Before we begin, I thought I'd read something
to you and show you some of the
things that are happening.
Rosemary and I happen to be listening to
Every Man an Answer, and someone had called
in about the ten toes, what they represent
in Daniel's vision, and they had given their
answers, and I had remarked, you know, it's
what they should have done is taken them
right back to Daniel in the text of
the question and shown the man who called
in that this has never happened in history.
Everything else has taken place historically, and it's
verified, and it can be seen historically, but
the ten toes have not developed, but it's
developing right now around the world in either
economic districts or the revival of the Roman
Empire, as we see Europe coming back to
the forefront in everything worldwide, particularly now that
we see the Asian market and the Pacific
Rim beginning to weaken economically and Europe being
strengthened and the scenario being prepared for the
Kings of the East invasion in the Mideast
for the oil rights and the power versus
Western Europe and the Antichrist.
It's being, you know, prepared, and God's got
the hooks, as he said in Ezekiel and
the Jaws, and bringing it all right to
our, before our very eyes, as we see
these things setting up, preparing Armageddon for all
of Asia coming against Europe and the Antichrist
in the Mideast.
It's exciting things to see, but I thought
I'd read something to you that John reminds
his children in 1 John 2, then we'll
get into the book of Acts.
Verse 15, it says, Love not the world.
Now, it's interesting how dependent people are becoming
on the governments of the world and not
God.
What I find interesting, that the closer Jerusalem
came to its destruction, the more it rejected
Jesus Christ.
As he began to warn them of impending
doom from the invasion of Rome, as a
matter of fact, his people, the closer it
came to their destruction, the more they rejected
Jesus Christ.
Now, we see this very same thing happening
all over again.
The closer we are getting to that final
judgment with the greater Roman Empire that will
encompass the whole earth, the more the world
is rejecting Jesus Christ again.
Very interesting, as we watch that take place.
But it says, Love not the world, and
more and more we see people depend on
the world and the love of the world,
as the world is offering so much, saying,
hey, with education and our science and our
technology and the way things are going, you
don't need God.
And if you do need God, we've got
all kinds of systems for you, but you
certainly don't need Jesus Christ.
That's a myth.
That's too narrow.
And so we're seeing people drift toward the
world.
And remember, Jesus said, When the Son of
Man returns, shall he find faith on the
earth, faith in him?
Not only are we warned not to love
the world, neither the things of the world,
and that are in the world.
If any man loved the world, the love
of the Father is not in him.
You see, the vacuum's got to be filled,
gang.
The void that's in there is either going
to be filled by Jesus Christ and the
love of God or materialism and ease and
pleasure that the world offers.
And that's a trap, you see, because when
the world finally says, hey, if you don't
receive the number, you're not getting in hospitals.
You're not getting your gas and electric turned
on.
You're not getting your groceries.
You're not getting your petrol for your automobiles.
And remember, the whole world is being conditioned
to receive the number to buy and sell,
international, the 10 toes, worldwide, linked together with
the computer system, electronic funds transfer.
Rose, we're now coming back from the city
this afternoon or early this morning, and you
can see the lines backing up probably 20
cars, some lines, and then easy pass, no
one's using it.
And you can see them preparing people to
get so frustrated, everybody's going to say, give
me that easy pass.
I'm tired of waiting these lines and see
these people go right on through.
And they're resisting it right now.
But you watch, you see, pretty soon people
are going to be so frustrated.
Give me the mark.
I don't even need it on my windshield.
Just put it on my forehead.
I'm in a hurry.
We laugh at it.
But you see, the human race is being
conditioned for it.
And little things like easy pass, getting through
the grocery store in a hurry, trying to
figure out what credit card, writing the check,
getting the money out, going to the bank,
and computer shut down.
Losing the card for all that is in
the world, the lust of the flesh, the
lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life is not of the Father, but is
of the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust
thereof.
You get too old for lust after a
while.
It's amazing how many people destroy their life
just over that one little thing when they're
young.
You see why Paul warned Timothy, hey, flee
youthful lusts.
It's all going to pass away.
But he that doeth the will of God
abideth forever.
Little children, it is the last time.
And as you have heard, that Antichrist shall
come.
He is forming his worldwide government right now
before our very eyes.
And people are being conditioned for it, accepting
it, and they don't know it, you see,
because they don't have the Holy Spirit.
And they can't perceive it.
They just see, hey, this is great.
I'm not going to be left without hospitalization,
whatever the government says.
And especially if the government has a program
that's cheaper than Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
Hey, the government, hey, whatever, give me the
number.
Even now, there are many Antichrists.
The leader of our nation is an Antichrist,
whereby we know that it is the last
time.
And notice what he says as he talks
about loving the world and the things of
the world.
He says, they went out from us, but
they were not of us.
For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us.
But they went out that they might be
made manifest that they were not all of
us.
You know, a lot of people profess to
believe in Jesus for a while, until they
come between the world and Christ.
Now, it's interesting, again, as Jesus got closer
to the cross, closer to being rejected, it
says multitudes quit following him as he began
to warn them.
And the closer the nation came to judgment,
and the more he tried to warn them,
the more they rejected him.
Deeply religious people.
