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 in chapter 14.
Before we do chapter 14, because of some
of the things that Paul experiences, I'd like
to have you turn to Matthew chapter 10,
something that Jesus taught to the disciples.
Now, you remember, Paul is now, the gospel
is beginning to move, as Paul is the
apostle, to the Gentiles, and Paul and Barnabas
were in Antioch, Syria, ministering to the Lord,
just worshiping the Lord, waiting on the Lord,
and the Spirit of God came upon them,
and then spoke to them, that they're to
take the gospel into the area of Galatia,
which really is the belly of Turkey today.
And you can see that the church now
is moving away from Jerusalem, up to the
Gentile world, up toward Istanbul, and from there
would move on up into all of Europe,
and eventually from Europe over to Great Britain,
to the United States, and as you go
to the right, as you go off into
Asia, from the belly of Turkey, you're going
up toward Iran, up into the Soviet Union,
and all points east.
And so, you can see now where Satan's
territory is being invaded.
Things that he's had under control through the
religions of the world.
All kinds of religions, all getting along together,
tolerant of one another.
And most of the religions of the world
took pride in being tolerant of other faiths.
And you see, Satan doesn't mind that.
He doesn't care how many different styles of
religion there are, and he'll have everybody get
along, but don't approach the truth.
He'll design a system, a political system.
He'll work in a culture, make them deeply
religious and devout.
Design a religion that the government will make
it legal to have shrines on every corner,
to worship any way you desire.
Another thing you have, and this proves again
the Bible, as it says, there's nothing new
under the sun.
Now, the new age is really old.
It's just all, you know, starting up again.
But one of the common things in the
religious minds of the people in, you know,
Paul's day, was that the spirits, or the
angels, would come down in the shape of
human beings to enlighten the cultures.
Gods would come down and visit mankind in
physical form and mingle with the human race
to enlighten, to give them, you know, greater
intelligence, to bring their utopia on the earth
and enlighten man in such a way that
they couldn't do without them.
They'd come and go.
Really, all it was was the distortion of
Genesis 6, again, when Satan tried to pollute
the human race with angels and evil spirits
before the flood judgment.
And it just continued on after the flood,
and the Grecian culture, particularly, and the Roman
culture had many of their shrines were to
these beings that would come back and forth
to enable the human race to be enlightened.
Now, they didn't use the term channeling, but
they had, you know, the exposure to these
gods, Hermes and Mercury and Zeus and Jupiter
and Diana, Aphrodite, Horus, Isis, Superman, Captain Marvel,
Batman.
I mean, it's amazing how, you know, you're
going to get them in something somewhere for
the children and then to get them maybe
interested in the greater ones.
But this was the culture, this was the
world, Satan's world, that the light of the
gospel was coming.
And so there's going to be tremendous resistance.
Satan's not just going to lay back and
say, Oh, there's just another religion now coming
in.
We will be tolerant of extreme fundamental Christianity.
It just doesn't work that way.
And again, as we shared, I think, last
week or Sunday, the Roman government was tolerant
of every religion with the exception of Christianity.
You don't see in history where thousands upon
thousands, millions of people who worshiped Aphrodite or
Bacchus or Diana were thrown to the lions
in the Coliseum.
It was only the Christians.
Only the Christians.
But Jesus said something interesting, and it's not
a contradiction.
He is the Prince of Peace.
In fact, unless Christ is in someone's life,
in their heart, and, you know, beginning to
dominate our lives, you're not going to have
peace.
There's no such thing as peace apart from
Christ.
Now, there may be chemical substitution in the
central nervous system because of a drug or
a tranquilizer for a while, but that's such
a false peace, or alcohol, or a narcotic.
But there's no real peace apart from Jesus
Christ.
He's the Prince of Peace.
Valium wears off.
Librium, you know, florazine, and all the other
stuff.
Whether the doctor gives it to us legally
or you have your doctor on the street,
it wears off.
It's a false peace.
But Jesus said something in Matthew 10.
He said in verse 32, Whosoever therefore shall
confess me before men, him will I confess
also before my Father which is in heaven.
Now, what does that mean?
Does that mean at the end of the
age I have the guarantee of my salvation
if I didn't deny Christ in this life?
Certainly there's some truth there.
Jesus said, if you're not for me, you're
against me.
There really isn't that.
Faith is active.
True faith is active.
It's not passive.
But what he's saying here, if you're living
that life, and your life is a confession
of mine, and you're going to face persecution,
yea, and they that will live godly shall
suffer persecution, Paul wrote young Timothy, you remember.
You're entering into Satan's Roman territory, and your
light is driving out darkness by your open
confession in life for Christ.
Now, while that's happening down here, we need
supernatural strength.
So, as you're confessing Christ by your life,
and your expression, and your conversation down here,
Jesus is confessing to the Father, your faithful
is down here, and then he's going to
confess you to the Father to give you
and impart you the strength and the comfort
of the Holy Spirit that you need in
any given situation.
You remember Jesus told the early church that
tarry ye in Jerusalem until you receive power
from on high that you may be witnesses.
And that word witness in the Greek is
marturis, or in other words, you're not afraid
to give your life.
You'll die and not be afraid.
That you may be witnesses.
It's supernatural power.
And so, as we confess our Lord and
do not deny him, and shrink back through
persecution or threat, we're confessing him down here.
He's at the right hand of the Father.
He's our great high priest.
He's confessing your situation down here.
And there's the promise of strength.
