WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:05.839 Said it is him, it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:08.880 Uh I don't think any Jesus Christ makes that statement. 00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:12.400 He said, No man can come to the Father but by me. 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:17.519 Then it's paradoxical because he said, No man can come to me but the spirit of my father drawn. 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:19.679 So either way it takes God, doesn't it? 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:22.960 So I actually give you a desire to learn of his ways. 00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:29.280 The Bible is so interesting, it's so for it's just absolutely uh fascinating how it's written. 00:00:29.519 --> 00:00:38.079 Uh it does not mean, we often say that does not mean what it says, but if you keep reading, it'll tell you what it means. 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:40.240 He said, if your eye offend you, pluck it out. 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:43.759 Well, he's not telling you to pluck your natural eye out, but it is what it says. 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:45.439 If your eye offend you, pluck it out. 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:47.200 If your hand offends you cut it off. 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:49.119 And those things has to be interpreted. 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:54.880 But if you keep reading, you find out that the eye of the body is making reference to the ministry. 00:00:55.119 --> 00:00:56.880 Uh I think he says, what is that? 00:00:57.039 --> 00:00:58.240 1 Samuel 9. 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:00.240 1 Samuel 99, isn't it? 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:00.880 99. 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:06.879 He said, He that before time was called a seer, which is now called a prophet. 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:08.560 A prophet is a minister. 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:11.200 And in the Old Testament, he was called a seer. 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:13.439 That is, he's supposed to watch for your soul. 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:17.519 He's supposed to actually be able to see the things of God and give you a clear description. 00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:19.200 That's what your natural eye does. 00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:26.640 It actually looks out, it perceives, it feeds that information back to the brain so that you can make sound, your brains can make the right decisions. 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:30.159 And so the eye is making reference to the watchman. 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:32.560 He's making reference to the watchman, a seer. 00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:38.079 And if that eye is not watching for your soul, it's not seeing the things of God, he said, pluck that eye out. 00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:44.319 Well, I'm glad when I read that and got some understanding because I didn't want to take my natural eye out of my natural head. 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:45.920 Thank God for that. 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:49.680 And the Bible is such an interesting, it's such a fascinating book. 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:56.959 And of course, it's written in a way the Bible said that it is actually written to the uh to the humble. 00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:00.799 He resisted the proud, but he gave it grace to the humble. 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:06.799 And so an arrogant, a high-minded, and haunted spirit, the Bible said that he despises. 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:13.120 And so the Bible lets us know uh it's a condition that we actually have to meet to have an understanding of the word of God. 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:21.120 Uh Jane put it this way, he said, receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. 00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:24.400 And so we realize that it takes a humble, it takes a meek spirit. 00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:28.240 We can't rely on our intellect, thank God, for some ability to understand. 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:30.960 But you'll never get this with a slab root and a pencil. 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:37.280 It takes the Spirit of God to actually touch our mind and help us to understand the things that are freely given us of the Lord. 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:40.560 And this is actually the last Bible study. 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:44.080 And uh Sister Desiree, such a fascinating person. 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:47.919 Uh she begged me to wait till she came back to finish the book of Acts. 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:53.439 And uh I I considered it, but I made a vow we would finish Acts before this year is out. 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:55.759 This is the last two, so this is the last opportunity. 00:02:55.919 --> 00:02:57.520 How many books we have chapter we have left? 00:02:57.680 --> 00:02:57.840 Two. 00:02:58.319 --> 00:02:58.719 Two. 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:00.639 It's been a long journey, hasn't it? 00:03:01.599 --> 00:03:05.120 Uh 20, I mean it's within the 26th chapter. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:08.319 Verse by verse, well we hitting to the we hadn't started yet. 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:09.199 We'll be 27. 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:11.840 There's only 28 verses, 28 chapters in it. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:15.520 So if we have two left, it means we have to do the 27 and 28 chapter. 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:20.879 And verse by verse, for 26 chapters, we applied down through the book of Acts. