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

I'm so excited. Yeah, dude. Yeah, because I was late, but I was, like, I was, like, trying to, like, go out of air, and I was, like, thinking, like, I'm stuck. I was like, oh, wait, here we go. I think I'm, like, back. Yeah, I think I'm, like, back. Yeah, I think I'm, like, back. Yeah, I think I'm, like, back. Yeah, I think I'm, like, back. Yeah, I think I'm, like, back. Yeah, I think I'm, like, back. Yeah, I think I'm, like, back. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. y'all for coming to pure words Baptist Church this evening if you want to turn to our first song on our hymnal song 133 song 133 start for the evening safe wherever I go song 133 and we're it's a really short song so we're gonna sing it twice so we'll sing it all the way through and then we'll come back and we'll sing it a second time and the first on 133 safe wherever I go safe wherever I go peace the world cannot know sins all forgiven and having my home I'm safe wherever I go safe wherever I go peace the world cannot know sins all forgiven and having my home I'm safe wherever I go where this answer and lead us in prayer this evening please man her next song 119 got a got a theme for our songs this evening all right so just in case you're nervous out there I want you to be safe wherever you go all right hey if you're saved what's the worst that can happen you go to heaven right song 119 till the storm passes by there on the first in the dark of the midnight have I offed hid my face while the storm has above me and there's no hiding place made the crash of the Thunder precious Lord hear my cry keep me safe till the storm passes by till the storm passes over till the Thunder sounds no more till the clouds roll forever from the sky hold me fast let me stand in the hollow of the hand keep me safe till the storm passes by many times Satan whisper there is no need to try for there's no wind of sorrow there's no hope by and by but I know thou art with me and tomorrow I'll rise where the storm's never dark in the skies till the storm passes over till the Thunder sounds no more clouds roll forever from the sky hold me fast let me stand in the hollow of the hand keep me safe till the storm passes by when the long night is ended and the storm's gone no more let me sand in my presence on that bride peaceful shore in that land where the tempest never comes Lord may I dwell with thee when the storm passes by till the storm passes over till the Thunder sounds no more till the clouds roll forever from the sky hold me fast let me stand in the hollow of the hand keep me safe till the storm passes by good singing if you need a bulletin there on that back cabinet and on the front we have Titus chapter 3 verse 7 on the inside we have a service and soul winning times as well as a regional soul winning time with brother Brandon and Jenkins Park meets on Saturdays if you like to go out there you can always get with brother Brandon and we have our salvation's I'm just gonna see if there was anything to report from the last few days there's anything from this past Monday Tuesday Wednesday that anybody needed a report for days all right and then on our Bible memory chapter 1 verse 32 so we only got a couple more weeks because we have verse 33 and then we have a grace week and don't take that grace week for granted okay you just go ahead and get it done and you know what it's a really big chapter who's already completed this who already did Proverbs chapter 1 all right really great who's gonna get it done who's anybody work are you working on okay we got it we got somebody working on it that's great and I know there's other people who have completed it in our church and so a really great chapter of the Bible to work on on the right we have a list of expecting ladies and lots of ladies there to pray for so please keep them all I mean your list is like longer than steadfast so I don't even know it's like crazy over here you know there must be something with the water but keep praying for every single one of them and it's a blessing and our preaching schedule had brother Ben come out here and so really great that he was able to come out here in a couple weeks not this Sunday but next Sunday pastor Bruce Mejia is gonna be here and I think you guys are gonna be pretty full that day so I think there's like a lot of people wanting to come down from the Dallas forward area and I try to make a couple videos and everything like that so we're gonna have pizza for lunch so we're gonna have a fellowship of pizza and everything so come hungry spiritually okay and carnally alright so you can come for both and we're gonna try and fill this place up since we'll have extra visitors just try to be really friendly help people know where to go and then where you know bathrooms are and just just be really welcoming to people if they sit in your spot sorry you know but we're gonna bring in some more chairs and everything like that so just try to make everybody feel welcome and make sure to make pastor Mejia feel really welcome and really encouraged and so they've been going through a big battle and and I think him coming out here and getting to meet everybody and and see everybody again it's just gonna kind of help him and encourage him and so let him know we'll make sure to give him some shirts some pure wear shirts those shirts came out really nice yeah I like them yeah I always try to wear mine and I just wear it if I couldn't wear a suit and tie for preaching you know just might as well but it's underneath and then also we have brother Oz coming the next week so don't skip church after past me it doesn't end there okay then you come back the next Sunday and brother Oz gonna be here he's a great preacher and so really exciting to have him come out here to brother Blake Rincon who's actually a really good friend of brother Oz he is at sure foundation he's gonna be coming out here good preacher good guy and real zealous for the Lord and so be a great honor and blessing to have him come out here and so lots of great guest preachers coming up here I'm gonna be preaching somewhere sneaking in here too I think let me I think I think it wasn't on this list because I changed it I don't want to like mislead you let me just double check on my calendar but yeah I'm preaching March 7 so nothing to really write home about but hey I'm gonna be here so we're gonna have our gallus and soul wanting marathon that's six which is the next event the next thing mention here in our bulletin but I'm gonna stay the whole week from first Thursday I'll hang out with you guys and then be here for the soul wanting marathon and then I'm just gonna preach that Sunday both services and so and my family's coming with me so we'll all be down here and really excited to be down here again and preach on Sundays and so you know I don't can't think of a reason why you wouldn't want to come to pure as Baptist Church I mean really great now excuse a little bit of the remodeling issues is going on they're gonna be fixed shortly we're we're wanting to put in some new tent because the old stuff was really ghetto so we're improving it okay we're gonna be a little bit less ghetto now all right so we'll have nice tent we'll put the bars back up and then god willing we'll maybe put some nice curtains up eventually just so the inside even looks nice and our pianos doing a disappearing act it's gonna go away but then tomorrow it's gonna look a lot better okay now just as an FYI just the piano shouldn't is not a toy it's not something to like hang on and let your toddlers come and smash and you know chip it and you know draw on it so let's stay away from the piano unless you're using it for the church service specifically whether you're practicing or you're participating in the services we just want to make sure we keep everything nice and in good order in good shape and so really exciting lots of good stuff happening there is a I guess I didn't realize we already had the God resource cards back there you can just go to the website and it has a tab for gospel or if you just go slash gospel and then there's other gospel presentations in different languages we have Aramaic we have Hindi we have French I think there was even a Russian one out there and so we've got like several different languages and that's just a can full I don't I don't I'm all memorized but we have a lot of different gospel so I have is a Spanish and English and stuff like that and and the goal is to have more and more grow I think we have a Tagalog and so hopefully that's a good place that if you hand these cards out so if you run into someone and they don't speak English and they don't speak another language that you speak just give them a card and then hopefully their language is on there and even if it's not maybe in the future it will be and so we'll just give them out and hopefully we can improve the site and make it even better over time that's the goal and so we're really trying to make that stuff start coming to coming together better but lots of great stuff this year really excited about this early spring we're also gonna have our men's conference again and it's probably gonna be the latter part of May but I'll give you the exact dates of when that's happening and how you can sign up for that but it was a great last year I can't recommend it highly enough for the future I'm most everybody was here who wait last year yeah almost everybody in here Kevin you were there you were definitely there okay I remember the tour guide remembers that you were there right so and he had a good time all right ask him about it okay and hopefully we'll have even some some other people show up and everything like that but I think our piano got me we we helped get at that forum let's go to our next song song number 120 song 120 Jesus save your pilot me saw 120 Jesus save your pilot me there on the first Jesus save your pilot me over lives tempest you see unknown ways before me roll hiding rock and treacherous y'all chart and compass come from me Jesus save your pilot me as a mother stills her child thou canst harsh the ocean while boisterous waves obey thy will when now says to them be still wondrous sovereign of the sea Jesus save your pilot me when at last I near the shore and the fearful breakers war tricks me and the peaceful rest then while leaning on the grass may I hear me say to me fear not I will pilot thee if you'd please turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter number three so Dylan's gonna read for us and we'll pass the operating plate acts chapter number three ball long as he reads the entire passage again that's Acts chapter 3 actually the Bible reads now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer being the night hour and a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called beautiful to ask alms of them that entered into the temple who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked in alms