Even if we may need an angel, and
time and time again, in the Scriptures we
see the children of God in situations needed
angels, and God sent them.
They didn't have to ask for them or
pray for them.
If they needed the angel, the angel would
just show up.
You remember Paul on several occasions.
The angels came to encourage Paul when he
was in that tremendous storm in the Mediterranean.
And all hope that they would survive was
removed.
Not that Paul had little faith, but God
designed it in such a way and that
miraculous strength that Paul received had an effect
on the Roman soldiers, and it gave Paul
the chance to show the gospel or share
the gospel with the Roman pagans as the
ship crashed in Melita.
But the Lord himself appeared to him to
encourage him.
Another time, the Lord sent an angel to
strengthen and encourage Paul.
The Lord sent an angel to free Peter
from jail, you remember.
You remember Elijah was discouraged and wanted to
quit.
And he went out down into the Negev
Desert, down south of Beersheba, on the way
toward the Red Sea.
And he just sat down under a juniper
tree and said, I just want to die.
And he quit eating.
And he felt a gentle nudge while he
was asleep.
And he woke up to hear an angel
was there.
God sent an angel to encourage him and
fixed breakfast for him.
Had breakfast there for him.
So, whatever you may need, Jesus said, I
will confess you before my Father.
If you're faithful down here to confess me
and not be some chameleon that you're only
a Christian with other Christians.
And then you can be whatever the crowd
is that you're in just to be accepted.
You see, that's denial.
That's playing Russian roulette with eternal security.
If I'm really a child of God, I
will be confessing Jesus Christ.
And he will give me the power.
And it's interesting as we see in Acts
tonight, the greater the persecution, and God allows
persecution for greater power.
It brings a greater anointing.
Greater supernatural strength from the Lord.
And Jesus said in verse 33 of Matthew
10, Whosoever shall deny me before men, him
will I also deny before my Father, which
is in heaven.
Then he said, Think not that I am
come to send peace on earth.
I came not to send peace, but a
sword.
Now, he uses the allegory of the sword
here because the sword divides.
And I really believe what he's really speaking
here is that the sword of the Spirit,
the word of God to shake things up,
to startle people, to bring a division, to
wake them out of their spiritual slumber.
The delusion that Satan has placed upon them
in their organized religion, no matter how devout
they are.
They're damned.
They're lost.
The God of this world has blinded them.
And yet they may have some priest, some
pagan priest, or some false religious system saying,
if you just go through these rituals, you're
going to go to heaven.
If you slip some little thing and have
some little thing done to you, over you
on your deathbed, you have a guarantee of
going into paradise or heaven.
All the religions design those things.
And so they're just kind of in that
stupor of, oh, all I've got to do
is just make sure I get there on
this day of the week and this day
of the week, and maybe submit to this
ritual and have this done to the babies,
the kids when they're born.
And none of these things are biblical.
And people are going along living a life
without any change whatsoever in these religious systems.
And so here comes the gospel.
And Jesus said, I'm going to divide.
I'm going to use the sword of the
Spirit, the truth of God, to maybe stir
things up between a husband and a wife.
Think not that I've come to send peace
on earth.
I came not to send peace, but a
sword.
I want to stir things up, shake things
up, wake you up out of your stupor,
your religious stupor.
There are people who think that because they
come to Calvary Chapel, that makes them a
Christian.
That doesn't make anybody a Christian.
That could be just as deadly as being
a Hindu.
If you're not born again.
If we haven't realized the plan of salvation,
the grace of God through Jesus Christ, giving
His life on Calvary, the Lamb of God
to take us away from the sin of
the world, and the only offering for sin
that can justify that God will accept is
just blot out the transgression.
There's no hope for mankind.
There's no other way for salvation.
And so Jesus comes along and starts saying,
Hey, you're being sprinkled with a little baby
and doing an injury.
It may give you your guarantee of hell.
Because you think that saves you.
You've come out of some system that automatically
redeems you.
There's not one verse in the Bible that
has anything to do with that.
That's not biblical truth.
And that may upset a parent.
It may upset the parent who wants their
baby to go to heaven because they had
it sprinkled.
Or maybe gone through a ritual at the
age of 10 or 15 or whatever.
And then to find out that those things
don't work, that the Gospel says that doesn't
work.
That's not in the Bible.
And that can really stir things up and
make people angry.
And that's what Jesus wants to do.
I've come to set a man at variance
against his father.
I think of what happened with Gideon.
God wanted to bring revival.
The whole nation, remember, had gone into it
again.
They kept drifting back into this Baal worship
where they worshiped the Queen of Heaven.
And God had come along with a prophet
and get the people back to Him.
And they destroyed the shrines and their droves
to the Queen.
And another generation, they drift back to the
worship of that female deity.
It was all the way from Babylon.
Many of the religions today all incorporate the
worship of some female deity.
And God told Gideon he's going to start
a revival to bring the people back to
Him.
And his parents were worshiping the Queen.
And they had a shrine that they built
in the local village, you remember, and dedicated
it to her.
To Baal and the Queen of Heaven.
And the Lord told Gideon, I want you
to go destroy it.
And Gideon, boy that really, you just think,
what's mom and dad going to think?
Destroy their shrine?
God says, you love me?
Do you want revival?
Do you really want your parents saved, Gideon?
Do you want the nation brought back and
the blessings of God back?
And so he thought about it.
And he said, boy I really do, Lord.
But you know, he was a little scared,
so he went at night.
He did it at night.
