Welcome back to
Books of the Book.
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I'm Pastor Mark Howard and I'm
here with my cohost, Jim Howard,
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who just happens to be my
brother and a pastor as well.
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We are pastoring in the Michigan
Conference of Seventh-day
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Adventists. Jim is on the east
side of the state near Detroit
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in Detroit and I am on the west
side of the state in a little
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place called Gobels as well as
directing a school of evangelism
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for the Michigan Conference
called the Immanuel Institute of
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Evangelism and that has been a
lot of the reason that I've been
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interested in studying the book
of Acts, because we see in the
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book of Acts this is the book
of evangelism, this is the book
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where we see the mission of
the church being carried out in
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practical terms. And it's been
exciting to watch in spite of
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all the odds, Jim, that
keep coming upon the church, it
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continues to grow. Sometimes
today when we talk about the
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church and the growth of the
church we lament over all the
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difficulties that we have
in forwarding the gospel and
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opposition that we meet but, I
don't know, so far it's nothing
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compared to what we're
seeing here. For example now, we
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finished last time in chapter 13
of Acts and I want to recap the
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last few verses of chapter 13
but as our custom has been here
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we have asked the Lord to guide
our understanding as we turn our
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attention to the word. So I'm
going to ask if you would pray
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with us now. Heaven Father, we
ask that your Holy Spirit would
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again be present to guide our
study of your word and Father
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we ask it in the name of
Jesus and for his sake, Amen.
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Acts chapter 13. I hope you have
your Bibles with you and we're
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going to go to verse 48. Now
what happened in chapter 13 is
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Paul preached a powerful sermon
in Acts chapter 13 where when
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he finished preaching and giving
proofs from scripture that Jesus
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was indeed the Messiah that
was to come, both the Jew and
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Gentile listeners begged him
that he would preach the same
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words to them the next Sabbath
and the Bible tells us the next
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Sabbath nearly the whole city
came together. As is typical,
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when Paul was done preaching,
some were praising God, but some
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were very upset. In fact,
verse 46 says that Paul told his
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audience, his Jewish
audience, and when I say this we
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understand that Paul was Jew,
Barnabas was a Jew. It's not
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that all the Jews were enemies
but the Jewish nation, the
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Jewish leaders in this
locale for example unfortunately
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rejected this testimony. And
Paul says that, verse 46, Since
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you reject this message you
judge yourselves unworthy of
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everlasting life. Behold, we
turn to the Gentiles. Now that
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phrase, you judge yourselves
unworthy, God didn't judge them
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unworthy. God was offering
salvation, but they refused it.
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It's important to understand
that I've heard some Christians
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who have this mindset that
God has predetermined the people
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who are going to be saved and
lost and you know you just might
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be without luck. He might have
chosen that he's not going to
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give you the opportunity. But
that is not found anywhere in
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scripture. In fact, the
most famous text in scripture,
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John 3:16 says, Whosoever
believes in him should not
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perish. God so loved the world.
So you have this universal
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invitation that's given but if
we refuse it we judge ourselves
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unworthy. So it says in verse
48 When the Gentiles heard this
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they were glad and they
glorified the word of the Lord
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and the word of the Lord, verse
49, was being spread throughout
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all the region. Verse 50 says,
But the Jews stirred up the
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devout and prominent women and
chief men of the city raised up
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persecution against Paul and
Barnabas and expelled them from
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the region but they shook the
dust from off their feet against
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them and came to Iconium and
the disciples were filled with
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joy and with the Holy Spirit.
So as you capped it in our last
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presentation of our last study,
the Gentiles were glad and the
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Jews were mad. That's where
we move into chapter 14. As they
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come into Iconium, chapter 14,
verse 1, the Bible says, Now it
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happened in Iconium that they
went together to the synagogue
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of the Jews and so spoke that a
great multitude both of the Jews
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and the Greeks believed. But the
unbelieving Jews, and this is
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starting to be a recurring theme
The unbelieving Jews stirred up
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the multitudes, or stirred
up in this case the Gentiles and
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poisoned their minds against
their brethren. Now I want to
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come back to that in a minute.
Now it goes on to say, Therefore
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they stayed there a long time
speaking boldly in the Lord who
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who was bearing witness to the
word of his grace and granting
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signs and wonders to be done by
their hands. But the multitude
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of the city was divided, part
sided with the Jews and part
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with the apostles and when
a violent attempt was made by
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both the Gentles and the Jews
with the rulers to abuse and
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stone them... That's what we
were just talking about, right?
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I mean we talk about what
opposition we have today, but
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I'm not saying that these things
don't happen today in parts of
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the world, but in a lot of parts
of the world we have freedoms
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still to be able to study
and follow the word of God that
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not everybody has and they
didn't have here. They became
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aware of it and fled to Lystra
and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia
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and to the surrounding region,
and they were preaching the
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gospel there. Now a couple
things here, Jim. I want to
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pause for a minute and discuss
this stirring up. We keep
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talking about it. They stirred
up the people. What does that
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mean? What does it look
like to stir up the people? Why?
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They certainly weren't
uniting them with joy. They were
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stirring up with them with
bitterness or somehow trying
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to give false accusations or
in some way stirring them up to
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bring them against and to
intimidate the preaching of the
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apostles. That's
right and it says here
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they stirred up the Gentiles and
poisoned their minds, and I have
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a marginal reading that says
embittered. But the reason I'm
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asking this is this kind
of thing... You know that the
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Apostle Paul tells us that we
are not ignorant of the enemy's
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devices. In other words,
the devil still uses the same
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methodology and if this is how
he responded to the truth in the
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book of Acts, he will respond
the same way today. We've
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touched on this before how we
don't see the Jews meeting the
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arguments of Paul and the
other apostles with scripture.