and Peter fastening his eyes upon him with John said look on us and he gave heat unto them expecting to receive something of them then Peter said silver and gold have I none but such as I have give ID in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk and he took him by the right hand and lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength and he leaping up stood and walked and entered with them into the temple walking and leaping and praising God and all the people saw him walking and praising God and they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him and as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's greatly wondering and when Peter saw it he answered unto the people he men of Israel why marvel ye at this or why lucky so earnestly on us as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob the God of our fathers have glorified his son Jesus whom ye delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go but ye denied the Holy One in the just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you and killed the Prince of Life whom God has raised from the dead whereof we are witnesses and his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong whom ye see and know yay the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all and now behold I want that through ignorance he did it as did also your rulers but those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should suffer he hath so fulfilled repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you whom the heaven must receive into the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began for Moses truly said unto the fathers a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me him shall you hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you and it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people yay and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after as many as have spoken have likewise foretold of these days he are the children of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers saying unto Abraham and in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed unto you first God having raised up his son Jesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities let's have a word of prayer Lord thank you so much for this night thank you for the opportunity to be in church we gathered together I pray now that you bless us church-servers that you would go past each other with the Holy Spirit to give a boldness to preach to us pray that you would help us all to be attentive to your words tonight and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So I've been doing a Bible study through the book of Acts and Acts is a really incredible book where we see the apostles of Jesus Christ going out and fulfilling the Great Commission going out and teaching all nations baptizing them and also teaching them all of the Bible and here in chapter number three we're kind of left off where in chapter two we had many people getting saved we had the day of Pentecost where Jews had come from all different parts of the world and they saw them speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance and they preached the gospel and they have a church that's forming in Jerusalem okay and it kind of even said in the verse number 47 of the previous chapter it said praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved so we have a church forming yet the church you know it's kind of interesting in these early parts because even though there's the New Testament Church and we see these things forming they still end up going to the temple and they still do things in the temple a lot of times they're evangelizing but notice specifically Peter and John in verse number one it says this now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer being the ninth hour now I don't know exactly what their motivation is to go into the temple at this time it could be that they just want to join in prayer maybe they still consider the temple a place to worship and a place to go and pray however in New Testament doctrine you know the temple is not really a physical structure that's supposed to be observed in the New Testament the church is different than that perhaps they were just going there because other people are going there and they just want to evangelize still they want to keep going where everybody's at and they want to preach them they're wanting to preach the gospel perhaps they just want to be around other Christians and that's just the one gathering place even though it's a mixed crowd because in the temple it's always going to be a mixed crowd now I don't know you know maybe you could find a place in the scripture to give me more clarity there but I'm not exactly sure what their motivation is but for whatever reason you know no matter what it is it's gonna be a good motivation you know whether that's their joining in prayer they're just meeting other fellow Christians or they're going there to worship God any of those things they're still seeking the Lord and trying to serve him and there's gonna be this kind of a shift in the New Testament where they're just figuring things out to some degree it says in verse number two though and I'm a certain man laying from his mother's womb was carried whom they lay daily at the gate of the temple which is called beautiful to ask alms of them that entered into the temple who sing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked and alms so in this beginning portion of Acts chapter number three we have Peter and John they're going to the temple at the time of prayer then we have a certain man who's at the gate and the Bible says that people just lay him there I don't know if that's his companions maybe it's someone that profits from him maybe it's someone that actually cares about him we don't know but this guy's pretty much laid at the gate every single day and he just asked for money okay and this guy's notice according to the Bible he's been lame from his mother's womb so that would mean that he was born with a birth defect okay now this is something that's really sensitive to a lot of people but I think as long as we just take a picture of what the Bible is teaching here it's not that big of a deal keep your finger and go to John chapter number nine John chapter nine but the Bible does teach that some people would be born with a birth defect okay now what is the biggest question across anybody's mind when this happens why right I mean if you're gonna say why would someone be born with a birth defect and look there's all manner of birth defects and especially even today there's many kinds of birth defects that people experience or have or have to live with and some people it's a result of sin you know the Bible could even talk about a woman who was with child two men could be striving together and they run in the woman and they cause some kind of a damage to the woman it could cause her to have a miscarriage or it could cause some kind of problem to the child you know through modern science we realize that women who consume alcohol during pregnancy could cause damage to that child or they smoke or they do a lot of things they could do to themselves that could harm themselves I saw a horrible Facebook post the other day some nurse was virtue signaling about getting the COVID vaccine and she said I'm 14 weeks pregnant but I'm still gonna get the COVID vaccine and then she had a post like a week later or a half week later saying that she had a miscarriage and you know it's like people just they like the virtue signal about all this medicine that's untested and then they suffer horrible consequences from that medicine or that trial and you know as much as I love you guys I love my children more FYI so if everybody if I am ever endangering every single person on this planet but my child's safe probably what's gonna happen okay and so at the end of the day like there's all kinds of things that people do to themselves that have consequences to their body you know just eating unhealthy or just being unhealthy could cause problems to the pregnancy and so it's there's there's probably a lot of times where someone is born with a birth defect where it's actually a direct result of sin but then there's the question is that always the case is every single person that's born with a birth defect a result of sin and some people would think this but the Bible actually shed some light look at John chapter 9 verse number 1 and as Jesus passed by he saw a man which is blind from his birth so we have another person who has a birth defect and it was from the very beginning says the disciples asked him saying master who did sin this man or his parents that he was born blind now first of all that's kind of a dumb question because how can a baby in utero sin like how can a baby in the womb have sin that's kind of a weird thing to say like is this guy born blind because he sinned it's like the answer that was obviously no okay but you could argue that a parrot could sin which would cause some kind of a problem to the child and maybe it could even be an unrelated sin maybe it's not even a sin that directly affects the body like maybe the father sins that has no impact on the mother yet God would cause some kind of damage to the child because of the father sin says that happened well how about David David had committed adultery and killed Uriah and God killed his baby because of that even though it wasn't a direct connection it was an indirect response and a consequence to David sin so to say that a child could not suffer from its parents sin is wrong that could definitely happen so they're basically asked this question okay so what happened here okay and maybe just because they don't want to say like what their parents do they're like did he said or the baby sin it's like the baby didn't sin right but look what Jesus answered verse 3 and Jesus answered neither has this man sinned nor his parents but that the works of God should be made manifest in them now again also this is not taken literally Jesus is not saying these people are sinless what he is saying is that there was no sin that's tied to this man's blindness it's saying they didn't commit some sin that caused him to be blind but rather God had wanted this man to be blind from his birth all the way up to this point and you say that's horrible that's awful like how could God have wanted someone to be blind from their birth all the way up why would God do this well notice what it says though that the works of God should be made manifestly he actually gets to be a great example in the Bible of a spiritual picture about all of us are blind until we get saved you know we're blinded to the the lust of the flesh and the things that are going on in this world and the light of the glorious gospel comes and shines into us and it opens our eyes and now we can see clearly so just like the picture some of those born blind their whole life is like us