When mom and dad were thinking.
But he went there with an axe and
just beat the thing to pieces.
Cut down the beautiful garden that they had
for the Queen.
And he wrecked the thing.
And slipped out of the way from it.
And boy the next day the townspeople went
to do their thing with the Queen.
And they found out that their shrine was
destroyed.
And Gideon's father, he was so upset.
And that's exactly what God wanted.
It'd be like if, of course nobody would
do anything like that, but dynamite Moroni over
there in Palmyra.
I mean, that would make the picture.
If somebody would just put some dynamite or
you know, do you realize what that would
do?
Of course nobody would do anything like that.
But I've come to set a father and
a son against each other.
And the daughter against her mother.
Maybe they were both, you know, under the
delusion of this religion.
This system.
And here comes the Apostle Paul.
Here comes the Apostles.
Here comes the truth.
And pretty soon one person in the family
gets saved, gets born again.
And boy, instead of things being peaceful, it's
just the opposite.
Exactly as Jesus said.
To wake people up.
And the daughter-in-law against her mother
-in-law.
It's hard enough to get a daughter-in
-law and a mother-in-law to agree.
I mean, boys, you do get them to
be fun friends.
Then they come in with Christianity, you know.
And then all of a sudden it starts
to stir things up.
And it says, A man's foe shall be
they of his own household.
He that loveth father and mother more than
me is not worthy of me.
And he that loveth son or daughter more
than me is not worthy of me.
Then he goes on to finish it by
denying self.
Taking up our crosses and following him as
he leads us and guides us.
How badly do we want our relatives saved?
How badly do we want our friends saved?
How badly do we want revival?
You see.
Well, you see, the Apostle Paul is taking
the message of the truth into a darkened
area, but into the control of Satan.
Everybody getting along good, tolerant of each other's
religion.
A wonderful society.
Very sensual, very materialistic.
The Roman Empire, the Grecian Empire.
Very religious, very educated.
And here comes the Apostle Paul with Barnabas.
Now, this is, again, you remember in the
earlier chapter, God allowed persecution as they went
from Antioch in Syria over to Cyprus, then
from Cyprus up to the coast of Turkey,
Pamphylia, and now they're going inland.
They're going up north.
And because of the persecution that we saw
in Pamphylia, God used that to move the
Apostles further inland to spread the gospel in
other areas.
And Satan saying, Man, here he comes.
He's coming into this territory.
Now, notice how God prepared them for the
pressures they were going to face.
Notice verse 52 at the end of chapter
13.
And the disciples were filled with joy and
with the Holy Ghost.
Persecution brings power.
Remember, they'd been sharing the gospel and people
were getting saved.
And so the Jews, you know, stirred up
honorable women.
And before you know it, there's a ruckus
and things are getting tense and they're being
persecuted and being threatened.
And God's allowing that to move them on
because Jesus said, When that takes place, shake
the dust off your feet and move to
another city.
And so they're being obedient.
They're moving on.
But at the same time, God is filling
them with the Holy Ghost.
He's equipping them for the next town.
Sometimes I think we get a wrong idea
when the persecution, you know, begins.
It's time to just quit everything.
And here God's using the persecution to fill
us with more of the presence of Himself
or the power of the Holy Spirit for
the next situation He's going to use us
in.
And so now they pass in Iconium, which
is up some 40 miles from where they
were, going north with a drift toward the
east into the inner belly or heart of
Turkey or Galatia.
And they went both together into the synagogue
of the Jews and so spake.
And this is interesting.
It's not so much the words but the
way they spoke.
And so spake they that a great multitude,
both of the Jews and also of the
Greeks, believed.
Now, how did Paul speak?
Was it his tremendous intellect?
And we know that Paul was a genius.
He's considered one of the five geniuses of
the human race.
The Apostle Paul.
His mind.
Was it his vocabulary?
His education?
His theological background?
You know, it's interesting.
But it says here, the way they spoke
and so spake that it just captured the
hearts of people.
How did Paul speak?
See, this encourages me.
I've heard people speak that are so eloquent.
You just go, you know, Lord, I can't
speak like that.
I have a terrible vocabulary.
I can't even pronounce words right.
I can't get the tenses right.
Sometimes I'll think one thing and something else
will come out.
You see, that's what brings me glory, Bill.
It's the foolish things that bring me glory.
Turn to 1 Corinthians 2.
This is how Paul spake.
I remember one time the Lord said, Bill,
I don't need your adjectives.
I don't need your clever stories, really.
Nothing wrong with humor now and then and
bringing a little sidebar in here and there.
But you know, there's only one thing God
really honors.
That's His Word.
That's the only thing God's Holy Spirit anoints
is the Word.
And I discovered I don't have to be
charismatic.
I don't have to run back and forth
across the stage and use hairspray and fancy
clothing and sweat and spit and put on
a big show to get the attention of
the people.
Notice what Paul says about his preaching.
1 Corinthians 2, verse 1, And I, brethren,
when I came to you, came not with
excellency of speech.
That gives me encouragement.
I mean, yeah, God can use.
He can ride into Jerusalem.
He can ride into a skating rink on
an ass.
Or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony
of God.
He just shared the truth of God.
That was one of the great things about
John the Baptist, you remember.
It says he performed no miracle.
Yet Jesus said he was greater than Moses
and Abraham and greater than Elijah and Elisha.
He said, but he performed no miracles.
All he said about me was true, though.
