saw four-footed beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping Things and fowls of the air and I heard a voice saying unto me arise Peter slay and eat But I said not so Lord for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth But the voice who answered me again from heaven what God hath cleansed thou called not uncommon And this was done three times and all were drawn up again unto heaven behold immediately There were three men already come unto the house where I was sent from Caesarea unto me and the spirit and the spirit Bade me go with them. Nothing doubting moreover The six brethren accompanied me and we entered into the man's house and he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house Which stood and said unto him? sent me to Joppa and call for Simon whose surname is Peter who should tell thee the The words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved And as I began to speak hope the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us the beginning then remembered I the word of the Lord how he had said John indeed baptized with water But ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost For as much then as God gave them like the gifts as he had did unto us who believeth in the Lord Jesus Christ What I was I that I could withstand God when they heard these things they held their peace and glorified God saying Then have God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen Traveled as far as Phineas and Cyprus and Antioch preached the word to none But unto the Jews only and some of them were made of Cyprus and Cyrene Which when they had were come to Antioch spake unto the Grecian's preaching the word Jesus the Lord Jesus And the hand of the Lord was with them in a great number believed and turned unto the Lord then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church was Which was in Jerusalem and they sent forth Barnabas that he should go far as Antioch Who when he came and had seen the grace of God was glad and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart They would cleave unto the Lord for he was good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith and much And much people was added unto the Lord then departed Barnabas of Tarsus for the seek saw and when he had found him He brought him unto Antioch and it came to pass that a whole year that they assembled themselves with the church and taught much People and the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch We've been going to the book of Acts and we're here in chapter number 11 and Says it's kind of a recap of a story that we've already Covered with Peter in chapter number 10 where Peter had gone and He had preached unto Cornelius and gotten a lot of people saved Well going back home Not everybody's excited about that message, which is it's kind of it's kind of crazy when you think about it But it's just reality and we're gonna look at some other stories, but it says in verse number one 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 him saying thou when is into men uncircumcised and did his eat with them Now what's interesting in this story is they've heard how the Gentiles have gotten saved They received the Word of God and you would think people would be excited about it But notice their initial reaction when they hear about this is to get mad at Peter and to contend with him and they're so offended that he would eat with them They're so offended that he would have fellowship with the Gentiles and it really Honestly is a spirit of racism as you think about it. I mean you see these Jews They really can't stand the idea of a Gentile getting saved or other nations or the heathen getting saved And this is not a new thing in the Bible. This is not something that Is just isolated it's one event It also makes me think of another story in your Bible go if you went to the book of Jonah the book of Jonah It's kind of it's in the minor prophets right before the New Testament. You have Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah, Jonah Micah, so if you're around that area, it's kind of right there. It's a real short book right before Micah and Kind of right there after Amos and Obadiah But Jonah is kind of a similar picture here to the Jews not wanting the Gentiles to get saved because Jonah is Commander of the Lord to go and preach unto the Ninevites or to go to preach unto Nineveh and Nineveh signifies or symbolizes The Gentiles the heathen and Jonah doesn't want to do that he runs away the Bible says he flees from the presence of the Lord and Because of that he gets into a ship and he's headed to Tarshish God sends a strong storm against Jonah and It causes all of the the sailors to be upset. They're like, you know, we got to figure out what's going on God's obviously mad at us. He's mad at someone on the boat and when Jonah tells them why he's on the boat They're like, well, it's obviously you you know Like you're the problem and then Jonah says well throw me off throw me over and into the sea and it'll be calm And you know that it's interesting because the book of Jonah has so much symbolism and I'm not gonna go through all of it But that's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? how you know They're in trouble and they have to sacrifice somebody in order for them to be saved And that's a picture of how Jonah kind of pictures Christ now, how does Christ die? Well, he dies on the cross. What happens to his soul? His soul goes down into hell, doesn't it? Well, what happens to Jonah's soul it gets or what happens to his body, right? He gets swallowed up by the whale and in chapter number two He even says in verse two and I said I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord and you heard me out of the belly of hell cried I and now hurt is my voice and so we have that picture of the gospel and And we have this great picture of Jonah picturing Jesus Christ being in hell and for Jonah. This is kind of a metaphor You know, he's not literally in hell but being in the Wells belly. It's like hell unto him And so he's just saying this as a metaphor But it's really a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ and how he's literally Gonna be crying in his affliction out of the belly of hell and God hears that prayer and after three days and three nights What happens? Well, the whale spits out Jonah and just with the gospel Jesus has risen again from the dead and comes back to life. And so Jonah pictures that gospel Now through the gospel then Jonah goes and preaches doesn't he? And and who does he preach to and who's receptive to that preaching of the gospel? the Ninevites Which is who the Gentiles which is again gonna be illustrated in the book of Acts It's really prophesied here in the book of Jonah notice. He's not going back home. He's not going to Judah He's not going to some tribe of the children of Israel and preaching of them He's preaching under the Ninevites and they are gonna be the ones that get saved and his message isn't even a popular one It's not a nice one or a positive one. He says in verse number 4 and Jonah began to enter into the city of days journey and he cried and said yet 40 days and None of us shall be overthrown. That's not a very positive message. Is it? You know, he's just going around just saying you guys are doomed. You guys are destroyed. You know, it's over for you guys It's kind of interesting that 40 days number two because you know It's kind of like in a picture of like Christ was there with them for how long 40 days, right? So you got lots of different parallels here, but look at verse 5 so the people of Nineveh Believed God and we also see another picture here. The Gentiles are very receptive to the message of God They're actually very receptive to God's Word, even though they're very evil. They're very wicked They're very sinful and this in the Ninevites if you study in other chapters in the Minor Prophets It talks about them being a very it's a bloody city and they're very wicked and they're very evil Yet at this moment of preaching they believe God they claim a fast And ends up that God spares the city of Nineveh. Now you would think what would Jonah's reaction be? Let's be like great, you know, even though I disobeyed the Lord I went and I preached and I saved this city and God spared them But what does it say in chapter 4 verse 1 but it displeased Jonah exceedingly. He was very angry Isn't that kind of an interesting reaction? It's like man. He's preaching all these people Why because he just hates the needs hates the Ninevites, you know He just doesn't want them to be saved and is I think for some people that are really, you know Loving in their heart or they're really pure in mind It's kind of foreign to them to think about like hating a certain group of people But it's a very common attitude and in fact, you know, even conservatives today even a lot of Americans today They love to tout and talk about how they're not racist and they say oh, we're not racist yet If you ask them was it okay to just bomb the Middle East they'd be like sure let's do that You know, I kill