who are unsaved our whole lives and then the lights come on once we get saved and now we see the world through different lenses is that was a carnal picture but to picture what a spiritual revelation and so this man even though having to go through such a suffering of a long portion of his life he gets to picture you know spiritual salvation and you know it God ordained that that would be the case go through the Luke chapter number 16 Luke chapter number 16 and let me tell you this some people are born at great disadvantage than others some people where they start in life is way worse than other people okay and you know we talk about this world you know it's social justice right they just want everything to be so equal and they want to talk about all these people they're so underprivileged and you know all they were born with a disadvantage because of their skin color or you know where they who their parents are something like that and obviously there's going to be disparate disparity in this life no one can be born equally like obviously you can have better parents worse parents a better situation a worse situation in fact let's just being born in America is going to forge you more rights than being born in another country being born in Africa or being born in communist China or being born in North Korea and you know we're not going to try and have equality in this world because it's impossible the liberals and the left is today and our political leaders they claim that they want this so-called equality yet they weren't born in abject poverty they weren't born disadvantaged they were born with a silver spoon in their mouth they don't even know what they're talking about when they talk about all all these people or they're born with suffering because of their skin color it's a lie okay it's a lie that they went through it number one it's not a lie that some people are born in a worse advantage okay but here's what the real lie is this that being born you know with being crippled being born not having much money being born with a different skin color is somehow a disadvantage to you or makes you a worse person or you're worse off in life okay and let me prove this to you beyond any shot of a doubt look at Luke chapter 16 verse number 19 there was a certain man certain rich man which clothed in purple and fine linen fared sumptuously every day and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores now this guy sounds like our other guy doesn't he someone that's just laying at the gate okay it says in verse 21 and desire to be fed to the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table more where the dogs came and licked the sores and they came to pass that the beggar died you know what's sad about this guy this guy you know he never got a break our guy in Acts chapter 3 he ends up getting healed but Lazarus he's just this poor beggar laid at the gate he's got leprosy so it not only is he suffering you know cripply but or having some kind of physical disadvantage he's also sick you know and leprosy is a horrible disease that hurts it's painful and he just dies you say where was his you know his his good luck story you know where was his coming back story where is his triumph he didn't his physical life sucked everything about it sucked okay there was no good ending to his physical life only in the physical side yet there is a good ending for him because it says and it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom now where is Abraham's bosom well Abraham's in heaven okay and his bosom is his chest so he went straight from never being comforted his entire life to being personally comforted by Abraham himself now that's incredible okay cuz think he didn't even know Abraham like it's not like he grew up he just read about Abraham and then he goes straight to Abraham and Abraham's got his arm over him and it's like it's fine now buddy no more pain anymore buddy and he's in heaven that's great okay but you know what he got no relief in this life this life there was nothing I mean if someone looked at him they would say he's got the worst life on this earth but then guess what he goes straight I mean some of us may not even get to talk to Abraham wouldn't that be I mean now what I get to have it I hope I get to talk to Abraham that'd be pretty cool I mean this guy's in Abraham's bosom they're buddies you know they're pals I mean that's a privilege that's an honor he's comforted personally by Abraham okay what about the other guy well the other guy the rich man also died we say all this guy was so much better off I mean one guy's laying at the gate and he's got leprosy and he's full of sores the other guy got to fear sumptuous every day and they both died but wait a minute what happens next it says and the rich man also died and was buried and in hell he lived up his eyes being in torments now if we were to compare these two people from an eternal perspective who do you feel sorry for now the rich man and you know what this guy sounds like a politician because notice it said he fared sumptuously every day just every day was a silver spoon in his mouth every day was a great every day was a party every day was fun no problems no evil nothing bad to him but then guess what he lived up his eyes in hell and so it's weird that people don't have an eternal perspective they look at the guy that was born cripple that was born blind that was laying at the gate all day and say this got poor guy this guy you don't want to be that guy why would God do that to that man but wait a minute the guy that had all the riches what happened to him he went to hell the guy that was laying at the gate he didn't have anything to live for so you know what he probably got he got saved obviously and then he had something live for when he died now go if you would to Luke chapter number six Luke chapter number six you know it also says in this passage it says the rich man was crying unto Abraham and Abraham said son remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented so he's saying hey you got all the good things in this in that life in the physical life he only got evil things but guess what the tables have been turned and now Lazarus is comforted and you're in constant torment forever and ever and ever why because this life does not matter this life is not where you store up riches it's not about comfort it's not about it's not about paying it's not about anything it's about believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and getting saved and you know what the Bible has an opposite message than feeling poor and feeling down for the the people that don't have money feeling sad for those that are afflicted looking and saying oh man this guy has all these problems and all this evil and all this suffering and it's like you know what the Bible has a different message look what it says in Luke chapter number six verse 24 but whoa unto you that are rich for ye have received your consolation you know what the Bible says we should feel bad for the politicians today hey you know you should feel bad for is the guy that's born and riches you should feel bad for the guy that's talented you should feel bad for Tom Brady's son who's gonna be super athletic who's gonna have all kinds of money and accolades and his parents worship the devil that's who you should feel sad for you whoa unto the rich well unto the blessed physically well unto those that have money and riches and intelligence and they have all these talents you know what those are the type of people that are gonna reject God and have nothing to do with the Lord and you know what they're gonna die and lift up their eyes in hell but the guy that's born crippled or the blind or you know poor he might get saved and in fact they're more likely to get saved and let me ask you this question if I didn't tell you what the circumstances were but I said okay I have two buttons on the pulpit and you haven't been born yet you can press this button this button there's almost zero chance you're gonna get saved and you're gonna go to hell after you die for all of eternity this other button you're very likely to get saved and which button would you press you're like BAM and it's like okay you're gonna be really poor you're gonna be disabled you're gonna have no money and your life's gonna suck you're like I'm going to heaven and then you press this button you're gonna have tons of money no problems perfect health you're gonna be the the football quarterback I mean you're just everybody's gonna love you that's all vanity it does not matter and that's unfortunately what people are so fixated on they look at a child who's born at disadvantage and they say oh how horrible how awful at the kid that's born in disadvantage no how horrible is the kid that's born with advantage how horrible is the kid that's born rich how horrible is the kid that has everything that he could possibly want and just at a drop of a hat well order the wrench lower to the full what are those that have money and riches and success and all of these good things because you know what it's from the devil and it's distracting you from the things that matter in this life which are spiritual riches what does Jesus say but whoa unto you that are rich for you ever received your consolation whoa unto you that are full for you shall hunger well into that laugh now for ye shall mourn and weep he says well into you when all men shall speak well of you for so to their fathers to the false prophets you know we have a we have a mixed up mind today we don't look at the world from an eternity perspective we don't look at this world today from a spiritual perspective today but you know what it'd be much better to have been born blind and been laid at the gate full of leprosy then have been born a Pharisee and have been loved of men and praised of men and had all the accolades and had all the money and had all the riches and to reject the miracles of Jesus Christ then to be the guy that received the miracle of Jesus Christ and we were so backwards in our thinking we think oh man that's so horrible that that happened to him you know what's really horrible is the guy that was born rich but I don't see anybody you know talking about how horrible he has it I don't see what he talking about how awful that guy has in his life but you know what he's the one that you should truly feel sorry for he's the one if we were gonna really look at someone's life and say what's the worst life is that guy look at the Bible says what would either full those that are full they don't need anything you know you go knock a rich neighborhood you say hey what do you if you were to die today are you sure you go to heaven yep I'm good I'm full I don't need the gospel I don't need Jesus I don't need anything that's sad but you know what you go into the poor areas and a lot of times you say hey you want to know how to go to heaven they're like yeah cuz they don't got anything else to do they