He had a good understanding of the character
and the personality of Jesus Christ and he
portrayed Jesus in such a beautiful, simple, truthful
way.
He gave a true picture of Jesus Christ.
I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ and him crucified.
And I was with you in weakness.
Paul wasn't some boastful, loud, arrogant, self-confident,
charismatic, with a dynamic vocabulary kind of a
guy.
In fact, you remember, it's this letter to
the Corinthians that he's writing in defense of
himself because they couldn't believe that he is
the great apostle Paul.
He seemed like just a hunched-over little
guy with a big nose.
Not much of a good-looker.
He wasn't charismatic.
I was with you in weakness and in
fear and in much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching was not
with enticing words of men's wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power.
In other words, when he spoke, he spoke
the truth concerning Jesus Christ and the Holy
Spirit anointed that.
So that's the greatest thing we could ever
do is share the Bible with people, not
our feelings.
You see, God anoints his Word.
It's his Word that will not return void.
It will not fall to the ground.
I think some people, you know, try so
hard to impress the people and get the
message across.
They do so many things drawing such attention
to themselves.
When people leave their churches, they talk about
the preacher.
It's almost like a carnival atmosphere.
Our prayer is that when you leave, you're
thinking about Jesus Christ.
Something has happened on the inside, a new
understanding.
Somehow the Spirit of God has anointed his
Word, and you're thinking of Jesus Christ and
nothing else.
Or we're miserable failures.
If you're not falling in love with Jesus,
what a tragedy if you fall in love
with your church or the pastor or an
elder or a musician.
And you're enamored with a Christian musician more
than Jesus Christ or a Christian pastor.
And so Paul, it was the way he
spoke.
It's the things he brought forth.
He didn't put on some show.
It says, they sow faith the way they
spoke.
But how?
In weakness and fear and trembling, not with
enticing words or clever speech.
It says, a great multitude, both of the
Jews and also of the Greeks, believed God's
Spirit, honoring the Word of God.
But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles
and made their minds evil-affected against the
brethren.
See, that's quick.
Satan's working.
Here comes the division.
Long time, therefore, abode they speaking boldly.
Now, isn't that amazing to me?
Persecution starts.
They're stirring up people against them and they
decide to stay a long time.
They don't say, well, let's pack it up.
It's time to leave.
Well, I guess God didn't call us here.
There's just a lot of trouble here.
Let's just pack it up and leave.
Let's go back to Jerusalem.
People are saying things about us and yelling
at us and there's persecution.
Isn't that amazing?
But they were anointed before they got there
for this persecution.
They were equipped by the past persecution and
given greater strength.
And look what it did for them.
When the new persecution began, they didn't quit
and run.
They didn't pack it in and leave.
They stirred up Gentiles against them and so
they decide we're staying for a while.
This has really got Satan worked up.
That just proves that we're where we should
be.
That just proves that God's doing something here.
Satan's so worried that he's stirring up the
community against us.
So a long time.
Therefore, abode they speaking boldly in the Lord.
Which gave testimony unto the word of His
grace.
The more they were thrashed verbally and lied
about and persecuted, the more notice they shared
the word of God's grace.
God's forgiveness.
Oh, to be able to tell people that
God wants to forgive you.
That God has so much longsuffering and patience
no matter what your sin is or has
been.
He is willing to forgive you.
And God loves to forgive.
God loves to show mercy.
To reveal His mercy.
You see, that's the gospel.
Grace.
You remember Zechariah, when he is told to
prophesy, to encourage Zerubbabel.
And Zerubbabel sees this impossible task.
A handful of Jews coming back from Babylon
with no money, no skills really to rebuild
the temple.
He sees his country and sees the devastation
after 70 years after Babylon was destroyed through
Nebuchadnezzar.
And here God's told him He wants them
to rebuild and He's going to return the
people and restore the country.
And he's just overwhelmed.
And the Lord tells him that it's by
His Spirit.
It's not by might nor by power, Zerubbabel.
You've started this work and your hands will
lay the foundation.
I'm going to stay working in your life
and as impossible as the task looks right
now, by my Spirit it's going to be
accomplished.
It's not by might nor by power.
And He says, and this mountain, and this
is how you remove the mountain, by crying
or shouting of grace, grace.
Not repent, repent.
Grace, grace.
That God loves His people.
And God loves to redeem.
And God loves to show Himself faithful.
That's the message, you see.
And notice as they're sharing the message of
grace, God granted signs and wonders to be
done by their hands.
Now, it's interesting how God, in different ways,
in different cities, does different things.
The tragedy in church today is if God
does a sign and a wonder, they say
He has to do it all the time.
Now, they had just left, remember, the earlier
area of Antioch and Pisidia.
God did no signs and wonders up there.
But in this area down here, God is
following with signs and wonders as He said
He would in Mark 16.
Verse 20.
After they would teach George, He said, signs
and wonders would follow.
God would work with them.
In this particular area, He's using signs and
wonders to be done by their hands.
And as soon as they go to the
next area, no signs and wonders are done.
I think it's wrong to try and say,
it has to work this way all the
time.
There's another imbalance in the church today.
And you never know when God's going to
do the sign or the wonder.
That's His prerogative.
The promise is they will follow.
If it's needed in this area, they will
follow.
Now, too many churches today try to get
signs and wonders to get people to show
up.
And they try to build a church on
signs and wonders.
And so, you walk in and you see
people lined up.
You see a lot of chaos as they
try to, you know, promote these things before.