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:23.360 Have your understanding better, enlightened. 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:26.400 Can you appreciate the things that the Lord has left a record of? 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:32.000 And we know the book of Acts is the only book of history in the New Testament. 00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:34.080 Uh, it's broken up into categories. 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:36.159 The gospel is really it's not history at all. 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:45.199 The gospel has to do with the uh conception, uh, the birth, the life, the death, the resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus Christ. 00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:50.479 But it's not a historical book, it is a book uh of the good news. 00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:52.719 That's what the word gospel means is good news. 00:03:52.879 --> 00:04:00.400 And it tells you that the one uh that is who's gonna actually redeem a fallen man from his fallen state was actually on the scene. 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:01.599 And thank God for that. 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:03.599 But what I'm interested in, we need that. 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:14.960 But how did we get from that, from the uh the life of Jesus Christ to where we are now with so many denominations and so many cults and schisms and schisms, and why is there such a great division? 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:27.519 Or what happened in Jesus Christ that He uh did He cause confusion, that He caused so many interpretations of religion and uh that He calls denominations? 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:28.720 I think not. 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:29.680 I think not. 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:40.639 And so the only way we can really know is to go back to the wonderful word of God, this holy writ, and see what did Jesus Christ establish, what was his teaching, uh, who are the people that actually pleased him? 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:46.959 And I think that's what you you and I, as the Body of Christ, is endeavoring to do, is to duplicate that. 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:59.680 Uh there's not a people, and I'm gonna we're gonna finish this book, I'm not gonna talk on anything else, but there's never been a people on the face of this globe that has got the results that that first century church did. 00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:01.600 We use the term first century. 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:03.839 Jesus Christ himself was actually born. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:07.920 They try to set the date by his birth, but it's actually he was actually born in 4 BC. 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:09.600 He was born in 4 BC. 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:12.639 He was crucified in 26 A.D. 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:20.079 And uh that church that actually was birthed uh exactly 50 days after his crucifixion. 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:26.160 We call it the New Testament church, or we call it the first century church, but that was the people. 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:28.639 The word church is not a building, it's a people. 00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:33.120 And that was the people who actually was taught by Jesus Christ Himself. 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:44.879 Those 12 apostles and those seven disciples and that 120 that actually abored until they received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, was actually taught by Jesus Christ Himself. 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:50.480 Uh there was no confusion, uh, there was no religion, there was no denomination, there was no cults. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:52.959 Uh you was either Christian or you wasn't. 00:05:53.040 --> 00:06:01.199 Uh there was no different uh interpretations because they all had one master, they all had one teacher, and they saw the word of God eye to eye. 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:06.319 And so that people, Jesus Christ, let us know exactly how long they would continue in their state. 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:08.399 It was a 40-year dispensation. 00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:16.480 It was a 40-year span of time that that church would please the Lord in all of their judgments, in all of their actions, their responses. 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:19.680 Uh, and of course, he began to prophesy Jesus Christ did. 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:24.160 He told us what would actually happen, how that church would actually fall away. 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:29.279 Those apostles, those 12 men that he taught, would actually be mortar, be put to death. 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:35.920 And from there, uh, we have pictures and type in the Old Testament that rose another generation which knew not the Lord. 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:38.720 They didn't hear the Lord for themselves, pretty much like Eve. 00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:41.439 Uh Eve heard the voice of God through Adam. 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:44.560 And that was a people, just like Jesus Christ. 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:49.519 He taught those apostles, but those other men, the next generation, they didn't hear Jesus for themselves. 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:52.959 They actually heard Jesus through the teaching of those apostles. 00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:56.480 And that's why Paul makes a statement in uh uh what is that? 00:06:56.560 --> 00:06:58.240 Um I'm trying to pull it up. 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:01.279 Uh 1 Corinthians, that's not 1 Corinthians, that's Galatians. 