don't have they're like this place sucks you know so I'll say like I'm in hell right now and it's like you're not I promise but you know what there's a heaven that you can go to it's for free but you know what those that are full they don't need anything those that hunger are the ones that are true let's go to Matthew chapter 5 go to Matthew 5 you know we shouldn't be disappointed that someone's born hungry that someone's born empty that someone's born lacking you know you should be worried about those that are born full and those that are born not lacking and those that are born having all kinds of goods and you know what there's nothing wrong with having riches or talent or being successful or having these things but they can draw you away from the Lord and they can cause you to not accept the Lord and you know what it's hard for rich man to enter in the kingdom of heaven is what the Bible says you know what the poor are gonna enter a lot more likely Matthew chapter 5 look at verse number 3 blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are they that mourn for they shall be covered that sounds like Lazarus doesn't it blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your award in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were for you you know it's actually blessed if our church goes down as being one of the most hated churches in the world you know it'd be the worst thing that could happen to us everyone loves us oh people could look at our church oh you poor little Baptist in your little strip mall your little ghetto strip mall or whatever I'm going to Lakewood with Joel Osteen he can he can show me off his Corvette parked in the front he's so blessed no well and him you know what he's like we have a five-star review everyone gave us a five-star review you know we use a Dominion reviewing system and for every one positive review we get 20 more you know it's a really cool system how's the inside joke don't worry about it but it doesn't matter if the world likes us you know only matters if Jesus likes us it only matters if we're you know doing that which is right in God's sight and when you're doing things that are right in God's sight the world's gonna hate it the world hates the light the world hates those things that are good and we need to have the right mentality when we look at someone who has a disadvantage from birth we shouldn't look at it as oh man that's terrible you know what that person has great opportunity to be used by God greatly and they can be these men were greatly used by God and you know what I don't see how they can't be used by the Lord and all kinds of wonderful ways even just an example of someone who's used by God go if you would back to Acts chapter number 3 Acts chapter number 3 and so someone has to go through an experience like that yeah it's sad yeah no one wants their child to suffer no one wants their child to be born with disadvantage but let me tell you something that's nothing to fear what's the fear is your child being born with advantage what's the fear is your child being born rich with your child just getting every single thing that they want you know I hope that my kids don't get everything that they want I hope they have to work really hard for the things that they get I hope I don't just spoil them rotten because you know what then they'll be terrible people people that are terrible have everything handed to them and given to them they have to work for it they don't have to strive they don't have to struggle they don't have to do anything difficult you don't make someone a good person so let's do something difficult you know like drive across town when it's raining hey that'll build some character you know it's easy to go to church when you know there's a guest preacher and there's free food and it's sunny outside you know what when there's nothing special and it's pouring rain or it's cold or there's something hard you know and it's just the midweek and you've been having a hard hard week you know what that builds character today and you know what do something hard with your life don't do something easy the world's doing everything that's easy and they're destroying themselves you know what do something hard how about stand for the truth how about being a righteous person when no one's looking that's what really matters in this life look at Acts chapter 3 again and look at verse number 4 and Peter fastening his eyes upon him with John said look on us it's kind of an interesting statement since the guy's blind right look at me right look on us verse 5 and he gave heed unto them expecting to receive something of them now you know it's interesting these prosperity gospel preachers they're always like you know these these people that they came up to the stage and they got healed they would get healed if they really believed you know if they had the faith they would get saved now did this guy asked to be healed he asked for money okay he's not he's expecting to receive something but when it says that he was expecting to receive money he's asking for money and the guys like look at us he's wanting money he asked for money and then notice what he gets verse 6 and then Peter said silver and gold have I none you know I think I think in this guy's heart and immediately sank he's like it's probably gonna give me carrots or something you know it's probably gonna give me a sandwich or something you know he's like I've heard this before you know but he says this but such as I have give ID in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk now what do you think's better those few bucks or the fact that he says hey get up and walk and notice what the Bible says verse 7 he took him by the right hand and lifted him up and immediately it his feet and ankle bones received strength and he leaping up stood this guy didn't just just kind of go like this I mean he's never walked in his entire life ever never you know many times he's walked zero and he's coming up and he's just like yeah I can fuck he can walk he can't just what he can leap and notice whenever he finds out he can walk he's leaping isn't that incredible I mean think about this guy's never walked in his entire life now he's leaping I mean that's incredible he said and leap he leaping up stood and walked and entered with them in the temple notices walking and leaping and praising God this guy's so excited he's never walked in his life and he's just like yeah I can walk I mean can you imagine you've never walked in your entire life for years for decades you you you're just like you watch people just they're just walking all over and he's like why aren't you leaping bro you can he's like if I could walk I'm gonna leap and you know what he could finally walk and now he's leaping and he's rejoicing and he's joyful I mean what an incredible thing and you know this is a picture of salvation again because you know what we're crippled by sin our whole lives and then the moment you get saved you can finally walk and you know what it's sad that people can finally walk and they're not leaping for joy I mean when you get saved you should be leaping for joy today yet there's so many people it's like it's like they just don't even care they're like okay I'm saying cool can I go back to the world can I go back to Egypt now rather than being the guy that's notice as soon as he gets saved where's he going I'm going with you guys in the temple I'm praising God I'm gonna serve God hey I just got saved hey I just my feet have strength now I can walk he can go anywhere in the world where is he gonna go the temple where is he gonna go into the house of God that's where he's gonna go ain't what the correct response after getting saved is saying now that I'm saying I'm gonna serve God I'm not gonna go and spit I'm not oh now I can play in the Super Bowl oh now I can you know go to the world now I can go run around and commit fornication and do whatever and I can steal no no he says no I'm gonna go to the house of God now I'm gonna leap and praise God and do that which is right today and you know what us who were unsaved we were crippled by sin we could not walk we couldn't do anything because when you're not saved you can't do anything good let me prove this to you go to Romans chapter 6 go to Romans chapter number 6 and this is a sad reality because there's a spiritual picture here I think I said this guy was blind this guy was only lame okay this guy could see so he had seen them walking around okay I was confusing the other blind guy but this guy he is leaping and he's excited so you've seen people walk his whole life now what's incredible to me is not only could he walk physically he could mentally because you know our toddlers and stuff they they kind of have to figure out how to walk right they're kind of like you know weird at first but this guy God not only gave him the ability to like walk and stuff he already knows how to do it too because you know he's just instantly walking and leaping and just super excited I mean that has to be one of the coolest things to see right Romans chapter number six but this is what happens when someone gets saved you know it's they were like lame they were crippled they couldn't do anything and now all of a sudden they're saved now they can walk now they can leap and it says in Romans chapter 6 over 16 the Bible says know you not that whom you yield yourselves servants to obey his servants you are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience and righteousness but God be thanked that you were the servants of sin but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine was delivered you being then made free from sin you became the servants of righteousness I speak out to the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh for as you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity and iniquity even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness for when you were the servants of sin you were free from righteousness so I saying hey when you were unsaved you were a servant of sin you had no other option your option was a servant you were just lame from a spiritual perspective you could do nothing you were just a servant of sin and notice how it's worded in verse number 18 it says but then being made free from his city games I'm sorry verse 20 for when you were the servants of sin you were free from righteousness meaning what it was impossible for you to do that which is righteous so there was no excuse you have an excuse in the sense because you can't do it right you wouldn't look at someone that's lame and be like why aren't you walking around you know why didn't you stand up why don't you come over here you know why don't you do that he's lame he can't okay so he's free from walking he's free from doing anything physically and someone that now can walk though he's no longer free from being mobile he can be mobile okay and so those that were in sin they have an excuse as why they weren't