WEBVTT 00:00:00.542 --> 00:00:04.948 And let's wave our bibles around, make Jesus glad, the devil mad. 00:00:04.948 --> 00:00:09.285 Let's say this together say, heavenly father, I'm here on Sunday morning. 00:00:09.285 --> 00:00:15.829 It's my custom to come to church, just like it was your custom to preach in the synagogues. 00:00:15.829 --> 00:00:24.789 It's my custom to lead on my heavenly father to know that the greater one lives on the inside of me. 00:00:24.789 --> 00:00:27.446 Father, I don't know you by emotion. 00:00:27.446 --> 00:00:30.106 I don't know you by my flesh. 00:00:30.106 --> 00:00:36.006 I only know you by your word and how you reveal yourself to me. 00:00:36.006 --> 00:00:38.484 Show me your glory. 00:00:38.484 --> 00:00:41.966 Today I wanna know you better than I've ever known you. 00:00:41.966 --> 00:00:48.067 In Jesus' name, amen, you can be seated, praise God. 00:00:49.020 --> 00:00:57.243 Let's turn in our bibles to Acts, chapter nine, and I know some of you think it's always gonna preach about Saul. 00:00:57.243 --> 00:00:58.167 Well, a little bit. 00:00:58.167 --> 00:01:01.469 But mostly I wanna dwell on the next verses, verse 10. 00:01:01.469 --> 00:01:04.385 Acts, chapter nine, verse 10. 00:01:04.385 --> 00:01:07.927 And there was a certain disciple. 00:01:07.927 --> 00:01:09.587 Everybody shout disciple. 00:01:09.587 --> 00:01:17.012 Let's shout it five times Disciple, disciple, disciple, disciple, disciple. 00:01:17.012 --> 00:01:18.542 Amen. 00:01:18.561 --> 00:01:23.188 Didn't say apostle, didn't say prophet, didn't say evangel, said a disciple. 00:01:23.188 --> 00:01:27.189 There was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. 00:01:27.189 --> 00:01:30.043 Even God knew his name, god knows your name. 00:01:30.043 --> 00:01:33.989 And to him said the Lord in a vision Ananias. 00:01:33.989 --> 00:01:40.186 And he said behold, I'm here, lord, weren't you glad he was listening. 00:01:40.186 --> 00:01:50.466 And the Lord said unto him arise and go into the street which is called Strait and inquire in the house of Judas, for one called Saul of Tarsus. 00:01:50.466 --> 00:02:00.646 For, behold, he prayeth and has seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight. 00:02:00.646 --> 00:02:19.407 Then Ananias answered Lord, I've heard by many of this man how much evil he's done to thy saints at Jerusalem, and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all that, call on the name and go in their houses and take their guns and require vaccine passport. 00:02:19.407 --> 00:02:25.251 But the Lord said unto him go thy way. 00:02:25.251 --> 00:02:26.693 Didn't answer all that. 00:02:26.693 --> 00:02:42.424 Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. 00:02:42.424 --> 00:03:00.106 And Ananias went his way and entered into the house and, putting his hands on him, said Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou came is, hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with a holy ghost. 00:03:00.106 --> 00:03:10.531 And immediately there fell from his eyes, as it had been scales, and he received sight forthwith and arose and was baptized. 00:03:10.531 --> 00:03:13.929 And when he had received meat he was strengthened. 00:03:13.929 --> 00:03:25.991 Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus and straight way he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the son of God. 00:03:27.841 --> 00:03:31.649 And so I wanted to share a message entitled the marks of a disciple. 00:03:31.649 --> 00:03:34.265 The marks of a disciple. 00:03:34.265 --> 00:03:40.044 You know, two weeks ago I preached on the importance of signs and wonders. 00:03:40.044 --> 00:03:44.765 I've been wanting to bring you a picture of the church, the true church, the way it should be. 00:03:44.765 --> 00:03:46.945 It started out in power. 00:03:46.945 --> 00:03:48.225 It's gonna end in power. 00:03:48.225 --> 00:03:54.508 I don't see a lot of power being released, but that doesn't change my mind about where we ought to be. 00:03:54.508 --> 00:03:57.608 You know, I found out you can have what you preach. 00:03:57.608 --> 00:04:10.847 And because I heard the message of the believer and of the disciple when I was first saved, I just was foolish enough to go ahead and believe that Brother Osteen was right and I just started doing those things. 00:04:10.847 --> 00:04:15.939 I said I started doing those things and I said I did. 00:04:15.960 --> 00:04:18.809 Now, saul of Tarsus had an encounter with Jesus. 00:04:18.809 --> 00:04:26.728 You can read that in the first nine verses of this Acts, chapter nine, and that encounter totally transformed me. 00:04:26.728 --> 00:04:33.346 Have you ever seen the cartoon the Road Runner and the Coyote? 