all the Muslims, you know, like no it there's no problem with them You know, there's always usually a group of people that everybody would would condemn, you know People would just say like yeah who cares North Korea by or you know the Middle East by or Mexico by or they just pick some area that they just don't really care about and it's not a Big deal. It's not really any You know hair on their back or anything if God just wiped them out tomorrow They don't really care But this is not the attitude of a Christian But really what's being prophesied here is the attitude of the Jews towards the Gentiles notice. The Jews are not excited About the Gentiles getting saved in Acts chapter number 11, which is pictured here with Jonah being very angry at what God's bearing Nineveh look at his answer in verse number two And he prayed unto the Lord and said I pray thee O Lord was not this my saying when I was yet in my country therefore I fled before unto Tarshish for I knew that thou are a gracious God and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and Repent is thee of the evil therefore now O Lord take I beseech thee my life for me for it is better for me To die than to live Now this is crazy Because what Jonah is saying is he's saying I knew that if I preached to them they would get saved and I didn't want to do it He's saying like I knew I knew that you're long-suffering he said that was my saying He said look was this was not this my saying when I was yet my country. He's saying therefore I I fled Why is it that he truly fled? It's because he didn't want them to get saved He was so angry at the fact that they were gonna get saved and look some people had this attitude Some people don't want to see good happen under theirs think about the parable of the two sons okay, you have a father he has two sons and one son asked if he can have his portion of the inheritance right now and Then he goes and he squanders it and he wastes it and then when he comes back his brother's not excited that his brother Came back He doesn't want his brother to come back. He doesn't want his brother to have the love of his father He's not glad that his brother's been restored. Hey, you know, there's a lot of people They're not excited when someone gets saved because they're more wicked than them or you know They've done worse things than them. And so they just want them to basically suffer more They want them to go to hell or they want them to not be restored. This is an ungodly an unbiblical, you know philosophy You say how does that exist? Well, you know There's a lot of Baptist churches where they will not go soul winning or send invitations to the poor neighborhoods in their area Why because they don't want those people to come to their church do they They don't want them to get restored and they say we know if we go invite them They'll show up You don't think that the big fancy church if they went into the poor area and said hey We're having a free food fellowship and we're inviting everybody. You'll want to come they'd be like, yeah And they're like if we get free rides, they're like sign us up But if you think they don't want them to come to church They don't want them to come and ruin their little special club They don't want to have the riffraff come into their church so to speak so they just won't preach in the gospel They won't go and reach under the lost. Hey, they realize if you go down into Mexico It's more receptive than America, but you know what? They don't want Mexicans to be saved because they just don't really care You know and there's a lot of people with a Jonah heart today There's a lot of people with a Jew heart today where they're not excited about Ninevites getting saved. They're not excited about Gentiles getting saved They're not excited about the poor the lame or whoever getting saved today You know what from God's perspective a soul is a soul And we shouldn't care if if they're going to come to our church if they're not You know what color skin they are what language they speak where they're from I mean me and Jeffrey have been going to this soul winning complex or this apartment complex recently It's only Spanish speaking and they never want to come to my church probably You know what they get saved and they're real receptive And you know I shouldn't despise them because they speak Spanish or despise them because they're poorer than most every people or that be they probably won't Come to my church and say well y'all can just go to hell then No, we should go and reach them with the gospel and we see that the Jews they struggled with this They were upset at Peter going to the Gentiles and restoring the Gentiles why because they thought they're better than the Gentiles and They want to keep that status they want to keep that Preeminence they want to keep that attitude of we're better than them And if they get saved and they have the same Holy Ghost then how come how are Jews better than Gentiles? They're not and that's a problem for them. They don't want that to be the case They don't want to believe that you know There's sometimes American exceptionalism where everybody thinks that well Americans are just better than everybody else who said that God didn't say that God's not a respecter of persons and you know, just because you're a merit from America Does it make you better than any other person? You know, the nation's are nothing to God. He doesn't really care and Jonah, you know, he has a bad attitude here a lot of people have a bad attitude and Look what it says in verse 3 or verse 4 then said the Lord doest thou well to be angry He's saying this is it right for you to be angry And then the answer is no, okay, God always he already knows the answer to the question Yes, okay, but he's just like he's trying to help Jonah out and sometimes God asks us questions to help us out But you know, the question is is it righteous to be angry that people got saved? It's like no, that would be that would be a weird attitude to be mad that someone got saved Now he gives this parable to him where basically the sun's beating on him and he has a gourd That comes out and protects him from the Sun it gives him a shade and everything like that But then a wind and a worm come and destroy the gourd So now all of a sudden Jonah has the Sun beating down on him again. He's kind of mad He's really mad about the worm, you know, and he's really upset and then God's saying like why are you so disappointed that the gourd died? And in your disappointed that it was destroyed, but you wouldn't have been disappointed if an entire city was destroyed and he points out how Nineveh had six score thousand persons meaning a hundred and twenty thousand persons that Cannot discern between their right hand and left hand and also much cattle So we have a cool picture go back if you would to actually realize I just want to point that out And really how the the prophecy there is picturing what the gospel of Jesus Christ It's picturing how the Jews are gonna be upset about the Gentiles getting saved yet many Gentiles are gonna get saved And you know think about it if God cares about a city of a hundred and twenty thousand how much more The entire world filled with Gentiles by the time we're in the New Testament I mean think about how many people God has created and allowed to exist and to him He's like, I don't want to just waste this You know, a lot of people would look at the world today and they'd be fine If a whole nation went to hell, you know what God looks at every nation and says hey There's a lot of people in here. They don't even know the difference between their left and the right hand They're just ignorant. No one's taught them and to God he doesn't want to just waste all of those souls God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come unto repentance Hey, God wants every person in North Korea to be saved. Hey, God wants every single person in China to be saved Hey, God wants every single person in India to be saved God wants every person in Africa and South America and in Canada even you know He actually wants Canadians to be saved. Don't you know, you know, sorry about that, but he wants them to be saved, too Sorry not sorry, you know But the reality is we shouldn't want anyone to go to hell We should want as many people to be saved. We shouldn't be respecters of persons about it now Right now it's kind of hard to travel. You know, it's a lot more difficult Most countries are on lockdown. You got to get swabbed in every orifice a hundred times or something I don't know but you know to me, I think that it's gonna change I don't think that it's gonna be like that forever because the Bible clearly says that the Gospels can go out into all the world and I really feel like the Gospels being kind of You know localized right now But what we should do is we should really focus on our local areas and we should really focus on we have an opportunity Right now to still reach everybody in Houston with the gospel and we're not even close to giving them the gospel I mean we're so far from giving everyone the gospel and