Welcome back to
Books of the Book
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I'm Pastor Mark Howard and I am
here with my co-host, my brother
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Jim. We have just been having
a great time going through the
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book of Acts. Today we are in
the 11th chapter of the book of
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Acts where we were studying a
little bit last time and we'll
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recap a little bit of that after
a word of prayer. Let's ask God
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to bless our time in study.
Heavenly Father, we thank you
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for your word and we ask now
that the Holy Spirit would guide
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our minds and our understanding
as well as our hearts Father.
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Help us to be willing to receive
what it is you have for us today
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in your word. We ask
in Jesus' name. Amen.
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Now, Jim, last time you
recall we were talking about the
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conversion of the household
of Cornelius, which in and of
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itself is a miraculous thing. It
wasn't just Cornelius, but his
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household. That tells us the
kind of person he was that just
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like Abraham led his household
after himself, here Cornelius
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is a man who has that impact
over his home, that influence,
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and uses his influence for the
Lord and so should we in every
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one of our homes. Our homes
should be reflective of the will
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of God. Now toward the end of
that story we find that Peter,
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after Cornelius and his
household are baptized and you
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would expect that the people
would be excited, when Peter
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tells the other brethren they
are upset with him that he has
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gone to the gentiles until Peter
recounts the whole story of how
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God led that experience and he
says and we read this last time,
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and we're going to read it again
in chapter 11 verse 15. Peter
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says, As I began to speak the
Holy Spirit fell upon them as
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upon us at the beginning. And
then he says in verse 18, verse
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17 rather, If therefore God gave
them the same gift as he gave us
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when we believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ, who was I that I
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could withstand God? Now this
was a powerful evidence to the
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church there and to Peter
himself. If we saw the same
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experience with the Holy Spirit
come upon them as came upon us
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then who am I to forbid it. Now
the danger here, Jim, is that
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sometimes we can look at these
things and some people will come
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away with the idea that well it
really doesn't matter what the
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Bible teaches. If I have
something in my experience that
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seems to say different and we
use a verse like this sometimes
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and we'll say will that's
what Peter is saying. He had an
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experience that went contrary
to the way he thought and
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because of that experience he
said, Hey, who I am to disagree?
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It was more than
just an experience.
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That's right. I can think of
people that I've studied with
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who have been part of a
body of believers who come to an
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understanding, don't really
believe everything truthfully
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as the Bible teaches it, but
because of the experiences that
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happen there, and there
could be all sorts of different
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experiences. It could just
be attendance, there's so many
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people coming and worshiping
God and from our appearance in a
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subjective sense it looks
like the Spirit is blessing.
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Yeah, so many people are doing
this. How could it be wrong?
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Right. But I think it's
important that we recognize
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and we tried to do this at
the end of last time but we need
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to take a little bit more
time this episode. You know when
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Peter here is saying these
things about what happened in
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his experience, it's more than
just the experience that gave
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them the evidence that the
gentiles would now be recipients
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of the gospel. It was more than
just a subjective wow we see
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what the Spirit has done and now
we know. Peter also received a
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vision from God, prophetic
inspiration, which is equivalent
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to you and I seeing something
in the word. So it's not just
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experience, which can be
subjective, but it's also
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experience that is compatible
with or affirms what we know
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from inspired writings,
inspiration through the prophets
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Right and the gospel going to
the gentiles was not foreign to
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scripture. The Old Testament
scriptures taught in many places
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that the gospel would go to the
gentile nations, Isaiah 56 is
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one that comes to my mind but
there are others. So there was
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more than just that experience.