being righteous they weren't serving God they weren't doing that which is right but now that they've been saved they don't have that same excuse anymore they're not free from righteousness anymore and the Bible saying whoever you end up obeying you're gonna end up being that servant now you have the option okay you can be the servant of whoever you want to now you have that freedom he says in verse number 21 what fruit had you been in those things wherever you're now ashamed for the end of those things is death but now being made free from sin and become servants to God you have your fruit unto holiness and the end of everlasting life night points of this thing if when you were a servant of sin that was unprofitable it didn't benefit you he's saying what fruit did you have what was the benefit what are you a proud of of your life when you run say what did you do that you're so proud of it's like nothing it's all worthless it was all vanity there's nothing good there so the question is why would I want to go back to that lifestyle why would I want to go back and live like I did under sin the same way I should do completely different now what's our example and I think that this picture helps you understand this relevance because you're saying okay what does this look like well it looks like this if that guy who had gotten healed by Peter and John he says you know stand up and he stands up his legs are healed he's completely ready to go he could walk he could leap he could do anything what if he then said thanks guys arms arms couldn't do that he could do that he could just stay and that same lifestyle that crippled lame worthless lifestyle and do nothing with the gift that God just gave him right but what do you do he got up and he was leaping anyone in the house of God and he started serving God you know what there's so many Christians today that they get saved but you know what they decide to stay laying for the rest of their life they say you know what I could go in the temple I could be leaping I could be praising God but you know what I'd rather just stay at the gate and have my same lame lifestyle and just be crippled by sin crippled by the lust of the flesh and crippled by this world and you know what do nothing for God and it's sick and it's sad and you know what there's no excuse for backsliding because you can walk today you can leap today and once you start serving God with your life today you know what there's so many Christians they show up at church they get saved or they get saved they come one time and they just go back to the world you're like this guy if he just decided just lay back down and beg for money and you know what I feel bad for someone that's asking money and it's legitimately crippled you know I don't feel bad for the guy who's not crippled standing at the corner begging money that guy's a loser that guy should be rebuked that guy shouldn't even be given a cent and you know what it's sad that Christians today they go back into the world and they won't serve God and they won't praise God and they won't leap for joy and they won't go in and serve the Lord you know you should get baptized after you get saved and you know what you should get into the Church of God you've been set free you don't have to be crippled anymore why would you be crippled anymore you know it's like hey you were stupid back then you thought that drinking alcohol was good you thought the fornication was great hey you thought the NIV was a good Bible hey you thought that Joel Osteen was a good preacher back then hey you thought all kinds of stupid things hey you thought cross-dressing was cool hey you thought bags are cool now that you've been enlightened why would you go back to that why won't you realize how lame and foolish and ignorant this world is why would you want to go back to that lifestyle oh money's gonna save my you know cure my problems no it's not covetousness and pride look all these things you've been enlightened you realize that it's foolishness you realize it's nonsense why go back to it it's just gonna destroy you and look what it says in Romans chapter 6 go back to verse 1 now because here's the question and I like going back on this because he says this what shall we say then should we continue and sin that grace may bow it's like shouldn't I just lay here and just ask for money it's easier easy Street right and in fact nobody probably even realized he was healed you know some people could be a really ungodly person some soul winner could come knock on the door get them saved at their house they could go back to work to the next day and the guy would never know that he's born again his co-workers his friends would never know and he could just go back and be in that comfortable lifestyle they get that guy everybody knew he was crippled if he just laid back down and just like kept asking for money people would be like keep giving him money and keep bailing him out and keep believing in that cripple I stuff but you know what he should start doing some different with his life you start being different and then knowing is he's a hypocrite now if he doesn't do something different with his life and you know what the Bible makes it clear that we should not continue in sin that God's grace would abound look what it says in verse 2 God forbid how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein know you not that so many of us as were baptized in Jesus Christ were baptized into his death therefore we were baptized with them by baptism into death the like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk and newness of life notice we should walk and newness of life guess what this guy's doing he's walking and leaping in newness of life he's never been able to go in the temple he's never been able to serve God and you know what the unsaved has never been able to serve God he was lame he couldn't do it he was free from righteousness but you know what as soon as he gets healed what does he do he goes into the temple he's gonna serve God he wants to walk and newness of life today and you know what there's a call to us when we get saved to walk and newness of life verse number five for we've been planted together and lightness of his death we should also be in the likeness of his resurrection knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin notice the Bible is hammering this fact stop serving sin you say hey pastor why do you preach so hard against sin what is the Bible saying should we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid and you know what he's talking to say dear he already told you about salvation Romans chapter 3 verse 28 therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law he already told you in Romans chapter 5 verse 1 therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ hey already told you in Romans chapter number 4 hey we're saved by faith and then he's like faith and faith and faith and faith and faith and faith and then he gets to Romans chapter 6 he's like should we continue in sin God forbid and you know what we need to reach the whole Bible today and we need preachers to get on Christian sins today and tell them to stop being lame you know I think of a Christian that won't serve God lame it's lame it's weak coward you know what you should be leaping and rejoicing that you're saved and you know what nothing that happens in this guy's life matters anymore because he can walk because he can leap because he's doing you know what his life was terrible before and you know what a life without God is terrible I don't care how good you think it is it's terrible there's nothing good about it don't feel bad for this guy you don't feel bad for the Pharisees in there that aren't gonna get saved feel bad for the Pharisees they're gonna reject the gospel from this guy you know what and once you get saved you know what you're set free from the deception of covetousness why are you going back and chasing money again then haven't you seen our church you know we're not chasing money here have you gone so many there's not you know it's not about chasing money why are you chasing the vanity of this world you know but people will go back and they'll they'll just live in the world and be of the world to destroy their marriages and they'll destroy their children's lives and they'll destroy their own lives and they'll destroy their brains and they'll just keep going back and you know what you've been set free you need to get back in a church I thought the song was I have decided to follow Jesus I have decided to follow Jesus I have decided to follow Jesus no turning back no turning back I thought that's what we sang when we came to church but isn't it interesting that people they can come to church and they can sing that song and then they just turn back and as foolish as insane and silly as it sounds for someone that's been crippled their whole life and now can walk to just go lay down again and pretend like he's crippled is the same in fact my opinion is worse for a Christian who gets saved starts serving God and then turns back it says nope I'm gonna go back to the world no I'm gonna stop going to church I'm gonna stop going soul-winning I'm gonna stop reading the words of life the Word of God the King James Bible I'm gonna stop praying I'm gonna go back to sin I'm gonna go back to drinking I'm gonna go back to being idiot you know what and God may just destroy you because of that if this guy just laid there maybe God would be like all right we're gonna lose your strength in your ankles again now you can't walk and it's silly how Christians do this today where they turn back today you know we should actually mean the things that we sing we're not singing here to impress men I'm not pressing anybody when I'm singing and it's not it's not a beauty contest you know we're not we're not swinging and swaying and we're not selling any CDs anything we try to give away for free and people don't want them all right but at the but look we need to realize as silly as it would for this guy to just completely just forsake all the good things happening that's what Christians do every single day go back to action number three go back to action number three you read these stories and you think oh I would never do that or I would be excited about it well here's my question how excited are you right now because you know it's better than getting physical salvation is spiritual salvation anyways well of course I would serve God if I was crippled my whole life and I got physically healed wait a minute you were spiritually crippled your whole life and then you got saved so how you doing don't tell me that you're gonna serve God show me show me that you're gonna serve God you know I think it's it's funny to me now especially but whenever I started this church there was somebody that came to our first service and he's like I'm so excited that pure words is finally here and I'm really excited about this church and I'm coming to