we need to have a Heart that says I want everyone to be saved and even going into neighborhoods where they're not that excited that you're there And let's be honest There are some neighborhoods in this area that are not very excited that we would come and knock on their door right now Because the media is filling them with lies The media is telling them that white people hate everyone You know white people hate every minority and every group and demographic and I've noticed it seems like there's some difference You know a couple years ago. I'd walk into a lot of minority rich Neighborhoods and they would have no problem with me being there preaching the gospel now I've been in some areas and they're just like mad that you exist as a person But you know what? Even if the Ninevites aren't glad that I'm there I'm still there to preach the gospel and I've gotten a lot of people either saved or Very interested in the things of God that are not white Even recently and you know what? There's still people to reach and there's still people to go out and preach the gospel do and we shouldn't have Jonah's attitude And say well, I don't I'm just gonna hide I'm just gonna go to Tarshish. I'm just gonna live my life No, I thought it was when the battles over we shall get a crown not when we go and hide We'll get a crown and you know It is a battle life is a battle and I think if you look at life as a battle It'll help you because people are like it's hard. It's a battle Who thinks that going to war is gonna be easy? War is hard war is difficult. There's enemy. There's pressure There's an there's all kinds of uncomfortable things that are going on and you know, you have to realize that life is tough But when it's over, it's it's easy Get ready to enjoy later Get really excited about all of the pain-free life and heaven You say what about the pain-free life now as you get older it gets worse. I've already learned this. I've already noticed I'm not even that old yet and it already hurts. Okay, when I was young it didn't hurt when you're Enjoy being a child. Okay, it doesn't hurt. It's fun You just wake up and do whatever and life's just great. You start getting older everything hurts Sleeping hurts, you know if you lay in the wrong position it hurts okay, I mean just if you get hurt it takes way longer to heal and Everything's just more difficult. There's more stress. There's more pressure, you know, enjoy being a child But it's you it's vanity and child and youth are vanity At the end of the day you need to grow up and realize you're in a war You're in a battle and it's gonna be tough There's gonna be a lot of tough things and you're gonna have people that don't that don't appreciate the work that you did even your own brethren This is not like just some random yahoos. This is Peter's closest contemporaries This is people that knew the Lord Jesus Christ and they're not excited about the works that he did They're not happy that he got people saved and he even knew that they were gonna be like that Look at verse 4, but Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning. So he's like he was like ready He's like, oh man, I better have a good story here because they're gonna be really mad Even he himself whenever the Lord gave him the parable by eating bacon. He was like not so Lord Then he tried it. He was like, alright, well This is okay, we'll take the bacon not the pig's feet though Jeffrey, okay. No, all right You have to pray extra for that one verse 4 But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning and expounded it by order unto them saying I was in the city of Joppa praying And in a trance I saw a vision a certain vessel to send And as it had been a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners and it came even to me Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes I considered and saw four foot of beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and fowls of the air And I heard a voice saying unto me arise Peter slay and eat But I said not so Lord for nothing common or unclean had that any time entered into my mouth The voice answered me again from heaven what God hath cleansed that call not thou common And this was done three times and all were drawn up again into heaven and behold immediately There was three men already come unto the house where I was sent from Caesarea unto me And the Spirit bade me go with them nothing doubting moreover these six brethren accompanied me And we entered into the man's house And he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house Which stood and said on him send men to Joppa and call for Simon whose surname is Peter who shall tell thee words? whereby thou in all thy house shall be saved and so we have a retelling of chapter number 10 Peter is relaying the message and Obviously hey if you want to eat pig's feet apparently God says I'm not supposed to call it common But you better pray for that meal okay, so it's sanctified by the Word of God in prayer, but Here's the thing this was a parable and the carnal truth is this that the Old Testament dietary restrictions They were for a time, but Christ being come you know that's no longer a restriction in the New Testament Okay, we are praise the Lord in the New Testament We got bacon, and we got all kinds of good stuff going on You know the Sabbath was a fulfilled as Christ is our Sabbath and the lamb Sacrifice was fulfilled with Christ being our lamb sacrifice, and so we don't have to do all these rituals We don't have to do all these certain commandments that were tied to the pictures of Christ But this is another picture of the fact that Unclean beasts were a picture of the Gentiles a picture of the heathen and just like Jonah you know Saved the heathen back then we're supposed to also save the heathen now And this is a common misconception and the Old Testament some people be like well if you're a heathen you can't even get saved That's not true Heathen were saved in the Old Testament to the Ninevites believed God to you had a name in the Syrian He got saved too and even Jesus He's preaching about how certain people that were not Jews got saved or Prophets came unto them and not to the children of Israel, and they get all mad about it He's like hey, they went to the widows of Zaretha. You know they're going to you know They're talking a name in the Syrian you know he's bringing up examples of how even unsaved you know these Gentiles are getting saved even in the Old Testament and That in the New Testament is nothing new you know in the Old Testament They're supposed to be a light on the Gentiles and the New Testament supposed to be a light on the Gentiles It's the same message, okay It's just that the Jews were not getting the job done the Jews have rejected the Lord the Jews were not following his commandments They weren't believing in the Lord They weren't that shining in light so God's going to take away The gospel from them God's going to take away that light from them and he's going to give it unto a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof and what nation is that a spiritual nation of believers People who believe because it was never about flesh and blood flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God and flesh and blood Was not pleasing unto the Lord it was only the saved yet God used physical examples of the Old Testament to preach unto a spiritual truth in the New Testament and He makes it clear to Peter hey You're supposed to go and preach to every single person when I said going to all the world preach the gospel every creature I meant it You know I wasn't and I wasn't talking about the dogs and the cows or whatever I'm talking about the Gentiles is what he meant teach all nations What does that mean every it doesn't mean just Judah? It doesn't mean just Mary it means literally everywhere and so Peter is seeing that fulfilled before his eyes And he's telling these guys look I went these guys were with me You know these six brethren ask them about it, but he makes a really profound statement in verse 14. He says this This is Cornelius his words to him, but who shall tell thee words? Whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved, so we notice two really important factors when it comes to salvation number one It's words that get you saved Then he say very clearly that he's going to tell you words, and what's the emphasis of the words that? You're gonna be saved from the words, it's the Word of God that saves us He's not gonna do a special baptism. He didn't say Send it to this guy who's gonna dunk you in special water, and you're gonna be saved He didn't say hey you have to go and confess your sins to him No, he said he is gonna tell you words and by his words You're gonna get saved now. It's not just Peters words. It wasn't just Peters opinion It was what him preaching the Word of God you say. How do you know that well? Let's go to first Peter Let's ask Peter. What saves us and The Bible makes it clear to the Word of God that saves us, but let's get a second opinion Let's get Peter. Let's have Peter explain us what it takes