Book of Acts, chapter 4. I want
to begin reading with verse 23. Now, we've read this several
times, but to kind of keep the account here before us so that
we know what's going on again. Just to refresh, of course, that
the two disciples, John and Peter, have been arrested. Well, backing
up, a man that no doubt many people had seen had been healed.
And as a result of that, John and Peter called before the Sanhedrin
court, and they are called on to answer by what means this
happened. And so they're given a great
opportunity to preach the gospel to those men. And it may have
been that Saul of Tarsus was among that Sanhedrin court at
that time. We don't know, but he was a very
powerful spokesman for the Pharisees, and he had a lot of influence
and power. And then we find here that once
they had been let go, they went to their fellow Christians. They went to the local group
of believers. in Jerusalem. They went to those
who understood what they had been going through. They understood,
these folks understood what it was to be saved by grace. These
folks understood what it was to follow the Lord. They understood
this. And so Peter and John go join
themselves to those folks. And they are welcomed, open-armed,
welcomed by this group. Now where they met, it doesn't
say, but there seems to be a considerable number of people there. And they're
so glad to have these two back with them after the problems
that they've had. And it says, And being let go,
verse 23, they went to their own company and reported all
that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. I'm sure
the report was more than we have in the scriptures, because there
was probably more conversation that went on than we have. But
we have what was intended for us to have. There was no mistake
about that. And then it says, and when they
heard that, when this body of believers heard this, They lifted
up their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, thou art
God, which has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that
in them is. I firmly believe that God created
the heavens and the earth. That's given to us in the faith
that God gives us when we're saved. We don't have to learn
that. When we hear it, we're gonna
say, that's the truth. That's just part of the gift
that God gives to his people. By faith, we understand that
the worlds were formed by the word of God. And yet, as we go
through the Bible, and I started a list, starting with the book
of Genesis. Now in the book of Genesis chapters
one and two, there's a lot said on that subject. But if you move
through the scriptures, we find that there are maybe 1% or less
of the scriptures directly say that God created the heavens
and the earth. What does the Bible really have to say? Is
Christ and Him crucified? That's the message of the scriptures. We don't have to go to science
to prove that the Bible is right. The Bible proves science. Truth
science. So here we have them lifting
up their voice and they're lifting up their voice to one who is
in charge of all things. And that's gonna be very important
because they come to the place in their life that what happened
to them fell out according to the purpose of God. And as the
apostle Paul mentions later in the scriptures, everything that
had happened to him, prison, beatings, left for dead, stoned
and all that, fell out for the furtherance of the gospel. And
he understood that he endured all things for the elect's sake.
This is the reason that God had put him into the ministry, to
endure these things for the elect's sake. And he understood that
everything that happened fell out for the furtherance of the
gospel. Now in some areas it may not appear that way, but
in other areas we can find the gospel was brought and people
were saved by the grace of God. And so they lifted up their voice
to the God that creates all things and creates living spirits within us, a new heart
he gives us. He takes the stony heart and
gives us a heart of flesh. And then in verse 25 and verse
26, we have here a couple of verses that are quoted from the
Psalms that were written by David, and David wrote by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit. Now, yesterday I was visiting
with a gentleman and he informed me how Moses got the book of
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The bulk of
that, he lived it. But the book of Genesis, there's
a thousand years, 2,000 years between the creation and Moses. And he said, those earlier people
wrote down things and manuscripts and so forth and so forth and
was passed down and passed down. And finally, Moses got a hold
of it. And that's how he wrote the word of God. And all that
time, I'm just shaking my head like this. And he says, you don't
believe that? And I says, absolutely, I don't
believe that. I know what happens when I write something down and
hand it to someone else and ask them to write it down and someone
else to write it down. It's like starting an account,
sit in a bunch of chairs, a circle of chairs, and I tell you something,
and it comes around, and by the time it gets around, I can't
recognize what it is. Well, that's what happens when we go on accounts
of things. You know, when I was in college,
I loved to study of history, and most of the history that
we have is from a very biased point of view, natural history. Caesar wrote Very biased point
of view, Roman point of view. And so it is, that's the way
it goes. Well, Moses, like all the writers of the Old Testament
and the New Testament, were not left up in a lurch about what
to write in the scriptures. They didn't have to depend on
someone else's writing and going through it and writing down and
call it the word of God. Holy men of God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost. God, the Holy Ghost, gave them
the words in the original, in the Hebrew, Chaldean, and in
the Greek. He gave them those words. So
I don't have to say, well, I hope that those manuscripts were sound. No, the Bible's sound. I don't
care about the manuscripts. Now, there may have been those
things. I don't know. But it doesn't mean that Moses
got those from them or any of the other writers of the Old
Testament. And David didn't get it because he spoke by the Holy
Spirit. Now, it's interesting that how
many years before Christ, David lived hundreds of years before
Christ and before Peter and John. And yet they're able to go back
to that passage of scripture and find out exactly what was
happening to them that day. You know, what David wrote here
had happened centuries before that day, centuries after that
day, and is happening today. It's not something that has been
done away with. For it tells us here in the book
of Acts 4, verse 25, Now I used to be, what does that mean? Well, The first verse that we just
read has to do with, let me just put it this way, the common people.
