This Bible study was recorded at Calvary Chapel
of the Finger Lakes and was taught by
Pastor Bill Gallatin.
This evening we're in the Book of Acts,
starting with verse 1 of chapter 11.
We have a blessing tonight.
Before I begin the study, one of our
missionaries from Austria is visiting and happens to
be my lovely niece, who serves in Milstadt,
Austria, in Spital, Calvary Chapel.
She also serves in the castle that we
do many of our conferences in every year.
She's here with us tonight.
She's going to share a little bit about
what God's doing in Austria, and you're part
of it because of your prayers and your
support in the ministry.
So, Celeste, why don't you come up here?
Hello, everyone.
My name is Celeste, and like Uncle Bill
said, I'm his niece.
And I serve in Spital.
Actually, I first went over March of last
year, or almost two years now, so almost
two years ago, to serve at the castle.
And I served there initially as the gardener
for the first year that I was there,
and I learned about plants and just about
God's grace.
He is just gracious that he would allow
me to be in such a place to
serve, and I couldn't be there unless people
back home were praying for me.
I'm studying in the Old Testament, the Book
of Nehemiah, and he talks about how the
Lord put a burden on his heart for
the Jewish people.
And then when the king sent him out,
they kept him there.
And when he was given just what he
needed, the necessities to go and be a
servant of the Jews, to rebuild the walls,
and he went out at night and assessed
the damages and then came to tell the
city what needed to be done.
And he asked for their help because there
was no way that one person could do
it.
And basically that's what it's like being a
missionary, that everyone has a part.
And as you read through Nehemiah, each person
had their allotted portion of work along the
wall, and that's every person in the living
body of Christ.
And so I'm just thankful for your prayers,
and a lot of you I don't know
because this has never actually been my home
fellowship, but a few of you I know
from retreats and whatnot.
But thank you for your prayers, and I
just encourage you, even if you don't know
a missionary personally, pray for one another.
It is vital to the body of Christ.
Like Uncle Will said, we cannot survive without
one another.
And so whether it be a missionary on
the field or someone just right there sitting
next to you, just commit to pray for
those people, because it's important and it's a
blessing for you to just watch God's faithfulness
in others' lives, because it's sometimes hard to
see in our own.
But I've been at the chapel, I was
at the chapel serving for a year, and
then I in May went over to help
Rod Thompson, and due to his wife, Rod
Thompson was serving in Subotica, Serbia for about
four years, and the Lord raised national leadership
up there, and they took over the church.
And so it's a thriving national-led church
there at Calvary Chapel in Subotica, Hungary.
And so Rod is now in Zsutol, and
our fellowship is really small.
Our core group would probably consist of about
nine people that are solid, that come consistently,
and then it fluctuates from 15 to 25
throughout the other studies.
And God is just doing a work.
The people that have been there since May,
I've watched these believers grow so much, and
it's been a blessing for me just to
basically put me on my face and realize
that I can do nothing without Him.
And as it talks about in John 15,
we have to be abiding in Him to
bear fruit.
And so if I were here working a
secular job, the thing would be that as
a missionary, I have contemplated this year that
that's my job, is to bear fruit for
the kingdom, and to serve and live this
fellowship that the Lord's brought me to.
And the language is difficult.
German is a hard language to learn, and
I have not mastered that yet.
But God's grace has taught me that if
I get...
I do the secretarial work of the church,
and clean, and I'm a live-in nanny.
The pastor and his wife, I just recently
had a baby three weeks ago.
And so, yeah, I do that.
And I work, like Uncle Will said, with
the castle a lot, with conferences coming up.
Growing in ministry is, I guess, the title
of a ministry that has been begun by
some of the elders of the church in
Europe, because it's just...
there's things going on, and Europe is dead.
And you are so blessed to have a
country founded on God's word.
And the culture shock for me is most
radically the fact that I watch people walk
around in such luxury, and don't realize what
favor you have from the Lord in this
country.
So, I don't go there.
But you are blessed.
And yeah, God's grace is upon this land.
And Austria is a hard place to be.
The people are very affluent.
And I think of the word...
referring to whitewashed tombs, because everything is so
manicured and beautiful, and it looks like they
have it going on.
And 75% of the children born in
that country are born out of wedlock.
There's a high rate of child molestation.
It's just...
it's pretty on the outside, but inside there's
just hurt.
And so, I would encourage you to pray
for the country of Austria.
There's only one Calvary Chapel there.
And we work really closely with the Baptist
Church in the town of Spital.
And there's...
we had just three weeks ago...
it's called Prochrist, and it's based out of
Germany.
But it's an evangelical crusade, somewhat like the
Harvard crusade that you guys have here.
And it was just beautiful.
It was exciting that we had it via
satellite.
And some people give their life to the
Lord.
And God is working that they're very conservative.
And we are viewed as a sect.
Anything that is not the Catholic Church is
viewed as a sect.
And they're really skeptical.
They're bred in fear of those religious traditions
and stuff like that.
So, just pray for the Lord to just
soften their hearts and open their eyes.
Reveal the truth of God's Word and His
love and grace for them, because it's available
to each one of us.
I guess that's about it.
I don't want to take up too much
time.
So, if anyone has questions afterwards and you
want to ask me, I'm totally open.
I'm sure...
I don't know if Frank shared here before,
but there's a Bible school at the college.
And I'm sure you've heard of it from
this school here.
But it's exciting.
We have about 40 students this semester.
And they all just are on fire for
the Lord.
And they have a heart to share.
And they come and they do outreach safely
on Saturday nights.
We go out in the city of Spital
and just talk to people.
And it's needed.
They're lost.
And so, yeah, if you have questions, you
can talk to me later.
God bless you guys.
The interesting thing about Austria is it's so
affluent, extremely affluent, but the number one cause
of death over there is suicide, with all
that wealth.
It exceeds cancer, heart attack.
The number one cause of death in Austria
is suicide.
And when you go over there, you've never
seen such affluence.
They have a law over there, there's so
much wealth, that you have to have a
car that is so manicured and so kept
up.
If there's a spot of rust on it
and you don't get rid of that, they
have a test, you have to get it
out of the country.
They don't even let you drive a car
with rust on it in the nation of
Austria.
And so, they sell them to Eastern Europe.
But it's interesting, the heaviness, as Celeste was
saying.
And as far as the gospel, Satan has
such a stronghold and all that affluence.
You can see why Jesus said it's easier
for a camel to pass through the eye
of a needle than for a rich man
to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
But the interesting thing is, then he said,
but with God all things are possible.
God's willing to save a wealthy man, and
he's willing to save a burned out hippie,
too, isn't he?
And a people like you and I.
So, let's open our Bibles to Acts chapter
11 and ask the Lord to bless his
word to our hearts.
Dear Heavenly Father, we pray that by your
Holy Spirit you would bring things out of
chapter 11 that might challenge us and minister
to us and strengthen and encourage us.
Lord, there's so much.
Lord, you're an infinite God.