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In other words, saying, listen
fellows, let's come together and
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let's look at this. You're
preaching scripture. Let me show
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you where the scriptures you're
preaching are wrong. The reality
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is you don't see that anywhere.
What happens is they stir up
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the people, they get violently
angry and in this case they're
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trying to kill them. They
rally the people together to get
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support and they poison their
minds against their brethren.
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So they're evidently speaking
things about the characters of
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these individuals. It
makes me think of the devil
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himself. In Revelation chapter
12 it calls him the accuser of
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the brethren. We know that we
do not wrestle against flesh and
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blood but against principalities
and powers, against spiritual
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powers of darkness. So we
recognize that this is the...
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We're seeing a lot in the book
of Acts by the unbelieving Jews
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and what have you, but
ultimately the devil himself is
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doing everything he can to
stop the growth of this church
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because right now
it's growing fast.
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That's right and we'll see some
of these things coming up. You
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know it comes to my mind
for example that the rulers in
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Jesus' day said that he cast out
devils by the prince of devils.
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and made accusations like that
so that they were defaming the
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character of Jesus because they
couldn't refute the truth that
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he was preaching. We'll find
later on in the book of Acts
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that in one place the Jews
gathered together against Paul
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and called him a ring leader of
the cult of the Nazarenes and so
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they called him a cult leader.
Sometimes tactics like those are
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used to defame the character of
a person or a movement instead
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of seeking to refute the
truth that's being proclaimed.
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That's right. When you don't
have the truth on your side
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you've got do
something like that.
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I should add that's not to
say... I'm sure the Jews had
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scripture that they taught
and preached. They did in the
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synagogue every Sabbath day.
It's not that they never used
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any scripture but they wouldn't
directly come to the scripture.
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Now I should say that in my own
experience where I've studied
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with certain individuals
and they've disagreed with a
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position that I take on
something, perhaps on...
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We've talked a little bit about
the Sabbath. As Seventh-day
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Adventists we believe that
the seventh day Sabbath is still
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sacred to God and I've had
people that disagree with that.
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You know what, a person has a
right to disagree. But I would
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encourage any of our viewers,
any Christian, too, if you
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disagree with something. Search
the scriptures and see what it
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is founded on. What happens
is, it's not that when somebody
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disagrees with me in some cases
that they don't have scriptures,
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but they won't talk about the
particular scriptures that are
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speaking to for example,
And Jesus as his custom was went
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into the synagogue on the
Sabbath day for to preach.
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It was his custom. Luke chapter
4. Well what about this text
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over here, no not that text over
there. What about the one here
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that says thus and so. So there
needs to be an honest desire on
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the part of each one of us
to know God's truth even at the
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cost of perhaps having to learn
something new or different.
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Yeah. You know any doctrine
in the Bible has passages that
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could be confusing and seem
to be saying something different
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from what the weight of
scripture might be saying.
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So it's possible to look at
those passages that are a little
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bit obscure and difficult and
seem to be saying something a
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little bit contrary and to
use that as your support and not
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feel the burden to have to go to
those other passages that are so
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clear in the weight of scripture
and to try to explain those.
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Instead you just continually
point to the same scriptures
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that support your view and that
is an issue where we have to
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look at the
honesty of our own heart.
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Yeah and when it comes down
to it, when we find ourselves
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wanting to stir up the people,
we're getting angry and so we
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want to get all the people that
think like us and stir them up
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instead of investigate, then
we know that we've got the wrong
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spirit. Because that's what
we're seeing here. They want
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to poison the people's minds
against the apostles instead of
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studying out the teachings that
are being presented. So we see
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this stirring up and it results
in them actually planning to
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abuse and stone them. So when
they became aware of it they
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fled to another location.
And of course, despite the fact
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that they just ran into this
issue of a potential stoning
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and there's this plot. In
verse 7 it says, And they were
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preaching the gospel there.
The same thing that got them in
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trouble, the same thing that
this plot was created because of
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it, they are not deterred at
all. Then it says in verse 8,
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And in Lystra a certain man
without strength in his feet was
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sitting, a cripple from his
mother's womb, who had never
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walked. Now we have seen
something like this before. Back
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in Acts chapter 3 we will recall
that Peter and John when they
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went to the temple to pray they
healed the lame man there at the
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temple gate. That lame man
was also lame since his mother's
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womb. Now in verse 9 it says,
This man heard Paul speaking and
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Paul observing him intently and
seeing that he had faith to be
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healed, said with a loud voice,
Stand up straight on your feet,
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and he leaped and walked, which
sounds similar to Acts chapter 3
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as well. Now when the people saw
what Paul had done they raised
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their voices saying in the
Lycaonian language, The gods
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have come down to us in the
likeness of men! And Barnabas
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they called Zeus and Paul Hermes
because he was the chief speaker
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Then the priest of Zeus whose
temple was in front of their
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city brought oxen and garlands
to the gates intending to
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sacrifice with the multitudes.
This is an incredible story.
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You know when the healing
happened in Acts chapter 3 it
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was primarily Jews, at least a
lot more believing Jews in that
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area. Here we're seeing healing
that happens around those who
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have a pagan background and
the response is a lot different.
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These must be gods.
There's a lot in this story...
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It's not the great power of God,
it's the great power of the gods
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Right exactly. So there's a
lot in this story and we need to
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dig a little bit deeper. But
right now we need to go to our
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break. So stay tuned and we'll
be back with you in just a few
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minutes on Books of the Book.
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