They had the same problems that those in authority had. Goes
on, the kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered
together against the Lord and against his Christ. So it doesn't
matter where we are, what station we are, what area we are, what
language we speak, or what we feel by nature, we all raised
up ourselves against Almighty God, just as David said here.
Now, it's been played out here for Peter and John in a very
special way. Here are the religious leaders
that would say, we believe God, and Abraham is our father. But
they did not believe God, and they didn't have Abraham as a
spiritual father. They only looked at him from
a fleshly standpoint. And it says here that the heathen
did rage and that is just, they were so angry. And that's what
we read here with regard to what they did to the Lord Jesus. And
this has been happening. You know, I have to go to the
scriptures and be thankful to God that he has preserved the
church in all ages. If it hadn't been for that, there
would have been no preservation. Just hold your finger right there
and turn with me over to the book of Matthew, chapter 16.
You know this verse of scripture, I know you do, but let's go read
it again, because the Lord Jesus, in that wonderful 16th chapter
of the book of Matthew, where Jesus tells Peter, after he said,
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, flesh and
blood did not reveal this unto you, but my Father which is in
heaven. Grab that scripture, hold on to that scripture, underline
that scripture, because this is how God does His business.
And then it tells us in Matthew 16, verse 18, the Lord Jesus
said this, And I say also unto thee, Thou art Peter. Now you
are a little stone, but a big stone is going to take care of
the church. You're a little stone. He wasn't the first Pope. He
was married. He had children He wasn't there
was nothing about him that should put that into that context But
it has been upon this rock. You're a little stone upon this
rock. I will build my church now that rock is Christ and Christ
has been building the church since the very beginning of Just
after the fall, and when he saved Adam and Eve, and later saved
Abel, the church is in building. And it is being in building because
it was purposed before the foundation of the world that it be in building.
The architect had already laid it out. The plans were already
made. The drawings had already taken
place. And now in time, it has been
carried out just as it was planned in eternity past. And Jesus Christ
says here, building the church. I am continuously building the
church. And then he goes on to tell us,
and take hope in this, take comfort in this. He says, and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. There has never been a time
since Adam and Eve. Now, before the fall, it wasn't
necessary. They didn't have to see this.