And Lord, your revelation is so wonderful that
you bring to us through the power of
your Holy Spirit.
As you promised, Lord, the Comforter would lead
us into all truth.
And so, we pray now that you might
speak to our hearts.
Lord, may we be flexible to yield to
you and not just be hearers of the
word of God, but doers of the word.
May it stir our hearts to fall more
in love with you.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Peter has now discovered that God saved Gentiles
in Joppa.
The word has spread that he has eaten
with Gentiles.
And this is the thing that's so amazing
to me, that God doesn't extract the traditions
and the biases and the things that are
so deeply ingrained in us that have nothing
to do with biblical principles immediately, even though
we've been saved, redeemed, and filled with the
Spirit.
Now, this particular portion of Scripture is some
seven or eight years after Pentecost, after the
Spirit of God fell upon these men and
the apostles began to be used dynamically.
Now, previous to this, we do know that
there were isolated instances where God, according to
the prophecies of Isaiah, did bring the light
of the gospel to the Gentiles.
Isaiah prophesied it.
The Jews knew that.
But they still had this ingrained prejudice for
this other race of people down deep inside,
and we know certainly that God can extract
that with his love.
But you remember when Philip went to Samaria,
they began to respond to the gospel.
They weren't the pure Jews, and so we
do know that non-Jews were beginning to
respond to the gospel earlier in the book
of Acts.
We know that God had such a deep
love for Africa that that's the very first
evangelical missionary sent out was to this Ethiopian
from Africa, and you remember he sent Philip
down there for one man after he had
a dynamic ministry.
He said, now break it off.
I've got this powerful man that I love.
He's headed back to Africa, and I want
him to know me, and so he sent
Philip down there and evangelized that African of
the Queen Candace court in Ethiopia.
Powerful man with influence, so he went back
to believe in Jesus Christ.
But the Jew, for the most part, had
nothing to do with the Gentiles.
They avoided them like the plague.
They were considered unclean.
Now, they were to remain separate, but they
felt that the only way a Gentile could
come to salvation was if they converted to
Judaism first, and they didn't realize that the
gospel changed all that.
Paul, some 23 years later, you recall, in
Ephesians chapter 2, devotes a whole chapter after
this.
Now, much later, he writes the letter of
the Galatians, and he devotes a whole chapter
2 of the purpose of Jesus Christ coming
and breaking down or removing that partition, that
wall between Jew and Gentile, and then uniting
them as one new man in the body
of Christ through the Holy Spirit.
And so, all that Levitical and Mosaic institution
was done away with.
But there was something about eating in those
days that we don't do today so much.
Now, we do it in our home because
we assume that our immune system is developed
with one another, and that's been medically proven
that when you live with the same person
for many years, you both strengthen each other's
immune system.
That's the beauty of God's plan for monogamy
and staying together with one person, that automatically
you begin to strengthen each other's immune system.
And what they would do in those days,
when they would invite someone over, they would
just pass out seven plates.
They would have seven plates at a table
that they'd lean against and lie in an
inclined and very comfortable position, and they'd have
one big pot of whatever it may be
they're eating, whether it be the meat.
Then they'd have the pizza, the bread, one
large piece of bread, and they would all
partake from the same loaf.
And you see, what that was symbolically saying
was that they were all being united together,
being strengthened and becoming part of one another
by eating from the same loaf.
They would just take a piece of bread
or the pizza, break it off, they'd dip
it in that lamb with that butter and
that olive oil, and then they'd just kind
of just soak it in there and take
a piece of bread, and they'd wrap it
around that meat, and they'd just bite out
of it, and then put their own mouth
upon that, not worrying about the other person.
They'd all just dip, keep dipping back in
that one bowl, and then eating together, and
all partaking and getting sustenance from the same
loaf.
And it's interesting, Jesus used that analogy when
he broke the bread and said, this is
my body, take and eat.
And as he was symbolizing that he was
that bread come down from heaven, that all
the church partakes of together, and it sustains
us and gives us life.
But see, when you partook of the same
loaf, you became part of that person, and
that person became part of you.
And so, in the Jewish mind, if you
went and you ate with a Gentile, you
became one with a Gentile, and you see,
that was absolutely wrong in the mind of
the Jew.
You were unclean.
In fact, they began to spread the story
about Jesus Christ, to remember, and oppose him,
because he, they said, he eats with the
publicans and the sinners.
He becomes one with the people, because he
eats with them.
Well, they avoided that like the plague.
In here, you're going some eight or nine
years after the day of Pentecost, and the
Jews were sharing their faith, sharing the truth
concerning Jesus Christ, but not with the Gentiles.
They just, they ignored them.
Now, this is what's amazing to me.
It didn't bother God that much.
I mean, he just went ahead saving Jews,
and in God's perfect timing, he was going
to open their eyes, and the way he
did it, first of all, was with the
Apostle Peter, and even Peter had to be
shown, you remember, by the sheep that was
lowered, and God said, you know, that which
I call clean, don't you call unclean, and
he dropped all manner of beast and creeping
things, bugs and worms and toads and all
these other things that Gentiles would eat, you
know, and drugs, but not the Jew.
And Peter said, not so, Lord, and Lord
said, I say eat that which I call
clean, don't you call unclean, and he was
actually symbolizing the Gentiles were clean in his
eyes, and you can eat with them, and
you accept them because God has accepted them.
Well, here we have the situation, and the
news certainly spread fast back to Jerusalem that
the Apostle Peter had partaken bread and eaten
and mixed and come in contact with Gentiles,
and they were really concerned about that.
You know, I had a, well, I think
I need to share this.
I remember when we first got here from
California, there was a group of Catholic believers,
and they were true believers, beautiful people, up
in Hilton, and I'll never forget that they
had heard that something was happening down here,
and we had been on the radio, and
somehow they got in contact with us, and
some of the people from that fellowship began
to come out here to Victor and fellowship
with us, and then go back and share
how, you know, the Lord was blessing, and
before you know it, I was invited to
come up to Hilton, and they wanted me
to teach the epistles of Peter, these Catholic
believers, true believers, and we had a wonderful
time together.
It's amazing.
As God's Spirit blessed and ministered, and we
fellowshiped together, and at dinner, I think, just
the spur of the moment, at the end
of the study, it lasted maybe about nine
weeks, and we got to the end of
the Apostle Peter, and we all just fell
in love with each other, and then I
said, well, there's one thing we have to
do before we call it quits, and before
we head back to Victor, and we may
not see each other again until glory.
We're going to break bread together, and those
poor people got so frightened.
You just felt the Holy Spirit grieve and
just say goodbye because of their fear, because
of the way they'd been taught about the
Eucharist.
They were afraid, and they would not break
bread with us because they were frightened, because
the priest hadn't blessed them, and we had
the liberty.
We knew that they didn't have the freedom
of the liberty, and so rather than create
any kind of a ruckus, we just said,
oh, praise the Lord, but I can remember
that to this day, the fear that they
had because of the way they'd been taught.