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:08.879 Galatians 2 and 20, we're built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:27.680 And so uh it behoove us, and this is why we've taken the time to go back to the book of Acts, to see what happened from uh the ascension of Jesus Christ unto the propagation of the gospel throughout Asia Minor and Asia, uh, Europe, North Africa, and of course now throughout the seven continents, uh, that is of the earth. 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:29.759 But what was the gospel of those men preached? 00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:30.800 What was their mannerism? 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:32.160 What was their disposition? 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:33.839 Uh were they trying to build a church? 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:35.519 Did they go out in the name of the church? 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:39.680 Uh when they converted people to Christianity, was it a certain denomination? 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:41.199 I dare say not. 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:50.800 Uh those are things that man concocted after the church began its downward spiral, after the apostle was taken off the scene, men began to conquer and to divide. 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:54.079 Uh that is the people of God and break off into sectarian groups. 00:07:54.160 --> 00:07:58.959 And Paul warned about that, how that even after his departure, he said, grievous wolves. 00:07:59.120 --> 00:08:02.160 And uh that's not four-legged wolves, those are two-legged wolves. 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:02.959 Those were men. 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:06.399 With apparitcious appetite, grievous wolves would enter in among you. 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:07.199 That's the church. 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:12.560 He said, uh, speaking perverse things, leading away disciples uh after themselves. 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:22.639 And so you begin to fragmatize and break up until eventually uh we know back in the uh the third century a great church began to rise up and call it a universal church. 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:33.759 But it forced men, it forced men, not because of their conscience, uh, but because of the power they had to put you to death if you did not accept what they propagated, it forced men into that great denomination. 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:39.120 And that denomination has existed all these number of years, but that's not what Jesus Christ established. 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:44.240 That's not what we're interested in, is traditions and rituals of men, but what does the word of God say? 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:47.519 Let God be true in every man alive. 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:48.320 That's what Paul says. 00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:49.759 And so let's take heed to that. 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:55.519 And of course, we want to uh, and uh I like to just kind of touch on this, we want to finish this book, this wonderful book tonight. 00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:57.600 We will conclude it tonight. 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:02.240 But let's go back just real briefly and uh bring us up to it. 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:07.200 I won't do all the uh the 26 chapters, but I think it behoove us. 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:11.440 We pick it up, make sure our minds is always brought back up to where we stopped. 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:19.120 If you can remember from the fall of Adam, from the very fall of Adam, men kept looking for a Messiah, kept looking for a savior. 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:21.039 It was prophesied that he would come. 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:22.799 And we touched on that Sunday. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:31.759 Uh it would come through the human race, it would come through the family of Abraham, it would come through the tribe of uh Judah, it would actually come through the favorite uh family of David. 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:37.919 I think he even tells us in uh, what is that, Michael, the second chapter, uh he would become through the city of Bethlehem. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:39.759 It prophesied how he would come. 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:42.159 And then, of course, and that's what the Old Testament does. 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:44.480 It keeps pointing that he's coming, he's coming. 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:47.759 And of course, when you read the gospel, it tells you he's here. 00:09:47.919 --> 00:09:51.120 And when you read the rest of the epistles, it's telling you he's coming again. 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:52.399 He's coming again. 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:56.159 And so he's going to come in like fashion that he came the first time. 00:09:56.399 --> 00:09:58.720 The first time he came, he came to his own. 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:00.320 That's the nation of Israel. 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:01.840 Uh that's the Jewish people. 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:06.559 And uh John put it this way, he came to his own, and his own, they received him not. 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:08.960 They rejected the Messiah, they had him put to death. 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:15.440 But not everybody, he said, but as many as did receive him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:17.600 Well, that's talking about on the day of Pentecost. 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:20.320 And so they started off uh to the Jews first. 