Welcome back to
Books of the Book.
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We are in the book of
Acts chapter 13 and we had just
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studied right before the break,
Jim, we were talking about
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Elymas the sorcerer and how the
Lord through the Apostle Paul
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had shown Sergius Paulus that
he was with Paul and his power
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was with Paul and kind of
confounded, more than confounded
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Elymas the sorcerer as Paul
pronounced a blindness on him.
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Of course, it says the proconsul
believed as a result of that.
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Now we're moving on into verse
13 and verses 13-15 are kind of
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transitional here. It tells
us in verse 13 that Paul and his
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party set sail from Paphos
and then they came to Perga and
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Pamphylia and John, this is
John Mark, departing from them
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returned to Jerusalem. Now we're
going to see that later on I
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believe this caused a little
contention with the departure
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of John. Now in verse 14 it says
They departed from Perga and
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came to Antioch in Pisidia. This
is not the Antioch where they
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moved headquarters to, but this
is another Antioch, Pisidian
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Antioch, where they went into
the synagogue on the Sabbath day
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and sat down. And after
the reading of the law and the
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prophets the rulers of the
synagogue sent to them saying,
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Men and brethren if you have
any word of exhortation for the
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people say on. Now it was
customary in those times that
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the ruler of the synagogue or
the leader could appoint whoever
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he wanted to for the service and
it seems here that there perhaps
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was knowledge of Paul's
rabbinical and not knowledge of
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Paul's defense of Christianity.
So, hey, here's a guy who has
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rabbinical training. Maybe he
has something to say today and
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could lead out and so they
invited him to speak and you
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might want to pick up in
verse 16 there and tell us what
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happened when Paul
was invited to speak.
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Right. When we get to verse
16, Paul stands up. It says he
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motions with his hand and he
begins to recount similarly to
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how Stephen recounted the
history of Israel. He begins to
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recount similarly and he talks
about how God chose the fathers
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and they dwelt as strangers in
the land of Egypt and they were
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in slavery there, but ultimately
he rescued them out and they
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were in the wilderness for a
period and then he ultimately
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gave them the land of Canaan.
He goes on to talk about how
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they had judges that ruled them
and then finally the king, Saul
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the king, and then after Saul
he raised up David. And he's
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trying to get to this point of
David because from David comes
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the lineage of the Messiah.
He's trying to get to show the
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progression to Christ. So he
says in verse 22, And when he
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had removed him he raised up
for them David as king to whom
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also he gave testimony and said
I have found David the son of
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Jesse, a man after my own heart,
who will do all my will. Verse
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23, From this man's seed
according to the promise God
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raised up for Israel a Savior,
Jesus, after John has first
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preached. He talks about John
and how John said that he wasn't
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the Savior. Then in verse 26 he
says, Men and brethren, sons of
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the family of Abraham, he
emphasizes that they were sons
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of this whole lineage that they
just described, and those among
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you who fear God to you the word
of this salvation has been sent.
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So notice he's telling an
account but then he makes it
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very personal and he's now
saying this is a personal appeal
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a personal invitation; to you
the word of this salvation has
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been sent. Verse 27, For those
who dwell in Jerusalem and their
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rulers because they did not know
him, that's know Jesus, and he's
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talking about those who dwell
in Jerusalem and their rulers,
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those who were involved in the
crucifixion, because they didn't
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know Jesus nor even the voices
of the prophets. Of course, the
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prophets had pointed to Jesus
as the Messiah. Then it makes
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this interesting statement, nor
even the voices of the prophets
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which are read every
Sabbath have fulfilled them in
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condemning him. Here's what he's
saying, ultimately because they
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did not know Jesus, they did
not know what the prophets had
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written about Jesus and because
of that they brought about the
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crucifixion. Well the prophets
had pointed forward to that
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crucifixion, so by ignoring
the prophets they fulfilled that
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prophecy. Well yeah
and did not know isn't
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weren't acquainted with. In
other words, he's not saying
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you did not know because you
never heard. They heard every
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Sabbath. Exactly
right. And that's one of
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the biggest points of this
particular passage is that this
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is something that they should
have known. They were acquainted
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with it. It had been read every
Sabbath. You know I think about
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how... it takes me back to the
story of Peter when Peter denied
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Christ. Remember that Christ
told him beforehand that he was
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going to do that. He said, I
tell you Peter, you're going to
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deny me three times and Peter
said, Oh, I'll never deny you.
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Even though Jesus told him that
and Jesus was in the judgment
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hall and Peter followed at a
distance and there Peter was and
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he was being asked, Are you with
the Galilean. Oh no, oh no. You
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would think maybe after the
second time that Peter said no
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that he would have gone, Oh I
better not do this again, right.
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He said three times. It
just totally leaves his mind.
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The pressures of his reputation
and potential persecution are
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too great and he goes right
through and does exactly what
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he was told he was going to
do. It was a character issue.
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It was a character issue and
ultimately he denied Jesus that
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third time. You know, there are
some people who read prophecies
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of Revelation and they see
what's going to happen at the
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end. We just looked previously
at Revelation 13 how there will
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be persecution. There will be it
appears a compelling of people
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to follow civil legislation or
civil laws that are contrary to
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the law of God. And so they say,
Oh I see that that's going to
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happen, I just won't do it. But
just we know something is going
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to happen doesn't mean
that we'll have the character to
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actually respond to it.