every service and every soul winning time and I'm so excited I can't wait to get plugged in never saw him again and look that's not what I want but you know the people that talk a big talk are usually the ones that don't walk and it doesn't matter what you say all the end of the day like I would rather everybody in this church be like I don't even think I'm coming back tomorrow or coming back next week and then show up then everybody like we're all coming and then they don't show up talks cheap you know why don't you prove some things to me with your actions you know I'd rather the guy you know tell me he's probably not coming and then just show up every single time because I won't have my expectations high you know the guys I'm gonna be there and then it's just like gone you know like see ya look at Acts chapter number three verse eight and he looked being up stood and walked and entered with them in the temple walking and leaving praising God and all the people saw him walking and praising God and they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened him you know one reason the night knows because probably only guy leaping you know it isn't it incredible how people that first get saved they have so much zeal be nice if we could get zeal like that even after we're saved you know and you can you can get zealous again you can get excited you can get fired up you know in all areas of life even marriage some people think like oh after the honeymoon it's all downhill that's not true you know what you can enjoy your marriage even more in the future you can get those highs again and again you know you have to put an effort you have to get the right mental status and you know what you should strive to have the best marriage and the best Christian life and the breast friendship you should try to have all those type of things and you know what I like the guy that's leaping I want to be his friend I want to be around that guy but you know what I love this story because they chose God chose for this man to get saved to where no one could argue with it it's like here's the guy that's been born his whole life okay because it's funny when you watch these Charismaniacs on television which I don't really watch that much but I've seen some episodes every once in a while on YouTube or something they're always healing people these modern-day prophets right they're going around there being a Peter and a John and they'll walk up to guys and they're like oh my arms kind of hurting and they're like well come here stretch it out oh no it's not hurting anymore it's like it's so fake okay but here's the thing if someone just said I kind of hurt my ankle today and then they come up like oh now it's not hurting it's like nobody knows if that's real you know what the guy that's been crippled his whole life sitting at the gate who's never walked ever and then he's leaping through the door no one's like what happened they're like that's a miracle you know they know that that's a miracle and it's interesting how these charlatans never heal someone like that they never hear the guy that's never walked in his entire life they heal the guys just a little sore you know has a little bit of our maker whatever and all that adrenaline I guess of being on stage or whatever and I'm knocking him down or something that's not the real healing that's going on in this story this is legit okay and when Jesus rose from the dead he was stinking you know stinking Lazarus okay why because the miracles of God are real he's not it's not this like you know dog and pony show he's not just pulling things over the wool of people's eyes or anything like that he's not pulling the wool over people's eyes he's actually doing real miracles and this guy was really lame his whole life yet now he can walk and it's a great miracle and and some people get you know confused about the book of Acts and then today and they say okay so pastor Shelley are you gonna just start laying hands on the cripple and they're just gonna start walking tomorrow well if I could for sure of course why not right and you know I have nothing against praying for people and hoping that God could perform miracle or help them we have to understand is in the New Testament especially the book of Acts we see special miracles okay now again if every single Christian minister could just lay hands on people and they would immediately be healed of anything at any time would that really become a miracle that would just be like normal all of a sudden right in fact there wouldn't even be hospitals anymore there would be no need for a hospital or a doctor or medicine or any of those type of things because it would just become normal that they would just walk around and just touch just instant healing and just everything they would just think that there but here's the thing if there was some guy and he could just walk around heal everybody wouldn't they probably start worshipping him as God and someone who's not saved you know that could do that he for sure would claim the title of God would he because they tried to already and then even someone who's saved could get convinced you know what God used the disciples and the Apostles to have this special power because you know what he's already proved them that they're humble people and that when they do these miracles they're not going to take the honor and glory for themselves they're gonna give it straight to God aren't they whereas most people that would kind of get to their head they would start kind of thinking like oh yeah I'm some kind of a big shot here you know I'm kind of a big deal or whatever these guys are only pointing to Christ and they witnessed the literal death burial and resurrection so God's entrusted them with the ability to special miracles how do you know that well good acts chapter 19 for a second acts chapter 19 and this makes perfect sense with the Bible we see other prophets doing special miracles throughout the Old Testament we have to understand when you read your Bible it just zips through time like nothing I mean you you look at a verse and it just says 40 years later that was quick you know for me it was it was four seconds to them it was literally 40 years okay or you're just like fast forward four hundred and thirty years a new Pharaoh it's just like well that was quick you know and it's like you read it's like miracle miracle miracle miracle and you're just like man we're all the miracles that's what Gideon was saying wasn't he he's like where'd we all my miracles we have to understand is in the Bible is like miracle hundreds of years one miracle hundreds of years one miracle thousands of years okay then you get to John the Baptist who was considered the greatest man born among women according to Jesus Christ on mouth and the Bible says he did no miracle yet people say oh where are all the miracles okay they're a miracle because they're rare that's the whole essence of what a miracle is anyways okay and the Apostle Paul look at acts chapter 19 verse 11 and God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul says does this sound like what Paul does is just normal to everyone no it's special okay special means that it's rare verse 12 so that from his body were brought under the sick handkerchiefs or aprons and the diseases departed from them and the evil spirits went out of them Paul had such spirits like special miracles he could literally just with a handkerchief heal people like Charlatans of Dales just mail you the handkerchief but guess what you're not gonna get healed okay and if you go back to Mark go to back to Mark chapter 16 I'll show you where this is mentioned in the Bible and there's this modern-day fraud of the charismatic today they want to believe that they can go around and they can they can heal people and they can you know touch snakes and they can talk in foreign languages that no one knows or whatever but it's just a fraud today it's not what's really happening in the book of Acts what's happening in the book of Acts is undisputed when the guy walked in leaping was anybody doubting that that was a miracle and let me ask this question were they all saved no even the unsaved even the the reprobate could recognize that's a miracle there's no way to gain say this hey when they notice that Lazarus was written from the dead they weren't like that wasn't that didn't happen not a miracle no they're like we better kill Jesus otherwise everybody's gonna believe in him they're like cuz that's too legit that's too you can't argue with that okay whereas they curious maniacs no one believes them even their own congregation has a hard time believing them because it's not real miracles look a real miracle no one's gonna be like I don't know if that's legit or not everyone's gonna know that it's legit okay because God's trying to confirm his word mark chapter 16 look what it says in verse 16 he that believeth in his baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned and these signs shall follow them that believe and my name shall they cast out devils and my name cast they shall speak with new tongues they shall take up serpents and if any and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them they shall lay their hands on the sick and they shall recover so we see a lot of these things already being fulfilled in chapter 2 they speak with other tongues we see right here in the last portion they were gonna lay hands on the sick and they're gonna recover and notice it doesn't even say like if they really believe or if something you know it's just like they just BAM hands saved sick you know they're just nothing bad happens okay it just always recovered and it doesn't say that they get knocked over doesn't say they push them over which is the weirdest way to heal someone the Bible says the exact opposite okay go to James chapter five now you say do you not believe in healing pastor Shelley well look healings all over the Bible okay it's not limited to the New Testament but the special miracles that are mentioned in Acts are limited to that particular time it's limited to the Apostles and it makes perfect sense why I would be limited to the Apostles because they're the ones that are confirming the gospel they're the ones going out and preaching the gospel and look they're walking into a town where nobody's even seen this guy so they don't have Facebook ads okay they can't monetize their videos they can't like promote them they can't get a billboard like I can't you know I can't get a billboard they can't get a billboard right you know what God decided to do is supercharge their message so they walk into a town and they just start healing people that could never even walk and it's just like let's listen to that guy you know let's go find out what this guy's message is right hey this guy walked into town he could speak our language in there how did that happen you know like wow let's see let's hear what he has to say why because he wants the gospel to