00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:21.519 It was a Jewish message. 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:23.440 Jesus Christ himself was a Jew. 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:30.399 Uh, he was born, as we we touched at before, he was born of the family of David, of the tribe of Judah, of the descent of uh Abraham. 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:32.000 He was a Jew, he was a Hebrew. 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:35.440 And Jesus Christ told him uh the woman at the well who was a Gentile. 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:36.720 He said, You worship. 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:39.279 She was a Samaritan, which is a half Gentile and half Jew. 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:41.440 He said, You worship and you know not what. 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:47.120 He said, But we talk about the Jews, we worship and we know what, for salvation is of the Jews. 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:48.399 This is a Jewish book. 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:51.679 It has six to six, uh, six or six different books. 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:53.919 It has 44 different writers. 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:57.200 One author, the author is the Holy Ghost by the mind of God. 00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:01.919 But it had 44 men who actually pinned this book over a span of 1,500 years. 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:04.000 And every one of those men was Jew. 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:05.360 Salvation is of the Jew. 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:08.879 Abraham was a Jew, Isaac was a Jew, and Jacob was a Jew. 00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:13.120 The 12 apostles was Jews, Jesus Christ is Jews, was a Jew. 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:15.759 All the prophets that you read about was Jews. 00:11:15.919 --> 00:11:17.360 So this is a Jewish book. 00:11:17.519 --> 00:11:21.759 And uh I like the way Paul puts it uh in Romans. 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:26.320 He calls the Jew a natural olive branch, a natural olive branch. 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:51.039 But because they did not bear olives, and olive has to do uh with uh that's what in the old days, in the olden days they didn't have the electric, they had uh oil, and oil came from the olive berries, and so they had to actually cut the olive, uh separate the olive from the tree, and then they would begin to crush those olives and uh get to extract, extract the oil, keep that oil, and that oil is what actually caused the lanterns to look to shine. 00:11:51.120 --> 00:11:53.440 And so that's what they used for light was oil. 00:11:53.519 --> 00:11:55.679 And uh oil came out of the olive berries. 00:11:55.759 --> 00:11:57.840 And so you can begin to see there's two olive trees. 00:11:57.919 --> 00:11:58.960 The Bible talks about them. 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:00.639 Uh that's the old and the new testament. 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:01.919 That's Moses, and that's Christ. 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:04.000 This is where we get our uh our oil from. 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:11.279 If you get it from anywhere else, if you get it out of the seminary, if you get it out of a doctrinal book, that's oil, but that's man's understanding. 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:19.679 But if you're going to get the oil of the Lord, you've got to get it from those two witnesses, as he tells us in Zechariah chapter 4, and uh what is that, Revelation chapter 11. 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:25.440 Uh, those two olive trees, those two witnesses which stands uh before the throne of God and before the whole earth. 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:28.799 And so as we begin to go back, uh remember what happened. 00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:31.840 You remember how that uh after Jesus Christ was crucified. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:34.480 Let's go through this real briefly and pick it up where we stopped. 00:12:34.559 --> 00:12:43.279 Uh, he told those men, he after he resurrected, what is this, Luke the 24th chapter, he began to tell those men, he said, Listen, you go tarry, that word means wait. 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:44.720 You wait in Jerusalem. 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:46.320 This is after his resurrection. 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:47.759 He didn't let none of those men preach. 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:48.480 Did you know that? 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:50.720 Not one of those apostles could preach one message. 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:56.559 He said, But you go wait in Jerusalem, a tear in Jerusalem, until you be endued with power from on high. 00:12:56.720 --> 00:13:01.039 That is, until you receive this wonderful gift that I promised you you would receive. 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:05.360 For three and a half years of his teaching, he talked about the baptism of the Holy Ghost. 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:10.159 And that was going to actually be Jesus Christ and his Father taking his aboard in the hearts of men. 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:15.200 No longer he dwelled in temples made by hand, but he would actually dwell in the hearts of men. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:18.159 Uh, from that great day, we call it the day of Pentecost. 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:20.240 That was the feast days in which this actually happened. 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:25.840 And as those men tarried and they began to pray, uh, ten days that they began to go down to the temple and prayed. 00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:29.600 The Bible tells us that as they were together in one place and on one accord. 