Good evening, let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 485. 485. We praise thee, O God, for the
Son of thy love, for Jesus, who died and is now gone above. Alleluia, thine the praise. Alleluia, amen Alleluia, thine
the glory Revivers of heaven We praise Thee, O God, for the
Spirit of light, Who has shown us our Savior and scattered our
night. Alleluia, Thine the glory! Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Thine the glory, Revive
us again. All glory and praise to the Lamb
that was slain, Who has borne all our sins and has cleansed
every stain. Hallelujah, thine the glory Hallelujah,
amen Hallelujah, thine the glory Revive us again Revive us again, fill each heart
with Thy love. May each soul be rekindled with
fire from above. Alleluia, Thine the glory, Alleluia,
Amen. ? Hallelujah, I'm the glory,
revive us again ? Be seated, we'll sing Amazing Grace, page
236. Amazing grace how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found. Was grace that taught my heart
to fear And grace my fears relieved How precious did that grace appear
That grace appeared The hour I first believed Through many dangers, toils,
and snares I have already come. This grace hath brought We've
saved thus far and praise will lead me home. When we've been there ten thousand
years, Bright shining as the sun We've no less days to sing
God's praise Than when we'd first begun Let's look together in Acts chapter
13. Acts chapter 13. Last week we talked about God
slaying Herod because he gave not God the glory. Now we're
going to talk about God sending out people to preach. Now there was in the church that
was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and
Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, Manahan,
which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord
and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul
for the work, whereunto I have called them. And when they had
fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them
away. So they being sent forth by the
Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia, and from this they sailed to
Cyprus. And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word
of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they had also John
to their ministry. And when they had gone through
the isle unto Pappas, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet,
a Jew whose name was Barjesus, which was with the deputy of
the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man, who called for
Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the Word of God. But
Elias, the sorcerer, for so is his name by interpretation, withstood
them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul,
who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his
eyes on him and said, O fool of all subtlety and all mischief,
thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt
thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now,
behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt
be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately
there fell on him a mist and a darkness, and he went about
seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he
saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine
of the Lord. Our blessed Savior, our glorious,
gracious, eternal God. What a joy, what a joy it is
to be able to come into your presence, come unto a throne
of grace, come to a throne where grace reigns and grace came through
your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace that came to where we were,
found us, saved us, and keeps us saved day in and day out.
Oh, thank you, Lord. Bless be your holy name. Lord,
we've gathered here this evening to worship. We've gathered here
to look into your holy word. We're like Sergius Paulus. We've here to desire to hear
the word of God, and so bless us as we gather together. Enable
me to speak. Enable me to be a blessing, to
establish the saints in the faith, Forgive us of everything that's
unlike you. And for those who are not with
us through sickness and frailty and weakness of body, Lord, please
be with them. God, encourage them and strengthen
them and raise them up to your glory and the good of all. And
Lord, we ask for your presence and power here in this service
tonight. For Christ's sake, amen. worship him, we've come into
this house. We have come into this house
and gathered in his name to worship him. We have come into this house
and gathered in His name to worship Him. We have come into this house
and gathered in His name to worship Christ the Lord. Worship Him, Christ the Lord. So forget about yourself and
concentrate on Him and worship Him. So forget about yourself and
concentrate on Him and worship Him. So forget about yourself
and concentrate on Him and worship Christ the Lord. Worship Him, Christ the Lord. So let's lift up holy faith,
magnify His name and worship Him. So let's lift up holy faith,
magnify His name and worship Him. So let's lift up holy faith
and magnify His name And worship Christ the Lord Worship Him,
Christ the Lord He is all my righteousness, I
stand in Him complete and worship Him. He is all my righteousness,
I stand in Him complete and worship Him. He is all my righteousness,
I stand in Him complete, and worship Christ the Lord. Worship Him, Christ the Lord. While you go back to Acts 13,
we had a wonderful weekend, had some of the best fellowship, good food, and I listened to
both messages of Cody from Sunday. And that one Sunday night of
Shirley, I've never heard that before. That was a new one on
me. And you know how I laugh, you
know, when I get happy. Well, I've done a lot of laughing
listening to that, a lot of joyful. Amen. And then that great gulf
fixed, especially when he went over there and talked about the
great gulf fixed between us and God. That was really something. God's really got his hand on
that young man, and I am so thankful. So thankful, I was so blessed
by it. It's wonderful to be able to
leave and know that somebody could, you know, and what gets
me, and this is how you can tell if somebody's called to preach.