00:04:33.346 --> 00:04:43.040 I mean, a lot of times a coyote is totally transformed by an encounter that he has with a road runner Like. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:52.726 One of my favorites is when the 18-wheeler hits him and his snout becomes like the grooves in the grill of the front end of the truck. 00:04:52.726 --> 00:04:56.007 You know he's either getting blown up or run over. 00:04:56.007 --> 00:05:00.028 And that's kind of the way it was with Saul of Tarsus. 00:05:00.028 --> 00:05:06.988 He met Jesus and he was blinded by the glory and had to have somebody lead him away by the hand. 00:05:06.988 --> 00:05:09.846 And Jesus didn't leave him in that way. 00:05:09.846 --> 00:05:14.817 He chose Ananias and Sapphire, ananias the disciple. 00:05:14.817 --> 00:05:23.660 I should say there was another Ananias that died instantly, but you know he had an encounter with Jesus. 00:05:23.660 --> 00:05:27.278 He had gotten saved at some point. 00:05:27.278 --> 00:05:32.379 We don't know his whole testimony, but here he is and he's chosen of God. 00:05:32.379 --> 00:05:34.091 You know God said. 00:05:34.091 --> 00:05:35.379 Jesus said I've chosen. 00:05:35.379 --> 00:05:37.980 Saul of Tarsus is my chosen vessel. 00:05:37.980 --> 00:05:39.475 Well, you know what he was chosen. 00:05:39.475 --> 00:05:40.978 Ananias was chosen. 00:05:40.978 --> 00:05:46.646 He wasn't an apostle, he wasn't a prophet, he wasn't an evangelist, he was a disciple. 00:05:46.646 --> 00:05:55.189 And sometimes it's easy to forget the importance of an obedient disciple. 00:05:55.189 --> 00:05:57.699 The word says he was a disciple. 00:05:58.084 --> 00:05:59.786 Everybody shout disciple, disciples. 00:05:59.786 --> 00:06:03.391 And see, disciples ought to be different. 00:06:03.391 --> 00:06:08.620 I said disciples of Christ, not the denomination. 00:06:08.620 --> 00:06:10.620 They don't even stand for much of anything. 00:06:10.620 --> 00:06:11.552 They believe baloney. 00:06:11.552 --> 00:06:16.879 As far as I can tell, I think they already have Ichabod on their door. 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:19.516 Ichabod means the glory to part it. 00:06:19.516 --> 00:06:23.839 No, I'm talking about a true disciple of Jesus. 00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:24.829 They ought to be different. 00:06:27.553 --> 00:06:34.819 You know, a disciple is a learner, is a pupil or a student, and it's the school of the spirit from which we never graduate. 00:06:34.819 --> 00:06:38.793 You know, if you feel like you've already known it all, I've talked to people that thought they already knew it all. 00:06:38.793 --> 00:06:41.399 Well, I've heard this and heard this. 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:42.565 I've been serving the Lord a long time. 00:06:42.565 --> 00:06:52.060 Well, if you've got that attitude, you're just about backslid, because we ought to be hungry for more all the time. 00:06:52.060 --> 00:07:00.540 There's more of God than we know, and the only way we can know it is to stay in touch with Him and let Him change us day by day by day. 00:07:00.540 --> 00:07:02.115 You can't know Him by your intellect. 00:07:02.115 --> 00:07:04.540 You can't know Him by what you have to do. 00:07:04.540 --> 00:07:07.930 You can't know Him by what you have heard of Him. 00:07:07.930 --> 00:07:15.822 You've got to hear about Him today, and so we can see a little new concept of trying to create a disciple, disciplined one. 00:07:17.154 --> 00:07:19.182 I was listening to a man a couple of years ago. 00:07:19.182 --> 00:07:23.607 He was, you know, doing an ad for weight loss. 00:07:23.607 --> 00:07:29.000 He had, you know, this program that he was selling 82 pounds he had lost. 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:34.737 And he said you know, I think you all have been motivated to lose weight. 00:07:34.737 --> 00:07:37.242 You know, you get a motivational message. 00:07:37.242 --> 00:07:47.744 You know, the beginning of the year, new Year's resolution oh, I'm going to lose weight, I'm going to work out, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that, and motivation is fine, but it doesn't last. 00:07:47.744 --> 00:07:49.682 Motivation deals with your emotions. 00:07:51.254 --> 00:07:52.841 What we need is discipline. 00:07:52.841 --> 00:07:58.021 I had to develop a discipline in my life to get up at 530 and exercise. 00:07:58.021 --> 00:08:03.298 I had to exercise discipline in what I ate and when I ate it. 00:08:03.298 --> 00:08:08.045 The discipline is what you get when you go to a Bible. 