But after the fall and when God saved them, there's never been
a time from that time to this time that there hasn't been a
church on this world. I'm not talking about some local
body. There probably has been, like we're going to find under
an oak tree or something like that. But we're going to find
the truth here. I had a man tell me in my office
one time, this is when I was in religion, and it's kind of
like DJ said, I was lost, but he was loster. He told me that
until a certain period of time came along, the truth had been
lost, and now it?s been raised up again. I?ll tell you, that?s
not what the Bible has to say about it, that truth has always
been here, and it will be here to the end, and there will be
no worry about it. Someplace in this world, the
gospel of God?s free and sovereign grace will be preached. Now,
it may not be here, and it may not be in Germany, and it may
not be somewhere else, but God's going to make sure that His sheep
hear the truth of the gospel. And the church, He built it,
the gates of hell will not prevail against it. All the outside influences
cannot destroy it. Now, there has been the assault
on the church many times throughout history, and many of God's people
have given their lives because of their faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, but it didn't destroy the church because someone else
was called by their message. Saul of Tarsus is a great example
of this. Someone else, Saul of Tarsus,
was called out by their message and he was used to bring the
gospel and have many other people called out of this world to the
gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. Never
in the history of mankind since the fall has there been a time
when the church has not been here. But at the same time, we're
gonna find out that those who hate the gospel have also been
here. And you know what they're in
the majority because all of us started there? We're born that
way. We're just born into this world
hating the gospel. We hate someone telling us what
to do. And we find, going back to the book of Acts, let's do
that again. Book of Acts chapter 4, as we find out these words
that David wrote in the Psalms, God inspired him, Holy Spirit
inspired him to write it. We have a copy of it today. We
can look at it and say, you know, that's still happening. It doesn't
matter whether you are low in society, medium in society,
high society, or in command. The heart is the problem. And
the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
And so the heart is going to have this to say about God. There in the book of Acts chapter
4, it says, the kings of the earth stood up, verse 26, and
the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against
his Christ. You know, if they gathered up against the Lord
and against his Christ, they gathered up against his disciples. without exception, just as they
did with Peter and John when they were brought before that
council. They were angry at Peter and John because they preached
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so this legacy that they're
passing on, someone brought it to them. They were called by
God Almighty to declare it to someone else. And it's been declared
down to this very time. The heathen raged, the people
imagined vain things, and then we find out that the kings raised
up It doesn't matter where we are in culture or society. Our
nature is to raise up and rage against God. And thank God He
gives us a new heart to love Him. I'll give you a new heart,
take away your stony heart, and you shall love me. And that's
a promise. God gives us a love for God that
we never had by nature. Now, you know, all this time
as we go through the Scriptures, we find out, like in Isaiah chapter
1 and verse 9, except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very
small remnant, we should be as Sodom and Gomorrah. If the Lord
had not left, that women, that group that he had touched in
the heart, had caused them to hear the gospel, had brought
them out of their desperate situation as hating God. If he'd not brought
them out of there, we'd all be as Sodom and Gomorrah, or should
be, and you know it doesn't take us long to read about them and
find out God's judgment on that people, out of all those great
cities. Three people. Well, four came
out. One of them didn't come out mentally,
looked back, and she was turned to a pillar of salt. So we have
three people came out of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot and his two daughters. And
that's all. A remnant according to the election
of grace. And we have how blessed it is
to read in the Old Testament, turn with me if you would to
the book of 1 Kings. 1 Kings, an attack has been on
the church. 1 Kings, there in the Old Testament,
1 Kings, it tells us there in chapter 19, 1 Kings chapter 19,
what an assault has been made upon the church here in this
passage, in this section, in this time, in 1 Kings chapter
19 and verse 18. It says here, a preacher, you
know, preachers can get discouraged. This preacher got discouraged.
They're hunting him down. They want his life. And he knows
they want his life. And he's praying to the Lord.
And he said, you know, I hate to put it this way, Lord, but
I'm the last one. Don't ever think that. The Lord was very clear about
that subject right here with this prophet who thought he was
the last one, and they hunt me. They're looking for my life too.
So if they get me, it'll all be over. Well, look at here in
verse 18. Yet God said, yet I have left
me 7,000 in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal,
and every mouth which hath not kissed him. Thank God for preserving
power. I have reserved them. Out of
all of that conversation that this prophet had with God, God
comes back and he says, don't worry about it. I have my reserved
ones. They'll be declaring the gospel
and you may lose your life over this, but you can know of a surety
that the gospel will not stop. It will be carried out. There,
going back to the book of Acts again, if you?ll join me there
in chapter 4, we find out against who the bulk of this was brought
up against. The Lord Jesus Christ, this was
brought up in the book of Acts chapter 4. We find that these
this church, these believers are going over that passage of
Scripture in the book of the Psalms, and here we read in Acts
chapter 4 there in verse 26. Let's start right there. In verse
26 it says, The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers
were gathered together against the LORD and against His Messiah. Now sometimes people get mad
at the postman. And the reason they get mad at
the postman is because they?re mad at God. They?re mad at this. They?re mad, they?re gathered
together against the Lord and against His Christ. And don?t
think for a moment that we in our unconverted state were not
against God. We may have been churchgoers.