Here they could not break bread with us.
They were so afraid, and God doesn't change
the person that quickly, yet they were true
believers, and they just had not been given
the enlightenment yet.
They hadn't been in the woods long enough
yet to realize, well, here you have the
same situation.
You have Jews coming up out of a
powerful religious system with a lot of rules
and regulations and a lot of ritual, and
then they apprehend the freedom all of a
sudden of the blessed Holy Spirit, that it's
faith in Christ, and then to be able
to go beyond those things.
Well, they called Peter on the carpet.
They said, you know, we want to talk
to you, and so the apostles and the
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.
Boy, they want to know, you know, they're
really going after Peter.
Do you realize what you've done?
Now, isn't it amazing how a person can
be mentally blocked thinking that the grace of
God only goes to one race of people?
How tragic to think that the grace of
God is only designed for a certain race
of people.
When it plainly states, and Jesus made it
very clear, that you see that Jesus Christ,
God's Son, came for the sins of all
the world, every member of the human race,
because again, the beauty is that God's created
us all.
He's got this blessed design that he just
straightens us all out from all these different
races and all these different cultures, as different
groups of people after the flood began to
congregate, and they began to adapt, and then
the different little traits of maybe one family
began to lock in, and that family would
be married, and it would begin to grow,
and it would lock in the genetic code,
and then you'd get the slant of the
eyes or the color of the skin or
the texture of the hair or the height
of the body, and all these magnificent things
that God had designed, and yet they all
came out of Adam, and it was all
God's beautiful creation, and Jesus Christ came to
redeem us all.
It's for whosoever, and so he's going to
show them now.
He's shown Peter, and again, Peter's the vulnerable
one, the one with the powerful personality.
He's the natural leader, and this is interesting,
too.
Paul hasn't gotten, even his ministry hasn't begun
yet.
That's another interesting thing.
Remember Paul, he's been to Damascus three years
in the Arabian desert, getting the whole revelation
of the church like none of the other
apostles, comes back to Jerusalem, and then Barnabas
takes him down to Caesarea, puts him on
a ship, and sends him back to Tarsus,
his hometown, and so this is some seven
years later.
Paul's ministry hasn't even begun yet.
He's still being trained, the great Apostle Paul,
so at this point, the Apostle Peter is
the one kind of has taken the leadership,
and that's what I find interesting also.
Sometimes we are in such a hurry.
You know, God has touched my life.
He's baptized me with the Holy Spirit.
I begin to apprehend a little bit of
doctrine.
I'm saying, Lord, why aren't you using me?
Well, even the Apostle Paul had seven years
of training after his experience.
His ministry hadn't begun yet.
In fact, we'll find out here tonight that
not only did he not lead, but he
assisted Barnabas for a year.
It wasn't God's timing yet.
He was still preparing Paul, still teaching Paul,
preparing him for that ministry, just as he's
doing some of you.
So when Peter would come up to Jerusalem,
they that were of the circumcision contended with
him, saying, Thou wentest into men uncircumcised, and
didst eat with them.
You ate with a Pentecostal.
You went out and you went to a
Catholic retreat, or you went to a Protestant
retreat, or you went somewhere with a Baptist.
It's amazing how petty we can get.
It doesn't bother Jesus to fellowship with anybody
like that, if they know him.
He's willing to reveal himself to anybody.
And he has the love, you see, that
overcomes all that.
Perfect love casts out all fear.
Now certainly, once you know the truth, we're
to walk in the truth.
We don't lower the standards.
We don't compromise the truth for fellowship.
We don't stand back like some Pharisee and
say, you know, you're unclean.
Jesus is willing to go anywhere if he
finds a heart that's open and willing.
So Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning
and expounded it by order unto them, saying,
Now again, he's going to relate the whole
situation, what happened to him, by his own
experience.
And sometimes, isn't that the greatest way to
teach?
And have you ever wondered why you've gone
through something in particular?
And maybe you don't know yet why.
Why did God have me go through this?
Because maybe one day soon, you're going to
share that experience with someone else.
It's going to edify them and strengthen them,
minister to them.
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.
Now, it's interesting, God does take people into
trances and give them visions.
One of the interesting things, God took me
into a trance, I recall, as a young
Christian and gave me a vision of what
he was going to do in a way
back here.
Now, he didn't show me everything.
And it's interesting to me that this was
some 20 years ago, and I haven't had
anything like that since.
I have had many dreams.
God does speak to us with dreams.
In fact, he prophesied, you know, remember in
Joel, that when he would pour out his
spirit in the last days, his young people
would prophesy, they'd have visions.
And the only sad part about that prophecy
is that the old men would have dreams.
But he has spoken to me and directed
me by many dreams, and he also gives
the interpretation.
It's an exciting thing, and he does it.
But as far as visions and trances, he
does do that to guide people, to direct
people, to bless people, and it comes unexpectedly.
Never, ever was anybody seeking a vision or
looking to go into a trance when God
did it.
It was unexpected, but just something on the
spur of the moment when God would just
invade and step in and give a tremendous
blessing of something he was going to do
in that life.
But in my own particular life, I had
several in the beginning of my Christian experience,
but since then I've had none.
It's just God has spoken to me in
a marvelous way through his word and directed
me day by day, just by the word
of God.
So, Peter's saying, well, that day I was
on the roof in Joppa praying.
I was in a trance, and I saw
a vision.
A certain vessel descended, as it had been
a great sheet, let down from heaven by
four corners, and it came even to me.
So all of a sudden, God just lowers
out of heaven in a vision as Peter
goes into a trance, this scene.
Upon the witch, when I had fastened mine
eyes, 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."
Now, that's interesting.
What God was saying here, you can eat
like the Gentiles now.
Peter's saying no, and I have never done
that in my life.
Now, what's interesting, Peter doesn't realize the state
of his own heart, that he's still got
a prejudice toward Gentiles and a fear of
what other people may think.
The interesting thing is, Jesus, I think, back
in Matthew 15, verse 11, says, that which
enters into the mouth is not what defiles
a man, but that which proceeds out of
the mouth.
That's what defiles a man.
And then he teaches in another place, you
see, the things that are in the heart
can fly out, and the defilement comes out
of the heart, that deep-seated thing in
the human being, and out of the mouth
it can fly.
And Jesus said, that which goes into the
mouth can't defile a man.
You're not going to be defiled by what
you eat.
And Paul, you remember, instructed Timothy that everything's
sanctified by the word of God in prayer
when you eat something.
God's created it all for our good pleasure.
And the amazing thing is, I've watched some
tremendous, tremendous National Geographic specials and NOVA specials
on television, and it's amazing what some of
these people in the jungle eat.
But you know something?
They look squirmy and crawly and revolving, but
I'll tell you, there's more nutrition and they're
healthier than Doritos.
But it's amazing what we eat.
They do a lot more for those people
than Hershey Kisses and Pepsi and potato chips
and Doritos.