00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:32.080 We know what put them on one accord was not the Holy Ghost. 00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:33.200 Did you know that, Sister Ellen? 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:35.120 The Holy Ghost doesn't make you one. 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:40.480 Well, they were on one accord because they had one teacher, they had one doctrine, they had one understanding. 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:42.080 What makes a man and a woman? 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:47.120 The Bible said for this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother cleaving to his wife, and they twained. 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:49.679 The word twain means two, they too shall be one. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:14:00.080 What make you one is when you have the same mindset, you have the same understanding, you have the same principles, you have the same value system, you have the same morals, uh, you have the same goal. 00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:01.440 Well, see, then you're one. 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:02.559 There's no contention there. 00:14:02.720 --> 00:14:07.679 You might have some personality conflicts, but you never have a conflict of where we're going and how we're gonna get there. 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:09.360 And so here's Jesus Christ. 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:11.039 Those men were taught by him. 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:18.799 You didn't have some who came out the Methodist church and some came out the Presbyterian church, and some came out the Jehovah's Witness, and that's just a lot of confusion. 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:20.480 But they was all taught by him. 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:25.360 They was as long as they could keep their eyes open, he pounded their ears with the word of God. 00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:28.000 And then he made this declaration before he was crucified. 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:31.919 He said, Now are you cleansed through the words which I have spoken to you. 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:38.159 They heard it was it heard the religious uh leaders of that day, they heard the Pharisees, the Sadducees, but that won't make you clean. 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:40.399 When a Pharisee preached, guess what he's gonna preach? 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:42.320 He's gonna preach a Pharisee doctrine. 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:44.720 And what you're gonna do is convert you to be a Pharisee. 00:14:44.879 --> 00:14:48.639 When the Sadducees preached, they preach their message, then you become a Pharisee. 00:14:48.799 --> 00:15:00.000 But thank God Jesus Christ, I'm glad when he actually came on the scene, brother, he actually began to take men and began to laugh that allow him to be their head, and that's called the body of Christ. 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:01.600 It's a people with no other head. 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:03.039 They take on no other name. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:12.879 They're not a denomination, they're not a cult, they're not a sectarian group, they're not a schism or a schism, but it's a people who, just like the apostles in the first century church, took on no other name. 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:14.080 They was called Christians. 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:16.080 They wouldn't be called by any other name. 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:29.759 Uh you couldn't call them, you couldn't identify them as a sect, uh, that is of the uh Estimes or the Zilloks or the Herodians, the Pharisees, Sadducees, they kept themselves pure, unspolluted by the traditions and doctrines of men. 00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:31.279 And so here those men were. 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:36.480 They actually aboard, uh, that is in the upper room, but every day they went down to the temple to pray. 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:43.519 And the Bible said as they were together in one place and on one accord, suddenly came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:53.679 Fill all the house where they were sitting, and there appeared unto them clothing tongue, like as a fire, sit upon each of them, and they all began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit of God gave them utterance. 00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:59.039 While all the religious people who was there to keep that fast day or that feast day of Pentecost, they was baffled. 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:01.679 They say, Are not all these men Galileans? 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:06.080 Then how is it we hear every one of those men speaking in our different language from where we came? 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:13.440 Uh, brother, whether they was from Egypt, or whether they were from Libya, or whether they were from the different parts of the earth, they all heard them speak in their own dialect. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:17.440 And uh, of course you're hearing someone else speaking a different dialect, so that these men's a drunk. 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:19.679 But brother Peter stood up, and I love this. 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:23.840 Peter stood up, this is the first message preached in the New Testament church. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:26.399 Peter stood up and the Bible says, with the eleven. 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:27.840 And that's very important. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:31.759 That's showing you when Peter rose to his feet, brother, he said, with the eleven. 00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:33.759 They all had one mind, one voice. 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:36.559 Whatever Peter said, this is what everyone else was saying. 