Just because they heard these
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prophecies every Sabbath
didn't mean that they knew and
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understood them, it didn't mean
that they had accepted them or
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searched them or taken them
to heart. So we need to be very
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clear that, you know what,
we may hear things every Sabbath
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we may be learning all the time
and think that well we know what
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we need to know but the reality
is we could find ourselves just
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as void of true
knowledge as they were here.
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Absolutely. And he emphasizes
that point as he goes on. If we
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look at verse 28 it says, And
though they found no cause for
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death in him they asked Pilate
that he should be put to death.
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Now when they, that is the
religious leaders and the Jews,
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had fulfilled all that was
written concerning him they took
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him down from the tree and laid
him in a tomb. So all the things
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concerned, Paul is drawing
attention to the prophecies of
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Christ. You know David had said,
They're going to shoot out the
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lip at me, they're going to mock
me, they're going to give me
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gall to drink, they're going to
tell me if he is the Son of God
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then let him come down and save
himself, or if God is in favor
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of him let God save him. All of
those things were fulfilled by
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the religious leaders of the day
even though they heard them in
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the synagogue every Sabbath,
they fulfilled them. Paul is
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making a point and I think it's
important for us to note again
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that he keeps going back to
scripture. It's not just his
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experience but he is bringing
them back to what has been
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written in scripture and he goes
on to say, But God, verse 30,
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has raised him up from the dead
Then he goes on to share some
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other prophecies of the
psalms that have been fulfilled.
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I'd love to go through them but
sake of time we're going to jump
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ahead to verse 35. We're going
to see something else here.
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It says in verse 35 he says, It
also says in another Psalm, you
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will not allow your
Holy One to see corruption...
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We've already seen
that in Acts chapter 2.
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for David after he had served
his own generation by the will
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of God fell asleep and was
buried with his fathers and saw
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corruption. But he whom God
raised up saw no corruption.
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So he gives the same argument
we saw that Peter gave and
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confirming that Jesus is the
Christ. Then he goes on to say
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in verse 38, Therefore let
it be known to you brethren that
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through this man is preached
to you the forgiveness of sins
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and by him everyone who believes
is justified from all things
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from which you could not be
justified by the law of Moses.
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Beware therefore lest what has
come upon you in the prophets
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or which has been spoken of
in the prophets comes upon you.
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And he quotes from Habakkuk
where Habakkuk foretells
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judgment. In essence he says
that we have on every Sabbath
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heard the prophecies pointing
forward to what we have just
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seen happen. Everything's been
fulfilled just exactly as you
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have learned it would be growing
up if you just take a look at
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these prophecies. And now
here's this man Jesus who I'm
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presenting to you. Salvation is
through him, forgiveness of sins
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is in him, he is able to justify
us from the things that the law
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could not justify us from,
which is nothing. The law can't
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justify, it was never given
to justify. Justification was
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always to be through the lamb
that would come, Jesus Christ,
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the Lamb of God. And Paul is
urging them to accept the Son
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of God as their salvation.
Amen, amen. So now we're here
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in verse 42 where we see the
response that is given and it's
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a fantastic response. It's
the kind we like to get after a
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sermon. It says in verse 42,
So when the Jews went out of the
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synagogue the gentiles
begged that these words might be
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preached to them the next
Sabbath. They begged! That's
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exactly right. And they took
advantage of it. It says now
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when the congregation had broken
up many of the Jews and devout
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proselytes followed Paul and
Barnabas, who, speaking to them,
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persuaded them to continue in
the grace of God. So they saw it
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as their responsibility to
persuade both Jews and Greeks.
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You know, I think of the
text where the Apostle Paul said
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Knowing therefore the terror
of the Lord we persuade men.
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There's a lot of people who feel
well we'll just let the Holy
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Spirit bring people to a
decision. But they saw that
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the Holy Spirit brings
conviction but he uses us to...
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When the Holy Spirit comes
upon us we will be witnesses.
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That's right. And in doing that
he wants us to give clear reason
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that will cause someone to be
available for the Holy Spirit to
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pierce their heart convince them
of the truth. So then it says in
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verse 44 something very
interesting. On the next Sabbath
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almost the whole city came
together to hear the word of
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God. Now we're going to
pause here for just a moment and
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notice that the Sabbath all
through the book of Acts Paul
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and the apostles are meeting
on the Sabbath and it doesn't
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matter if there are just Jews
or if gentiles are involved and
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they don't seem to try to meet
on a different day. There's no
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intimation of that.
They just meet every Sabbath.
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Yeah you figure that if people
begged that they'd preach more
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they'd say hey we've got
meetings every day, we've got
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meetings on the first day of
the week, come over. But that
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evidently wasn't
the practice here.
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Week after week they came on the
Sabbath. So after this we see
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the Jews saw the multitude
and were filled with envy, which
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we've seen before and ultimately
the Apostle Paul said, Hey
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because of what you've done and
because of your rejection, I'm
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taking this to the gentiles. As
we might say the gentiles were
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glad and the Jews were mad, and
Paul and Barnabas shook the dust
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off their feet. Wow! What a
powerful story. Unfortunately
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we're out of time for
today but join us next time on
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Books of the Book.
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