to get saved first Peter chapter 1 verse number 23 being born again not of corruptible seed but of Incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever so notice Whose words is it that gets us saved the Word of God, and you say whose opinion is that Peter? But it's not just Peter's the Holy Ghost because holy men are holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost he says that in the second he he says that later in the second epistle, okay But he also says in verse 25, but the Word of the Lord endures forever, and this is the word By wit which by the gospel is preaching to you So you're saying hey the Word of God is how you get the gospel and that's how you get saved is by hearing words And people will be like oh you just think you can go out and just preach people a little message And they pray and get saved yes And you say why that's what Peter did that's what Peter said That's what Cornelius was instructed of by the angel is that it's the words of God That saves us we believe the Word of God the Bible says faith Cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God now. Here's an important aspect to understand What saves me faith, okay? But can I have faith without the Word of God? Not saving faith obviously I can have faith in the wrong object right I could believe in something That's wrong But I can't have the faith that saves me without the Word of God because it's my faith and what God told me That's going to save me. It's my faith in John 3 16. It's my faith and the gospel message It's my faith in the words that he's entrusted. You know to us the Word of God the King James Bible That's what we believe and get saved So if you want to get someone saved you better open up the Word of God And you better preach them the Word of God some people think that you can get saved by just generically telling them about The gospel or you know some people have these like these tools they have like I don't know what you call it It's like this weird box or something that you can kind of fold around and it's just like just tell your story Well, you know I was a sinner, and you know I was doing drugs and one day I heard about Jesus, and I decided to turn for my sins to get saved. It's like that doesn't save anyone And You know what it's by the foolishness of preaching that God chooses to save us so obviously we have to expound the Word of God Obviously we're going to explain the Word of God in simplest terms, and we're going to make it manifest But it's the Word of God that has the power and without the Word of God salvation cannot take place We must have the Word of God go to Luke chapter number eight Let me show you a few more verses on this this is an important doctrine. That's found all throughout the Bible But it's also being mentioned here that Cornelius is being told by the angel. He's going to come tell you some words That's going to get you saved Now why is that important because here's the thing if they don't hear how are they going to believe? How shall they hear without a preacher is what the Bible says you know when it's giving the explanation of how someone gets saved In Romans chapter number 10 it says how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach except They be sent so we need to send people out That are going to preach the Word of God And then when they hear the Word of God they can choose to believe it and call upon the name of Lord And they get saved that's the exact picture of getting someone saved But we have to have the Word of God in the mix without the Word of God. We have no message to bring it's there's a story in the Old Testament when David Has been his son Absalom has been killed And there's a messenger that's going to that wants to come and tell him about Absalom But he's not bidden to go But he just runs anyways he just you know he just kind of eggs He's just fine like can I go can I go and then he shows up, and he's like. What's the message? He has nothing to say Why because it's not about the Jovis witnesses they go out, but they don't have the words to save you The Mormons go out they don't have the words to save you and their words are usually found from the devil and the book Of moron or in their their wicked false Bible, and they just can only reprobate people You know they're not going to get anyone saved it takes the Word of God to get someone saved We don't see the fruit look what soul winner goes out also with a different version than the King James Bible is getting people saved riddle me that You know a lot of people get upset about us being King James only or they're like Oh, you think the Word of God is only the King James Bible yes, and I'm like well show me one soul winner. That's using a different versions getting people saved on a regular basis. Just one I Mean I can show you hundreds and thousands of soul winners using King James Bible getting people saved left and right Show me one using the NIV show me one using the ESV show me one using one of these modern the message Oh It's so it's so relevant. It's so easy to be understood that thing is trash and People get so mad the fact that I burn false Bibles every single year, but guess what? If it's not the Word of God, I don't have a problem burning it And you know what if it's gonna even even if it was 99% of the Word of God just 1% error is worthy of me Burning it because I don't want any you know little 11 11 at the whole lump So the Bible says and it's it's damned It's it's just ruined, and I'm not destroying the Word of God when I'm destroying the NIV I'm destroying the Word of God when I'm destroying the King James Bible Okay, so I'm not gonna sit here and destroy it, but even if I did you know what happened If someone coughed kovat all over this, you know Right can it like sit on? I'm just you know messing with you a little bit, but obviously they say it could be on stationary objects What does it was infested with kovat you know or infested with some kind of disease wouldn't we burn it without hesitation? I mean if it truly had leprosy what have had leprosy What does the Bible say if it's some some kind of object had leprosy you burn it okay? Because this is just paper and ink Okay, but the Word of God is gonna bite forever. I'm not saying that a physical object is somehow special It's the words that are special. It's the words that are being preserved and by Destroying an NIV and handing someone a King James Bible. I'm actually preserving the Word of God Whereas if I'm allowing the NIV to go out and be printed and bought and sold You know the old King James could just waste away. You know this Bible is not gonna last forever The words of God will though and you know what the even the translations that we got from the Word of God They weren't original there were copies Because why because physical paper is gonna deteriorate. What do we do we need to preserve the words? Okay, and we need to preach the words. That's what has the power not this physical book I'm not sitting here saying this particular physical book is any kind of special It's the words in it that are special Okay, and we have to have the word to get someone safe Luke chapter 8 look what it says in verse number 11 Now the parable is this the seed is the Word of God So there's a parable of the sower where a sower is going out and sowing seed and then Jesus tells you What that means it's the Word of God That's that seed Now what sense does it make to go ahead and walk around and not throw seed? What is that gonna benefit? What if I was just walking around in my field, but I'm not throwing any seed down Am I gonna get any crops from that? No, that would be the same as going out without the Bible that'd be the same as going out without the Word of God You're not gonna get anything with that now the Word of God Obviously the seed is not always going to bring forth fruit, right? If you throw some on the wayside, that's not gonna have any fruit, you know, you throw it in some places It's not even gonna get saved at all But lots of people will get saved in this parable gives you four categories only one doesn't get saved the wayside The other ones get saved it even says in verse number, let's just keep reading a little bit verse 12 Those by the wayside are they that hear then come with the devil and take it away the word out of their hearts lest They should believe and be saved. So notice some people will hear the gospel Some people even accept it into their heart, but they don't believe it and they don't get saved That's why I don't like that phrase accepting Jesus in your heart because notice these people in verse number 12 Have the Word of God in their heart, don't they but are they saved? No, and and I'll tell you this there are people that sincerely have Respect for the Bible they sincerely even have it in their heart in the sense that what out of them out of the abundance Of the heart the mouth speaketh, right? Don't you run into people that are not saving they can quote you the Bible How did it get there? Obviously that seed got planted down into their heart and they've read the Bible, you know I've got