But gee, how could they eat those things?
And they're loaded with protein and good rich
stuff, because all those bugs eat is leaves.
No fat in them, just pure protein.
But it's just, oh my gosh.
And it's like their mouths are watering after
they throw them in the fire and wrap
them in the leaves, these big, long, you
know, caterpillars.
And they just drop them in their mouth,
you know.
And then the tough thing is, sometimes they
bite them in half and the stuff oozes
out of them, you know.
And you go, how could they enjoy that?
I'll take a Dorito any day.
But it's not as good for me.
The amazing thing is that it's good for
you.
Peter's saying, not so, Lord.
And there again, there's just something that's mutually
exclusive there.
Not so, Lord.
How can you say to your Lord, no.
He's not your Lord.
But then again, the patience of the Lord.
He says, after he said that, the voice
answered me again from heaven.
What God hath cleansed that call not thou
common.
You see, God's willing to cleanse us all.
God by Calvary, sending Jesus Christ to the
cross, has cleansed the human race, as far
as he's concerned, and whoever will come to
him is cleansed.
It doesn't matter where they're from, what they've
done, what they look like, what their race.
God's cleansed us.
And it's all through the blood of Jesus
Christ.
All been accomplished on Calvary.
You can be cleansed tonight because of Jesus
and because of God's love.
But God has cleansed that call not thou
common.
You know, Jesus said he was concerned about
people that would say raka, or refer to
somebody as a fool, or look down on
someone with a demeaning manner.
There's no human being that's treated like that
by God.
Even the foulest sinner, God would desire that
they would repent and turn to him and
have their sins forgiven and have eternal life.
You see, he's willing to cleanse and we're
all filthy, aren't we?
Anybody here that really thinks they're cleaner than
someone else?
You can't.
After you've experienced the grace of God and
you realize what a filthy sinner we really
are, how can you look at someone else
as more unclean than ourselves?
We've been cleansed by the blood of the
Lamb.
That's the only thing that makes us clean
now, is that the righteousness of God has
been imputed to us through Jesus Christ, and
he looks upon us as clean.
We're far from perfect.
We still sin.
We sin enough every day and we don't
realize that they would cast us out of
heaven.
The mere fact that you have not yielded
to God 100% today in your own
life is enough to cast you out of
heaven, if it weren't for Calvary, a created
being that was brilliant and beautiful and wise.
His name was Lucifer.
He did not yield to the will of
God and it got him cast out of
heaven.
We do it every day and don't even
give it a thought.
We call him Lord and we don't even
yield to him.
We still plan our own day.
We still do what we want to do,
yet we call him Lord.
Because of Calvary and the cross, he continues
to love us and show us favor.
He's anything but our Lord.
There's not a person here in this room
tonight, myself included, that somewhere during this day
I've done what I've wanted to do out
of God's will.
He hasn't smitten me, but that got Satan
cast out of heaven, not yielding to his
Lord.
It's nothing but pride.
Self-owned pride.
I can't identify it.
I'm not willing to face myself and I
think I know better than God.
I'm going to learn things, but he accepts
me and loves me because of Jesus.
And so what God has cleansed, call that
not common.
And this was done three times and all
were drawn up again into heaven.
Now, the very next verse probably shows us
why God did it three times, because there
were, as far as Peter was concerned, three
unclean men coming.
They were going to be standing at the
door of the house.
Notice, and behold, immediately there were three men.
These were the Gentiles from Cornelius's house.
They already had come into the house where
I was sent from Caesarea unto me.
So more than likely, that's why God did
it three times, because three men in Peter's
mind that would be considered unclean were coming.
God said, they're not unclean.
I have sent an angel to their house
and these were two servants, household servants of
the Roman centurion, plus a very high-ranking
officer in his entourage, maybe a general or
lieutenant colonel from Cornelius's house.
And so the three of them, under the
instruction of the angel, came down seeking Peter.
And so more than likely, that's why the
sheet was dropped three times to put that
in Peter's mind.
There's going to be three men that are
not unclean, in my eyes, knocking at your
door.
You receive them.
And the spirit bade me go with them,
nothing doubting.
Moreover, these six brethren accompanied me, and we
entered into the man's house.
So Peter, on his way, got six of
his friends, six believers, with him, and off
they go.
And they went to Cornelius, or the centurion's
house.
And he showed us how he had seen
an angel in this house, which stood and
said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and
call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who
shall tell thee words.
Now, it's interesting, it's just the simple gospel.
Not give thee some kind of a routine
or a ritual to go through, but just
tell thee words.
The simple gospel of Jesus Christ.
Whereby thou and all thy house shall be
safe.
God's not just willing to save an individual,
but every individual in the house, the whole
family.
And I can stand here and say that
God has honored that.
If God can touch one life, and that
one life will yield, God guarantees the rest
of your family will be safe.
But it's important that when He touches you,
you yield.
You believe.
And God promises He'll save the whole house.
That's a promise you can plead.
You recall in Joshua chapter two, the harlot
Rahab living in Jericho.
The news was on the way that this
group of people, these people that escaped Egypt,
God was the mighty God of the Jews.
And here they heard that they were on
their way, and all of a sudden they're
right across the Jordan River.
And the two spies are sent in, you
recall.
And she hides them.
She'd heard some of the stories from the
caravans and the traders coming through the Sinai
desert, and the story of the tremendous miracles
and the power of the God of these
people.
And she'd already been believing in her heart,
saying, you know, this is the true God.
And so she hid the spies, you recall.
And they said, well, because you've done this,
if you will do what we tell you,
not only will we save you and we
come and destroy this place, but we'll save
your father and your father's house.
And she pleaded that.
She interceded and said, will you really do
this?
And if you respond to what we're telling
you, when destruction comes, not only you, but
your whole house will be saved.
And God did it because she responded to
what they told her.
You remember later on, when we get to
it in Acts chapter 16, when Paul was
in the jail in Philippi, remember the earthquake
hit.
And God, instead of God, like he does
with Peter in this chapter, uses an angel.
He sends an earthquake for Paul.
And so the thing collapses and the dust
clears.
And you remember the jailer's going to kill
himself because, according to Roman law, if your
prisoner ever escapes, you take his punishment.
You will die.
And he knew that no sane man, after
the way he tortured them, would stay after
the jail had collapsed and he had the
chance to escape.
And as the dust settled, plunge the sword,
the Roman sword, into his own chest and
kill himself rather than be punished by Rome.
He heard this voice out of the darkness
say, stay, stay here.
Don't kill yourself.
We're here.
And it was Paul.
He preached the gospel to him.
He forgave him for the beatings he received
as a cruel jailer.
And the man was overwhelmed that someone would
forgive like that after the way he was
so truly treated, when he had the opportunity
to escape.
And he was just astounded.
You see, the work that God can do
in our hearts to forgive, to forgive our
greatest enemies.
And you remember, he said, well, what must
I do to be saved?
What do I do to experience what you
are?