We're seeing it happen all over again.
Well, I want to show you this, then
we'll get into Acts 20.
This is in the Wall Street Journal.
I love to get these things.
This is a full page ad in the
Wall Street Journal.
You can imagine what this thing cost.
It's just not a new coin.
It's a new way of doing business.
It's the new euro money.
The euro coin.
That pretty soon, you see, all the stock
markets of the world will be tied to
it.
Here's another interesting thing.
I thought I'd show you this one.
The new MasterCard.
Move more living, less limits.
And it just shows how it can be
used all over the world.
And it's called the WorldCard.
The latest technology.
The WorldCard.
No more limits.
And then it's interesting.
They're holding a symposium in Europe right now.
And all the computer gurus of the world
are meeting together, discussing uniting the world's economies
with this united European money that's right on
the verge of being official.
And you know who's heading it up?
Bill Gates.
So, you see, we're right at the verge.
You say, well, I'm not going to take
the mark.
I'm going to use cash.
There's not going to be any cash.
They're going to do away with it.
They're going to do something to stabilize this
fluctuation in all the different currencies that affect
the stock market in every nation.
These economic earthquakes that affect everybody's job.
And so, you see, one thing is just
to combine and unite all the currencies of
the world.
And so pretty soon you'll just be saying,
hey, we've got something even better, folks.
You don't have to carry all these plastic
cards and figure out which one to use.
Your Blue Cross and Blue Shield card, your
health care, your insurance, your driver's license.
I mean, we've got a computer system in
Brussels called the Beast.
It's so powerful.
And it'll just cover everything.
All you need is just this little thing
in your forehead on your right hand.
Church better wake up.
Acts chapter 20.
Now, we left Paul, another riot because of
his ministry.
Remember the silversmiths of Ephesus, all upset because
Paul was leading so many people to Christ
and so many of the pagans were coming
to Christ that they were burning their occultic
books.
And then in Ephesus particularly and around that
area, they weren't worshiping Diana any longer, the
queen of heaven.
They quit buying her silver shrines and statues.
And the silversmiths said, hey, we make our
living because of this religion.
We got to get rid of this guy.
He's leading people to Christ.
And these people aren't worshiping the queen anymore.
And they're not buying our silver shrines.
And you remember it created such an uproar.
They dragged him into the theater in Ephesus
that seats about 20,000 people.
And then you remember the governor, the mayor
of the city would have nothing to do
with it.
It was unjust and everything.
And they let Paul go.
And then in verse 1 of chapter 20,
after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto
him the disciples and embraced them.
I like that.
He embraced them.
This is the type of man Paul was.
And he departed for to go into Macedonia.
So he's going to get on ship, leave
Ephesus and go across the Aegean Sea toward
Macedonia, which is the underbelly.
Actually, at that particular time, it was the
underbelly of what today is Yugoslavia.
Going up into Europe, back to Europe.
And when he had gone over those parts.
Now, we don't see that.
And unless you study the scriptures and begin
to cross-reference and really read the Bible
on a regular basis, you miss a lot
and can skip over something and not realize
what has taken place.
It says, and when he had gone over
those parts.
Now, this is the springtime of the year,
sometime at this particular time in April.
But he has already been in a place
called Illyricum for over a year.
Which, if you look at your maps, today
is the area of Belgrade in Serbia.
And so Paul's the one who took Christianity
and the gospel up into that area.
You remember earlier in the book of Acts,
there was the vision of the man in
Macedonia saying, come over and help us.
And so Paul is the one who took
the gospel to Europe, from Asia to Europe.
And so he's back up in the area
where today we know as Serbia, Belgrade, Yugoslavia,
or Illyricum.
And he spent a year there.
But all you see here is verse 2.
When he had gone over those parts and
had given them much exhortation, he came into
Greece.
So he moved south back down to Athens.
After spending a year going from house to
house, checking on the church, you know, the
small fellowships and how the saints were doing.
And Paul loved to do that.
He loved to retrace his steps.
And you do, you fall in love with
the saints.
One of the most difficult things for me
this summer, is not to be able to
visit the fellowship that the Lord planted in
Hanover, Germany, and in Austria.
They meet in Austria.
And then down in Croatia now with Delmir.
And I, because of Moscow, going to Moscow,
I couldn't go to Europe.
And it's funny, the ache that's in your
heart, because I love them so much.
And they love us so much.
And not being able to go and see
how they're doing, but to hear secondhand.
Because I can remember when these people, when
I first met them, you know, they were
just about ready to walk away from Jesus
Christ.
No churches, no fellowship in their areas.
And then to see what God has done
with them in these cities.
And then it's such a delight to go
back and visit and see how God is
blessing them, how they're growing in the Lord.
And now we have this thing, God started
in Puerto Rico, and I got a letter
from Danny, that there's not even standing room.
They're sitting on the floors.
They went out and bought more chairs, and
they're back on the floor.
There's no more room.
It's amazing what's happening already down in Puerto
Rico.
And to see what God's doing.
Just exciting.
Well, that's what Paul loved to do.
Go back and just see how everybody's doing.
See if they're continuing in the Word.