a lot of foreign countries and they can quote you all kinds of Bible verses and they're not even saved What do they have to do? They have to actually believe it to be saved They actually have to let that seed germinate in their heart and it takes some watering and then God giving the increase But if they did believe they get saved that's why I also when I'm preaching the gospel to somebody If they've they've gotten the seed, you know the seeds in their heart I planted it, but they don't want to pray with me I show them this verse and I say look you obviously have the Word of God in your heart now I've obviously given you the gospel But if you choose not to believe now the devil may come and distract you he may cause you to forget what I just told you And if you decide to end up not praying you won't go to heaven You won't get saved and I said you've already told me you believe that so Why don't we just tell God now so you can know you're saved and that doesn't always work But sometimes it has compelled people to say, you know what? All right, let's do it You know, let's pray and let's get saved the next group It says they on the rock are they which when they hear receive the word with joy And these have no root which for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away So these people got saved but they lose their they lose their faithfulness in God and they this Decide not to trust the Lord in all the areas of their life They decide not to put their faith in the Lord for their Security and for the remaining works and so they end up just going back to the world and living of the world They're still going to heaven But they're gonna miss out on the rewards of heaven and they're gonna Essentially be chastised very heavily on this earth now I'm not gonna go through this whole parable But what I wanted to point out to you is this you have to have the Word of God to get saved and all These examples some element is always there It's the Word of God and without the Word of God you are not gonna get saved now another thing that was mentioned though Was not just the words Because he's saying yeah, he's gonna come tell the words, but it's also a person, isn't it? And it's not just some person because didn't the angel from an angel from heaven Came to Cornelius. Why didn't the angel get him saved? Like could you think the angel didn't know the gospel? You think the angel didn't have any idea of the death burn resurrection? You don't think he knows John 3 16 or something? No, it's just that God is committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation God has chosen us to be the ambassadors for Christ Look Jesus Christ could just show up to every single person like this and just preaching the gospel himself if he wanted You know what? He's chosen us to go out and to preach the gospel he wants us to be those ministers go go to first Corinthians chapter 3 and Another important key is the fact that you have to be saved to get someone saved He didn't just ask a random person to give him he didn't ask Caiaphas to come give him the gospel He didn't ask Judas to come give him the gospel Judas had already killed himself He asked Peter a saved man to come and give him the god. Why would he say? Hey, there's this one person Simon Peter, I want him to come and give you the gospel and some people say this You only need the Word of God to get saved. You don't need Peter and Even if Peters not saved you don't even need him to be saved. This is utter foolishness This is utter nonsense and it's very unbiblical and it's a very dangerous doctrine The thing you have to understand in the book of Acts is it later tells us that they had Moses in every single city Preached every single Sabbath day Everybody already had the Word of God Okay, and even some people in the Bible had the Word of God and decide not to believe in get saved So the Word of God on its own, you know is not a guarantee that someone's gonna get saved number one But number two it takes a saved preacher to explain to someone how to get saved How so they hear without a preacher? They can't but you know in the same book Romans chapter number 10. It says the word of faith. It's nigh unto thee It's in it's in your heart and it's in your mouth. He's saying you're quoting Isaiah 53 not even realizing what's about Just like the in Acts chapter number 8 the guy He's like understand is what thou readest and he says how can I accept some man should guide me you could literally teach someone you could have someone memorize every verse in the Bible and They still wouldn't be saved They have to have a saved soul winner come and preach them the gospel and if you actually believe that then you would realize The importance you have in this world Because I don't think it'd be take very much for me to convince you that there's not a lot of people that are saved and Not only that there's not a lot of people that are saved and willing to go and preach the gospel either. It's a small small Number and for Cornelius it was Peter or nothing What if Peter had said you know what I? Understand the Bible I understand that vision, but I don't want to go preach to Cornelius He wants to be a Jonah he wants to run away How would Cornelius get saved he wouldn't the Bible says if our gospel behead? It's head to them that are lost there are literal people dying and going to hell every single day And if someone would have just gone and loved them and preached them the gospel they could have been saved But God is a God of hypotheticals and God makes it very clear that we can make a difference in this world The choices that you make will make a difference and we have the opportunity to get people safe And if you decide to hide your light under bushel more people will go to hell We have the Responsibility to go and preach the gospel You know don't have this Calvinist viewpoint well everybody that's gonna get saved is gonna get saved If that were true, then everyone would be saved because God's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come Unto repentance God wants every single person to get saved, but you know what he's decided that It's gonna have to have men that have faith in him that are gonna go out and preach that gospel that are gonna Get some saved and they're gonna be a minister of the word look what it says in first Peter or first Chronicles I'm sorry first Corinthians chapter 3 verse number 5 Who then is Paul and who is Apollo's but ministers? By whom he believed even as the Lord gave to every Man now the context of this is not exactly about how to get someone saved per se But you can take from this passage some really important doctrines here He's really rebuking the Corinthians, and he's trying it. He's trying to explain to them that The person that got you saved doesn't matter as far as if it was Paul or Apollo's It doesn't matter, but it doesn't matter that they were saved Okay, so it doesn't matter if I got someone saved or Mo got them saved or brother Nick got them saved Or it doesn't matter who in here preach the gospel and they got saved by But you know what they had to been saved Okay, and notice that it was ministers by whom you believe so it's both the Word of God And it's that minister of the word It was the person coming and preaching the gospel and notices the Lord gave to every man. There's not an exception here He doesn't say well some of you got saved reading the Bible Some of you got saved by reading a tract and some of you got saved by someone preaching the gospel Hey, there was a minister to every one of you And he's saying who cares if this side of the room got saved by me and this side of the room got saved by Apollo's He's like if you're on team Paul or team Apollo's your carnal He's saying if you got saved by this pastor or that pastor or this man or this soul winner or whatever It doesn't matter. You're not on their team You're on team Christ or you're on the wrong team you carnal person you but the reality is from this chapter We can still realize that it takes a saved person to get them saved Look at verse number nine for we are labors together with God You're God's husbandry. You're God's building now Here's riddle me this if the only thing getting you saved is the Word of God, then how did we labor with God? It's because it also takes the minister it also takes the person going out and we labor with God We're together Doing the ministry and doing the work God needs us God wants to use us and we're important to getting people say go to Romans chapter 1 for a moment You're Romans chapter 1 and I'm spending a little bit of time on this But I think it's probably one of the most important verses that we can get out of Acts chapter 11 Because we already heard the story but what's one of the profound conclusions of this that Cornelius needed Peter The Gentiles need these saved Jews to come and preach in the gospel Imagine if we could just say well, all you need is the Word of God to get saved then couldn't they say? well, they already have Moses and and didn't Whenever Lazarus died went up to heaven and the rich man was in hell And the