We may have had baptism. We may have taken communion service.
We may have knocked on doors. We may have done many things,
just as recorded over the book of Matthew, where it says, Have
we not done many things in thy name? I'm thankful that the Lord
saves us out of that pit. So he says, together against
the Lord and against his Christ, verse 27, for of a truth against
thy holy child Jesus. Now, I wondered about child,
and you know, there's a thought about this. He's God come in
the flesh. Jesus, God-man, come in the flesh. But that word is many times translated
servant. His holy servant, Jesus. So if we want to look at Him
as servant, or we want to look at Him as the God-man, it's not
going to hurt anything, is it? Whom thou hast anointed. He is
the Christ. That's what the word means, anointed
one. He is the Christ. He's the one
that's been promised. That's who God promised there
in the Garden of Eden would take care of the problem, the Messiah.
Throughout the Old Testament, the Messiah was the one mentioned. We get to the New Testament and
we find a woman at the well says, we know that when Messiah has
come, he will tell us all things. And Jesus said unto her, I am
him. I'm the Messiah, I'm the Promised One. And it says, Whom
thou hast anointed, He's been anointed, God come in the flesh,
anointed by the purpose of God Almighty before the foundation
of the world to be the sin bearer of His people. Both Herod and
Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were
gathered together. Now what group is that? That's
the same people we read about in verses 25 and 26. We have
the common folks and we have those in charge. And they're
all against the Lord and against His people and against His word.
They're gathered together. Here it's happened. David wrote
about it. It happened during his time.
It's happened in all generations It's going to continue to happen.
But here it is. He brought it out bulk of it
against the Lord Jesus Christ against the Holy Child Servant
Jesus Christ all the years all the generations of man Held back
anger that was all at once compacted if you please and For this time,
and against the person Jesus Christ, every hateful moment
of everybody without Christ was brought out at once and pressed
upon the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. What hate he felt! as
he was brought to the cross, what hate he felt in Pilate,
what hate he felt in the Sanhedrin court, what hate he felt by the
thieves on the cross. Now we know one of them God saved,
but when at the beginning he hated this man, Why? If you be the Christ. There's
a big difference between if or since you are. If you be the
Christ, save us, take us down. Well, that wasn't going to happen.
He's there by divine appointment. And so every century, every century
of hate, every century of attitude was brought at one point and
brought to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we find, as we mentioned
last week, Paul Harvey's announcement, his
comment. And now for the rest of the story.
Because in the next verse, verse 28, we find that these folks
understood that everything that had happened fell out because
of God. It fell out because of God's
purpose and predestination. One of the translations said,
to do whatsoever your hand and your plan had predestinated to
take place. Another one says, to do whatsoever
your hand and your counsel foreordained to happen. So that's the thrust
of this. All of this took place before
the foundation of the world. God had it all planned out. The
script is written. Everything is taken care of before
the foundation of the world. And in time, the script is played
out to the very word. He is in charge. He is in charge
of the practice. He is in charge of what's going
to take place. And so it took place. There it
tells us, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determine
before to be done. So everything that happened in
the Old Testament with regard to those prophets and saints
was determined before Almighty God. And what happened to the
Lord Jesus Christ had already been determined before the foundation
of the world and was being carried out meticulously. Almost all
of it was written down in Scripture beforehand by several hundred
years. The prophets of old were given
the information by the Holy Spirit of what was going to happen on
this day when the counsel and rage of the people and the counsel
of the people in charge were brought against the Holy Servant
Jesus, their hatred towards Him had been written about, and their
hatred toward Peter and John had been written about. and their
hatred today still written about. It's being carried out. And the
determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God towards His elect people
is still being carried out. It was architected before the
foundation of the world being carried out in time. The building
is being built according to plan. The world is being run according
to plan. And guess what? So are we. according to plan." His plan. In the book of Romans, would
you turn there with me to the book of Romans? Romans chapter
9. I should read this entire chapter,
but I'm not. You'll have to do some of it.