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:39.679 That wasn't confusion, uh, that wasn't different doctrine. 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:41.039 He stood up with the 11. 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:42.080 They all stood together. 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:44.159 Peter plugs 11 makes 12. 00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:45.200 That's the apostles. 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:49.279 So he rose to his feet and said, These men are not drunk as you suppose. 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:53.679 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Job in the last days. 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:55.440 And so you have to know what last days are. 00:16:55.519 --> 00:16:57.440 There's last days of different dispensations. 00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:00.399 And that was the last days of that Jewish dispensation of time. 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:04.160 And the last days, saith the Lord, I'm going to pour out my spirit upon all flesh. 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:10.319 Prior to that, no one had actually felt the spirit of God but the priest and the prophet. 00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:21.200 The people of God could only uh uh imagine what this man was feeling when he felt this great inspiration and was speaking uh directly by the Spirit of God. 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:23.759 But they could only witness it, they could never feel it. 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:31.119 But thank God, I'm glad that he had a day, and of course it's called a day of Pentecost, when he was going to pour out his spirit upon all flesh. 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:34.319 Both the sons and the daughters could now prophesy. 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:37.759 The old men he say they'll dream dreams, and the young men would what? 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:39.039 They'll see visions. 00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:47.119 And so the Lord would no longer uh uh endow a man who was only in the priesthood, because the Lord was interested in sons and daughters. 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:48.240 Why did he do that? 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:52.240 Because the prophets, he said the prophets began to prophesy lies. 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:54.559 And he said, My people love to have it so. 00:17:54.640 --> 00:18:05.279 Uh the priesthood, it became polluted, it became a uh a money and a uh uh a vocation for finances rather than having a burden for the hearts of people. 00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:10.880 And so the Lord was doing a new thing in the earth, and that's why Jesus Christ, he didn't come down through the Leviticus priesthood. 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:12.720 Uh, he didn't come out of the religious camps. 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:14.480 Thank God I'm so glad he didn't. 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:24.640 All the men he chose, those twelve apostles, not one of those men, well not one of those men was a religious leader, not one of those men was in a denomination, a sectarian group. 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:29.359 He got men who was ignorant and unlearned, he got men who was fishermen, tax collectors. 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:31.119 People you and I would walk right by. 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:32.720 He said, I can use that man. 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:34.160 He's not polluting his thinking. 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:35.920 And he began to teach him the word of God. 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:52.799 And so from there, uh those men began to encounter great persecution, and their biggest enemies wasn't the unsaved, the biggest enemy was the religious leaders, the Pharisees, Sadducees, Esoscenes began to cause those men great problems from the very offset. 00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:57.039 And as Peter the very next day was going to the gate called Beautiful, you remember that, the third chapter? 00:18:57.200 --> 00:19:03.920 He saw a man lame in his uh uh at the gate called Beautiful, and he said, looked on us, and that man looked up to Peter, thinking he's gonna receive some money. 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:07.759 He said, Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I unto thee. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:09.440 Brother, isn't that a statement? 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:10.960 He knew he had the goods. 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:14.799 He said, Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I unto thee. 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:15.680 What did he have? 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:17.119 He had the goods from third heaven. 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:20.480 He said, In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk. 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:24.240 Well, you would have thought everybody would have been happy about this man being healed. 00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:30.160 Well, that caused the first persecution of the church because he was preaching, he said, in the name of Jesus. 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:34.319 Well, the Pharisees was upset because he didn't say in the name of the Pharisees. 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:36.319 The Essexes was upset. 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:41.839 The Zilloks and all these denominations came together and began to persecute those apostles. 00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:46.640 And of course, from there we can see great persecution begin to arise against the church. 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:48.240 The church was only a few months old. 