00:08:08.045 --> 00:08:08.817 Believe in church. 00:08:08.817 --> 00:08:13.142 You don't just get somebody to patch you on the head and say little darling, everything's wonderful. 00:08:13.142 --> 00:08:17.896 You get to a place where you're held accountable Amen. 00:08:18.595 --> 00:08:21.759 That's what happened to Anna and I is that at some point he was held accountable. 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:23.221 He didn't start out that way. 00:08:23.221 --> 00:08:25.021 He started out as a baby, like we all do. 00:08:25.021 --> 00:08:27.180 How many of you know that babies? 00:08:27.180 --> 00:08:28.439 You can't hold them accountable. 00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:32.405 You just change their diaper, you feed them, you hold them, you love them. 00:08:32.405 --> 00:08:34.702 That's what you do until they grow a little while. 00:08:34.702 --> 00:08:45.774 But at some point, when they're about two, you better be slapping their little hands when they reach over to grab the China and throw it. 00:08:45.774 --> 00:08:50.414 You know how little kids I mean all my kids, I mean they went, both of them. 00:08:50.414 --> 00:08:54.375 They would never get their hands slapped. 00:08:54.375 --> 00:08:56.495 That's fallen out of favor. 00:08:58.224 --> 00:09:00.174 Now we wanna have a counselor come in and try. 00:09:00.174 --> 00:09:02.865 Have you ever tried reasoning with a two-year-old? 00:09:02.865 --> 00:09:05.042 There's no way. 00:09:05.042 --> 00:09:06.789 Their way, that's it. 00:09:06.789 --> 00:09:07.294 Their way of the highway. 00:09:07.294 --> 00:09:09.095 And you've got to teach them better than that. 00:09:09.095 --> 00:09:10.495 Well, that's the way it is in church. 00:09:10.495 --> 00:09:12.955 You've got to teach people how to be a disciple. 00:09:12.955 --> 00:09:21.644 We can't stay in the babyhood stage of Christianity, which is why we're in the mess we're in in this nation. 00:09:21.644 --> 00:09:24.654 I don't even know that we have a lot of church members that are saved. 00:09:24.654 --> 00:09:26.863 A whole bunch of them are still not even saved yet. 00:09:29.018 --> 00:09:34.274 So and let's look at what Jesus said about disciples John, chapter 15. 00:09:34.274 --> 00:09:42.695 It's so important for us to get ahold of this To keep ourselves in the right frame of mind. 00:09:42.695 --> 00:09:45.653 My job is to watch after your soul as one that gives an account. 00:09:45.653 --> 00:09:48.706 Watch out after your way of thinking. 00:09:48.706 --> 00:09:50.850 John 15, verse seven. 00:09:50.850 --> 00:10:09.052 Jesus said it this way if you abide in me and look notice, if A lot of if's in the Bible you know, milk is all the blessing scriptures, meat is all the if's, it's all the if's I mean the blessings of God are what conditional? 00:10:09.052 --> 00:10:19.575 So if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. 00:10:19.575 --> 00:10:26.955 Isn't that amazing a statement that Jesus may ask what you will, what you will, not what I will ask what I will. 00:10:26.955 --> 00:10:28.251 No, ask what you will. 00:10:28.817 --> 00:10:30.629 Two conditions you have to abide in him. 00:10:30.629 --> 00:10:32.730 Well, first of all, that means you're saved. 00:10:32.730 --> 00:10:36.215 When you get saved, you're baptized into Christ. 00:10:36.215 --> 00:10:44.394 The three baptism we teach that in a faith foundations class and one of the baptisms, the baptism into Christ. 00:10:44.394 --> 00:10:45.934 What happened when you get born again? 00:10:45.934 --> 00:10:47.121 You're baptized into Christ. 00:10:47.121 --> 00:10:49.605 You're in Christ. 00:10:49.605 --> 00:10:53.272 Well, that's legal. 00:10:53.272 --> 00:10:53.934 But what about the vital side? 00:10:53.934 --> 00:10:56.475 What about where the rubber meets the blood? 00:10:56.475 --> 00:10:59.654 Are you living like you're in Christ? 00:10:59.654 --> 00:11:01.394 Are you in your own world? 00:11:01.394 --> 00:11:03.625 Are you in your own flesh? 00:11:03.625 --> 00:11:04.717 You say so. 00:11:04.717 --> 00:11:09.263 You have to be an in Christ is more than just legal, it's experiential. 00:11:09.263 --> 00:11:15.034 And my words abide in you. 00:11:15.034 --> 00:11:20.171 Two conditions for whatever you ask, it'll be done unto you. 00:11:20.171 --> 00:11:22.048 My word abides in you. 00:11:22.048 --> 00:11:24.149 Well, you know the God's Word is. 00:11:24.149 --> 00:11:25.179 The word Abides in you. 00:11:25.179 --> 00:11:33.938 Well, you know, the God's Word abides in us to the degree that we allow God's Word to govern our behavior, that we allow God's Word. 00:11:34.139 --> 00:11:35.423 See, it gets back to discipline. 