I've never met anybody who would forgive like
that and express the love of God what
can I do to be saved?
Paul said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and you and your whole house will be
saved.
Now, as Paul just saying, you know, just
some mental gymnastics with a few words, Jesus
come into my heart.
I think there's a cheap grace being given
in the church today and people don't understand
what really believing means.
Believing means a sense from the heart, a
willingness to change and yield to God and
make him Lord.
I yield you.
You're my Lord, my Savior.
And it's not just some words with my
mouth.
It's some automatic thing is going to take
place now because I recite some words.
No, there's a change taking place.
I'm yielded and the Spirit of God is
changing me to such a powerful degree that
it affects my house.
And they respond to God honors it and
he saves the family.
It's got to go deeper than the mind.
Real belief is active.
It's not passive.
The Greek word is an active tense, which
means there's an activity.
There's a response.
There's a life that follows my declaration that
I'm living, and there's fruits of repentance that
can be seen.
It is not passive.
It's active and it's visible.
And it's so visible and it's so delightful
and so real that the rest of the
family wants it also.
God honors that.
That's what believing really is.
Rahab lived it, proved it, God honored it,
and the Philippian jailer, and I can stand
here and say it happened in my house.
Every member of my house, my family.
Not only my personal house, but it's spread
out beyond my house to relatives that don't
even live with me.
God honors it.
God is faithful to his word if we
truly believe and yield to him.
And really, how wonderful is it?
It doesn't say to strive or strain.
It just says yield.
How difficult is it to yield?
That's such a beautiful word.
Yield.
I yield myself to you, Lord.
Just respond to you.
God says, I'll save your whole house.
They'll begin to see what I'm doing in
you as you yield to me and they'll
desire it.
There's nothing, there's no substitute, no manufactured thing.
There's no pleasure in that world out there
that can duplicate what I'm going to do
in your life and they will see it
and they will want it.
But they need to see it in your
life.
And your whole house will be saved.
Now, what was the thing they saw?
What did the Philippian jailer see?
The overwhelming manifestation of love and forgiveness toward
someone that he was very cruel to her
and mocked and treated terribly.
You see, he was referred to as nothing
but a dirty Jew in a jail and
he had a death sentence.
He was on his way back to Rome.
He could care less if he ever lived.
He's getting paid to be a guard for
the Roman Empire.
That's his paycheck.
He's nothing but this scum, this Jew, thrown
in jail.
And he treats him cruelly.
He could care less about him.
And then to be treated with such love
and forgiveness and to have his life saved
by a man who said, you know, if
I wanted retribution, you're dead now.
Paul could have walked out in the darkness
and the dust and disappeared and that Philippian
jailer would be a dead man.
And Paul, you see, wasn't the type of
man that would feel good about it.
He saw a lost soul.
He saw someone who was damned who needed
Jesus.
And see, Paul was so thankful for his
own redemption, he dedicated the rest of his
life just to leading people to Jesus.
He says, to whom much is forgiven, that
person loves much.
And Paul experienced it and he wanted others
to experience it.
As I began to speak, the Holy Ghost
fell on them.
Here's this marvelous grace of God.
And Peter didn't know this was going to
happen.
He had no idea, no clue.
And this is what's so wonderful, too, because
I have had so many cases where someone
just says, you know, I was just sitting
in a Bible study and I got baptized
in the Holy Spirit.
I just felt the Holy Spirit come on
me and all of a sudden, there it
was.
God just does it.
And I love it when he does it
that way.
You know, there's not some routine that you
have to go through to receive the baptism
of the Holy Spirit or the blessing of
God.
He is sovereign and he just decides in
a moment, an instant, just to bless you
when you least expect it.
But it's interesting, they were listening to the
word of God.
They were hearing the word of God.
And Peter probably was just as shocked.
He wasn't even giving a teaching on the
baptism of the Holy Spirit.
He was preaching the gospel, sharing Jesus Christ.
And then the Spirit fell upon them, just
as at the beginning.
And then remembered I, the word of the
Lord, how that he said, John, indeed, baptized
with water, but you shall be baptized with
the Holy Ghost.
So here's a text that shows you there
are two distinct baptisms.
There's a baptism of water and there's a
baptism of the Holy Spirit.
An important thing that God wants you to
have.
Now, this is another interesting thing, too.
He says, I remembered, then I remembered what
did Jesus tell the apostles in John 14?
I think it's verse 26.
He says, when the comforter who is the
Holy Ghost shall come, whom the Father will
send, he will lead you into all truth
and bring all things to remembrance that I
have said unto you.
And here's a living example of here.
My gosh, Peter didn't have to worry about
all of a sudden, I've got to remember
everything, I've got to remember everything the Lord
says.
No, the blessed Holy Spirit brought it to
him.
And I'll bet you, I don't know how
many times, the Holy Spirit of God has
probably brought something to you and you haven't
even realized it was the Holy Spirit.
You've gone out in the car and you're
out in the driveway and you go, oh,
I forgot.
And you pull back in and you don't
even thank the Lord.
Well, you think there's some kind of mechanism
in the brain called the memory bank or
remembrance mechanism that's automatically always there because you
forget something God says on it?
No, it's the Holy Spirit and we don't
even give him the glory you're thanking for
it.
Or you're sitting there and you just make
your bowl of popcorn and you turn on
the TV and you hit the button and
it says 15 to 7.
And you're just getting ready to relax and
start really chowing down and go, I'm supposed
to be in, oh, I've got 20 minutes.
And you turn the TV off and out
you go and you make it on time
and go, man, I'm glad I remembered to
be here.
And you don't even thank the Lord.
You don't even know where it came from.
It's the blessed Holy Spirit bringing all things
to our remembrance.
Or when you're sometimes so depressed or you're
just sitting in the car and it doesn't
seem like things are going so good and
all of a sudden the Scripture starts.
Some Scripture just comes to your heart.
Just all of a sudden it's in your
mind that still small voice brings a Scripture
and it's the Holy Spirit saying it to
encourage you.
And 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?
I'm going to say you can't do that,
Lord.
You can't love Gentiles.
You can't baptize someone in the Holy Spirit.
We don't believe that in our church.
You can't do that.
Yes, you can, you see.
How are you going to stop it?
God is so sovereign and so powerful and
he'll pour out love on someone that we
don't even want them to love because we
don't love them.
I've watched that bother people.
God begins to love people they hate.
You're not supposed to love them, Lord.
I don't like them.
I don't want you to bless them.
I'm not going to be happy until they're
miserable.
And then God loves them.
And sometimes God does it just to spite
you, you know, and spank you.
Because he loves everybody.
And it's a gift.
You remember how easy it is to receive
the Holy Spirit.
You receive him by faith.
Remember in Luke, I think chapter 11, verse
13, Jesus said, If you being evil know
how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more does your Heavenly Father want
to give you the gift of the Holy
Ghost?
And it's a gift.
He doesn't expect us to earn it.
There's no routine or ritual.