go in the whole world if I just walk into a four country speaking English and I can't do any miracle they're just gonna be like why you here you know like we don't like this guy but if I walk in I can start speaking their language and I can just start healing people miraculously they're gonna be like let's listen what this guy has to say and then I can do what preach in the gospel it makes perfect sense okay but today the modern day charlatan why would they want that power to heal people so they can have two Corvettes so they're gonna five planes so they have another helicopter so they can continue not preaching the gospel and not preaching salvation by faith it wouldn't make any sense look these modern-day Charismatics don't even preach the gospel ever and if they do it's a false gospel why would God honor them with the power to do miracles even if they could do a miracle if you have power of the devil you say oh it sounds like you're blasting the Holy Ghost now the Holy Ghost isn't in anybody that's preaching a false gospel I'm not afraid of that but you know what if someone gets healed in the New Testament the Bible says the exact opposite of what you see it a Benny Hinn crusade okay look what it says in James chapter number five and it says in verse number 14 is any sick among you let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of the face shall save the sick and the Lord notice this shall raise him up what do they do knock you down it's the exact opposite Benny Hinn's going around he's taking his coat off and flailing it at people and people like they're falling over and they're rolling on the ground they're barking like a dog that's not healing that's demon possession or it's fake or it's a charade it's cinema the Bible saying someone that's another deathbed and they're sick and there's no way they can get up it's possible that the elders could come and pray over him and anoint him and he could get up okay and look this isn't like the common cold okay this is like a serious illness here and it doesn't even you know obviously it's giving us hope here and you know I've done this and I will continue to do that and I believe in healing you know what don't tell me that I reject the Bible because I don't believe I have the special miracle power that Paul did you know who had that power Paul go back to action number three and I know I'm spending a lot of time in this first half of the of this chapter but there's so much good content cover here and you know what I also like this let's keep going in this chapter it says in verse number 11 is the lame man which was healed held Peter and John all the people ran together under them in the porch that is called Solomon's greatly wondering and when Peter saw it he answered unto the people you've been of Israel why you mark why marvel ye at this or why look ye so earnestly on us as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk now Peter and John get a lot of attention a lot of recognition everybody cares about them all of a sudden in fact they're all they're like looking at John and Peter with awe and notice Peter Peter's not like yeah I'm just cool stuff now guys hey you know he's not the Fonz okay and he's not even he's not even saying this I'm more righteous than you guys well I'm just so much more I'm so much more godly than you guys notice what he's saying he's saying it's not by our own power or holiness he says has nothing to do with me whatsoever nothing that's why God chose Peter that's why God chose John that's why God chose these men who are so humble that when everyone gives them attention everyone they finally get all the attention in the world they take none of it upon themselves zero and would look Peter's obviously a better person than lots of people okay obviously he's a more righteous person but notice he gives no credit to himself he's gonna give all the credit to God and you know what that's why God is gonna do that and you know what God will give you fame and recognition when you humble yourself and what were these guys doing we're Peter and John going out and saying hey how do you think we can get a lot of attention today how do you think we can get popular how do you think a lot of people to care about us what are they doing go on a prayer meeting they say let's just humbly serve God let's just go and pray and you know what God elevated them God elevates the humble quiet servant that's not going around drawing attention trying to seek for all this attention to come unto himself now he's just gonna quietly serve God and then God will elevate you in due time hey you serve God in private he'll put you in the spotlight you put yourself in the spotlight God will throw you away go to James go back to James go back to James and look at chapter number four this is an important message for everybody to learn and you know I've seen this time and time again I've seen people elevate themselves and now they're in the trash can and I've seen other people they didn't notice I noticed them quietly serving God and now they're being elevated now they're being lifted up James chapter number four look at number five do you think that the scripture saith in vain the spirit that dwelleth in us lust at the envy but he gives more grace wherefore he said God resisted the proud but giveth grace and the humble submit yourselves therefore to God resist the devil and he will flee from you draw nigh to God and he'll draw nigh to you cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts to devil-minded be afflicted and mourn and weep let your laugh to be turned into morning and your joy to heaviness humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up I like the verse that I started with he says do you think that the scripture saith in vain the spirit that dwelleth in us lust at the envy he's saying look your flesh it wants the praise it wants the glory it wants the recognition it wants everyone to look at you and say that you're so cool and you're such hot stuff and you're so godly and you're just so wonderful and just let's worship you now that's what the spirit wants or I'm so into the man spirit okay your flesh your flesh is wanting that is desiring and it's envious of these type of things you know you're supposed to crucify the flesh and subdue the flesh and to humble yourself and to serve God privately and you know what then God will lift you up but even if God lifts you up don't let that flesh come back out and say this is great isn't it just say you know what let's just keep giving the honor and glory to Lord don't let yourself get lift up even great men saw he was humble at one point then he got lifted up and you know what it still destroyed him because he let that envy seep into his heart and he couldn't stand David why because he wasn't still humble in his own sight go back to accept number three we've got a few more verses here to finish on look at verse number 13 the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob the God of your fathers have glorified his son Jesus whom he delivered up and denied him the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go be denied the Holy One in the just and desire to murder were to be granted unto you and killed the Prince of Life whom God has raised from the dead whereof we are witnesses now he's exposing their hypocrisy because what's interesting is they love the miracle they love the guy that got saved but you know what they reject the God that actually gave that miracle they killed the Lord Jesus Christ they killed the Prince of Life the the reason this guy got healed was Jesus they loved the miracle but they rejected the Savior that actually did it and he's exposing their hypocrisy and you know what you can't choose one some people they love all the good of God but they don't like the ugly they don't like the difficult but you know what it's if you can't pick one you have to choose all of it you know what if you want the free salvation you have to take the ugly cross and you know what if you want to be lifted up you have to humble yourself you have to take the whole package here and he's exposing their hypocrisy look at verse 17 and now brethren I won't that through ignorance he did it as it also your rulers also your rulers for those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should suffer he has so fulfilled so now I also like this Peter even though these people are super wicked they killed Jesus okay talk about sins all right that's a pretty bad one okay but notice Peter's giving them the benefit out he's saying you guys did it ignorantly even your rulers did it ignorantly because he's thinking like no way you would kill Jesus knowing he's Jesus right verse 19 repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you again the repentance there is not or from their sin it's from rejecting Jesus to believing in Jesus Christ to getting saved we already covered that in Acts chapter number 2 verse 38 he says in verse 21 when the heaven must receive until the time of restitution of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all his prophets since the world began now what's also interesting is Jesus Christ is waiting in heaven he's waiting until the restitution of all things and Christ coming and suffering and being crucified was preached by all the prophets so every single prophet was pointing to Jesus Christ death burn resurrection and that's the only way you could get saved Tim all the prophets give witness that through his name whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission of sins look every single picture in the Bible is about Jesus it's about us you know ultimately his gospel and what he's gonna do for us in some way some fashion and they were all pointing to Christ before and they're all pointing to Christ after because that's the one central event is the gospel of Jesus Christ it's the everlasting gospel it's foolish for anybody to believe there's multiple Gospels that's impossible there's one everlasting gospel and the Apostle Paul even brought the strongest curse he said if anybody preached any other gospel and you than that which we have preached let him be accursed so let him be an anathema maranatha there's only one gospel and it was the same gospel as preached at the beginning of the world all the way to the end of the world and beyond the world because it's the everlasting gospel Jesus Christ was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world don't tell me there's another gospel don't tell me there's another way to heaven there's one way to heaven it's through Jesus Christ and Moses did preach about him verse 22 for Moses truly said in the fathers of prophets shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me him shall you hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you and it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people now doesn't sound like a good thing look at verse number 24 yay and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after