They're not grasping for verses. The Lord was just blessing him,
you know. You can tell when somebody studies. You can tell when somebody
prepares. and reads a lot because they're
not searching for scriptures. I mean, the Lord blesses them.
Their memory, God blesses them. And that's the way he's doing
with Cody right now, I feel like, anyway. All right. The title of my message this
evening, Before the Lord Ascended, it's called The Laborer Sent
to the Harvest. Laborer Sent into the Harvest. Before our Lord ascended, Remember,
he gave the apostles a commission to preach the gospel. Now, you
keep Acts 13. Look back over here in chapter
1 and verse 8. Chapter 1 and verse 8. And look
what he said when he gave his disciples the commission here. He said in Acts 1 and verse 8. but ye shall receive power that
the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto
me." Witnesses unto me. In Jerusalem, that's where the
gospel started, and then all over Judea, then go to Samaria,
and that's where they were at when the Ethiopian eunuch was
preached to. And then he said, unto the uttermost
parts of the earth, Now that's what's starting tonight, they're
going into the uttermost, they started in Jerusalem, went all
over Israel, all over Judea, went down to Samaria, and now
they're going into the uttermost parts of the earth, and that's
what's happening now. He called His apostles, He called
His preachers to be witnesses of Him, who He is, not who He
was, what He said, what He did. You know, when you witness to
anybody about Christ, you witness as to who He is. He was a Savior
here, He's a Savior there. He was Lord here, He's Lord there.
He's King here, He's King there. He's Redeemer here, He's Redeemer
there. Everything He was on this earth, He is there. He's our Comforter, He's our
Stay, He's our Salvation, He's everything, He's our Risen. Everything
that He was here, He is there. And so that's why they said we
preach WHO He is, not WHAT He was, because what He is, He's
always been and always will be. Jesus Christ the same today,
yesterday, and forever. And again, we're confronted with
how shall they hear without a preacher? These fellows are going to be
sent out. A preacher was sent to Cornelius, the first Gentile.
Preacher was sent to the Ethiopian eunuch, one man, one man. And so God always has a preacher
to preach the gospel to somebody. And here is the Holy Ghost in
these verses separating, calling, and commissioning preachers to
go forth and witness the Lord Jesus Christ and preach the gospel
of the grace of God, preach the Lord Jesus. Now, I want you to
notice this church here now. Look what it says. Now, there
was in the church that was Antioch, Antioch. There was a church in
Antioch. and prophets, and teachers, and
Simeon, and they had Simeon, called Nigel, Lucius, or Cyrene,
which had been brought up with her at the Tadrach. Now, this
church at Antioch, and this Antioch, there's two different Antiochs.
There's one in Syria, a little ways east-north, I think, of
Jerusalem, or north of Israel But you know how this
is and the church is always when you read to hear about a church
in the scriptures It was the church at Galatia the church
at Colossae the church at Thessalonica And here's the church at Antioch
a group of believers at Antioch Now let me show you how this
church started back over in chapter 11. There was a time that this
church didn't exist and There was a time that it didn't exist.
And then there's a church at Jerusalem, there's churches.
And just like here, you know, they said the church was at Antioch.
If you ask about a church, you say, well, we're the church in
Cumberland County. We're the church in Crossville,
Tennessee. And as far as I know, we're the
only church. There's a lot of buildings. and
there's a lot of PEOPLE, and there's a lot of PREACHERS, and
there's a lot of RIGAMARO, and a lot of WITNESSING and TESTIFYING,
and all kinds of things going on, but to have a CHURCH where
Christ is HEAD, where Christ is PRIEST, where Christ is WITNESSED
about, that's a horse of another color. Now, look what he said
here in Acts. Chapter 11, this is how the Church
started. Look down here in verse 19, After Stephen was stoned to death,
now they which were scattered abroad, they had to go out now,
upon the persecution that arose about Stephen. They traveled,
these disciples did, they traveled as far as Parnassi, Cyprus, Antioch,
preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. And some
of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were
come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, spake unto Gentiles,
preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was
with them. And that's what we need. We need God's hand for
us. And a great number believed,
and I tell you what, and they turned to the Lord. And then
came tidings of these things. Now listen to this. Then they
started hearing these things at the church in Jerusalem. Now
see, there's a big church, a group of believers in Jerusalem. And
they said, they sent forth Barnabas. Barnabas, you go down there and
see, go as far as Antioch and see what's going on down there.
who when he came, now listen to this, and had seen the grace
of God. How do you see the grace of God?