I think to myself, Jim, of a
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passage in Revelation chapter 13
where the Bible says something
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that really ought to grab our
attention and I'm actually going
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to turn there to Revelation 13
and verse 13. The Bible tells us
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about a collaboration between
some powers at the end of time
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that are working to deceive and
it tells in Revelation 13:13, He
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performs great signs so that he
even makes fire come down from
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heaven on earth in the
sight of men. Now what's really
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interesting and important about
that is the fire coming down
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from heaven was something we
find in the Old Testament in the
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book of I Kings chapter 18 that
God used as an evidence of his
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power in the ministry of the
prophet Elijah. So God used it
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as a sign of his power. But
what the Bible tells is that the
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enemy of righteousness is going
to use it as a sign of his power
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at the end of time. So people
are going to see the fire come
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down and say well wow we saw
this elsewhere and this is the
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evidence that this is from God.
So those signs or miracles are
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not... we can't base our
confidence in that alone.
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We have to have the scripture
and inspired testimony to
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accompany those
miracles and those signs.
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That's right and we see that
here in the early church in a
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number of places. Now we're
in Acts chapter 11 and we're
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picking up in verse 19. In fact,
verse 19 picks up something we
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have seen earlier. It tells us
in verse 19, Now those who were
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scattered after the persecution
that arose over Stephen traveled
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as far as Phoenicia, Cypress and
Antioch, preaching the word to
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none but the Jews only. Now
there's a couple of things here
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to note. First of all, we've
talked in our last episode for
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example, how the gospel had
shifted its emphasis toward the
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gentiles. But here it says they
are preaching to the Jews only.
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Now we've got to keep in mind
that this group, and it spells
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them out; they are those who
are scattered after the stoning
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of Stephen. Well that was
in Acts chapter 8 verses 1-8,
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rather verses 1-4, those
were the ones that were everyone
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except the apostles. These
were the lay people, the church
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members, who were scattered
abroad and they were preaching
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the word. Why are they preaching
to the Jews only? Because we've
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seen where several events have
happened that have communicated
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to the church the gospel to the
gentiles, but that message has
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not spread everywhere yet
including this group here.
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Now it goes on to tell us in
verse 20 that some of them were
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men from Cypress and Cyrene who
when they had come to Antioch
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spoke to the Hellenists
preaching the Lord Jesus and
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the hand of the Lord was with
them and a great number believed
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and turned to the Lord. Then the
news of these things came to the
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ears of the church in Jerusalem
and they sent out Barnabas to go
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as far as Antioch. Now we've
seen this before too. The church
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members are the ones who are
doing this work. The church is
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moving and growing powerfully
under the work of the church
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members so much so that news
travels back to headquarters and
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they send somebody to come and
check out what's going on in the
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church. That's
right. And if we look
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here in verse 22 after it says
they sent out Barnabas, it says
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a little bit about what happens.
Verse 23: When he came and had
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seen the grace of God, he
was glad and encouraged them all
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that with purpose of heart they
should continue with the Lord.
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You know, we should be excited
when we see the success of
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others, rather than being
jealous or competitive. I'm so
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thankful for the large-
heartedness of Barnabas to see
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that I may not have been
the one who did all this but I'm
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encouraged, I'm
excited about this.
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Not only that, I'm going to roll
up my sleeves and get in there
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and work with them. You
want to help them. That's
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right. It says in verse 24, For
he was a good man, full of the
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Holy Spirit and of faith and
a great many people were added
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to the Lord. Then it says,
Barnabas departed for Tarsus
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to seek Saul, and when he
had found him, he brought him to
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Antioch. So it was that for a
whole year they assembled with
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the church and taught a great
many people and the disciples
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were first called Christians in
Antioch. Now you know a couple
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things stand out to me
here. He's encouraging these lay
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people but just because the
members at large, as we were
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called back in Acts chapter
8 this group that was scattered
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was all of those who were in
the church except the apostles.