00:11:35.423 --> 00:11:40.105 Children, you know, need to be taught how to behave. 00:11:40.105 --> 00:11:41.760 They need to be taught how to obey. 00:11:41.760 --> 00:11:44.162 It doesn't come natural. 00:11:44.162 --> 00:11:52.042 So you have to overcome their fleshly desires and love and correction. 00:11:52.042 --> 00:11:58.164 Child training is not beating with a, you know, a big old board and beating a child half to death. 00:11:58.164 --> 00:12:03.302 No, but you do have to get their attention and let them know who is in charge. 00:12:03.302 --> 00:12:06.442 You're not called to be your child's friend. 00:12:06.442 --> 00:12:09.442 Your teenager doesn't need a friend. 00:12:09.442 --> 00:12:11.601 They need a mother and they need a father. 00:12:11.601 --> 00:12:13.076 Amen. 00:12:14.274 --> 00:12:22.037 So, anyway, the so when you at, the only way, then, for that word to abide in you, you've got to read. 00:12:22.037 --> 00:12:24.465 It gets back to Bible reading. 00:12:24.465 --> 00:12:25.720 That gets back to discipline. 00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:27.139 Well, I just don't have time. 00:12:27.139 --> 00:12:29.782 Well, then you, you know, you don't want to have success. 00:12:29.782 --> 00:12:33.700 Then you just want to attack, you just want to have fire insurance. 00:12:33.700 --> 00:12:39.719 You want to be able to say, oh, I'm going to heaven one of these days where you might be going there a lot faster than you think. 00:12:39.719 --> 00:12:43.081 With that kind of attitude, you're going to let the devil in. 00:12:43.081 --> 00:12:45.981 He's the one that kills, steals and destroys. 00:12:46.596 --> 00:12:50.840 I'm still amazed at how many people say well, god is in control. 00:12:50.840 --> 00:12:52.480 No, he's not in control. 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:56.240 He's in overall control, he's in ultimate control. 00:12:56.240 --> 00:12:58.182 But he has handed this world over. 00:12:58.182 --> 00:13:04.515 The devil has got a lease on this world and the devil's people Get to run amok. 00:13:04.515 --> 00:13:05.855 Now who's really in charge? 00:13:05.855 --> 00:13:11.116 Well, the church is supposed to be in charge, but we're going around with this religious statement. 00:13:11.116 --> 00:13:12.234 We're a God in control. 00:13:12.234 --> 00:13:13.057 No, he's not. 00:13:13.057 --> 00:13:14.013 You're in control. 00:13:14.013 --> 00:13:17.471 You're supposed to be a hearing. 00:13:17.530 --> 00:13:21.437 As my father glorified that, you bear much fruit, so shall you be my disciples. 00:13:21.437 --> 00:13:26.414 He turned his church over to disciples to have what they will. 00:13:26.414 --> 00:13:29.333 Are y'all with me now? 00:13:29.333 --> 00:13:31.134 Glory to God. 00:13:31.134 --> 00:13:32.813 We need disciples. 00:13:32.813 --> 00:13:34.335 That's what the church is for. 00:13:34.335 --> 00:13:36.034 The church is not to get people saved. 00:13:36.034 --> 00:13:36.977 That's your job. 00:13:38.690 --> 00:13:41.456 I've had people criticize well, you don't give enough altercalls. 00:13:41.456 --> 00:13:43.517 Well, if you'd bring lost people, I would. 00:13:43.517 --> 00:13:51.197 But I'm tired of giving these religious altercalls for people to come down and just make them feel better. 00:13:51.197 --> 00:13:57.316 I want to preach the Word, I want to bring a demonstration of healing and deliverance and all of that. 00:13:57.316 --> 00:14:01.472 And if there's somebody that is getting needs to get saved, I believe God will let me know. 00:14:01.472 --> 00:14:02.636 There's somebody like that. 00:14:03.730 --> 00:14:06.239 There's a lot of ways to get people saved without walking down an aisle. 00:14:06.239 --> 00:14:08.976 You know, I never walked down an aisle and I'm saved. 00:14:08.976 --> 00:14:11.563 I never walked down an aisle. 00:14:11.563 --> 00:14:12.972 No, I didn't. 00:14:12.972 --> 00:14:16.778 So it doesn't mean that much to me personally. 00:14:16.778 --> 00:14:21.658 I mean I just, you know, I've seen people look, and I was at Lakewood church for 15 years. 00:14:21.658 --> 00:14:27.916 I saw thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people walk down an aisle and never show back up. 00:14:27.916 --> 00:14:35.696 People walk down an aisle for all kinds of reasons and sometimes and most of the time they don't even know what the reason is. 00:14:35.696 --> 00:14:37.375 They're just kind of like in another world. 00:14:37.375 --> 00:14:39.196 It takes more than that to get saved. 