You see it in what God does for believers, what God does in conversion. The only way you can see the
grace of God is for God to save somebody and manifest grace in
them by their confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
they went down there and said, boy, God's blessed this place.
Grace is growing here. Grace has been to this place.
Grace has saved some of these people. Oh, my! And he was glad! The grace of
God will make you glad, won't it? And look what else he went
on to say now. And he said, And he exhorted
them all that with purpose of heart that they would cleave
unto the Lord. Purpose it that you're gonna
stay on Christ, believe Christ. And he was a good man and full
of the Holy Ghost and of faith, and much people were added unto
the Lord when he went down there. Then departed Barnabas to Sarsis
to seek for Saul. And when he had found him, listen
to this now, he brought him unto Antioch, and it came to pass
that a whole year Barnabas and Saul, they assembled themselves
with the church and taught much people, and listen to this, and
the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch, first
place. So this is where this church
is at, that's how it became into being, how it came to exist. And it was a well-taught church,
back over here in Acts 13, well-taught church. And look what it says,
Now there were in the church that was Antioch certain prophets,
certain prophets and teachers. Now, I'll tell you what, you
notice that's in the PROPHETS, not A PROPHET, PROPHETS. More
in PROPHETS is the same thing as being a PREACHER, and that's
what they were, they were PROPHETS. And then there were SEVERAL PROPHETS
there, and then there were TEACHERS, that's in the plural too. So
there were SEVERAL TEACHERS there, and they were teaching. and so
they were a well, well-taught church, prophets, and it s in
the plural. You know, I was talking to Daniel
Parks, and he s going out to Montana to pastor, going out
there next month, going to be their pastor, he said, We was
talking about it, and what a wonderful group of believers there is out
there, and the first thing old Daniel said says, Boy, John Mitchell
taught them well, didn t he? John Mitchell taught them well.
They were well, they re a well-taught body of believers, and it s just
like when Scott, when he was at Fairmont, they was well-taught
people, and that s what they said here. These people are well-taught,
well-taught, taught in the scriptures, And these prophets and teachers,
it tells us who they are. Well, there was Barnabas, old
Barnabas. He's the one that went down there
the first time, stayed for a while. And then there was Simeon that
was called Niger. And you know, Barnabas was a
Levite, a Jewish priest from Cyprus that told us that over
in Acts chapter four. And then there's Simeon called
Niger. His name means that he's black.
So he was an African. He was a black man. And then
there's Lucian of Cyrenia, he's a Roman, he's got a Roman name,
and they were men from Cyprus and Cyrenia that were the first
to go to Antioch and preach to the Greeks that were there, the
Gentiles that was there. And then they said there was
this man named Manahin, which had been brought up with Herod
the tetrarch and Saul. Now see, it tells us in the margin
that he was half-brother to Herod, So they was RAISED TOGETHER.
Herod was a POWERFUL man, and here s Menah, his half-brother,
raised in a PRESTIGIOUS, POWERFUL FAMILY, PROMINENT FAMILY. Well, he would have been a PRINCE,
really, what they would have called him was a PRINCE. And
here he is, here s the POWER of the GOSPEL to put ALL in the
same place. I mean, you know, it didn't make
you, whether you's rich or you're poor, whether you's high born
or low born, educated or uneducated. The gospel, one thing the gospel
does, it puts all people on the same level. Two things level
men in this world, two things. The gospel makes all men to be
the same, all saved the same way. And death is the great leveler
of all men. It takes the big and the little
and it takes all in between. And so here they are at this
church, and Herod and Manan, they were raised up together,
and there was five Herods. This is the third one right here.