And nothing is more thrilling as to see
that someone has come to Christ, and you
see them a year or two later, and
you see they're growing in the love of
the Lord.
Growing in their love for Christ, their boldness
for Christ.
Walking away from the world, not struggling to
get out of it anymore, because they've been
converted.
They've been born again to the Spirit, and
the love of the Father's in them, and
they've walked right out of that world, and
are getting further and further out of it.
Not one foot in and one foot out.
Trying to make things work and get the
blessings from both.
And it's so exciting.
And notice Paul exhorted them or encouraged them.
That's true prophecy.
A true prophet is one who comforts, who
edifies, who exhorts.
Stimulates to get going.
Get off your duff and do something.
And in a way not to condemn, but
how long, you know, it's like when someone
needs an exhortation, how long are you just
going to sit and listen?
When are you going to do something?
It's easy to sit and say, I love
the Lord, in a church setting.
But sometimes we need an exhortation.
When are you going to stand up and
do something the rest of the week?
Not just say, I love you on Sunday,
you know, or Bible study night.
And so Paul goes around and he wants
to encourage them, to exhort them, to continue
on.
Much exhortation.
Well, he took a year.
Probably one area for a while, teaching the
Bible, and then go travel into another village,
teach for a while, and retrace his steps,
go somewhere else.
And then he just felt like now it's
time to go down into Greece.
So he leaves the area of Belgrade, as
we know it today, and goes into Greece.
Now, Romans 15, 19, he makes mention of
the fact while he's there, when he writes
the letter of the Romans.
And there he abode three months.
And when the Jews laid wait for him,
as he was about to sail into Syria,
he purposed to return through Macedonia.
Now, again, this man who knew how to
walk in the Spirit, and yet he also
knew that God had given him a brain
to make decisions and to think wisely.
I think too often, because God may work
a miraculous thing in our life, and we
see the supernatural in some deliverance, we think,
well, that's the way God's going to do
it all the time.
And if I just have enough faith, and
I get into the spirit realm enough, and
become that spiritual giant, that's the way he's
going to operate all the time in my
life.
Notice here is the great apostle Paul.
He got word that there were some Jews
waiting to kill him, as he's going to
go back from the Aegean, actually the western
side of the Aegean Sea, from Athens, that
he was going, he wanted to get back
down to Jerusalem to keep the Passover, because
multitudes of his old friends, family members, and
Jews who his heart, you know, he wanted
to convert them, he loved to go to
the feasts, even though he was born again
now, because there was such a missionary field
to go back to the temple area, and
share who Messiah was, and prove in the
scriptures.
And so he wanted to set sail, and
because so many pilgrims, remember, according to the
Jewish law, it was Jewish law that every
male had to appear at least to three
of the main feast days of Israel.
If they were too far away, and they
couldn't get to three, they were obligated to
get to one in a lifetime.
So here's Paul coming all the way from
Greece, wanting to get to Jerusalem for Passover,
so worldwide that would take place, and the
shipping industries would have cruise ships, so to
speak, or passages to get Jews on their
ships, so they could all make passage back
to Jerusalem for the feast days.
They knew it took place, and so the
Gentile shipping lanes took advantage of it.
And so there was a handful of Jews
who felt that he betrayed the faith, and
they hated him, and they're waiting, they're going
to get him on ship as it's on
the way down to Antioch, into Syria, just
going to throw him overboard, and he gets
word of it.
Now he just didn't go and pray and
say, well Lord, you know, you sent an
angel, got me out of jail, you've done
the miraculous before, and you know, Philippi, I
was stoned to death, you brought me back
to life, I'm not worried, I'm just trusting
you.
No, he had knowledge of something, and God
expected him to think things out clearly, and
make a wise decision as a believer.
Not to presume that if I am presumptuous,
remember David prays in the psalm, Lord keep
back thy servant from presumptuous sin.
To presume that because I make a certain
decision, and it's a foolish decision, God's automatically
going to protect me from harm.
You remember Satan tried to tempt Jesus himself
into presuming and doing something miraculous apart from
the Father's will, and Jesus rebuked him, he
said, thou shall not tempt the Lord thy
God.
And so in this particular situation, the Spirit
of God did not instruct Paul, don't worry,
get on ship and go.
Paul thought about it and said, hey wait
a minute, there's a plot to kill me
and toss me overboard, they're going to kill
me, and he purposes to go back up
around the underside of Yugoslavia or Macedonia and
go that way to protect himself.
There's a text, I looked at it today,
I flashed on this, I'm sure it was
the Lord, it says, A prudent man foreseeth
the evil and hideth himself.
But a simple-minded man, a simple-minded
man continues on and is punished.
Just presuming that, well, I'm a child of
God, I don't need to seek the Lord
or make a decision here, I'll just go
on, he'll protect me.
The angels will bear me up, no.
It's good to make a wise decision and
think clearly.
A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth
himself.
But the simple pass on and are punished.
And so Paul's exercising wisdom here.
So he goes up to return through Macedonia,
back up north again around the underbelly of
Europe, Yugoslavia, to go back down toward Philippi.
And there accompanied him into Asia, Sopater of
Berea.