00:14:39.196 --> 00:14:52.374 It takes a conscious effort and a conscious decision, and then it takes commitment and then finally it takes you growing up enough to really be a disciple. 00:14:52.374 --> 00:14:53.057 Are you with me now? 00:14:54.570 --> 00:14:59.592 So, ann and I and the disciple Jesus. 00:14:59.592 --> 00:15:11.721 You know, the Holy Ghost there in this book of Acts called him a disciple, and so he had these manifestations. 00:15:11.721 --> 00:15:14.537 He said you know, you ought to have fruit. 00:15:14.537 --> 00:15:19.620 Jesus said so, shall you be my disciples that you bear much fruit? 00:15:19.620 --> 00:15:21.094 We think about fruit being. 00:15:21.094 --> 00:15:26.554 You know, love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meat and self-control. 00:15:26.554 --> 00:15:30.538 Yeah, the fruits of the spirit, yeah, that ought to be present in anybody's life. 00:15:30.538 --> 00:15:40.378 There are people that are saved, that have the fruit of the spirit, but they're not filled with the spirit, so they don't have any of the supernatural, they don't have any of the gifts of the spirit. 00:15:40.378 --> 00:15:48.716 Listen, we made the case how critical it is for the church to be sparkling with the supernatural and not just from a pulpit. 00:15:48.716 --> 00:15:52.378 It needs to be in the pew, it needs to be within your world. 00:15:52.378 --> 00:15:56.414 And so let's look at Ann and I. 00:15:56.414 --> 00:16:05.817 As the disciple, he had these manifestations of the spirit In verse 10, he had the discerning of spirits, not the gift of discernment. 00:16:06.029 --> 00:16:08.739 I hear people all the time talk about the gift of discernment. 00:16:08.739 --> 00:16:13.078 Well, number one, that's not a gift, that's a sin and it's suspicion. 00:16:13.078 --> 00:16:16.035 God didn't give you the gift of suspicion. 00:16:16.035 --> 00:16:19.576 Discernment is not in there, it's discerning of spirits. 00:16:19.576 --> 00:16:21.515 Let's get our terminology correct. 00:16:21.515 --> 00:16:28.158 And discerning of spirits is the ability to see into the spirit realm from where you are. 00:16:30.309 --> 00:16:32.298 And so what happened when Jesus appeared to him? 00:16:32.298 --> 00:16:40.159 So that was by definition a discerning of spirits, because he saw Jesus, just like you would see me. 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:51.255 Sometimes there's all kind of not preaching on visions, but there's all kind of visions closed-eyed visions, open-eyed visions, dreams and all that kind of thing. 00:16:51.255 --> 00:16:54.750 But evidently this was Jesus talking to Ananias. 00:16:54.750 --> 00:16:57.977 He called him Ananias I'm here, lord. 00:16:57.977 --> 00:17:00.837 So he saw him. 00:17:02.775 --> 00:17:08.655 And then, in verse 11, he said go and inquire of the house of Judas for one. 00:17:08.655 --> 00:17:11.390 Call Saul of Tarsus for Beholde prayeth. 00:17:11.390 --> 00:17:16.410 So he told Jesus, told Ananias where he was located. 00:17:16.410 --> 00:17:19.979 That is a word of knowledge. 00:17:19.979 --> 00:17:23.509 Well, it says Jesus told him, yeah, but he received it. 00:17:23.509 --> 00:17:27.238 So now he is manifesting another gift of the spirit. 00:17:27.238 --> 00:17:28.807 You can find them in 1 Corinthians, chapter 12. 00:17:29.130 --> 00:17:35.210 There's nine gifts of the spirit charisma, smearing of the Holy Ghost. 00:17:35.210 --> 00:17:38.039 It literally means grease on your head. 00:17:38.039 --> 00:17:39.809 You're marked. 00:17:39.809 --> 00:17:43.060 Disciples ought to be marked with the gifts. 00:17:43.060 --> 00:17:48.869 And so these two gifts the first one was discerning of spirits. 00:17:48.869 --> 00:17:59.382 Now he's got the word of knowledge, which is a part of God's information that he has about a person, place or thing in the present time. 00:18:00.472 --> 00:18:17.690 In the present time, saul of Tarsus is at this guy's house on a street called Strait Crosstown, I guess Pasadena, I don't know, I don't know Damascus, I don't know the layout, but obviously it wasn't right down the street, so he had to tell him where he was. 00:18:17.690 --> 00:18:21.357 That's a word of knowledge, all right. 00:18:21.357 --> 00:18:30.858 Then the next one is he went down there and he laid his hands on him and the Bible says scales fell off of Paul's eyes and he was instantly healed. 00:18:30.858 --> 00:18:40.200 Now, that differs from believers who lay hands on a sick and they recover, because this was not a recovery, this was an instant miracle. 00:18:40.200 --> 00:18:43.979 So that's the gifts of healings Literally. 