rich man was asking for a preacher or someone to come back and tell them about the dead Didn't he say they have Moses let them hear them So If I combine that can I just say oh well they have Moses work But is that really is that really what that is instructing is just saying? Yep. They have the Bible. Good luck So we just mail everybody in Houston a Bible and say like let's go home You know how many people get saved we just mail them a Bible no one Nada you know how many people get say we got and preach the gospel a lot of people will get sick and In the reality is it takes faith to give faith Okay, the Bible says everything brings forth after its own kind and even spiritually. This is the exact same way You know someone that's an unsaved devil is only gonna bring forth unsaved devils, you know They make them twofold more the child of hell than themselves They're not getting anybody saved Joe Lowstein's not getting anybody saved in Houston TD Jakes isn't getting anybody saved up in the Dallas or the area whose other horrible Ed Young Is there an Ed Young here? I don't think he's saved. He's not getting anybody saved here Any other is there another famous preacher in Houston? I don't know. Is he in Houston? Okay, well he's definitely a false prophet but I Mean there's got it. There's there's a huge church everywhere. What about that sage? Isn't there like a sage Mont or something over here? It's like the the biggest church They've got the biggest cross I've ever seen over there right off the highway after the Samuelson highway They're not getting people saved Why because they don't have the King James Bible and they don't have people going out with that faith Producing that faith look at Romans chapter 1 look at verse number 16 for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and Also to the Greek for therein is the righteousness of God revealed From faith to faith as it is written to just a little by faith Why does Paul want to go and preach the gospel because it's revealed from his faith To give them faith is what he's teaching. That's why he said in verse number 15 I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are on also. Why does he want to preach the gospel? Cuz it's gonna say couldn't he just said well, I sent y'all guys a letter. It's good. I Mean he did didn't he and if you're gonna say I'm gonna send somebody a letter to get saved Wouldn't Romans be about the best like letter you could send it's called the Romans Road, right? I mean isn't this isn't Romans sufficient to get someone saved I know we use other verses and I do like I love John 3 16 We like to use verses and and revelation and you may even use I use Ephesians 2 8 9 There's other places but isn't Romans enough Technically couldn't you show them Romans 3 23 Romans 5 8 You could show them Romans 3 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law I mean we could just sit there and we could just let Romans just lights up the gospel I mean It's just like gospel gospel gospel and a lot of the things that we even teach could be articulated Solely in the book of Romans But he didn't say I wrote this epistle so that you could be safe No He says I want to come to you guys and I want to preach you guys the gospel Because the gospel has that power and it's revealed from faith to faith Why because it takes a saved person to produce another saved person the unsaved never Accidentally stumble onto the light and give the light and get anybody saved. You are important go back We would accept number 11 Go back to good action or 11 So it's an important revelation that's being discovered here in the book of Acts And we have to understand that these epistles that we have are written after this You know, this is kind of like a slow roll for them They're kind of starting to realize like wow We have this power we have the Word of God But we need to go out and we need to give people the word so that they can get saved Verse 15 and As I began to speak the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning Then I remembered I the Word of the Lord how that he had said John indeed baptized with water The East 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 and so I love this phrase here in verse 17 He says he gave the like gift So they got a gift notice the salvation is a gift and you say well, how do you get that gift? Well, he tells us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ Isn't the Bible just so consistent? Salvation is a gift and how do you get it by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ? How did they get it? It was a gift and they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and he says the like gift meaning what? The same gift that the Jews God is the same gift that Gentiles got why because it's not a different gospel Jesus didn't go some people literally preach that Jesus was teaching a different gospel than Paul They say that Jesus was teaching works plus faith Because he is preaching repentance and they had to turn from their sins or whatever Obviously Jesus Christ did tell them to stop sinning, but you know, it wasn't to get saved To get saved you is telling them to believe on him. It's called the gospel of John. It's a really good book Maybe you should open it up. There is no different gospel. There's one gospel. It's the death bearing resurrection What is that picture? He paid all of our sins either you believe he paid all your sins or you don't What is not believing that Jesus paid all your sins look like you also have to get baptized Oh, you also have to go to church. Oh, you also have to turn from your sins You also have to do some kind of a work Which means that God didn't pay all of your sins because if Jesus truly paid all of your sins, what is there left to do? It's done that's why it's called saved Saved it's done. And look those that believe the Lord Jesus Christ. They got the light gift. They are Baptized with the Holy Ghost now. This is a special event Baptized means it immersed. Okay, so and completely encompassed so they're like fully filled with Holy Ghost They're able to speak with other languages that they had never even learned and It was just an evidence of the fact that they were immediately saved I mean they got saved just like the Jews and it's a picture and I think that God's giving These special gifts for lots of reasons. Okay. One reason is to confirm the words of the Apostles But a second reason is this think about this. Isn't there a lot of people that put doubt on someone's salvation? Even if they gave the right answers like they would look at someone that's really sinful or something and they would say well I know they say they believe in Jesus, but do they really? You know They if they really believe would they steal if they really believe would they drink alcohol if they really believe wouldn't they be coming? To my church if they really they put a lot of doubt on someone's salvation, right? But here's the thing When you have the Holy Ghost coming upon you and you're speaking another language like they're doing and reforming these signed gifts Or whatever, it's hard to be like nope. He's not really saved Think about the foolishness of that So I think God's is giving these outward signs to make it just so obvious So that people can't just be like, I don't know if they really got saved, you know I don't know if these people really it's like look what he's doing, you know, he's obviously saved He obviously received the Holy Ghost They obviously got the same gift and it's just helping them realize these people really got paid You know the Gentiles because to them the idea of a Gentile getting saved was like impossible They thought it was not possible. So even if they given lip service, they've been like you're not saved You're a Gentile, but then when they have the Holy Ghost combined, it's like oh You know, I got I don't know how to I don't know how to gain say that I don't know how to you know discredit that so obviously, you know God's performing these miracles and signs and wonders to help confirm his word, isn't he? But today you don't really need that We don't have to you know, we don't have this prejudice where we just think like, oh man, you know Obviously might say that but we can realize from the whole of Scripture if they're confessing Christ. I mean what else is there? Yeah, they could be lying. But other than that, I mean they're saved verse number 18 When they heard these things they held their peace So notice it shuts them up when they hear that they receive the Holy Ghost, doesn't it? Now that's what that means. They held their peace Holding their peace means they're no longer contending with Peter. They're no longer getting mad at him for eating with the Gentiles They're no longer, you know saying things. They're finally just like kind of like They held their peace and it says this and glorify God saying then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life And I love that phrase because they got repentance on the life But here's the thing. How did they get their repentance on a life? Well verse 17 told