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So all of these church members
who were not in leadership are
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the ones who are spreading
the word. They are here now
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spreading the word in Antioch,
but the leaders still have a
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role to play and they are to
cooperate with these lay people
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but their role is a little
bit different than what we often
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see today. It appears that their
role is almost like that of a
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foreman who ensures that the
work is being accomplished and
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that help is being given and
work is being provided but not
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necessarily doing all the work
themselves. So Barnabas and Paul
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they didn't do all the
work themselves but they were
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orchestrating the work, they
were helping to manage the work,
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they were encouraging the work,
they were resourcing the work,
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all those types of things.
But then there came a time when
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their teaching abilities
and qualities were going to be
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needed too. So they're pulled
into the mix and spend a whole
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year teaching the people. So
these lay people brought them
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to an understanding of Christ
and conversion and the church
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was growing but then to get a
little more depth these leaders
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came in and added some teaching.
It's amazing that in this
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passage it says that the
disciples were first called
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Christians in Antioch. You know
it takes me back up to verse 20
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where it says that some of them
were from Cypress and Cyrene,
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etc. And it finishes saying that
they were preaching the Lord
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Jesus. So everywhere that these
church members went they were
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proclaiming and as we've
said before, preaching is not
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standing behind a pulpit, but
preaching is simply sharing the
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word. Sharing what God has done
for you in the word, how he has
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convicted your heart. So here we
find that these early believers
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were sharing the word so much
and they had Jesus on their lips
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so much that they said,
Ah these Christ-ians, these
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Christians. It was a slur.
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It was, it was. It was a
negative because of how much...
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how fanatical they seemed to be
about Jesus. But they liked it.
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And we still do.
Call me a Christ-ian.
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Praise the Lord for it. Verses
27-30 just kind of segue into
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chapter 12 and it brings
up a couple interesting point.
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It says, In these days prophets
came from Jerusalem to Antioch
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and it talks about one of them,
Agabus, foretelling a famine.
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And then verse 29 says, The
disciples each according to his
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ability determined to send
relief to the brethren dwelling
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in Judea. So we see that spirit
of sacrifice. It's important to
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note as we have earlier that
in the end of time the book of
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Revelation speaks of a remnant,
that God's church at the end of
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time will be a portion that will
be like what we found here in
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the beginning. So Acts gives us
a model. And we found prophets
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in the early church right here
and the Bible says that one of
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the characteristics of God's
last day church is the gift of
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prophecy. We see the spirit of
sacrifice. We ought to see that
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today in the church, too.
We ought to see that in our own
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lives more often. That leads
us then into chapter 12 where we
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see that Herod is not happy with
what is happening here among the
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church. No, no,
not at all. If you look
00:12:22.13\00:12:24.54
in chapter 12 beginning with
verse 1, it says, Now about that
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time Herod the king stretched
out his hand to harass some
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from the church. Then it goes
on in verse 2 to say, then he
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killed James the brother of John
with the sword. Now this is some
00:12:37.48\00:12:42.60
major harassment but I think
it's noteworthy here that when
00:12:42.63\00:12:46.90
it talks about harassing some
from the church, you know, when
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we become Christians there is no
way that we can escape, if we're
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going to be true to God, there
is no way that we can escape
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being harassed in one
form or another. Ridicule,
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misunderstanding. There
are so many ways in which this
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harassment happens to us even
today. You know, the apostle
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Paul says all who desire to
live Godly in Christ Jesus will
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suffer persecution. When we see
all of this persecution in the
00:13:16.58\00:13:19.95
early church, there's a reason
for that. It's because they were
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faithful. It's because they
spoke the word with boldness,
00:13:23.35\00:13:27.56
it's because they were actively
pressing forward the work and
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if we take hold of that
work, if we see lay people and
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ministers alike working together
under the operation of the Holy
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Spirit, if we see fidelity and
faithfulness to God in standing
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for biblical principle and
biblical practices, we're going
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see persecution again, we're
going to see harassment again.
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Well we need to talk about this
especially this martyrdom of
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James the brother of John but
we are now at our time for our
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break. So stay tuned and we'll
be back with you in just a few
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moments.
00:14:04.30\00:14:05.33