00:18:43.979 --> 00:18:55.041 It's not gift singular I know it says that in the King James but it's gifts of healings and every disciple is eligible to walk in these gifts. 00:18:57.574 --> 00:18:59.882 You talk about sparkle with a supernatural. 00:18:59.882 --> 00:19:02.230 Yeah, but he did that because Jesus told him. 00:19:02.230 --> 00:19:12.171 Well, you know whether Jesus tells you or not, when the Holy Ghost shows up in that manifest, which has happened in my life a number of times instant healing, instant healing. 00:19:12.171 --> 00:19:16.838 I mean I thought that many over the years. 00:19:16.838 --> 00:19:27.201 Most people don't get healed instantly and then sometimes we just give up and think well, nothing happened, you have something happen, the life of God went in them. 00:19:27.201 --> 00:19:29.681 Let's never take it back. 00:19:29.681 --> 00:19:35.821 Once we lay hands on people, don't be moved by what you see, don't be moved by what you hear. 00:19:35.821 --> 00:19:36.960 Well, they got worse. 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:38.981 I'm not even listening. 00:19:38.981 --> 00:19:41.339 I know what happened. 00:19:41.339 --> 00:19:45.960 I did my part, all right. 00:19:45.960 --> 00:19:49.048 So here's three gifts of the spirit. 00:19:49.048 --> 00:19:53.262 And then we have to turn over to Acts 22. 00:19:57.259 --> 00:20:08.482 Later in the book of Acts, paul is giving his testimony to a bunch of people that wanna hang him and they're crying out against him. 00:20:08.482 --> 00:20:18.565 And he said here in Acts, chapter 22, verse 14, talking about 12. 00:20:18.565 --> 00:20:19.598 Let's look at verse 12. 00:20:19.598 --> 00:20:25.663 And one anonize a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dealt there. 00:20:25.663 --> 00:20:27.060 Why was he stressing that? 00:20:27.060 --> 00:20:30.920 Because he's talking mostly to Jews, so he had to win them over. 00:20:30.920 --> 00:20:32.701 He couldn't talk about him being a Christian. 00:20:32.701 --> 00:20:34.421 He had talked to him about being a good Jew. 00:20:34.421 --> 00:20:43.780 And you know he's smart, he's not stupid, he knows when to share information and what part of the information. 00:20:43.780 --> 00:20:48.021 What he was trying to do is put over to them that this is a good man, dependable. 00:20:48.021 --> 00:20:50.356 And he came. 00:20:50.698 --> 00:21:15.343 And one anonize a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dealt there, came unto me and stood and said unto me brother Saul, received thy sight, and the same hour I looked upon him and he said the God of our fathers has chosen thee that thou shouldest know his will and see that just one and should hear the voice of his mouth, for thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard prophecy. 00:21:15.343 --> 00:21:29.325 He delivered a prophetic message to him and that edified, exhorted and comforted him and it told the future you're gonna, you're going to. 00:21:29.325 --> 00:21:35.825 That's a word of wisdom, that is a part of God's knowledge about a person, place or thing that occurs in the future. 00:21:35.825 --> 00:21:40.484 Not all prophecy contains contain word of wisdom. 00:21:40.484 --> 00:21:42.240 So look at these gifts now. 00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:44.035 Let's count them. 00:21:44.035 --> 00:21:50.538 He had discerning of spirits, he had a word of knowledge, he had the gifts of healings, he had prophecy and he had a word of wisdom. 00:21:50.538 --> 00:22:02.241 Five out of the nine gifts of the spirit were manifested in this disciple, who was not called an apostle, he was not called a prophet, he was not called in the five fold. 00:22:02.241 --> 00:22:03.298 He's a disciple. 00:22:05.434 --> 00:22:07.622 I had people in this church and through this church. 00:22:07.622 --> 00:22:13.363 I don't think any of them are left now, but they think, just because they've got a couple of gifts. 00:22:13.363 --> 00:22:21.140 That manifested one time, almost by accident, that they need to print up cards and have a 501C3 and have me ordain them. 00:22:21.140 --> 00:22:24.121 Well, no, I'm not gonna ordain you. 00:22:24.121 --> 00:22:26.259 Why would I do that? 00:22:26.259 --> 00:22:28.982 That's so silly. 00:22:28.982 --> 00:22:32.482 People get visions of grandeur when really they ought to. 00:22:32.482 --> 00:22:39.424 They ought to realize that the disciple is a powerful tool of God's kingdom. 