us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ So it was a gift they believed and notice there's repentance on the life So what is repentance in life believing on the Lord Jesus Christ? That's what repentance on the life is says in verse 19 now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travel as far as Phineas and Cyprus and Antioch preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only so 19 is not necessarily like chronological. It's kind of also just like recapping like what's been happening Because it's talking about the persecution that rose about Stephen Stephen was way earlier you know Stephen was in chapter number seven where he was killed and and verse number eight is where they were kind of spread abroad and Preaching the word but we'd kind of like followed and focused on Peter. So think about it like, you know Everyone's scattered out preaching the gospel and we elapsed. I don't know the exact time. Let's say a couple years We followed Peters timeline now It's saying let's go back and talk about how there was lots of people that were spread out When they were spread out, they were only preaching to the Jews Peter was only preaching to the Jews Everybody was only preaching to the Jews Peter preaching to the Gentiles was unique Okay, this was like a unique thing. That was like specifically to him and a few people it says this in verse number 20 and Some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene Which when they were come to Antioch spake unto the Grecian's preaching the Lord Jesus. So he's saying Everybody going out from the persecution of Stephen was only preaching to Jews Now that just means the people that were of the religion of Judaism those that are going to the synagogue Those that would claim to you know, believe in the Old Testament everything like that. They're only preaching to those people They're not preaching just everybody else in the city However, there was a one other small group that did that and it's talking about them being an Antioch now This is what's really important about what it's saying here is it says this in verse 1 and the hand of the Lord was with them So notice there's lots of people going out and preaching and then it says the hand of Lord was with who? The people that are preaching to the Greeks the ones that were preaching to the Gentiles to the Grecian's And it says and a great number believed and turned on the Lord doesn't that sound like Jonah's story? He's preaching them the under the Ninevites and a great number of them believed and turned to the Lord verse 22 then tidings of these things came Under the years of the church, which was in Jerusalem and they sent forth Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch So they've heard from Peter Gentiles are getting saved then they hear from Antioch people in Antioch Some of these Grecian's are getting saved. So they send Barnabas Okay, and it says in verse 23 who when he came and had seen the grace of God was glad and Exhorted them all that with purpose of heart. They would cleave under the Lord now it makes sense Why they would send Barnabas because what is his attitude when he finds out that the Gentiles got saved What does the Bible say? He was glad So is Barnabas, you know really mad about Gentiles getting saved. No, he was glad he had the right attitude verse 24 For he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith and much people's added in the Lord So when you have the right attitude God can use you to group do great works When you're excited about certain people getting saved God can use you to do great works. Now Barnabas is called the son of consolation Consolation could you know the root word there is console Right and and what is to console it's to help someone that feels bad, you know, someone that's going through a hard time Difficult or or maybe they're not The the premier person or you know, you think about the consolation prize, you know, what is that? It's a nice way of saying the loser, you know If you're just kind of a loser Barnabas is like the son of constantly. He's like the guy there that's gonna help console the loser He's gonna help console the second place and look in comparison. The Gentiles are kind of the losers to the Gentiles They're kind of the second place citizens to the Gentiles, but you know what Barnabas doesn't care He wants to console and help remedy these type of people and he wants to reach out to those people and you know What God wants to use people that have a heart like that that have a heart to reach Those that you know are maybe a second chance or give somebody another opportunity people that have a rougher upbringing or More issues or anything like that Barnabas was the type of person that liked to reach out to these people And he was glad that they're being added in the Lord Not only just the Gentiles like a verse what I've then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul Now Saul is definitely someone that needs a second chance because Saul Initially was killing Christians. He was persecuting the house of God. This is not Peter You know Peter was always on the Lord's side, you know, John's the beloved disciple, you know and in Jesus love I mean these people are just always first place. They're always been on the Lord's side They've always been used by God. It's all with someone who was against God Saul has a bad past Saul is one who you know when he looks at inward He says that he's like the worst and he's chief of sinners Now don't take that super literally, okay? Judas is worse than than Saul. Okay But just inwardly how does he feel about himself? He's saying man. I'm like the worst sinner You know, I'm like someone that I shouldn't even be here He's it has a very lowly perspective of himself and in some ways it's legit in some ways Yeah, he was a pretty big screw-up. He was literally persecuting the Church of God He literally was doing a lot of bad things and wrong things, but he was sincerely wrong Okay, and since he was sincerely wrong God ended up saving him and using him but notice God uses Barnabas to redeem Saul to help out Saul to seek out to Saul would Saul have been as greatly used without Barnabas I believe no and In fact, where does Paul go his first missionary journey? Where is he sent out of? Antioch and Acts chapter 13 when we get a little bit closer He's gonna be sent out and who does he go with Barnabas and he goes out on all those great missionary journeys and does a lot of great works and What would I say here? Look sometimes there's People of God that go through a hard time or they need a second chance or they need someone to reach out to them and you can be a Barnabas unto them and you can help bear their burdens and Restore them and redeem them and they can then be greatly used by God again You know, there's some people that need a Barnabas in their life They need someone to come unto them and say You know try to seek for them and try to help them and try to restore Them and try to pray for them and you know when we see brothers and sisters in Christ that get out of the fight for whatever reason What attitude could be like good riddance? Glad you're gone I guess you're weak You know or they kind of make fun of them in their heart or they kind of have that older brother syndrome Where they don't want to see the younger brother come back They don't want to see the younger brother be restored But that's not our attitude our attitude should desire for those people to get back in the fold To get back to serving God and some people they are nervous about coming back, you know They feel like people be mad at them or disappointed or look down upon them But we should never do that to people that astray and then want to come back and you know as this church You know starts to have history. I mean, it's been a pretty new church as the church has history we'll have people to leave and You know, hopefully we'll have stories where people came back, you know have stories where people get back in the fold They they get back into serving the Lord they grow stronger again in the Lord and you know some people kind of have a little bit of a Christian life where it's a little bit of a rocky road and We want to be the Barnabas to come alongside those people and love those people and help those people No matter what they were like to us and no matter what, you know, Saul obviously was persecuting the Church of God It's possible that someone who saw literally persecuted had to end up seeing him come to church think about that Somebody I was literally like he threw in jail Now wouldn't it be easy to be like I don't like Saul, you know He threw me in jail and it wouldn't it be easy for you Someone did you wrong and they get out of church and you think like well good, you know I don't want them to come back But that's not the right attitude the right attitude would be you want them to be restored you want them to be redeemed and The Bible makes it clear in verse number 26 Let's read a little bit more says and when he'd found him he brought him on the Antioch and it came to pass that That a whole year they