You don't have to stand in line.
No one has to hit you in the
forehead.
You don't even see that in the book
of Acts.
It's amazing what the church does today to
try and get somebody baptized in the Holy
Spirit.
It says you receive by faith and God
will give it to you.
It's a gift.
And Peter realized that.
And when they heard these things, they held
their peace.
Notice God picked the perfect timing to let
the Jews know.
But yet it's some seven or eight years
after the day of Pentecost.
He allowed these people to love him, to
worship, to grow.
He gave them revelation.
They spread the gospel.
They ministered the truth of Jesus Christ.
And yet God said, Well, I'm not in
a hurry like a lot of people.
And now all of a sudden they realize,
My gosh, God will save Gentiles.
It just showed that we never know everything
all at once, and we never come to
a point where we do know and understand.
That's what I like about walking with God.
There's always something new, some new enlightenment, maybe
some wonderful correction of an attitude or a
dogmatic view.
And God's so gracious and willing and so
lovingly how he shows us something new and
exciting for our own personal edification.
Then we have to deal with it sometimes,
don't we?
Hey, Lord, I don't want to believe this.
It's going to change the way I do
think.
I've believed this way too many years, and
this thing's locked in me.
That's about time to change.
I'm showing you a little bit more.
It's time to change.
And you see, if we don't, we stop
the blessings of God in our life.
And again, as we shared a couple weeks
ago, or maybe Sunday, God is infinite.
You see, the revelation never stops.
You can never read a verse of Scripture
and then finally know all there is to
know about it.
That's like saying you're going to know all
about God.
Don't allow that to happen.
I know all there is to know about
this verse now.
That may be all you're ever going to
know about that verse, but someone else is
going to know a lot more about that
verse and get a greater blessing and get
more depth and go on further.
God is a rewarder of those who diligently
seek him.
And the more you read the Word of
God, as we sang tonight, meditating in the
Word of God day and night, God keeps
revealing.
He shows a little more.
He takes us in a little deeper.
He brings us in closer into his presence,
into the holiest of holies, and shows another
aspect of his truth.
It's like a many-faceted diamond that's bigger
than this universe.
There's so many facets, and all God has
to do is take this one diamond and
twist it, and his glory glances off, and
you see a whole new ray of light,
a whole new truth.
And you stay excited.
It's exciting to read the Word of God.
So they realized.
They held their feet.
Notice how quickly they responded.
They weren't so proud that they would admit
they're wrong and they're going to be steadfast
and say, we don't care.
This is the way we're going to believe,
and we'll just have a smaller group, maybe,
but we're going to stick with the way
we believe here.
No, they heard these things.
They held their peace, and they glorified God.
It didn't bother them.
They buried their prejudice, their fear.
And again, there's the work of the love
of Jesus Christ, saying, Have God also to
the Gentiles granted repentance unto thy life?
Notice, God grants us repentance.
He says the servant of the Lord must
be gentle, mustn't strive, just really have that.
And I'm sure Peter was sharing a gentle
way that opened their hearts and made them
accept what God wanted to do.
And repentance came, and the Lord gave them
life.
And now they which were scattered abroad upon
the persecution that arose about Stephen traveled as
far as Cenas, or the Isle of Crete,
and Cyprus, and Antioch, that would be up
in Turkey, preaching the words of none but
unto the Jews only.
So here, because of the persecution and basically
because of Paul, they're back in the area
of Jerusalem, but the gospel is being spread
all over the Mediterranean from a thousand miles
beyond.
And some of them were men of Cyprus
and Cyrene.
There's North Africa.
That's all the way over to Libya.
So here the gospel is spreading all around
the known world, all the way some thousand
miles from Jerusalem, but it's because of persecution.
And if it wasn't for the persecution, the
stoning of Stephen, and the persecution of Paul
before he got converted, you see, the gospel
wouldn't have spread.
And many times God uses that, as we
touched on that a few weeks ago.
It may be a negative thing in my
life right now, but the fruit later will
bring glory to God.
As you are moved somewhere, maybe in a
situation that you would not willingly choose on
your own, God has created circumstances and providentially
forced you somewhere you don't want to be,
and it's your opportunity to glorify Him by
sharing your faith.
The interesting thing is that these people were
driven out of their safety zone, their megachurch
in Jerusalem, where they could all gather together
and encourage and strengthen each other.
They were sent into isolated areas.
They didn't bury their faith.
They didn't give up and quit.
They shared their faith.
The grace of God was upon them.
And so often, you see, we want to
stay in our comfort zone, don't we?
I want to share my faith, but I
want to make sure I'm surrounded with Christians.
I want to work on a job where
everybody's safe.
If nobody's saved, I'm going to quit.
No one's saved here.
There's dirty pictures on the assembly line.
I quit.
I'm out of here.
Filthy language.
There's drugs everywhere.
There's no one saved.
I just don't want to work there anymore.
And yet, that very same person will come
and say, you know, I think I'm going
to go in the mission field.
And I think sometimes they just want to
see a foreign country.
They're really burdened for the lost.
They're in a mission field on the assembly
line, and there's not a saved person there.
And God loves that person as much as
he loves the person in Greenland or Australia.
There's vast mission fields.
And here, these people, because of persecution, no
work.
Remember, being a believer in Jerusalem, there was
a small...it wasn't that many believers compared to
the populace.
And so here, they're losing their jobs.
They're being pushed out of the side.
It was the Jews putting pressure on them.
And they were driven away from their homes,
their jobs.
They didn't give up.
Oh, you can't trust the Lord.
And then end up in North Africa or
in Turkey or on the Isle of Crete.
And then all of a sudden, oh, there's
not a church here.
There's no other believers.
I quit.
I give up.
No, if you want believers in your new
neighborhood, go knock on your neighbor's door and
lead them to Christ.
If you want a church in your area,
start a Bible study.
Maybe God will bless it.
And there'll be a church in your neighborhood.
This is right on.
That's what was going on in the early
church.
Those were people who were baptized and filled
with the Holy Spirit.
And that's the dynamic.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit gives somebody.
And the hand of the Lord was with
them.
Isn't it interesting?
Here, they're persecuted, driven places.
God designed it and allowed it.
So the hand of the Lord was with
them.
You never have to fear.
So you're sent to a town and there's
no Calvary Chapel.
Well, start a Bible study.
Maybe God wants to start a Calvary Chapel
with you.
There was no Calvary Chapel here twenty years
ago.
Now there's what?
Fifteen in the Rochester area.
There may not be anybody saved where you're
working.
Share your faith and then there'll be people
saved on the job and you'll enjoy it,
maybe.
I want to go to a place where
there are Christians.
God has put you in a tremendous spot.
And what a shame that I don't share
my faith because there's no believers.
Why share your faith with a believer?
They're saved.
God got you in a place where there's
unbelievers.
Purposely.
It's his design.
You see.
And so here they're being scattered all around,
a thousand miles from Jerusalem, and they're sharing
their faith and God running.