00:22:40.915 --> 00:22:42.060 Amen, are y'all with me now? 00:22:42.060 --> 00:22:58.723 It's really the believer's ministry and operation, but it's a step above believer, you know, because even a baby Christian, as I said a couple of weeks ago, even a baby Christian, lay hands on the sick and get results, because it's the word of God and God will back up his word. 00:22:58.723 --> 00:23:00.821 That's what happened to me as a baby Christian. 00:23:00.821 --> 00:23:02.358 I lay hands on sick people. 00:23:02.358 --> 00:23:02.901 They're gonna heal. 00:23:02.901 --> 00:23:09.105 I didn't go looking for a ministry name, I didn't print up any cards. 00:23:09.105 --> 00:23:10.719 Are y'all with me now? 00:23:12.755 --> 00:23:28.417 All right, so the marks are the characteristics of a disciple, and let's look through the window of this wonderful group of scriptures that we read here in Acts, chapter nine, acts 22. 00:23:28.417 --> 00:23:34.122 The first one that I see that stands out to me is the very first one, verse 10. 00:23:34.122 --> 00:23:42.443 He said you know, jesus said and an eyes, and the first thing. 00:23:42.443 --> 00:23:43.717 He says I'm here, lord. 00:23:43.717 --> 00:23:46.644 In other words, I am available. 00:23:46.644 --> 00:23:49.903 If you wanna be a disciple, you have to become available. 00:23:49.903 --> 00:23:54.624 It's not about ability, it's about availability. 00:23:55.178 --> 00:23:59.054 And that's one of the missions of this church is to raise up disciples. 00:23:59.054 --> 00:24:09.394 If we're gonna raise up disciples, we have to implant in you the idea that it's not enough just to come to church, it's not enough just to even give your tithes and offerings. 00:24:09.394 --> 00:24:10.182 It's not enough. 00:24:10.182 --> 00:24:13.625 You have to get involved in some way or another. 00:24:13.625 --> 00:24:16.949 You've got listen. 00:24:16.949 --> 00:24:17.815 We need help here. 00:24:17.815 --> 00:24:19.753 Lights don't turn on by themselves. 00:24:19.753 --> 00:24:23.528 Somebody had to get here early, turn the lights on Somebody. 00:24:23.528 --> 00:24:26.174 Yeah, it's on a timer, but still, you know, somebody had to unlock the building. 00:24:26.174 --> 00:24:28.075 Somebody had to unlock the building. 00:24:28.075 --> 00:24:30.305 That's not on a timer. 00:24:30.305 --> 00:24:37.963 People that work in any volunteer ministry in our children's church, they have to get here 30 minutes ahead of time. 00:24:39.523 --> 00:24:44.691 The Greeter's ministry, the same Different ministries have different commitments they have to make. 00:24:44.691 --> 00:24:45.055 What does it take? 00:24:45.055 --> 00:24:47.705 It takes discipline. 00:24:47.705 --> 00:24:51.394 I said it takes discipline. 00:24:51.394 --> 00:24:54.380 That means you have to be available. 00:24:54.380 --> 00:24:55.092 I'm here, lord. 00:24:55.092 --> 00:24:57.143 Everybody say I am here, lord. 00:25:00.157 --> 00:25:02.105 You know, with every appointment comes the anointment. 00:25:02.105 --> 00:25:04.515 God will give you an appointment. 00:25:04.515 --> 00:25:06.722 He'll give you the anointment to go with it. 00:25:06.722 --> 00:25:15.093 If he says do this, you can rest assured that you have an anointing to do that thing that he just told you. 00:25:15.093 --> 00:25:17.913 Glory to God, come on, let's just lift our hands and thank God. 00:25:17.913 --> 00:25:26.183 It's not by power, not by might, not by risk, it's by resume, it's not by man's device, it's by my spirit, sayeth the Lord. 00:25:26.183 --> 00:25:28.259 Glory to God. 00:25:28.259 --> 00:25:42.843 That's what we need in the church is spirit filled, spirit controlled believers that are mature enough that when they make a mistake, everybody makes mistakes. 00:25:42.843 --> 00:25:45.821 I said everybody makes mistakes. 00:25:45.821 --> 00:25:48.103 I've never known anybody, including myself. 00:25:48.103 --> 00:25:49.319 It didn't make a mistake. 00:25:49.319 --> 00:25:52.765 Don't you wanna know when you made a mistake? 00:25:52.765 --> 00:25:59.506 How can you learn if you don't know that what you're doing is not the best practices? 00:25:59.506 --> 00:26:08.840 We try to give people infused with our best practices so that they'll know what's expected of them. 00:26:10.037 --> 00:26:11.142 Everybody say availability. 00:26:11.142 --> 00:26:15.555 And then in verse 17, you know he had some objections, remember. 00:26:15.555 --> 00:26:17.615 He said don't worry, don't you know this guy man? 00:26:17.615 --> 00:26:20.055 He's a mean motor scooter. 00:26:20.055 --> 00:26:22.663 Are you sure you want me to go? 00:26:22.663 --> 00:26:24.366 Are you sure you have? 00:26:24.366 --> 00:26:26.298 Don't look so innocent, have you? 00:26:26.298 --> 00:26:28.224 You know you've questioned the Lord. 00:26:28.224 --> 00:26:31.140 You know you have, and he can take questions. 