Remember the Berean believers were, you know, they
searched the word daily to see if these
things would be so that the apostles were
teaching.
And of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus, Secundus, and Gaius
of Derbe, and Timotheus, young Timothy, and of
Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.
Now, Tychicus was a friend of Timothy's and
a companion of Paul.
And he's the one who delivered Paul's letters
to the Ephesians and the Colossians.
Remember, Paul makes mention of them, of Tychicus,
as delivering his letters and making known to
the people his state of affairs.
Plus, these men, you recall, they would take
the offerings.
In Macedonia, they took a collection for the
poor saints in Jerusalem.
And Paul would put the money in these
men's hands and they'd take it back to
the poor saints in Jerusalem to help them
meet their needs.
Because they were Christians and the Jews ran
things, they weren't getting jobs like they used
to.
And rather than deny the faith to get
a job, they were being left out.
And they were having difficult times financially, but
they were trusting in God.
And God was providing for them in another
way.
These going before tarried for us.
Now, notice us.
Luke enters in.
Now, it's that personal pronoun now.
Luke's injecting his own person.
He's with Paul, the writer of the book
of Acts.
All of a sudden, these going before tarried
for us.
So, Luke's going with Paul.
God's sending him as his personal physician.
And it's interesting how accurate the book of
Acts is in the descriptions and how very
accurate as a doctor and educated man, Luke
is writing everything down very clearly.
And we, there's the end, sailed away from
Philippi after the days of unleavened bread and
came unto them to Troas in five days
where we abode seven days.
Now, what they did is went back up
to Philippi rather than take the ship they
were going to take to Syria, knowing that
there was a plot to throw them overboard
and kill them in some way.
They went back by land, Paul and Luke,
up to Philippi and then took another ship
days later.
And it shows that Paul didn't get back
to Jerusalem in time for the Passover.
So, he stayed with a fellowship somewhere up
there, met in a synagogue where some Jews
were congregated and he kept the Passover there
and the feast of unleavened bread there.
And then they went across the northern portion
of the Aegean Sea and they began to
hit these little islands as you come down
the Greek archipelago, down the Aegean Sea, down
toward Patmos and then around that area of
Turkey.
And upon the first day of the week
when the disciples came together to break bread,
Sunday morning, remember the last day of the
week in the Jewish system was the Sabbath
or Saturday, the seventh, Saturday, the Sabbath rest.
But for the Christian, because Christ rose on
the eighth day or Sunday morning, that was
the day that the early church, they began
to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, knowing
that they weren't under the law, that the
Sabbath law was not for Gentiles or for
the church, it was a covenant with the
Jew only, not for Gentiles.
They began to celebrate and gather together to
worship and have the communion or break bread
on Sunday morning.
You remember Jesus in Matthew 24, he instituted
the new covenant, superseding and setting aside the
old covenant.
This is the new covenant in my blood.
You remember he established it, what we call
normally the last supper.
But why some people think it's so important
that biblically, that as a Christian you can
only worship on Saturday, that's the mistake that
the seven-day adventists make, but it's interesting
to me.
James says that if you're going to keep
part of the law, you have to keep
all of the law.
That means if you're wearing slacks, you're under
a curse as a woman.
If you've got clothing on now and you're
worried about on Saturday, worshiping only on Saturday,
because the Bible says though when you're supposed
to obey the Sabbath, you better not be
wearing cotton and rayon and cotton and wool
mixed together in your clothing.
And if you live further than a half
a mile from your church, if you're an
Adventist, you can't go because you'll be breaking
the Sabbath, you'll be traveling too far.
So if you're going to keep the Sabbath
and hold on to that, you better keep
it all.
It says you better keep all 363 precepts
or don't keep any of it, because if
you break one, you might as well break
them all.
And it makes me thankful, just as my
pastor said, it makes me so thankful that
I don't have to worship God under law
or some legal system, that I can worship
God in a wonderful relationship.
I'm free in Christ and I can worship
any day, every day, and go as far
as I want to to worship Him.
Now, so you might see this and know
this because you may meet with people and
say, what did you worship on?
In fact, the Seventh-day Adventists have been
so deceived by Satan that they say that
if you worship on Sunday, it's the mark
of the beast.
You've received the mark of the beast.
But the Bible plainly shows that Paul in
the early church met on the first day
of the week.
That's Sunday.
You go to Israel today and you say,
what's the first day of the week?
It's Sunday.
Everything's closed down on Saturday in Israel.
It's amazing what goes on for three days.
On Friday, Islam, that's their holy day, they
close all the shops, don't do anything on
Friday.
They open up on Saturday, and then their
holy day's over, and then Saturday, everything, the
rest, another third shuts down because it's a
Jewish Sabbath.
It's against the law to have any businesses
open or travel over 2,000 cubits or
about a half a mile.
In fact, today over there, if you go
through an Orthodox section of Israel on the
Sabbath, they'll stone your cars.
The ultra-Orthodox in Israel.
It's amazing.
They'll stone the cars for breaking the Sabbath,
but they're the biggest bootleggers of cigarettes and
whiskey in Israel.
The black market, they run the black market.