And sometimes the Word of God is not
even taught.
And so, so many people have these tremendous
experiences, and yet they still don't grow.
You see no victory in their life.
They keep thinking they're going to have demons
cast out.
Because nothing's being put in.
It's the entrance of the Word that heals.
By His Word.
He sent His Word and He healed His
people.
The entrance of the Word give us light.
And He's magnified His Word above His name,
not miracles.
He promises that they will follow.
In this particular area, He's doing signs and
wonders.
But the multitude, the city was divided.
Exactly what Jesus Christ wanted.
Wake up world.
Religious world.
Wake up marriage.
Maybe there's division in your marriage tonight.
And it may be Jesus working in such
a way.
Wake up.
Return to the Lord.
Change an attitude.
Change a concept.
God wants to bless.
And remember, He doesn't divide to destroy.
He divides to make whole.
If God did not design division in His
universe and the scheme of life, you wouldn't
exist today.
There'd be nothing but one big ear sitting
there looking at me.
But thank God, He designs division to bring
beauty and to bring order.
Do you realize if cells didn't divide, you
may be a 160 pound nose sitting there.
Wouldn't that be something?
Some noses are big enough.
I might look at mine when I was
younger.
I don't know what's happening.
I don't even drink in this thing.
I don't know what it is.
Everything seems to be expanding except my IQ.
But just as Jesus said, when you invade
Satan's territory, particularly religious, devout areas, because you
see, that's deadlier than drugs and alcohol.
That's deadlier than atheism.
Someone at the end of the delusion that
because they're devout and deeply religious, they're automatically
going to heaven.
And so Jesus wants to invade that area.
Those people are really captive.
And so the division has taken place.
The multitude of the city was divided in
part held with the Jews and part with
the apostles.
And when there was an assault made both
of the Gentiles and also of the Jews
with their rulers, to use them despitefully and
to stone them, they were aware of it
and fled into Lystra and Derbe, cities like
Chaonia, into the region that lies round about.
So now they're going further.
As they've gotten to Antioch, now the persecution
is moving and they're making a loop and
heading back down south now towards the Mediterranean
and the inner belly of Turkey or Galatia.
And where they're going, you see, the gospel
is touching lives.
God's allowing this to move them about.
And so as Jesus said, OK, I haven't
done something supernaturally here.
Use the mind that I gave you.
And again, here's the weakness sometimes, the imbalance
of the church.
God does a deliverance supernaturally in one area
and so the person thinks, well, this is
the way He's going to do it all
the time.
You could get killed.
He may work supernaturally this year.
Next year you may be in a situation
and God says, use the mind I gave
you.
Make a decision.
Do something to protect yourself.
Here, you see, they fled.
God can send the earthquake and collapse the
jail.
He can send an angel and lead you
out in the middle of the night.
But the same man who had the earthquake
and was freed from the jail, he had
to be let down from a Damascus jail
in a basket once in his life.
And there they preached the gospel.
And as he's preaching the gospel, there sat
a certain man at Lystra infinite in his
feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb
who never had walked.
So here's a man who none of the
false religions of the world could do anything
for, crippled all of his life.
And here's the Apostle Paul with the truth
of the gospel.
With the truth concerning Jesus Christ.
You can imagine what they must have gone
through with all their temples and all their
shrines, paying all their money, going through all
the different rituals probably to get their child
healed that he could walk when he's been
crippled.
And now, the light of the gospel is
coming to his life.
The same heard Paul speak.
Who steadfastly be on him.
Paul locked his eyes on him and was
staring at him.
Knew that he was responding.
That the Holy Spirit was beginning to work
in him.
And Paul could tell and he was just
staring at him.
Knew that the Spirit of God was preparing
this man's heart.
Because God was going to do something.
And he perceived that he had faith to
be healed.
Now, there's all kinds of gifts of the
Spirit to start coming into operation here in
the Apostle's life.
First of all, you see the gift of
prophecy.
He's prophesying or teaching the Word of God.
And the Spirit of God is taking the
Word of God and preparing somebody for a
miracle of life.
As he's sitting there listening, Paul sees, you
can just see the work of the Spirit
and Paul locks eyes with him.
Because he beheld him steadfastly.
Just really looking at him and knowing that
God's veering in on this guy.
Then he has discernment.
He discerns that this guy's being prepared for
a touch from God.
And then Paul has the faith to speak
forth what God wants to do for this
man.
He discerns that the man has the faith.
That Jesus has given the man the faith
to respond.
And then there's a miracle.
The gift of a miracle takes place.
And the gift of healing.
All these things, these gifts of the Spirit
operating in one event.
And you know what?
God still works that way.
I remember one time in Ohio.
Pastor Jack and I were together.
And we're in this church, a denominational church.
And we were sitting towards the back of
the church.
And we were on the right-hand side
of the church.
And we saw a blind person.
Now, as I looked at him, as he
walked in, I could tell by the way
he was eating that he was blind.
And I'm way in the back.
And I see him walking across the front.
The next thing I know, I see these
people take a turn and start coming toward
me.
And the Lord says, I want you to
pray for him.
And I was really frightened.
It was bad enough because we had long
-haired beards in those days.
And this church, everybody had a coat and
a tie on.
And already we were being stared at.
And then the Lord says, I want you
to stand up and pray for this man
for healing.
And as he was coming down the aisle,
I'm thinking, well, maybe, Lord, you're going to
stop him up front and I won't have
to do it.