00:26:31.140 --> 00:26:31.762 It's all right. 00:26:31.762 --> 00:26:33.220 He didn't even say. 00:26:33.220 --> 00:26:34.904 He said go your way. 00:26:34.904 --> 00:26:38.994 In other words, don't bother me with these details. 00:26:38.994 --> 00:26:41.163 I told you to go, now go your way. 00:26:41.163 --> 00:26:43.781 So what I see is obedience. 00:26:43.781 --> 00:26:50.734 He went his way, even with those little nagging doubts about who he's going to see. 00:26:50.734 --> 00:26:54.204 I mean, you gotta realize Saul of Tarsus man, he had a. 00:26:54.204 --> 00:26:58.080 I mean, he hailed people to death, he called them off to die. 00:26:58.080 --> 00:27:02.462 He was zealous Pharisee. 00:27:02.462 --> 00:27:08.003 He hated Christians, he hated church. 00:27:09.376 --> 00:27:11.714 We've got some people like that that are eligible to get saved. 00:27:11.714 --> 00:27:13.521 I mean, god does not have a pecking order. 00:27:13.521 --> 00:27:17.903 We don't know who's gonna get saved out of this group of crazy people. 00:27:17.903 --> 00:27:20.901 Some of them are gonna get saved. 00:27:20.901 --> 00:27:24.607 Who are we to just act like that? 00:27:24.607 --> 00:27:25.654 They're all going to hell? 00:27:25.654 --> 00:27:28.760 No, they, if they don't change, they are, but some of them can get saved. 00:27:28.994 --> 00:27:34.280 Look at, if God can save Saul of Tarsus, how about the demoniac? 00:27:34.280 --> 00:27:36.301 If God can save the demoniac? 00:27:36.301 --> 00:27:41.384 He was crazy, broke all the chains. 00:27:41.384 --> 00:27:44.001 It wasn't by God, it was by demon powers. 00:27:44.001 --> 00:27:52.064 And the last picture we see of him he was sitting at Jesus' feet, closed and in his right mind. 00:27:52.064 --> 00:27:56.980 Hallelujah, obedience. 00:27:56.980 --> 00:28:04.150 You'll never receive another instruction from the Lord until you obey the one that you have procrastinated about. 00:28:04.150 --> 00:28:08.470 Well, lord, I can't, I don't have time for that one right now. 00:28:08.470 --> 00:28:09.054 Just what if? 00:28:09.054 --> 00:28:09.858 What, if? 00:28:09.858 --> 00:28:12.634 What if Ananias had said I just don't have time? 00:28:12.634 --> 00:28:18.396 I know God would have brought deliverance another way, but how long would it have taken him? 00:28:18.396 --> 00:28:20.289 This is the early church. 00:28:20.289 --> 00:28:27.461 How many disciples are there available, how many disciples with enough guts to go and do what God told them to do? 00:28:27.461 --> 00:28:31.981 I don't know the answer to that question. 00:28:31.981 --> 00:28:39.698 I'm glad we don't have to worry about that, because look, annanias, obey, and when you obey, the kingdom of God is not held up. 00:28:41.549 --> 00:28:48.239 You know, miriam got into, you know into disobedience and she started talking about Moses' wife being a woman of color. 00:28:48.239 --> 00:28:50.695 That's exactly what it was. 00:28:50.695 --> 00:28:56.218 She was dark and they were criticizing Moses, aaron and Miriam. 00:28:56.218 --> 00:29:04.035 And the next thing, you know, miriam got to leprosy and Aaron went crying Moses. 00:29:04.035 --> 00:29:10.155 Oh, moses crying, you know, come on, help you get her healed, oh, don't let this happen to our sister. 00:29:10.155 --> 00:29:12.675 And God said. 00:29:12.675 --> 00:29:19.798 And so Moses fell on his face, cried out to God and said well, if you spit in her father's face, she'd have to be unclean a week. 00:29:19.798 --> 00:29:38.961 So, in other words, what she did was, you know, she criticized her brother unjustly and so she was unclean for a week and that meant the entire three million group of people came to a halt and couldn't go anywhere. 00:29:38.961 --> 00:29:47.097 They had to wait for her to get clean and God did cleanse her, but after a week she had to abide with that for a week. 00:29:49.790 --> 00:29:53.242 So when we don't obey, we think, well, nobody's going to know. 00:29:53.242 --> 00:29:53.690 You know what? 00:29:53.690 --> 00:30:01.397 The whole kingdom of God grinds to a halt and then God is forced to bring deliverance another way. 00:30:01.397 --> 00:30:01.960 Are you with me? 00:30:01.960 --> 00:30:02.932 Let's not do that. 00:30:02.932 --> 00:30:05.113 Let's obey. 00:30:05.113 --> 00:30:07.134 Be quick to obey. 00:30:07.134 --> 00:30:11.337 His mind gave him trouble, but he obeyed anyway. 00:30:11.337 --> 00:30:14.238 Sometimes you don't understand. 00:30:16.910 --> 00:30:23.490 I remember one time you know I'm part of the life team here. 00:30:23.490 --> 00:30:24.595 It's called the life team there. 00:30:24.595 --> 00:30:32.659