Then on Sunday, the Jews open everything up,
and the Christian, all the Christian churches and
denominations, the bells are all ringing in all
the churches around Jerusalem, and they're all closed
down.
It's really rough for three days to get
anything done over there.
But turn to Exodus chapter 31.
Let me show you the scriptures, so you'll
know this.
You might have to give someone an answer,
and Peter says, be ready to give every
man an answer, the reason of your hope
in Jesus Christ and your faith, knowing how
to instruct them in love, because they may
want to challenge you and tell you you
got the mark of the beast because you
don't worship on Saturday.
But this, I think it's verse, let's see,
Exodus 31 verses 16 and 17.
God is telling them there's the Sabbath is
a sign between his people Israel and himself.
Six days may work be done, but in
the seventh, which is Saturday, is the Sabbath,
it's rest.
Holy to the Lord, whosoever doeth any work
in the Sabbath day, he shall be put
to death.
Wherefore, the children of Israel shall keep the
Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations
for a perpetual covenant.
It is a sign between me and the
children of Israel forever.
For in six days, the Lord made heaven
and earth, and on the seventh day, he
rested and was refreshed.
Now you and I have the marvelous advantage
of going into a perpetual rest every day
because we don't have to work for our
salvation.
Jesus said on the cross, it is finished.
And the writer of Hebrews plainly shows that
that old covenant has been disannulled for the
weakness of it.
And now there's a perpetual rest that we
enter into that Jesus Christ has accomplished redemption.
He's finished the work on the cross, all
there is for our redemption.
And now we just receive of God and
enjoy it through Jesus Christ, my faith in
him, and I rest in that.
And because Christ raised from the dead on
the eighth day, Sunday, that's our first day,
that's when the early church began to worship
and gather together to break bread in the
new covenant that he established at the last
supper before he was crucified.
This is the new covenant in my blood
at the Passover meal.
You remember in 1 Corinthians 16, 1 and
2, Paul said, when you gather together at
the first day of the week, make sure
you have all the collections taken care of
on that first day.
When you gather together on Sunday, take your
offerings, your financial offerings, your love gifts to
the Lord that we can distribute to the
Lord.
But when I show up, I don't want
you taking any offerings.
So Paul wasn't with them on Sundays that
often.
When he'd come in, maybe Monday or Tuesday
or middle of the week, they'd have a
Bible study.
He'd exhort them, he'd stay with them for
a few days.
But he said, I don't want any offerings
taken when I'm there with you.
Have it already established.
When you gather together on your regular worship
time on the first day of the week,
which is Sunday, you take the collections then,
so you don't do it when I show
up.
And then I'll take the money and we'll
distribute it to the poor saints.
That's the first day of the week also.
Now, again, most Christians were the slaves.
And because they couldn't get off work, all
the Bible studies were in the evening after
the working hours.
And after work, they'd all gather together in
these different homes or these places.
And then Paul or the apostles would teach
us.
Many times, the slaves themselves would be the
teachers.
Now, what's interesting, during the day, quite often,
the slave worked for somebody very important, very
wealthy.
But in the evening, as he was the
slave during the day for his master or
his owner, in the evening at the Bible
study, the owner would be sitting at his
feet because God would anoint the slave and
he'd be the Bible teacher, quite often.
So here they are in a home someplace.
They're tired.
And there's a young man that we're going
to find out about.
His name means fortunate.
This young kid's name is Eutychus.
And they're on the third story of someone's
house.
The workday's over.
Man, they're all gathered.
Probably had their evening meal.
You know how it is to try to
stay awake in an evening Bible study if
the air conditioning isn't working, don't you?
You're always moving and trying to cover up
your yawn so they don't think you're bored.
You know, you kind of, your muscles in
your teeth.
You're really yawning and you get this weird
look.
What's wrong with their face?
Why not just yawn and relax?
No one's going to judge you.
You had a hard day, a long day,
and you've got a belly full of food
and it's warm.
Why do you think we started on Wednesday
nights at seven now?
To help you out a little bit.
And there were many lights in the upper
chamber.
Well, it says, notice the first, this would
be Sunday night.
Remember, they worked on Sunday.
Paul preached unto them ready to depart on
the morrow and continued his speech till midnight.
So he's going out, you know, real late
at night.
It's gotten dark and Paul's going on probably
10 minutes past the normal Bible study time
and the nursery people are pulling their hair
out and the people in the slingshot are
going nuts, you know.
Well, there goes Paul again, five minutes past
nine.
He's going too long and there were many
lights in the upper chamber.
Now notice, they didn't have light bulbs.
What do you have when you have many
lights burning?
Candles.
You have oxygen being burned up.
You have people that are breathing in this
room, upper room, with all kinds of candles.
It's in the Mideast.
It's in April.
It's hot and there's not much oxygen left.
They didn't have air conditioning.
And there sat in a window a certain
young man named Eutychus being fallen into a
deep sleep.
We got some people in this church we've
called Eutychus.
Mr. and Miss.
There's Miss Eutychus over there.
There's Mr. Eutychus over there.
And they know that and I like this
because, man, if you can fall asleep with
Paul preaching, doesn't bother me at all.
And as Paul was long preaching, the nursery
helpers were pulling their hair out.