This Herod here, they were brought up together, but this is the
Herod that killed John the Baptist. This is the one had his head
took off. He come and he heard John gladly, but when he was
stepdaughter said I want his mother her mother wanted his
head well he got it and he was the one that took the lord jesus
christ and put him on trial the same one and i'll tell you he
had no desire for light he loved his darkness he loved his darkness
and this man minayan was brought up with him raised in the same
home raised by the same people We're in a high-born home, and
yet there's a great difference in them. And I tell you, one
becomes a believer, one stays an infidel. One is brought into
the light, one's left in his darkness. And who made the difference
between these two men? Who made the difference between
Herod, who killed John the Baptist, and who made his half-brother
to become a believer? There's only one reason that
there's a difference. And then the last one in there
that was a teacher is, and Saul, and Saul. And Saul, we all know
he was a former Pharisee. He was a persecutor. He hated
the church. He persecuted the church, pursued
them unto death. And now he's building up the
faith that he once destroyed. and all these different prophets,
and all these different teachers, they all tell us that the gospel's
the same for Jew or Gentile, bond or free, Roman or slave,
it don't make any difference. The gospel's the same for all.
Oh my, all same for all. Then look what else about this
church. Not only was it a well-taught church, but it was a worshiping
church. It says in verse two, And as
they ministered to the Lord, Minister to the Lord and fasted
and then down in verse 3 and when they had fasted and prayed
This was a worshiping church. They ministered to the Lord.
What does that mean minister the Lord? That means that they
was interested in Christ they You know Whatever Paul said this
whatever you do do it as unto the Lord Do it as unto the Lord
If you give thanks, do it unto the Lord. If you give, it's unto
the Lord. If you pray, you pray unto the Lord. Everything you
do, let it ALL be done unto the Lord, whether you give, pray,
preach, whatever, it's unto the Lord, and that's what they would
do. They were MINISTERING unto the Lord. They were TEACHING
Christ, and they were MINISTERING, and now listen, and then they
were a PRAYING church, and they PRAYED! I mean, they believed
in PRAYER. These folks believed in PRAYER.
And not only was it a ministering, you know, worshiping
church, but look what else they said about them. They was a seeking
church, as they ministered the Lord and fasted. The Holy Ghost
said, separate me Barnabas and Saul under the work which we
have called me. And when they had fasted and
prayed, they laid hands on them and sent them away. They were
seeking church. Why was they fasting and why
was they praying? Why was they fasting and praying?
God, I believe that they were seeking the will of God. Lord,
what would you have us to do? Where would you have us to go?
Who do you need? What direction do you want us
to go? What do you want us to do? There's plenty of preachers
here, plenty of teachers here, so what would you have us to
do? And that's what I think they were doing, praying for the will
of God, praying for His direction. And then look what happens here,
they get called, and look what He said, down in verse 3, and
it said, Separate me, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me, Barnabas
and Saul, for the work whereinto I have called them. The call
of Barnabas and Saul. Well, who called them? The Holy
Ghost did. Same one that called us to Christ.
Same one that taught us the gospel. Same one that regenerated us.
The Church didn't call them. They didn't call themselves and
say, Well, I believe I'll go over here and preach. I believe
I'll go over yonder and preach. No, no, they waved on God, and
the Holy Ghost said, Separate me. Separate me. Call them. And if they're going to go out
and preach, They can't do it in their own strength. They understand
that. Paul said, who is sufficient for these things? They can't
do it in their own strength. It's the Lord's work. And who
is sufficient for these things? Our Lord said, without me, you
can do nothing. And these men understood that.
If I'm gonna go preach, I can't go on my own strength. I can't
choose where I go and can't choose what I'm gonna do. I can't choose
what I'm gonna preach. And that's why he said the Holy
Ghost separated them. I tell you, the Holy Ghost is
not a POWER for us to use, He's a PERSON that USES us! He's a PERSON that TEACHES us! He's a PERSON that BLESSES us! He's a PERSON that brings Christ
to us! And I tell you, you remember
Acts 8 when Simon Magus, he He saw Peter and John and James
and them laying hands on people, and they were receiving the Holy
Ghost. Well, he reached in his pocket and he said, I LIKE THAT
POWER! I LIKE THAT POWER! And listen,
let me pay for it, I'm going to give you some money, and you
give me this power. And he wanted to USE the power,
when the POWER has to USE US! Because we don't have no power
if He don't use us. Oh, my! And the Holy Spirit's
laying hold of Paul and Barnabas. And the call was from above.