God's hand will be upon you.
God will never forsake you.
And a great number believed.
Not because of the Apostle Paul wasn't saved.
None of these people were the Apostles.
They all were in Jerusalem.
Many believed because of people like you and
I.
No pastors, no preachers, no evangelists.
People like you and I.
And many believed.
A great number.
And turned to the Lord.
And then tidings of these things came into
the ears of the church within Jerusalem, and
they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go
as far as Antioch.
And here Barnabas, the son of consolation, or
the son of comfort, he's called.
They're sending him all the way up to
Turkey.
And what a better person to go out
and investigate and see what's happening.
Someone that is a peacemaker.
The son of consolation.
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.
Notice you can see true conversion.
When he got there, he saw that they'd
been converted.
You can see it in the light.
You can see it in the face.
You can see it.
There's just something about that person.
Now, he doesn't say he saw perfection.
He saw the grace of God.
He saw lives that were changed because of
Jesus Christ.
You can see it.
There were no, you know, secret agents.
If someone's truly experienced conversion, it should be
seen by others.
The favor of God upon someone.
I've been in places, and it is true.
You're around someone.
Have you ever been in like an airport
or somewhere, and you come in contact with
someone, and it's almost like you want to
say, I know that person's a believer.
You can see the expression on their face.
You hear their words, the way they speak,
the way they turn themselves, and before you
know it, you say, you know, I knew
you were a believer.
I knew it.
You wanted to say something earlier, but you
weren't quite sure at first, and then as
you become comfortable with that person, you begin
to talk and share.
I know you're a believer.
You're a Christian.
I've had that happen so many times.
In fact, when we had our water installed,
we had this purification thing put under our
sink where you get all the stuff out
of the water, and it was like a
confirmation.
Rosemary and I prayed, you know, we've got
about ten more years to live.
Let's enjoy the water, and so we got
this thing, and the guy came out to
give us the sales pitch and everything, and
it's quite impressive, and it's interesting.
As soon as he walked in, there was
something about him.
This was pleasant, something about him, an air
about him and everything, and it really was
the grace of God upon him, and finally,
as we're sitting there and he gave the
call to anything, I said, well, my wife
and I are going to have to pray
about this.
Would you like to pray with us?
He goes, oh yeah, sure, and so we
sat at the kitchen table and we prayed
and asked the Lord to confirm that we
should go through with this, and it turns
out that here's a guy that the Lord
sent out as a believer to install our
water system, and then we just knew it.
Just a great guy.
Didn't get us off the hook.
We still had to pay the full price.
You know, oh brother, for you, twenty percent
discount, you know.
But it was a neat thing.
So, he saw in these people, tomorrow, you've
got one more day in Babylon out there.
You know, some of you have to go
out there in Babylon and you have your
sirene or your creed or somewhere where God
has put you to share your faith.
At the end of the day, take stock
and say, did people see Christ in me
today, or am I a closet Christian?
Notice, he saw something.
You see light.
Jesus said, let your light so shine before
men that they'll see your good works and
glorify your Father which is better.
You don't have to hear light.
In fact, you don't hear light.
He said, let your light shine.
Let them see something, and it can be
done.
Now, is Christ's love and is his radiance
in your life?
Is he there in the morning with you
before you go out to people and see
Christ and see that light?
It doesn't say you hear light or you
have to hear anything.
Let your light shine that they may see.
So, everywhere you go, whatever you're doing tomorrow,
Father, are they seeing Jesus in me?
Are they seeing Jesus in me?
You see, Barnabas, as soon as he got
there, he could see the grace of God
is touching people.
There are people here that are different.
You can see it.
And so, he exhorted them.
Notice, he encouraged.
That word exhort means to encourage, to comfort.
That's true prophecy, by the way.
It says when you prophesy, he that prophesieth
exhorteth, edifies, and comforts.
That's how you can tell if the prophecy
is from God.
Is it comforting?
Is it encouraging you?
Is it building you up?
That is prophecy.
First Corinthians 14.3. Notice, he's going to
prophesy to encourage them.
He's going to strengthen and encourage them.
That with purpose of heart they would cleave
unto the Lord.
For he was a good man, and full
of the Holy Ghost, and of faith.
And much people was added unto the Lord.
Now, you have to remember what Antioch was.
It was the third largest city in the
world at that time.
It was a tremendous city.
It was next to, actually Rome was the
greatest city, the largest city.
Then you had Alexandria, and then Antioch, because
of the trade routes and its position in
Turkey there, from the east and the west,
and the African, from Africa up into Europe,
you had this amazing city.
But it was really a depraved city.
Their principal goddess was the nymph Daphne.
The story has it and the tale has
it that Apollo had chased into the laurel
woods, and she stayed there, and then from
that all the wood nymphs, or the women,
and out of that story of Daphne and
Apollo, they designed a religion where there were
female prostitutes.
And Antioch was the Las Vegas of the
world, with Corinth in those days.
So it was a great city, but it
was depraved, sexually immoral, and very loose.
And so that's where the gospel is going.
It's interesting, these cities where these people were
sent, that they shared their faith, how quickly
God honored it in the worst places.
I think it's wrong to think, well I
want to go where it's going to be
easy and I'll be received immediately, where there's
not going to be any strife or any
stress.
I want everything to be clean and generic
here, and sterile, and I'll set up a
Bible study.
No, this place was depraved.
You remember in Romans 5, Paul says, where
sin abounded, grace does much more abound.
And so when you go into these areas
where it's so dark, you see the light
can shine the brightest, and God will give
the honor to it.
Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
And it's interesting, in these terrible places, these
licentious cities, because the world was really depraved.
The Roman Empire was sexually immoral, rampant with
homosexuality and pornography.
The art was all pornographic.
Even their sculptures, their public sculptures, were pornographic.
But that's where the gospel was being sent.
That's where these people were sharing their faith,
and God was honoring it.
Sin was abounding, but God's grace abounded even
more.
And again, you may be in a situation
and there's sin all around you.
Let God's grace abound upon you and share
your faith.
And watch the hand of God be upon
you and strengthen you.
It says that the Holy Ghost was inside
of Barnabas, and much people was added unto
the Lord.
Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek
Saul.
Saul's been there some seven years.
After he left Jerusalem, after his Arabian Desert
experience, after Damascus, his conversion, and again, still
more training.
Even the great Apostle Paul needed seven years
of preparation, molding and shaping, giving him character,
balance.
And so Barnabas was looking for him.
And when he had found him, he brought
him unto Antioch.
And it came to pass that a whole
year they assembled themselves with the church and
taught much people, and the disciples were called
Christians first in Antioch.
Then I think Paul was the assistant to
Barnabas at this time for a year.
So there was still more to learn.
Maybe his personality.
Maybe there were some rough edges about this
strong-willed Paul, this ex-Pharisee, that being
with Barnabas maybe mellowed him.
He had to see something that God wanted
to put in his life.
He spent another year assisting Barnabas.