There he goes again.
It's ten minutes after.
He should have stopped longer, long ago.
There he goes.
He's not being thinking of us.
And poor Eutychus, he's just tired.
You know, I don't know what he did
during the day, but man, he just sunk
down asleep.
Fell right out the window, the third story
window.
Fell down from the third loft and was
taken to the man.
He hit the floor dead.
Probably broke his neck.
Quick way to get into glory, isn't it?
Now, we're assuming that he's saved.
We're assuming that he's saved.
If he was, just think how quick he
was in the presence of the Lord in
glory.
I wonder if he really was thankful that
Paul prayed for him and he came back.
You know, Rosemary read a devotional to me
this morning about Lazarus.
You know, he's in glory.
He dies.
The Lord delays himself purposely.
The family's sorrowful, but Lazarus certainly isn't sorrowful.
He's in glory.
He's been given his harp, his white sandals,
his robe, you know, and his assignment.
It says in the devotional, he's been given
his locker, you know, and everything.
He's ready to go, man.
He's there.
Next thing you know, he's back.
And he's in these stinking, dirty, old, putrefied,
rotting flesh mummy wrappings.
Back in there with his body normal again.
Probably wondering, what the heck is going on?
You know, can you imagine how happy he
must have been when he unwrapped them and
he saw his sisters there?
Oh, Lazarus, we couldn't live without you.
Oh, we're so glad you're back.
Oh, God is so good.
He's going, what?
What?
Can you smell these things?
What?
Now, what a tragedy if we believe something
that some of the church teaches.
Because, see, he died again, didn't he?
He died as normal.
He lived longer.
We don't know how long he lived again,
but then he died.
What if he was angry with God?
And if you want to believe that doctrine
and don't understand grace and the gift of
salvation, and you think you could lose your
salvation, wouldn't it be a shame to go
to heaven for a while, come back, and
then lose it?
You see how preposterous that is.
I certainly wouldn't be that happy to come
back.
Now, I'm sure God would give grace.
I would not want to come back, ever,
until I'm in my glorified body and return
with the Lord.
But what if that doctrine was true, and
he just all of a sudden was discouraged
and got in an argument with somebody, hardened
his heart, and just walked away from the
Lord and he lost his salvation.
He died again, he wouldn't go to heaven.
I don't believe that doctrine can hold up
if you really examine it.
You see, you can't earn your salvation.
It's a gift, and we're kept by his
power and his grace.
And God had a purpose in sending his
spirit and his soul back into that body.
And when he died again, his natural death,
he went back to be with the Lord.
The gifts and the calling of God are
without repentance, without change.
And so this young boy's dead.
Now, there's a doctor there to know.
Remember, Luke is writing this, a physician.
And this is what I find interesting.
You see, they didn't have hospitals in those
days.
So you either prayed, and God did it,
or that was it.
Or maybe some herbs and some medicines that
God through the wisdom-giving man in those
days had.
But isn't it interesting how you didn't have
hospitals or emergency rooms or 911.
So look how God operates when you don't
have the other things.
Now, does that mean today that God doesn't
heal and cannot heal if someone dropped dead
in the service?
Should we not pray?
Absolutely.
But more than likely because of what God's
done and what we have now as hospitals
and the facilities that we have that they
didn't have in those days, God would just
as likely send the person to the hospital.
And it still requires faith.
It's still not being presumptuous.
But see, in those days, they had none
of the things we have.
That's why it's kind of comical to hear
some of these false prophets and these wolves
that go to Europe after the eastern communist
wall came down, the separation.
And they went running over there peddling their
faith books and how-to books from their
air-conditioned Mercedes cars and even living at
a level like they never in their lives
have ever lived that level.
With all the comforts we have and all
the benefits that God has allowed to western
civilization and our culture that I appreciate.
And it's not a lack of faith to
take advantage of it.
It's presumptuous and foolish not to.
But they don't have these things.
When they pray, their hand isn't going to
a medicine cabinet for Tylenol.
When they pray, it has to work.
They don't have hospitals at the disposal like
you and I.
I met a young girl whose grandmother in
Moscow lived outside of Moscow, 85 years old.
She's 85 years old.
She's never had a bath or a shower
in her life.
When they pray over there, you see, they
depend on God.
They don't need a how-to book from
over here to get a car or nice
clothing.
They have faith.
Because through 70 years of communism, after they've
escaped Hitler, they still love Jesus Christ.
And these women, they have hands that are
like leather.
They don't know what a beauty shop is.
They have their nails done every month or
every other week.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
It's not wrong at all to enjoy those
things that God has given on this side.
But to say that they need to be
instructed by us American Christians on what faith
is.
Because I know women over here, if they
didn't have those things, they wouldn't follow Jesus.
They'd be complaining and murmuring.
They don't know what it's like to have
hairspray.
Men over there don't know what it's like
to have one car, let alone, you know,
two cars.
We haven't the faintest idea.
They have faith.
They have faith that puts us to shame.
I go over there and I come away
humbled continually.
So when they went down and prayed, that's
all they had.
They believed.
They had to believe.
There wasn't an alternative.
Well, if the prayer doesn't work, we'll get
them to the hospital.
