Welcome back. We are studying
the book of Acts. We're in
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chapter 9 and we've been looking
at the conversion of Saul and we
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just before the break looked at
how God put Saul in connection
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with his church in the person of
Ananias. We're going to pick up
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there in Acts chapter 9 and
in verse 13. God has just told
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Ananias where to go; Go to
a street called Straight and
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Ananias says in verse 13, Lord
I have heard from many about
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this man, how much harm he has
done to your saints in Jerusalem
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and here he has authority from
the chief priest to bind all who
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call on your name. He was a
little bit nervous about it.
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But the Lord said to him,
Go for he is a chosen vessel of
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mine to bear my name before the
gentiles, kings and the children
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of Israel. For I will show him
how many things he must suffer
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for my name's sake. And Ananias
went his way and, of course, he
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goes to Saul. Now what really
grabs me here, Jim, is I'm
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trying to put myself... If
we were to covet a Christian
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experience we think of the
Apostle Paul, the mighty Apostle
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Paul. You know he wrote most of
the New Testament or a good part
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of it, powerful preaching and
conversions. Oh, to be like Paul
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Oh to preach like Paul as one
hymn says. But it's interesting
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where God directs Ananias
to Saul he says, He's a chosen
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vessel of mine to bring my name
before gentiles, etc., and I'm
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going to show him how many
things he must suffer. So he's a
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chosen vessel to suffer and we
don't really pick up on that as
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often. So of course if you look
at the ministry of Saul in one
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place he was stoned and left
for dead. He went through ship
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wrecks and he went through times
of scarcity of food, he went
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through times of being beaten
with 40 stripes minus one which
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was the greatest amount in
judgment and mercy mingled in
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the Jewish mindset
that you could give a man.
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It's interesting I can imagine
as the Lord communicates to Saul
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You know, there's so much that
appeals to our heart about being
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chosen. He is my chosen vessel.
You can see how that would warm
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somebody's heart
until he said now...
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Oh you've been chosen. Great!
What am I chosen for Lord?
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To suffer. Oh really. And then
the Lord is unfolding to him
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now you're going to be beat with
40 stripes minus one. No, no you
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already covered that. Oh that
was another time, it's going to
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to be three times. So you just
think of this and yet Saul was
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more than willing now for
the Lord that he was fighting
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against to suffer for his
name's sake. We see this as a
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characteristic in the
New Testament church as well.
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You almost get the sense that
the Apostle Paul was really just
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wanting to do the will of
God and while he fought his
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conviction for a long
time because it would require
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surrender of pride and
other things, when it really was
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opened to his view on the road
to Damascus, it really didn't
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matter about the suffering. He
had a love and a commitment that
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really made the suffering just
something that would give him
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a sense of honor that he
was able to suffer for his Lord
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especially he had to deal
with the guilt and shame of the
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persecution that he was a
part of with the saints of God.
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That's right. Just so our
viewers understand, we're back
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and forth between Saul and Paul.
Saul was the Hebrew version of
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Paul and the Bible calls him
by both in the New Testament.
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So we'll toss that back and
forth, but we're talking about
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the same individual here.
That's right. Now if we look in
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verse 17 it says that Ananias
went his way and he entered the
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house just as he was instructed
it says and laying his hands on
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him he said, Brother Saul, the
Lord Jesus who appeared to you
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on the road as you came has sent
me that you may receive your
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sight and be filled with
the Holy Spirit. Now first thing
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I want to point out here is
notice the obedience of Ananias.
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I mean you heard his fear as we
talked about earlier but now he
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comes right into the room where
Saul is, the great persecutor of
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the Christians, the one who is
wreaking havoc and causing all
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this unrest and discomfort among
the whole church and he comes
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right in and with just courage
and faith says the Lord appeared
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to me, he sent me to give you
your sight back by laying on of
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hands and, boom, he does it, and
immediately, the Bible says in
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verse 18, There fell from his
eyes something like scales and
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he received his sight at once
and he arose and was baptized.
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Now scales falling from the eyes
Certainly the Apostle Paul was
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able to see again physically but
in a very real sense this whole
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experience had removed the
scales from the Apostle Paul's
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eyes, Saul at this point, to
where he can actually see for
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the first time what he has
done and who Jesus really is.
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That's right. You know it makes
me think of what Paul writes in
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II Corinthians chapters 3 and
4 about how there were some he
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addressed as having a veil
over their hearts and they were
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blinded when it came to reading
the Old Testament because that
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veil would be taken away in
Christ. That's really what his
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experience was when he opened
his heart to Christ he saw
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things in a whole new way.
Yeah, and I can't help but think
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of my own conversion again.
That is conversion. That's what
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he's talking about. It's like
suddenly everything you look at
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in your life looks different.
It's like putting on a different
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color glasses and now you
see everything differently and
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you're like oh I can't
believe that I didn't see
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that before and I can't believe
I didn't recognize that before.
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That is what was happening to
the Apostle Paul here with the
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scales falling off his eyes.