as many as have spoken have likewise foretold of these days year the children of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers saying in Abraham and in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed unto you first God having raised up his son Jesus sent him to bless you and turning away every one of you from his iniquities so notice they that Jesus came to his own people first and they got the gospel first and he wanted to turn them away from their iniquities but this is what I like about this and this one I kind of finished on I want to give you two more verses and I know it's a little bit it's a little late but you know what we're here all right go to Romans chapter 10 let's just get a big picture of this story okay what's a big picture of this story and I focus a lot at the beginning but let's think about the end part he's talking to Jews he's telling them how they crucified Jesus he's saying he did it ignorantly though and he's saying hey Moses preached about it Samuel preached about it hey every prophet his name and prophet preached about Jesus he preached the death, throne, and resurrection and he said all those guys were pointing to a very specific event now he's saying we're living it he's saying Moses is preaching about us and Samuel is preaching about us and David is preaching about us and all the prophets we're talking about now I mean what a time to be alive he's saying now we're living it you know what you're gonna be destroyed from among your people if you don't accept Jesus Christ if you don't accept the new prophet Jesus Christ okay but they already didn't and I mean if you talk about you know what's the worst way to reject Jesus how about crucify him you know that's a pretty bad way but notice they're getting a second chance and this might be argued like the third fourth fifth a hundredth time aren't they're already getting the second chance they're getting all kinds of chances God is a God of second chance God is a God of second chance and you know what most of these people are very unreceptive still the Jews were the hardest people to get saved ask Paul about it okay when we get to the end of Acts we're gonna figure out he finally figured it out the Jews were very resistant to the gospel but the Jews that crucified Jesus still got a second chance and you know what the Gentiles who are not even seeking after him they're gonna get chances and a second chance and they're gonna get all these extra chances to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and we have to think about this we do the same thing we get to be like Peter and we get to go out and we get to give people their second and the third and the fourth and their fifth chance even sometimes do a very resistant people to it people that are not interested in the gospel and you know what I love about this is we're doing the same things they did people that have already had all these chances and rejected I mean think about how many people go to church they've already had chances to kind of get saved or to do the right thing and they still haven't and then you're trying to reach them that's a hard group to reach is the people that think they're saved and are not and you know there's another hard group to reach the people that don't think they're saved and they're not interested and they're not coming to church they're not looking for God and you have to go out and find them they're not even interested look what it says in Romans chapter 10 verse number 18 but I say have they not heard yes verily there sound went all the earth and the words and the ends of the world but I say did not Israel know first Moses saith I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people and by foolish nation I will anger you but Isaiah is very bold and say that was found of them that sought me not I was made manifest in them that asked not after me but Israel he saith all day long I've stretched forth my hands onto a disobedient and gainsang people so notice he's saying all day long God is just constantly trying to reach his people with the gospel trying to give them chance after chance after chance but someone has to literally do that who is that Peter and John they're doing not only that he said he was made manifest into them that asked not after me I can't think of a better statement to summarize soul winning nobody's asking for me to come knock on their door no in fact we get the exact opposite the only calls I get are please stop knocking on my door you know I never get anybody like will you come knock our door today will you please come give us the gospel already will you please come tell me how to get saved already they call me they're like never come back you're so rude I mean they're just so resistant to the gospel and resistance to salvation resistant to the things of God but you know what God is giving them a second and a third and the fourth chance and go to 2nd Timothy chapter 2 this last verse I'm going to turn to but I love Peter I love John's attitude what did Peter and John say to them he says I know you you're ignorant you're ignorant you just don't even know and you know when we go out preaching the gospel we need to have compassion for the lost we have the attitude of Peter and say I know that you're ignorant and look I'm not saying I have to say that to them but you need to have the same you need to have that attitude of this guy's literally just ignorant this guy just doesn't know any better and we have compassion and look what the Bible says it says this in verse 24 and the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men at the teach patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will the apostles are going into a hostile world to preach a gospel to those that oppose themselves who are ignorant who are foolish who are unthankful they're resistant and you know what sometimes you get the guy who was crippled his whole life and he starts leaping and he gets all excited but you know what that's the rare one the majority are resistant unthankful they don't get it you know we need to be meek and go out and humble ourselves and say you know what I too was foolish one time I too didn't understand these things you know let me show you and help those that oppose themselves look who could oppose themselves more than the Jews that literally crucified Jesus that was a dumb thing to do is you had a believed on him in John chapter number three and four and five and six seven eight nine and they get all the way to 19 they crucify him it's like bro like come on and Peters just like all the problems are preaching about this you got to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you like this miracle so much okay let me tell you about a different miracle spiritual salvation repent believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you know what we need to look at people and not say oh you're just so stupid and I'm right and you're wrong we need to look at them and say they're ignorant and have the same attitude that Peter and John did and still preach them the gospel and still reach out to the resistant and still reach out to those that aren't looking and you know what your life if you're gonna be a soul winner is gonna be a life full of talking to people that oppose themselves that resist you and they resist the gospel they think that they're good they think that they're full they don't need you they don't want you they weren't asking for you that's their whole life that's their life you know people think all I'm gonna go so any every so excited that I'm there and they're just ready for me that's not the case you're gonna go out and you're gonna have to resist you're gonna have to go out and and push against the forces that are saying no go out and preach to a people that are gainsaying and preach to people that are resistant and preach to people that are ignorant and foolish and lazy and they're not asking for God we have to bring it to them on a silver platter and spoon feed it to them but you know what we need to do that meekness today and humbleness of mind and not thinking oh you don't want to hear the gospel today fine go to hell no because that might spoil their appetite for the next soul winner no we need to go out there and meekness never be rude to someone unless they're a fag you can be rude of them as much you want all right but when you go out you need to leave a good taste in their mouth and you know sometimes you may be you know a little blonde you may say hey look what you believe is not right and you'd go to hell if you continue believing that but I want you to go to heaven please think about that verse you know don't try to despite them or be like you're so you're such an idiot you're a fool I hope hell feels good you know whatever don't be mean like that and meekness love people and try to encourage them to believe the truth let's close in prayer thank you Heavenly Father for your gift of salvation I pray that we could have the same zeal love and appreciation as joy is that man who is healed from being lame and I thank you for those that are born in despair and born in poverty and born in lack and they receive the good things in the next life I pray that we would not look at our world with carnal eyes but rather look with spiritual eyes today and we see the things that matter are spiritual blessings and spiritual fullness and that we would not turn back to the world we not turn back to the beggarly elements that we would not become servants of sin again but rather we would crucify the flesh daily and we try to do our best to walk after you and not only walk the leap leap for joy and as we go out and preach the gospel we realize it's a it's a difficult task and there's so many people that are just not interested in there so many people that they're resistant to the truth and they're so they're so foolish that we would still love them and we care for them and we have the right heart we go out weeping bearing precious seed and you just bless our efforts and that we could give all the honor glory you in Jesus name we pray amen let's go to last song song 123 for the evening song 123 the Christians goodnight song 123 there in the first sleep on beloved sleep and take thy rest lay down my head upon my Savior's breast we love thee well but Jesus loves the best good night good night good night calm is thy slumber as an infant sleep but thou shalt wake no more to toil and weep thine is a perfect rest secure in deep good night good night good night until eternal glory lights the skies until the dead in Jesus alorize and he shall come but not in lowly guys good night good night good night only good night be loved not very well a little while and all the saints shall dwell in hallowed union indivisible good night good night good night until we meet again before his throne clothing the spotless Robbie gives his own until we know even as we are known good night good night good night god bless y'all have a good night you