Oh my, the Holy Ghost said, ain't that what it says? And the Holy
Ghost said. How do you reckon he said it? I don't know, but he spoke. He
spoke, I don't know how he spoke, but he said, he said, Separate
me Barnabas and Saul. It was a personal call. He only
picked out two men. It was a personal call. I've
got to work for Barnabas, and I've got to work for Saul. And
it was a personal call, and God ALWAYS calls people personally,
and not only was it a personal call, but it was a call to separation. Look what He says, Separate me,
separate me, Here s a call to separation! Separate it under
the Gospel! Separate it under Christ! Separate
it under the Church! SEPARATE IT! SEPARATE THEM! TAKE
THEM APART FROM EVERYBODY ELSE! SET THEM APART FROM EVERYBODY
ELSE! And then, oh my! And it was a call to work, because
look what He said, Separate Me Barnabas and Saul, listen to
this, for the WORK, the WORK, they re called to a WORK, were
unto have called them. They was called to a work. It's
the work I called them to. Well, they ministered, they fasted,
and they prayed, and they laid their hands on them and sent
them on their way. And then look what happens now.
They sent forth by the, and in verse four, so they being sent
forth by the Holy Ghost departed unto Seleucia, from this they
sailed to Cyprus. And when they were at Salamis,
they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews.
And then John Mark, the man who wrote Mark, is who that John
is. And you know, they were sent
forth by the Holy Ghost. You remember when Moses was,
God said, you know, I'm going to send you out. I'm going to,
you got to go. And Moses said, Lord, in Acts
33, he said, Lord, Don't send us. Don't send us. I don't want
to go unless you go with me. And that's what these fellows
said. I don't want to go unless you go with me. And that's what
happened. The Holy Ghost separated them. And he says, and they being sent
forth by the Holy Ghost, they preached the word. They didn't
preach their opinions. They didn't preach law. They
didn't preach works. They preached the word of God.
And then he goes on to say, And they went to Seleucia, and then
they went to Cyprus. Cyprus is an island just right
below Greece, and look what it says, and that s where Barnabas
was from. And when they got down on Cyprus, there was a little
place there called Salamis. They preached the Word of God
in the synagogue of the Jews, of the Jews. And listen to this,
so they was going over Cyprus, And when they had gone through
that isle, that isle of Cyprus, they come to a place called Paphos,
and they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose
name is Bar-Jesus. And this one place he distinguishes
above all the rest of them. Why did he distinguish this?
Because there's an enemy of the gospel there. There's a man there
that despises God, despises Christ, despises the gospel, and tried
to keep somebody from believing the gospel. And it said he was
a sorcerer. He was a sorcerer, a false prophet,
a sorcerer. And I'll tell you what, a false
prophet. He was a Jew. And when you see that word bar
there, that means the son of, son of, bar Jesus, the son of
Jesus. And you notice that's not capitalized
either. And what they are, they pretend
to do magic, they pretend to have power, they do acts of witchcraft. It's like
today going to these fortune tellers, same difference, going
to a fortune teller. Going to somebody that can tell
you what's going on in your mind and all that, that's what these
fellas were, they were sorcerers. They used witchcraft, they used
all kinds of magic to make people think that they have some great
ability. No, they used it to get in positions
of power. And then look what it says down
in verse eight about this sorcerer. But Eliamus, the sorcerer, for
so he is named by interpretation, withstood them seeking to turn
away the deputy from the faith. Now here's the thing about it,
this word Elias, you know by interpretation, you know what
that means? That means he's wise, that's what it means, he's wise,
that he's wise. How in the world, how can a man
like that, but that's what his name means by interpretation.
But here comes, here comes verse seven, now look at this. So this
Jew was with the deputy, he was close to this deputy of the country,
a man who was the authority in that particular part of Cyprus.
He was a Roman, Sergius Paulus, and it says he was a prudent
man. A prudent man means wise and understanding, that he sharp
in his mind, he thinks things through. But this sorcerer withstood
them and didn't want this deputy to believe from the faith. He
said he wanted to turn him away, the deputy, away from the faith.
Oh my! That's what happens, you know,
a lot of times when somebody starts getting some interest
in the gospel, if they go home and talk to their family, Go
home, tell their mom and dad and their brothers and sisters,
and they go somewhere else. They'll start immediately trying to talk
you out of it. Immediately, oh, listen, honey,
you know that you, no, we don't believe that. You know, oh, listen,
stay away from that. Stay away from that. But oh,
my. And that's what this man said.