If the headache doesn't go away, take some
Tylenol.
You see, and again, it's not wrong.
I thank God for these things.
But they only had one thing they could
do.
Pray.
You know how God honors them.
Sometimes I think we have so many alternatives,
we never develop in our faith.
We think it's faith, but because of all
the alternatives, we don't really pray believing.
Effectually, with a heart, we're demeaning it.
You see, I think we need to learn
those things.
I think that God in His mercy is
going to bring the church, His bride in
America, to that point.
We may just see some things when we
may not have the alternatives that we have
now.
And when we pray, we're going to go
right to the throne, and we're going to
mean it.
And God in His mercy may allow it.
As Jesus began to maybe speak and touch
on some of these things, remember, it says,
And many departed from Him.
Many quit believing.
And the crowds got smaller and smaller and
smaller.
Paul went down and fell on Him, embracing
Him and said, trouble not yourselves, His life
is in Him.
God sent His spirit and soul back.
Much like Elijah and Elisha when they threw
themselves on the child.
You remember when the child died, and they
both prayed, and God brought the life of
the child back for the mother.
When He therefore was come up again, in
other words, they brought the boy back up
to the third floor, back into the Bible
study, and had broken bread and eaten, and
talked a long while, even till break of
day.
So He departed.
It could be the mere fact that God
let him fall asleep and fall out of
the window and hit the floor was for
what was going to take place afterwards, what
He saw, because Paul knew what it was
like to go into paradise and come back.
And I'll bet you they had some good
fellowship together, and it doesn't tell us exactly
how, but I can imagine that God used
Eutychus in a powerful way after this experience
and this thing he went through, this experience.
Now, it probably seemed very negative at first
as he's going down.
And his friends went, well, why would God
allow that?
My gosh, he came to the Bible study.
Why is God punishing him, you know?
I remember one time, I'm teaching a class
and some young people, and this is, he's,
long since, I don't know what's happened to
the guy.
But he was on fire for Jesus, and
it's, you know, you can usually see when
someone's on fire like this guy was, sure
enough, Satan had a girl.
Now, God can have a girl too, but
this is how you can tell if the
girl's from the Lord or from Satan.
Are you being drawn away from the Lord,
or is this girl in your life making
you want more of the Lord?
That's how you can tell if the girl's
from the Lord or the guy.
Either way, is it starting to draw you,
and all of a sudden, they want to
do things on Bible study night, and there's
a conflict of interest here.
All of a sudden, y'all can't do,
oh, let's go here.
Well, this is Bible study night.
Well, I love the Lord, and you love
the Lord.
After all, you're older than the Lord now,
and pretty soon, if you see that, and
that war's starting, hey, I'd seek the Lord.
Because every blessing or everything God brings into
my life is to draw me closer to
Him, not all of a sudden getting me
to the point where it's drawing me away
from Him.
That's how you can always discern is the
guy or the girl or the blessing from
the Lord.
Are you drawing closer to the Lord because
of this, or is it taking you away
from the Lord and less time for the
Lord?
I'm sitting there teaching, and I'm watching the
pattern.
I'm watching the guy just start to drift.
I mean, he's not even paying, and then
he's staying up so late, he's not doing
his homework, he's not doing his studies, and
he's having a hard time staying awake during
the class.
And I'm sitting here teaching, and all of
a sudden, I hear this, bam!
He fell asleep.
He was out all night with this girl.
Next thing you know, he goes like this,
and his forehead smacked the wood rail on
the pew.
Bam!
I said, thanks, Lord.
No, I didn't say that.
Before you know it, he was gone.
I mean, she'd show up at the church
and be peeking out the back window, and
he couldn't even concentrate.
He was always looking over his shoulder when
he knew she was out there.
Before you know it, he bit the dust.
Bit the dust.
Tragedy.
But if you can imagine the fellowship they
had together.
Man.
Talking about the experience, and Paul being able
to personally tutor and say, Eutychus, boy, has
God got a plan for your life.
To go through something like this and have
God bring you back and go through an
experience like this, oh, God's got a plan
for your life.
Isn't it wonderful to know that God's got
a plan for your life?
And to be used of God and know
what God asks you to do.
What a wonderful thing to know that the
God of the universe has a plan for
my life.
And so they brought the young man alive
and were not a little comforted.
Now here, notice Luke again.
And we went before to ship and sailed
to Assos, there intending to take in Paul,
for so had he appointed, minding himself to
go afoot.
Now here, this is amazing.
Now Paul teaches a Bible study and shares
all night from sundown to sunrise.
He, as we know through the book of
Acts, he would always get a job wherever
he went so he wouldn't ask for money
and be a burden to anybody.
And then he'd work during the day and
teach studies at night.
And here he's up all night long and
now they're going to get a ship and
go down to Assos.
They're starting to go back south now toward
Ephesus to go all the way down to
Syria.
So Paul can now, he wants to get
to Jerusalem because he's missed Passover for the
day of Pentecost, the next great feast.
And he knows he has time.
And so he's on his way.
Now what does he do?
Now you're talking 20 miles.
He decides to walk.
At this time, this is some six years
before he's beheaded.