But as he's getting closer and closer, I
knew the Lord was going to do something.
I knew it.
And the discernment came that they were going
to bring him right.
Now, this is amazing, too.
Because this giant church was really kind of
a dead church.
It could seat probably 500 and there were
probably only about 30 people in it.
Scattered all around the place.
And so there was all these faces on
the way back as they're leading him back
that they could have just turned into any
aisle and sat, you know, any pew and
sat down.
But the Lord gave me the discernment.
It's like, he's coming right back and they're
going to sit next to you.
You're going to have to do it, Bill.
And sure enough, they did.
They walked all the way back and Jack
and I are sitting there.
And I stood up, laid hands on him,
and prayed for God to heal him, give
him new sight.
And he had like, there was no pupils
or anything.
It's just like a film.
He had no dark glasses on.
He had just like white.
And the amazing thing is, right before our
very eyes, all of a sudden, something happened
as I put his head back as I
prayed for him and his eyes were right
there.
The Lord gave him his eyes right in
front of us.
And he looked at us and that's the
last I saw of the man.
Now, the amazing thing is, after that happened,
they turned around, walked back up to the
front of the church and sat down.
After the service in the church, we left.
I know nothing.
Whatever happens to the man, I know nothing.
I don't know whether he got his eyesight
completely back or what.
All I know is, God told me to
do this and I did it.
I tried to get out of it at
first.
And the Lord told me he was going
to bring him right back and have him
come right into the aisle next to us.
I don't know where the man is today,
whatever happened.
But I knew it was going to happen.
The Lord showed me, he told me, he
was going to do it.
I have never had anything happen like that
since then.
That was over 20 years ago.
And I don't know what the end of
the story was.
We'll maybe find out in heaven.
But it's amazing how, if you are in
his situation, how God begins to work and
show you things, that he does it.
Now, it wasn't my faith.
And I don't know to this day if
that man has his eyesight.
But at that moment, his eyes came and
rolled down and he had eyes.
And the people saw it.
It didn't change the church at all.
We were in the town for another maybe
year, year and a half I think before
we left.
Don't know what happened.
I do know this.
The pastor did not believe in Genesis and
creation.
The pastor believed in evolution.
So, there's a problem right there.
We found out it was the Baptist church
and the pastor didn't believe in creation.
Biggest Baptist church in town.
But Paul saw this man and he perceived
that God was going to do something in
his life.
Now, here's where Paul's faith came in.
He said with a loud voice, I stand
upright on my feet.
And he leaped and walked.
Now, Paul didn't do it.
God did it.
Paul just spoke something he knew God was
going to do because he knew that God
was putting the faith in the man to
respond.
It wasn't some impulsive thing just, you know,
quoting a Scripture.
Hoping it would work.
You watch what's going to happen.
Well, you won't be able to see unless
you're left after the rapture what's going to
take place.
And they called Barnabas Jupiter.
That would be Zeus.
The Latin for Zeus.
And Paul Mercurius or Hermas in the Greek.
Because he was the chief speaker.
And then the priest of Jupiter which was
before their city brought oxen and garlands into
the gate and would have done sacrifice with
the people.
Bringing wreaths and flowers and they're going to
put them around the necks of Paul and
Barnabas and sacrifice an animal and worship them.
Now, this is more dangerous for Paul than
having his life threatened.
To be exalted by man for something God
did and to receive it.
Boy, Satan is so clever.
If he can't frighten you out of the
ministry and keep you from doing anything through
fear and threaten you to get you to
quit then he'll try to exalt you and
destroy you.
That's even more dangerous and more subtle.
Oh, aren't you something.
Oh, how God is using you.
Oh, you have such a magnificent voice.
Oh, when you pray.
Oh, you're such a wonderful Christian musician.
Oh, has God anointed you.
This is the most dangerous time of Paul's
life.
To be exalted.
To be praised.
It's the most dangerous time ever.
The attempt to touch the glory.
Aren't you something.
Which when Paul, or when the apostles, Barnabas
and Paul, heard of that they tore their
clothes and ran in among the people crying
out.
Now, you know what?
I was thinking, boy, if I was there
I'd have a hard time tearing one of
my Hawaiian shirts.
I mean, I would correct them quickly but
I don't know if I want to tear
one of my Hawaiian shirts for some stupid
thing like that.
Saying, sirs, why do you do these things?
We also are men of like passions with
you and preach unto you that you should
turn from these vanities unto the living God
which made heaven and earth and the sea
and all things that therein.
We're just men.
We're nothing but instruments that God has used.
You remember Peter and James and John going
into the temple in the afternoon prayer time
at Jerusalem.
And the crippled man was there and he
asked for alms.
Remember, he was begging.
His parents had probably taken him there every
day and then he's an older man or
maybe he made some kind of a little
thing he'd scoot around Jerusalem, you know, in
his crippled way, accepting his fate and his
life and living, you know, on the sympathy
of people.
No hope.
Begging.
And he asked for money, you remember.
And isn't it wonderful that they didn't have
money to give him?
And isn't it wonderful because they had nothing
to give him they didn't feel that they
couldn't go in and worship.
Because Peter said, silver and gold have we
none.
Do you realize that if it was someone
else and they had some money they might
have just thrown a little shekel in a
cup for the poor beggar.
He said, silver and gold have I none.
But he had something far greater to give.
He said, such as I have give I
to thee.
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth
stand up and walk.
You don't have to be a cripple the
rest of your life.
You're not an alcoholic all your life.