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:50.160 That church was born in the fire. 00:19:50.319 --> 00:19:51.839 It was born in the fire. 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:53.359 And Jesus Christ warned them. 00:19:53.519 --> 00:19:56.000 He said, Listen, don't weep for me on his way to the cross. 00:19:56.079 --> 00:19:57.359 He said, Don't weep for me. 00:19:57.519 --> 00:20:02.079 If they had done these things in a green tree, what would they do in a dry tree? 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:03.519 And so he warned them. 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:08.559 He said, The day is gonna come when they were gonna put you to death and think they was doing God a favor, a service. 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:10.319 And of course, those days came. 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:14.240 And the greatest persecution they had was by a man by the name of who? 00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:16.160 Saul. 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:16.880 Saul. 00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:19.839 His name was Saul, S-A-U-L, that's his Jewish name. 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:22.240 He's introduced in the ninth chapter. 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:25.599 No, I'm sorry, the first time he's introduced is actually in the seventh chapter of Acts. 00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:26.799 He's called Saul. 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:28.640 He was a religious fanatic. 00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:32.160 He was a Pharisee, and he hated Christians. 00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:45.680 Because what they were preaching was another brand of Judaism that you didn't have to serve the law of Moses, but there was a Savior who actually had died and resurrected, and in him was forgiveness of sin. 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:47.359 Paul hated that message. 00:20:47.519 --> 00:20:54.319 And he said he persecuted to cities, the strange cities, Gentile cities, and uh synagogues, no matter where they were. 00:20:54.480 --> 00:21:00.559 He went and got those people, he bound them up and brought them back to Jerusalem to be put to death or in prison. 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:03.200 He used the term himself when he gave his testimony. 00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:05.200 He said, I was exceedingly mad. 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:08.240 I was exceedingly mad against those Christians. 00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:14.799 And the first man, the first Christian who was put to death, Paul said, I held their coats when they stoned that man to death. 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:18.559 I gave my voice to it, stoned him, he's not fit to live. 00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:30.559 And so here's this great fanatic who hated Christians, who was a Jew, he was a Pharisee, came up in the Jews' religion, thought that there was nothing lower on this earth than a Christian. 00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:34.640 They were perverting Judaism, the traditions of their elders. 00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:36.000 And so here he is. 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:46.319 The temple priest and the high priest had given him authority to go to Damascus and find those Christians up there and bring them to Jerusalem, and we're going to put them to death as well. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:48.720 And so as he was on his way, you remember these stories? 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:50.079 The ninth chapter of Acts. 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:59.680 As he was on his way to take these people who was preaching about a risen Savior, about a man who was actually born of the Holy Ghost, didn't have a biological father. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:05.599 A man who actually lived a sinless life and actually died as a sacrifice for God. 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:12.960 And no longer did you have to bring a lamb for your sins, that Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God which took away the sin of the world. 00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:23.440 No longer did a man have to go and have a heave offering, a wave offering, a peace offering, a burnt offering, that Jesus Christ, brother, he was all in all. 00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:28.799 The Bible said we are complete in him, for in him dwell the fullness of the Godhead body. 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:31.920 Well, Paul hated that message because he was still keeping the law of Moses. 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:38.079 And so when he found on his way, he found himself on his way with these temple guards to go get these Christians. 00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:51.279 He said, and all of a sudden, a light shined, brighter than the noonday sun, knocked him to the ground, and all the men that was with him likewise hit the ground. 00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:54.480 They heard a voice, and to those men it was thunder. 00:22:54.880 --> 00:23:01.440 But Paul actually heard God talk to him and said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? 00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:05.599 Well, of course, because he said the brightness of that light, he was blind. 00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:07.519 He couldn't see, he couldn't see anything. 00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:09.440 He said, Well, who are thou, Lord? 00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:10.720 Who are thou? 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:12.480 You knock me to my crown. 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:13.119 I can't see. 00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:13.839 Who are you? 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:17.359 He said, I'm Jesus, whom you persecuted. 