You probably already have. Romans chapter 9. Verse 17. How many hundreds of
years before Christ this was written? I could probably find
out closely if I went to the Internet. I'd probably get a
Bible that had some list of some timeline or whatever. That's
not the important thing. The important thing is what God
had to say about that person He mentioned about, and that's
Pharaoh. That's the important thing. Pharaoh is one of those
kings that raged against the Lord. Pharaoh is one of those
kings that said, who is your God that I should obey him? Pharaoh
is one of those kings that could not understand that Moses was
saying, God said, let my people go. And he said, no way in this
world I'm only going to do that. My slaves, I need my slaves. Well, finally, after the firstborn
had been taken, In Egypt, not one firstborn of Israel was taken. Why? Blood. In every household in the entire
land, there was a death. That was either the death of
a substitute or the death of the firstborn. And in Israel,
it was the death of a substitute. That's where we get the Passover
lamb. He was slaughtered. He was set aside, looked at,
examined so that he had no imperfections, outward imperfections. We cannot
look inside. We can't look at the heart. We
don't know the organs of the animal and all that stuff. But
from the outside, they were to be perfect as we could possibly
make them. Inspect, look, gather information. And finally, on the 14th day
of the first month, they were slaughtered. and roasted. And then that roasted meat was
passed out to the family by the head of the household. And all
of this pictured the death of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
as a substitute for his people. Now, in the midst of that is
a king that is just, and he finally says, get out of here. But they
haven't been gone for an hour. He says, what did I just do?
And you know what? You go back there and read that
and you'll find out God hardened his heart. I remember discussing
this with my mother. She said, well, he hardened his
heart first. That's not what the Bible says. Now he did harden
his heart, but God said, I'm gonna harden his heart. And he
sends his army after the host of Israel. It's so interesting
that there's nobody left behind. What a statement about the church.
Nobody's going to be left behind. All are going to be gathered
up. And there wasn't even the sound of a dog barking. Nobody
could bring up a railing accusation against these people. Now they
leave and he sends his army, but read with me here in the
book of Romans chapter nine, verse 17, for the scripture saith
unto Pharaoh. Now that's interesting because
when he spoke to Pharaoh, the scriptures hadn't been written.
But he's just saying, I spoke to him. God spoke to him. He's the author of the scriptures.
He's the author of our word that we have. For the scripture saith
unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up
that I might show my power in thee and that my name might be
declared throughout all the earth. for this very purpose have I
raised you up." Can you imagine? His grandparents, his parents
brought this child. I was talking to, I think, Brother
Ed the other day, and I said, you know, as far as I know, I
cannot find anybody in my family that knew anything about the
gospel. Now, many of them were religious, But most of them,
I can't find out one of them that had any inclination towards
the gospel. It was all they were in charge.
They saved themselves and it's all up to them and so forth and
so on. But God used them. Great, great, great, great grandparents,
great, great grandparents, grandparents, mom and dad to bring a lost sheep
of the house of Israel into this word so I could hear the gospel.
So God used them. didn't necessarily save them,
but they were instruments in his hands to bring in the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. And I think probably most of
us could say the same thing by our ancestry, not much in there
that has anything to say about the free and sovereign grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ about God. So for this reason, have
I raised the up that I might declare throughout all the world
Verse 18, therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and
whom he will, he hardeneth. Now he had mercy on Peter and
John, but he didn't have much mercy on the Sanhedrin court.
if there was Saul of Tarsus there, which we don?t know for sure,
but 1 out of 71, what?s the percentage on that? Well, for this reason,
and then in verse 19, Thou wilt say unto me, Why should ye find
fault for who hath resisted his will? Nay, but, O man, who art
thou that replyest against God? Shall the thing form say to him
that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? What a word, what
a statement is made there. The heathen raged. The heathen
raged. Why did you make me thus? The
heathen raged. Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and
another to dishonor? That's what God had to say about
himself. What a statement he makes there.