You're not a drug addict all your life.
You're not a murderer the rest of your
life.
You're not a sinner.
You're a new creature in Christ.
Old things are passed away.
Behold, all things become new.
And he stood up and he was healed.
And all the people rejoicing and they were
exalting Peter.
And Peter said, men and brethren, why do
you stare at us as though by our
own hands we have done this amazing as
though there is some righteousness in us.
What an opportunity to stand there and say
by my faith and my devotion and my
prayer time and my denial of self and
my Bible reading and my understanding and depth
of the Scriptures I knew just how to
pray for this man and touch the glory.
It's so wonderful to see that they just
said why are you looking at us as
though you know, we're something.
Jesus did this.
And that was it.
No big deal.
No fanfare.
No calling the papers and you know starting
a healing ministry.
Because you see the purpose of the gospel
is to share the truth of the word
of God.
The signs and the wonders may follow but
the purpose in the day of Pentecost Peter
preached.
He didn't have healing lines.
He didn't even remember preaching the baptism of
the Holy Spirit.
He preached the cross.
Even though Joel was being fulfilled and the
spirit was poured out and Pentecost started and
people were baptized in the Holy Spirit and
they asked about it he didn't do a
whole thing on the baptism of the Holy
Spirit.
He preached the cross.
The problem with the church today you see
they get all worked up over some of
the things that aren't the most important things.
The blessings of God.
But you know they're secondary.
The most important thing is the cross.
Christ crucified.
Christ risen.
You can be saved.
You can have your sins forgiven.
You don't have to be a triple the
rest of your life emotionally.
Not even physically if God decides to raise
you up and save you.
But sometimes it's the triple and the disease
is on the inside.
Some people are whole and can walk are
still crippled.
You may have two legs but your two
legs keep taking you into a bar.
You're triple.
You may have two eyes but you can't
stay away from pornography and your computer.
You're triple.
You're blind.
You see.
And so Jesus has to do the greater
work on the inside.
And that's the purpose of the gospel.
Whatever your problem is tonight, today.
Well however crippled you are Jesus Christ can
make you stand and walk.
He can set you free.
And it's supernatural.
And he's willing to do it.
If you'll just open your heart.
And then if he does it you don't
glorify the person who said you'll do it.
You give the glory to Jesus.
And so they say wait a minute.
You're looking at the wrong person here.
You're getting all excited.
We're not gods and we didn't do this.
The living God which made heaven and earth
and the sea and all things that are
therein.
He's the one who's done this.
Who in times past suffered all nations to
walk in their own ways.
He allowed all this ignorance in the past.
He winked at it.
But now he's bringing the truth.
Nevertheless he left not himself without witness in
that he did good and gave us rain
from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts
with food and gladness.
And with these things scarce restrained they the
people that they had not done sacrifice on.
They could hardly keep the people from saying
oh you're something you know.
And they just didn't want to hear it.
People are looking for a God.
People look for someone to worship.
Someone to adulate.
Someone to wear their hair like or dress
like or look like.
People are so dissatisfied with life if they
just know someone has fame that they think
accomplish something they're willing to even change the
way they look to identify with their God.
There's nothing but a human.
Oh to know the true and the living
God and not know what he looked like.
So that sets me free.
I can still look like Bill.
Because we walk by faith not by sight.
And to know him personally.
Now look how fickle the people are.
Look how quickly the crowd changes.
First they're calling him God and then there
came here certain Jews from Antioch.
The guys from Antioch followed them down here
to this area.
And they had greater persuasion.
Kind of like Jesus.
One minute what are they saying about Jesus
Christ.
Hosanna, Hosanna, save now.
And they're ready to worship him.
And then just in a few hours crucify
him, crucify him.
So these Jews from Antioch came further.
And from Iconium who persuaded the people and
having stoned Paul drew him out of the
city supposing he had been dead.
One minute they're going to claim him to
be Mercury and the next minute the mob
frenzy of a crowd.
How quickly people can be swayed.
And moved.
Now it's very possible.
You remember Paul when he met Jesus on
the road to Damascus.
Jesus said he was going to suffer many
things for his namesake.
As he brings glory to the Lord.
You remember Paul was writing to Colossian Christians
and told them not to be concerned by
all the things he suffered.
It was designed.
And there were things left behind for Jesus.
And identifying with Christ and his fellowship of
the sufferings that we needed to fill up
those things which were behind.
Now here it's very possible that God allowed
them to be stoned and Paul to be
put to death to prove to them he
wasn't a dead man.
But God allowed this.
So you see they couldn't put the glory
on and to realize that he wasn't just
a man.
Sometimes when we least expect it.
Not that we're doing anything wrong.
But God, if there's someone by just chance
maybe esteeming someone higher than they ought.
And it's the secret admiration that it should
not be there.
And God begins to see it and says
you know I'm going to have to do
something to this person.
I'm going to allow something to happen that
you'll see this person as they really are.
You're elevating them higher than you should.
And they're almost replacing you in your life.
And then all of a sudden God may
allow a humbling thing and all of a
sudden you realize wow they aren't perfect.
And you get back to Jesus.
Now God had a tremendous purpose in this.
It's very possible again to prove to them
that he's not a God.
But then it's amazing what God does with
Paul.
Now he devotes the whole chapter practically to
what happened here.
Some 15, 20 years later he writes concerning
this event and it's amazing what Paul learned
through this and how it changed Paul's life
and made him greater.