60 A.D. He's in his early or
mid-60s.
So Paul, he decides to walk.
He probably just wanted to be with the
Lord and get alone with the Lord, meditating.
He walks the 20 miles.
These guys jump on the ship and catch
the winds coming down from the north out
of Europe in the springtime, pushing him down.
And he walks to go afoot.
And when he met with us at Assos,
we took him in and came to Mytilene.
So he gets on the ship.
He's had his time and he probably had
a tremendous time walking with the Lord.
Some 20 miles just meditating, praising God, worshiping
the Lord.
It's one of the greatest things, I think,
if you could ever take the time to
just go out sometime and just get alone
somewhere and just walk with the Lord.
I love to do it.
I have a friend who allows me to
go up and fast in his cabin.
And one of the most glorious things is
to get up there and be fasting and
seeking God and then just spend the day
just walking through the Adirondacks, talking with the
Lord, praising God and letting it all hang
out.
Just exposing your heart and saying, Lord, search
me.
And walking through the woods, just worshiping and
praising God.
Sometimes I'll just get out, start early in
the morning and sometimes it's 5 o'clock
in the afternoon and I get back.
I can't believe that I've been walking for
8 hours, tromping around the Adirondacks.
And you don't realize because you're walking with
Him, communing with Him.
I'm extremely tired when you get back.
I mean, you go, man, I can't believe
it, Lord.
I've been walking all day long with you.
But it's glorious.
Glorious.
I remember when we had our little fellowship
and we were in the depot in Victor,
over there on Railroad Street.
And the railroad track went by the railroad
depot.
We were in the depot.
Some of you remember what that place was
like, that sweat box over there.
Five Sunday services and no air conditioning, no
air movement.
We're in there sweltering, 200 people, 250 people
crammed in there, dripping all over our Bibles,
loving it.
And the railroad bed went right by the
depot there and wound around through the golf
course over there and comes right down here,
crosses, what is this road, County Road, whatever,
right over here by the back by Mertensia.
Crossed right across 41, comes right down along
here, right through our property, crosses 332, right
through our property into Canandaigua.
And people used to come to our church,
when they were kids, they'd take the train
for 10 cents from Rochester to Canandaigua and
go swimming when they were kids.
They'd pull the railroad bed out, the tracks,
and I used to love to walk in
the morning, get up with my Bible and
walk and the trees began to grow over
because the trains weren't going through anymore and
the smokestack and the steam weren't burning off
the leaves and the trees began to grow
over and I had a tunnel-like, walking
from right over here all the way, and
it was about four miles, fantastic walk into
Victor, talking with the Lord in the morning
and then I'd walk home at night.
Just talking with the Lord.
It's a wonderful time to meditate and just
get alone with him.
He loves to walk.
It's like your own little road to Emmaus
somewhere.
Try it.
You might like it.
It is just awesome.
And so he's back with Luke and the
guys and we sailed.
We, Luke and Ian, we sailed fence and
came the next day over against Chios and
the next day we arrived at Samos and
tarried at Trojillium and the next day we
came to Miletus, which was about 30 miles
south of Ephesus on the Turkish coast.
For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus
because he would not spend time in Asia
for he hasted if it were possible for
him to be at Jerusalem the day of
Pentecost.
Now, rather than stop at Ephesus, now Paul
had such a love, remember this was a
great church at Ephesus, and he had such
a love for Asia, he purposely bypassed the
port and went 30 miles south to Miletus
and went ashore there so he wouldn't be
tempted to go right into Ephesus from the
port and stay there and get involved and
miss Pentecost.
He wanted to get to Jerusalem.
And so he calls for the elders of
Ephesus to come down, if they would, and
meet with him before he departs and leaves
for Jerusalem to make Pentecost.
And he gets in probably one of the
greatest areas of the Book of Acts, the
teachings of the church on wolves and how
you can determine and discern a wolf and
a false prophet.
And we don't have time.
We'll get into it next week.
Shall we all stand?
Father, we thank you that you do delight
in fellowshipping with us.
And Lord, no matter what our situation, how
severe it may be, you are there.
And you have so many means, Lord, to
care for us.
And just as Paul and Eutychus, Lord, we
can be in a situation and there is
no phone.
There is no hospital.
We could be somewhere, Lord, and not have
the medicine cabinet.
And Lord, you're the same yesterday, today, and
forever.
And so we thank you, Lord, for those
times when you put us in those situations
to prove to us that you still are.
And sometimes it's so frightening, Lord.
And yet, Lord, we're not to be presumptuous.
You have blessed us with hospitals and medicine
and wisdom.
And just as you sent a doctor with
Paul, Dr. Luke, he was wise and he
listened to that man.
And you used several ways to bring comfort
and healing to your apostle.
Teach us, Lord, give us the balance that
we need and teach us how to truly
walk in the Spirit.
And again, Lord, oh, what a blessing it
is to fellowship with you, to sometimes just
take the time to get alone like Paul.
Oh, it's so rewarding, Lord.
Draw us, Lord, with the cords of your
love that we desire more and more fellowship
with you.
It is so wonderful, Lord, so glorious.
Oh, it's such a wonderful thing, Father.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.