I think it's valuable to note as
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you look in verse 19 and he
received food and he ate finally
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and that was encouraging and
he spent time with the disciples
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at Damascus which was probably
a little fearful for them but
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they were beginning to trust
Paul. Then in verse 20 it says
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immediately he preached the
Christ in the synagogues that he
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is the Son of God. Wow! He
was just converted and it says
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immediately. You know the best
time for someone to share their
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faith is just as soon as they
experience their faith. As soon
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as someone is convinced of
the word and as soon as someone
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receives the gospel, as soon
as someone has that conversion
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experience with Christ, they
need to begin sharing that right
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away while it's pressing upon
their heart. If they don't you
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find that as the days and weeks
and then years go by it becomes
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actually harder and harder
for someone to come out of their
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comfort zone and share their
faith. The Apostle didn't let
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that happen. Immediately he went
and preached that Christ is the
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same Christ that he was saying
was an imposter. He immediately
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went and starting proving from
the scripture that he was the
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Son of God. That's
right. It's just like
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honestly physical exercise
when you haven't exercised for a
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while, the longer you go
the harder it is to get started.
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But if you continue every
day and you stay at it you get
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stronger and verse 22 tells us
that Saul increased all the more
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in strength and confounded
the Jews who dwelt in Damascus
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proving that this Jesus is the
Christ. We don't think of Saul
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as one who needed to increase
in strength but we need to keep
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this in mind, Jim. Repeatedly we
see it with the other apostles,
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the fishermen, we see it with
Saul. We don't have any record
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of Saul doing a lot or preaching
prior to this. Now he was an
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educated man, he was very sharp
in his intellect, but here it
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says he increased in strength
and we're not talking about
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physical strength,
it's spiritual strength.
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It was because
immediately he began preaching.
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immediately he began preaching.
And the implication to us that
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as he began to use what he had
it gave him proficiency in his
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preaching and proclamation and
sharing of the truth and that
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is how it works with every
one of us. I remember they first
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time that I ever shared the
truth, I was petrified to share
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the truth and I still get
nervous, but the more you do it
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the more the Lord
increases your abilities.
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That's right. We've talked about
how nervous you get before you
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have to present a program
like this in front of cameras.
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But you know after you stretch
yourself the Lord can help you
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and he can grow you and we've
got to do that if we're going to
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grow. You can't be strengthened
unless you exercise. Now if you
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look at verse 23 you see some
interesting events happen in the
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life of Saul. It says now after
many days were passed the Jews
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plotted to kill him. Now these
same ones he was their champion,
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but now they're plotting to kill
him. They turned pretty quickly.
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But their plot became known to
Saul and they watched the gates
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day and night to kill him. Then
the disciples took him by night
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and let him down through the
wall in a large basket. So he's
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already having to escape. When
Saul had come to Jerusalem he
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tried to join the disciples but
they were all afraid of him and
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did not believe that he was a
disciples. It's like that with
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us sometimes too. I won't forget
when I first began to go through
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my own experience with the Lord.
Before that I was a very worldly
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young college student and
you as my brother were quick to
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point that out to me. I remember
still when news traveled to you
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that I had been reading my Bible
and really excited about it that
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you said well Jim? Jim doesn't
have a religious bone in his
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body. And you know what, I
didn't. But the Lord was putting
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that there and it's
just natural that when...
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A prophet is without honor in
his own home and among his own
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countrymen. That's
right. When people first,
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and even sometimes for a
while after, see the change that
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happens to a person through the
gospel of Christ and through the
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gospel of Christ and through the
power of the word, it takes some
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time sometimes before they trust
that that's genuine. That's a
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good lesson for a lot of our
viewers who maybe have recently
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come into a faith in Christ
or particular truths and their
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family doesn't want to initially
support that. But sometimes
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it takes a little bit of time
and that's what it was like here
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It goes on to talk about how
Barnabas took him and brought
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him to the apostles, declared
to them what had happened on the
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road to Damascus and then it
says in verse 29, And he spoke
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boldly in the name of the Lord
Jesus and disputed against the
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Hellenists but they attempted,
there it is again, to kill him.
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So it's fascinating that all
this is happening and now twice
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after Paul's conversion, in the
same chapter, he's already got
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these people trying to kill.
This was fascinating. In verse
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31 it says then the churches
throughout all Judea, Galilee
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and Samaria had peace. So before
Saul was converted the church
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didn't have peace. Now that Saul
has been converted, the church
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has peace but Paul doesn't have
any because people are after him
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Well the chapter then progresses
and we don't have time to get
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into a lot of it but we come
to the raising of the dead of a
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woman by the name of Tabitha or
Dorcas who had been very helpful
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to the church in meeting the
needs of the church and Peter
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had happened to be nearby in
Lydia and he had healed a man
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name Aeneas and when this
healing took place and the
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people in Joppa heard
about it where Dorcas was
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they sent for Peter.
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The Bible tells us that Dorcas
had died and they had washed
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her body and evidently prepared
for burial and they said he's
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got to come quick. In other
words, they couldn't just leave
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here there forever but it's
interesting that they must have
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felt that Peter would be able to
raise her from the dead because
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of the works of Jesus that they
had seen him do even though this
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hadn't happened in the New
Testament church and sure enough
00:12:44.83\00:12:47.88
the Bible says Peter comes and
he raises Tabitha, Dorcas, from
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the dead and of course the whole
church rejoices and it became
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known throughout all Joppa
and many believed on the Lord.
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So not only was there physical
healing that happened here but
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through this physical healing,
as is often the case, many
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believed on the Lord and we
need to remember there's a close
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connection between physical
and spiritual healing and we as
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Seventh-day Adventists promote
a strong message of health and
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there's a reason; because
the health of the body and the
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restoration that comes
through that is directly tied to
00:13:17.47\00:13:21.14
spiritual restoration.
Well friends, we're out of time.
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So we look forward to diving
back in to chapter 10 on our
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next episode of Books
of the Book. See you then.
00:13:28.97\00:13:32.38