And it gave God the opportunity to show
his power over death.
Because God brought him back to life.
And the amazing thing is Paul went right
back to town.
So it shows you, you see as we
look at these things you go, I don't
know if I can handle what Brother So
-and-so went through.
When you're going to go through it you're
going to handle it.
God has promised that no matter what the
persecution he gives the power.
Don't shrink back because of an if.
Because you don't know what's going to take
place.
Don't allow someone else's tragedy that puts fear
in you and paralyzes you and stops you
from going ahead with Jesus Christ and taking
your step of faith.
God will give you the strength you need.
He will give you the strength they needed
in their situation.
You just may see the dead body.
You just may read about what this horrible
thing took place in the paper.
You go, I couldn't handle that.
And when it happens to you if it
does you will handle it.
God is faithful.
All the reporters, it has found the body.
And in my imagination Satan says, oh, what
they went through you wouldn't be able to
handle that.
Don't you sell out for Jesus Christ.
You better just start, you know, throwing the
switch now and holding back a little bit.
You don't know what's going to happen to
you.
Who cares what happens to me?
I want Jesus to be glorified and he's
promised to give me the strength and have
the measure of the spirit and the comfort
for any situation I need.
I look at people that aren't enjoying their
Christian life.
They're such chameleons.
They're so afraid.
They're judging their life by what someone else
went through and they're holding back because they
think, I couldn't do that.
God doesn't ask us to do anything whereby
he doesn't give us the power.
Why be miserable?
Christianity is so wonderful and so exciting.
It's the greatest life there is.
And some people are so bored.
Oh, I want to go to church tonight.
You want to go to church Sunday?
What do you want to do this week?
Want to do something Christian?
I mean, it's almost like there's...
What other life is there?
God promises to keep us.
God doesn't break his promises.
You have nothing to fear.
He said, I'll not leave you comfortless.
I will come to you.
He said he would give us the power
to be the witness.
We can be filled afresh daily with his
spirit.
We can get up in the morning and
wait upon him and be filled for that
day.
Any time during the day if we need
a fresh filling or strength, we can just
take the time to be filled and ask
and God says you'll receive that your joy
may be full.
And remember, they were persecuted and it says
they were filled with joy and the Holy
Spirit.
Believe me, the greater the persecution because of
your faithfulness for Jesus, the greater the filling,
the greater the power that God will give
you.
Next week, we're going to see more about
what happened to Paul when he was stoned
and what God did and how it affected
his life.
And we all stand.
Wait a minute, what's next week?
Next week is the first week of communion.
It's communion.
We're going to have to wait.
We have communion next week.
But you read it, study it, and look
at the life of Paul.
What a dynamic life.
What an example for us.
But he was a man, weak.
He said, I came before you with weakness
and fear and trembling.
He was a man with like passions like
us.
Like Elijah.
We can do nothing apart from Christ.
But like Paul said, we can do all
things which strengthen us not.
Want some fresh strength tonight?
Now, I've been speaking tonight and only by
God's grace in some area maybe God has
spoken to you or challenged you or encouraged
you.
But I can guarantee you this.
If you want a fresh touch from the
Lord, we can agree together.
Because the Bible says, if any two of
you agree together, if touching anything on this
earth, you will have it of your Father
in heaven.
Would you like a fresh measure of the
Holy Spirit tonight before you leave?
Now, first of all, it says, if I
regard iniquity within my heart, the Lord will
not hear me.
So, if you've got secret sin, deal with
it right now.
If you've got secret sin, it's not going
to do you any good to ask for
a fresh filling of the Spirit.
The vessel's got to be clean.
So, ask the Lord to forgive you.
Ask Him to cleanse you in the blood.
And He's willing.
There's no one who can go to Him
and He won't refuse you.
Say, Lord, forgive me.
Deal with it right now.
And then you grab the hand next to
you.
David, you've got to get over there.
Come on.
This lady here.
Everybody get a hand.
There's no...
We're not going to do that.
We're a body here of believers.
Somebody get a hold of a hand.
And we're going to ask the Lord for
a fresh measure of the Holy Spirit.
Okay?
Oh, one other thing.
If you're not saved, it's not going to
help either.
It's important that you're saved.
So, if you haven't asked Jesus into your
heart, He wants to come into your heart.
He wants to save you and fill you
with His love.
So, ask Jesus into your heart to be
your Lord and Savior.
Ask Him to forgive you of your sinful
life.
You want a new life with Jesus.
Okay?
Heavenly Father, we stand here before you as
your children an hour and a half with
you tonight.
We pray that we've been faithful to you,
Lord.
We desire to know more of you and
experience more of your love.
And we ask the Lord to give us
the power, that fresh filling and measure of
the Holy Spirit that we not be afraid.
Lord, your Spirit is so gentle and so
wonderful.
So, we ask now that you fill us.
And we thank you, Holy Spirit, that we
can just receive by faith.
So, move now, Lord, in each heart.
Each heart that has been cleansed by the
blood that desires more of you.
Work now, Father, to impress you in Jesus'
name.
Thanks for listening.
We hope that Jesus reveals more of Himself
to you through this teaching.
If you are interested in more teaching tapes
from Calvary Chapel of the Finger Lace, you
can receive a catalog and order tapes by
dialing 1-800-483-WALK.
That's 1-800-483-WALK.
Or by writing to Walk in the Light,
P.O. Box 25099, Farmington, New York, 14425.
May Jesus bless you as you study His
Word.
Thank you.