assembled themselves with the church and taught much people and the disciples were called Christians first Yeah, so not only Barnabas seek for him. He brings him back notice. He brought him on the Antioch so he gets him back into church and And I like how it changes and it says and it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church and Taught much people so it's like Barnabas he he and then it's they and then it's they and they taught the people and It says the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. So now Antioch is getting a little bit of a name It's getting a little preeminence where they're called Christians because that's where you really start to see the church forming And it's one of the early churches verse 28 and there stood up one of them named Agabus and signified by the spirit There should be a great dearth throughout all the world which came to pass in the days of Claudia Caesar Then the disciples every man according to his ability to determine us in relief under the brethren which dwelt in Judea Which also they did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul now I'll finish on this thought and we see you know An explosion of the Gentiles getting saved and the Christians are coming from Antioch and we call ourselves Christians today Christians being like Christ but We kind of see two different churches here We have Jerusalem, which is pretty much the only church that exists and then we see a second church Antioch Now what's interesting is their relationship because Antioch is lacking in something. What are they lacking in? Knowledge they're lacking in leadership. They're lacking in ministers. So what did Jerusalem send them to them? Barnabas and you know, they're gonna send them other prophets and other teachers But Jerusalem they just got wrecked by Paul Chapters the rate and everyone was scattered except for the Apostles. So what are they lacking in? Probably money some finances or whatever some relief and what is Antioch rich in I guess they're rich in money So they send money to Jerusalem. So notice Antioch has money so they send money to this one church The other church is rich in what preachers and pastors and leadership So they send them that and they have this trade-off They have this sharing of their wealth of their riches and you know riches can be physical But it could also be in other things, you know in some churches they have You know a lot of money, but they lack in preaching and you know, we see the sharing of preachers We see the sharing of resources you know one thing you could look at is Look at our church pure words Baptist Church and look at steadfast Baptist Church a couple years ago Wasn't there a point in time where our church? Was you know, it has a pastor that's full-time and here and they have nothing their leadership is Adam Fannin It's not very rich in leadership and preaching. Okay, and Donny Romero stepping down, but they might have more financial resources Don't they and so what do we do we? decided to take them and help them and you guys are gracious enough to allow me to go up there and bless those people and Help them and look that church is thriving that church is going really well now And there's lots of people that are serving the Lord and the things of God are going really well and you know vice-versa Sometimes that church blesses us with money You know that we wouldn't have the resources to do things and some of the trips and things that we get to go on But we get to see that that shared Commonality and you know as one church begins to grow in certain areas of riches They should be willing to share and distribute with other churches Notice back then they're not obviously we believe in independent Baptist churches Okay, I'm not against that but notice they care about other churches. They're not just so self-absorbed That they're not willing to help out other Saints, you know, we're all in the same team here and We really should just care about the work of the Lord going forth and you know What'd make me really sad is to think about a church that had a lot of great soul winners serving the Lord That just all of a sudden got destroyed and no one was going so winning Think about Barnabas attitude didn't Barnabas say, you know what? I'm gonna go and seek for Saul But some people might got mad about that Some people might have been mad that someone would go and seek for Saul and restore Saul and go and do that work, but you know what? He was someone that was gonna console those that have had problems and restore them and redeem them and help them And you know what? God greatly blesses Barnabas and he greatly uses Saul and then we we're gonna pretty much switch from Peter To Barnabas and Saul and in pretty much just about Paul, which he's also called Paul Okay, we're just it's gonna be the Paul show here in the rest of the book of Acts and you know Peter he does a great work but a lot of the people in Jerusalem don't ever get on the right page and they don't see the the potential of all the Gentiles and So it really turns into the Paul show and we don't want to get so full of ourselves That we don't reach out to other people and let other people thrive Couldn't we I mean look if I had never taken on steadfast Baptist Church Some but you could argue that this church would potentially been better, right? Maybe this church would have a few more people in it or maybe our church could have done a few more things just here locally in Houston or maybe we could have had a few more people say but just in general for the whole work of the Lord Is it better? You know and that's a question that we all have to ask ourselves and you know what I Appreciate the people that have you know stuck with pure words Baptist Church and are continuing to thrive here It shows the humility that you're willing to serve God and and even take less to give more into others Because isn't that isn't that sacrificing financially is taking less money that you have and giving you know giving it to someone else But there's other things you can give other than Physical money can't you take a Barnabas and give them to somebody else or take? You know a preacher or take some kind of a burden on of yourself and give it to someone else And you know what this church is taking a lot of burdens on themselves and you know The Lord is is pleased when people are willing to sacrifice for his cause and for his name's sake and you know It's not about pure words batteries. It's not about steadfast Baptist Church It's about Lord Jesus Christ and it's about us redeeming and restoring people and getting them on his team We shouldn't be so carnal to worry about all those things. Hey, God will bless us in due time We humble ourselves and you know what this church is a very humble Church And I really appreciate you guys and I love you guys and I pray that when we read stories like this we had we'd see the benefit of reaching out to others and esteeming other better than yourself and being willing to give things even when it may be difficult and See how the Lord will make it turn into something great, you know, if we just trust in him suppose in prayer Thank you father so much for this chapter. Thank you so much for this church and the people that are here I pray that we continue to be motivated to keep serving you and realize our importance That you want to use us as Saved ministers to go out and to share our faith and get other people saved and that we have an important job an important role And I pray that whatever blessings and gifts that you give us that we wouldn't be selfish with them But we'd be even willing to share and to distribute those things and we'd be able to restore other people that are hurting People that go through difficult times and that we wouldn't just care about our needs and our wishes and our wants But that we would love others in Jesus name we pray. Amen Let's go to our final song in our hymnal Let's go to song 397 we'll finish 397 a little as much when God is in it 397 a little as much when God is in it there on the first in the Harvest field now ripen. There's a work for all to do Hark the voice of God is calling to the harvest calling you Little is much when God is in it labor not for wealth or fame There's a crown and you can win it if you'll go in Jesus name Does the place you're called to labor? seems so small and little known It is great. If God is in it and you'll not Forget his own Little is much when God is in it labor not for wealth or fame There's a crown and you can win it if you'll go in Jesus name Are you late? aside from service body worn from toilet care You can still be in the battle in the sacred place of prayer Little is much when God is in it Not for wealth or fame There's a crown and you can win it if you'll go in Jesus name when the Conflict here is ended and our race on earth is run He will say to all the faithful Welcome home my child well done Little is much when God is in it labor not for wealth or fame There's a crown and you can win it if you'll go in Jesus name Thanks for coming god bless you're dismissed You You