So, in the book of Acts there, chapter
4 talks about those who raged. The commanders raged, the people
raged, and yet I find out in the book of Ezra, chapter 1,
that God stirred up Cyrus to let his people go. At least 150
years before Cyrus is on the scene, he's written about by
name, by the prophet. and we find that the word of
Jeremiah might be fulfilled, Cyrus was stirred up to let the
people go. So God is always in the forefront
of all His purpose. Now, going back to the book of
Acts chapter 4, looking at verse 29, look at their request. They
did not say, you need to get me out of here, Lord. We need
to move to a different place. Things are just getting too hot
here. They didn't say, Lord, I'm sorry, but I can't go any
further. They didn't say, Lord, we'll just never practice this
again. We'll never talk about you again. It's just causing
too much hate and discontent, and they're too rough on us.
Notice what they had to say here in the book of Acts, chapter
four, verse 29. Acts 4, verse 29, we read these
wonderful words. Now, Lord, behold their threatenings,
and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness that we may speak thy word. After bringing up God, you are
in charge of all things. They bring up an Old Testament
passage of scripture about God being in charge of all things.
And now they say, oh God, who is in charge of all things, grant
to us boldness that we may speak thy word by stretching forth
thy hand to heal. Let us continue with this. It's
what a conversation piece it was for that man who had never
walked. to be healed by Peter and John,
and then the whole scene opens up as a result of that, because
of God's good grace to a man who had never walked before,
how he, these two, were put into a position to declare the gospel
to the kings that were raging against the Lord and against
His Christ. By stretching forth thy hand to heal, and that signs
and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus,
Now, they made that request. Don't get us out of here. We
just can't go any further, Lord. No, give us boldness in these
days. And then it tells us something
happened. You know, we may never feel a literal earthquake, but
what peace God gives to His people when He speaks to them His Word. It's like being shook up, isn't
it? It says there, and when they had prayed, the place was shaken. Now, there's no doubt in my life,
in my word, or my thoughts, that that place was really shaken,
but it didn't come down. It was shaken. There was an earthquake.
God moved it. But today, we don't have to have
an earthquake We just are given the peace that God is doing all
things well. We're satisfied with what God
is doing. We're not trying to interject
our own purpose or thoughts in it. So when they prayed, the
place was shaken where they were assembled together, and then
they were filled with the Holy Ghost. You know, most people
stop right there and say, well, they went and started speaking
in some gibberish. What happened when they were
filled with the Holy Ghost? Read the rest of the verse. And
they spake the word of God with boldness. That's what they did. It wasn't a sign for them to
show off. It wasn't a sign for them to
say, let's jump pews or talk gibberish or some other thing.
They spoke the word of the Lord with boldness. And verse 32,
and the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and
one soul. The account goes on, the oneness
that the church has with God, the oneness that the church has
with each other. And so as these two, after enduring what they
had endured, being arrested, taken before the Sanhedrin court,
being questioned and told, do not ever speak in this man's
name again. I don't want to hear you preaching
about the resurrection of this man again. And sent out, they
go to their own place. They go to the fellowship of
believers. And it is there that they pray together, they recognize
the fact that the scriptures are going to teach this very
thing is going to happen when the gospel is preached. It happened
to the Lord Jesus Christ, and Jesus says, the world hated me,
it'll hate you. There won't be any marriage here.
And then, as you drop down through there, this is all purpose, verse
28. Whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel
determined before to be done, and now, Lord, give us boldness. Give us boldness. I have to pray that every time
I meet with somebody. Give me boldness. You know, the
natural instinct, let's just talk about cars. Fishing, hunting. But the Lord is gracious to open
the door. I love it when the person says,
what about? And then you can answer the what
about what about Genesis? What about grace? What about
or what are you going to be preaching on Sunday? and the door is open,
and I'm thankful, because it just makes it so much easier.
We can't open a door that's closed, and we can't close a door that's
open. So God give us the boldness to step through the door. And
then we'll finish, we'll look at the rest of this chapter the
next time we meet the Lord willing. The place was shaken, his presence
was known unto them, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
And then they were of one heart and one soul, and neither did
any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was
his own, but they all had things common." I think today, when
God's people have all things common, they believe exactly
what the Word of God teaches. Now, if someone is in trouble,
someone needs help, they're always quick to help. But that oneness
is a oneness in Christ Jesus. All right, we're going to stop
there this morning. And Brother Mike, if you'll come
in.