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:20.400 Well, Jesus Christ was no longer on earth, he was in heaven. 00:23:20.640 --> 00:23:22.240 But his body was there. 00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:25.519 He said, When you do unto the least of these, my brethren, you've done what? 00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:26.720 You've done unto me. 00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:30.559 And he was persecuting his people, and so you were persecuting Christ. 00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:33.839 And uh Paul, of course, he did these things ignorantly. 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:36.640 He said, Well, Lord, what is it you would have me to do? 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:50.799 And he began to tell him, He said, You go down to Damascus, you inquire for a man named uh Ananias, and for I've already dealt with him, he's gonna see you coming, he's gonna lay his hands on you, you'll receive your sight, and he'll tell you what things you ought to do. 00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:57.839 Of course, as Paul did those things, uh, of course, the Bible said how Ananias laid hands on a Paul received this natural sight. 00:23:58.079 --> 00:24:05.359 And he was so elated that he actually got a chance to hear the voice of Christ for himself. 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:10.160 And he was a man who was well learned, and this is what you'll see in religion, mostly people well learned. 00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:15.119 Uh he was well learned, but what he didn't have was a personal relationship with the Lord. 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:23.680 And when he got that experience, that Damascus Royal experience, and he had a relationship, he remembered how he persecuted these Christians. 00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:30.480 He remembered how he gave his voice to stone the stone and of Stephen, how he actually had Christians put into jail. 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:33.920 And brother, he ran with the same zeal for the Christianity. 00:24:34.079 --> 00:24:39.039 And uh he went straight away to the synagogue, and the people was afraid because he said he came to persecute us. 00:24:39.279 --> 00:24:42.799 But when he got there, he began to preach Christ, that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. 00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:43.920 He was very well learned. 00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:48.480 The Lord touched his mind and let him see all these things that you're doing is all picturing me. 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:52.000 That lamb that you offer for sacrifice, I'm the Lamb of God. 00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:56.079 Everything you do in that Bible from the Old Testament is testifying of me. 00:24:56.240 --> 00:24:59.279 And so Paul took this great zeal and began to preach. 00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:04.880 The Bible uses the term, the message, uh, that he one time he persecuted. 00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:06.400 And so uh here he is. 00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:09.759 When you read from that's the ninth chapter when he actually was converted. 00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:15.920 And then, of course, you'll see uh in the 11th chapter, the 10th chapter, I'm sorry, that's when the Gentiles was actually brought in. 00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:23.839 The 11th chapter, kind of going fast to bring us up, uh, you can see Paul, I'm sorry, Peter was rehearsing how that the Lord opened the doors to bring the Gentiles in. 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:25.759 Everybody's not a Jew, it's a Gentile. 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:33.039 Then it gets back on Paul from the end of the 12th chapter right on to the 28th chapter, is all about Paul. 00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:34.960 His name was called Saul. 00:25:35.200 --> 00:25:39.119 But when he was converted, the Lord told him, You're going to go to the Gentiles. 00:25:39.279 --> 00:25:41.519 His name was changed from Saul to Paul. 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:45.279 Paul is a Gentile rendering of Saul. 00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:46.160 And so here you go. 00:25:46.240 --> 00:25:49.039 You pick it up from the 12th, 13th chapter. 00:25:49.119 --> 00:25:51.359 It's showing you by Paul, this one man. 00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:54.559 This is what's so fascinating, Sister Cheryl. 00:25:54.960 --> 00:25:58.880 One man actually evangelized all of Asia. 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:01.680 One man evangelized Europe. 00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:04.640 One man, North Africa. 00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:09.279 The zeal that he had has been und you can't even document it. 00:26:09.359 --> 00:26:10.319 It's just undocumented. 00:26:10.480 --> 00:26:13.440 All we can read is the Bible, and it doesn't tell the whole story. 00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:18.880 But this man's zeal was so uh so tremendous until you couldn't, you couldn't tell. 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:20.720 Of course, eventually he was beheaded. 00:26:21.039 --> 00:26:22.960 But he wrote 13 books. 00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:25.279 There's only 27 books in the New Testament. 00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:27.279 He wrote 13 of those. 00:26:27.759 --> 00:26:30.799 When you read Romans and 1 Corinthians, who wrote those? 00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:31.599 Paul, did he? 00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:32.319 What do they call? 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:34.160 Pauline epistles. 00:26:34.480 --> 00:26:40.559 This is the letters that he was writing back to churches that he had established by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. 00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:43.200