And it's interesting, as people began to come
to Christ, remember the Rome called Christians atheists,
because they didn't believe in the pagan gods.
They believed in this Jewish Savior, this Jesus.
They were referred to as atheists.
And there's this Christian, or it's a Greco
-Roman contraction of two words.
The first one is the Greek Messiah, or
Christ, Christos.
The Christo ones, or Christos ones, are the
ones who believed in Christ, and it was
kind of a term of contempt.
It wasn't a thing of respect.
It was a term of contempt.
They're the Christ ones.
Kind of like back in the 60s, we
were called Jesus freaks.
It was a term of contempt, but for
us it was a badge of honor that
people would see that we believed that they
saw enough.
They said, you know, we can tell you
believe in that Jesus.
You're a Jesus freak.
Now, I see it because of what's happened
in our culture.
The term Christian isn't so offensive.
It's getting there, isn't it?
I mean, if you're a real Christian, they
tag extreme fundamentalism on you that you're one
of these doomsdayers and these people who believe
in hell and there's going to be a
judgment.
Absolutely.
I'm a Christian.
I'm in love with Jesus, and I'm not
ashamed of it, and I believe the Bible's
literal.
I believe that God meant what he said
and said what he meant, and it's without
error.
There's no contradictions, and I live by the
Bible, and it's getting to the point now
where if you do that, being a Christian
can maybe, there's a little bit of contempt
coming toward us.
It's interesting, in Isaiah, before the fall of
the nation, one of the things that was
going on, they were trying to entrap people,
the true believers in God in Israel, and
the political leaders of Israel in that day,
because the nation departed from God.
It said they were making a man's word
an offense.
In other words, the godly Jews were offensive,
and their terminology was offensive, and their declaration
of God's truth were offensive.
It wasn't politically correct in Isaiah's day to
stick to the biblical principles.
It was an offense, their words.
And you know what's happening today.
Homosexuality is an absolute perversion.
God said that person is damned, and the
Bible says the person who's a homosexual deserves
the disease he gets.
You say that in long circles.
They say, well, that's not wrong.
That's not politically correct, but the Bible declares
it.
The Bible describes it.
They'll rot away, slowly.
They will just rot and waste away, and
they get what they deserve.
But you say that in the wrong group,
and you say that's not politically correct.
You say the National Endowment of Arts is
nothing but a waste of money and filth,
and they react.
Oh, you Christians, you fundamentalists.
It's art.
It's filthy, and our tax dollars are paying
for it.
It's filth, and there are perverted minds in
Washington and leaders calling it art and pressuring
Congressmen to keep it going and take our
money to promote it and put it in
galleries.
It's just the same as Rome of old.
It's stupid.
But you see, that's extreme Christian fundamentalism, and
they're building up a contempt for people who
truly want to glorify God and be faithful
to the word of God.
They call Broadway plays art.
It's nothing but sensuality and filth.
It's nothing but grease of old.
They call it entertainment.
It's nothing but pornography with a little more
clothing on, little songs.
They call it music.
It's nothing but rock and roll filth.
It's got young people committing suicide, and they
protect it by what?
The First Amendment?
The freedom of speech?
And isn't it amazing how much they harp
on the freedom of speech, but they don't
want us to have our freedom of speech.
They believe in the freedom of speech if
it's filthy, and they can make money putting
in print and selling in magazines and putting
in music.
But if we speak out against it and
say, you know, the Bible says, Oh no,
you can't speak that way.
You don't have the freedom to speak biblical
truth.
It's building up, and we're seeing it in
our own country, just as Israel of old.
But that's why it's more important for us
to continue to share our faith, where sin
abounded, grace does much more abound.
God honors it when you share your faith.
You tired of that guy speaking so filthy
next to you at work?
You tired of that dirty literature in the
restroom at the plant?
Well, go find the guy that left it
there and share the gospel, and then he
might get saved and quit reading it.
I'm going to quit and go get a
job somewhere else.
I'm clean here.
That's like, God's got you there.
You're to be salt.
Jesus said, too, they were to be salt
and light.
He was a good man, full of the
Holy Ghost, full of faith.
And they began to be ridiculed because of
their faith.
Christ ones, they could tell.
You're one of those Christ ones.
You didn't see it in your life.
Thank God they can see it.
I would be ashamed if the world accepted
me.
I would feel ashamed of my Lord.
The Pergamus Church was accepted by the Lord.
It got married with the world.
It compromised so much, became such a chameleon
to be accepted by the world, it was
no longer an offense.
Jesus said, because they hated me, they should
hate you.
What an honor to be hated, to have
so much of Christ in me that the
world hates me, and I can share the
love of Jesus with them and stand up
for my Lord.
These days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch,
and there stood up one of them named
Agabus, and he signified by the Spirit that
there should be great girth throughout all the
world which came to pass in the days
of Claudius Caesar.
It's interesting that Paul's there, Barnabas is there,
and they've been teaching and one's an apostle
to be, and yet God uses Agabus to
prophesy about the coming girth, not Paul or
Barnabas.
It shows you again that God uses everybody.
I like that.
God will use you in a mighty way.
You didn't need Paul to prophesy.
Paul was teaching the word with Barnabas, strengthening
the saints, but he sent Agabus and prophesied
of the coming girth throughout all the world,
and notice the spontaneous reaction.
There was no pressure, no manipulation whatsoever.
The disciples, every man according to his ability,
determined to send relief unto the brethren which
dwelt in Judea.
No pressure whatsoever, no manipulation.
They just all of a sudden found out
and freely people just said, I'm going to
help.
And that's the way it should always be.
The tragedy in the church today is there's
such a manipulation, especially on television.
But that shouldn't surprise us, because Peter said
in the last days there'll be false teachers
among you, and many will follow their pernicious
ways.
They will make merchandise of you, always going
after your money.
It should be of your own free will,
just a spontaneous reaction in your own heart
which you want to give because God has
given to you.
Always.
Which also they did, and they sent it
to the elders by the hands of Barnabas
and Saul.
Notice he's called Saul still here.
Saul.
As we get further into the book of
Acts, we see that the fruit of God
moves Peter aside, and then all of a
sudden Paul comes into the forefront and God
begins to reveal the powerful mysteries of the
church that he's given to the apostle Paul
through the rest of the book of Acts.
Shall we all stand?
Father, we thank you for the opportunity to
be salt and light, and we thank you,
Father, that it's not left to us.
It's your marvelous hand upon us and enabling
us if we'll just yield.
And we thank you, dear Lord, that everyone
in this room has the promise that our
whole house can be saved if we truly
believe.
It's your promise, Lord, and you cannot lie.
And so we do, Father, put our houses
before you.
Together, we agree together as a body, and
we put our family members, those we work
with, before you.
And we pray, dear Father, you'd fill us
with the Holy Spirit and give us the
love and the boldness to share our faith.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
P.O. Box 25099.
Farmington, New York, 14425.
May Jesus bless you as you study his
words.