He said he was close to this deputy, Sergius Paulus, and when
Paul and Barnabas started preaching to him. He immediately interrupted
them and tried to get them. Listen, don't pay no attention
to these men. Don't hear anything they got
to say. These men don't know nothing. I'm the one that's got
the power around here. I'm the one that can teach you
things and help you out. And he withstood them to their
faith. Well, look how this enemy's exposed. Look down in verse 9. Then Saul,
who is also called Paul, this is the first time he's called
Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost come upon him
in a powerful, powerful way. And he looked at this man intensely,
set his eyes on him. I mean, he looked at him with
intense. I mean, with an intense look,
set his eyes on him. And I bet this old boy, this
old lioness was sitting there. He said, why is he looking at
me like that? What's he looking at me like
that? Oh, my. And look what Paul told him.
He said, oh. First thing he said, oh, full
of solidity, you're crafty, you're subtle, and you're full of mischievous,
you're mischief, you wanna cause trouble everywhere you go, stir
things up. Then he said, you're a child
of the devil. That's what our Lord said about
the Jews, said your father's the devil. And here he says,
oh, you child of the devil, you're a child of Satan, you're a child
of the devil himself. And he said, Listen, you're an
enemy of RIGHTEOUSNESS, ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS. You don't like righteousness,
you don't want to be righteous, and you don't want nobody else
to be righteous. And then he said, Will you not cease? Will
you never stop to pervert the right ways of the Lord? Will
you ever stop when somebody comes in here with the Word of God?
Will you never stop to try to take what they say and pervert
it and twist it? No, and then look what he said
he pronounced judgment on him He rebuked him then he pronounced
judgment and now and now he said Behold the hand the Lord's upon
you God stretched forth his hand. He's gonna do something and he
said you're gonna be blind You're gonna be blind. You love blindness.
You love darkness. I'm gonna put you yet. God's
gonna put you in darkness and you're gonna be blind, and you're
not gonna see the sun for a season. And immediately, when Paul said
that, a mist and a darkness came upon him. And he had somebody
please guide me around. Somebody come here and get my
arm, get my hand, and take me where I need to go. And oh my. So I'll tell you what, and then
look what happens. Then God saves a man. God saves a man. Then the deputy, that deputy,
The one that this fella was trying to turn away from the faith.
The deputy, when he saw what was done, listen to this, he
believed, believed, being astonished at the dark doctrine of the Lord.
He believed, he became a believer. He saw what was done. He said,
how in the, Paul comes up here preaching grace, Paul comes up
here preaching Christ, and here's this fella trying to withstand
him, and he saw what God did. And he heard what Paul said to
this man. He saw that he was turned blind. He seen something
about the judgment of God and the mercy of God. And I'll tell
you what, and he saw God's power. He saw God's judgment and he
believed. And look what it said, he was
astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. What kind of God is
it that would take a man and turn him blind? What kind of
God is it that would set judgment upon a man that's against God,
against Christ, and against the gospel? And oh my, and they were
astonished at what they taught him. And here he was astonished
that God's a God of judgment, but He's also a God of mercy.
And believe me, after that happened, We don't know what was actually
said, but I believe Paul and Barnabas began to preach the
gospel to him, and he said, I've never seen a God like this, a
God like, that's what Rahab said. When they come, the spies come,
they said, we know that your God is the only true and living
God. and that he alone he was the
one who parted the red sea he's the one who destroyed them in
egypt he's the one who brought israel in here and oh listen
if you'll ask him please please please tell him about me and
save me let me be saved and i'll tell you what god does what he
pleases and i wouldn't i wouldn't One thing old Scott used to say
all the time, he said, if you're fighting with God, you're fighting
the war, you can't win. You ain't gonna win. You ain't
gonna win. You're not gonna win with him.
You're not gonna do it. Guess who's gonna win? Guess
who's got all the power? Guess who's got all the strength?
Guess who gets all the glory? Our Father, in the blessed name
of your Son, the Lord Jesus, Thank you for allowing us to
meet here this evening. Thank you for your word that
we can go verse by verse and see what you do, see what you've
done. And Lord, we're like those believers there. We're like Barnabas
and Saul. We can't go out and do anything
without you. We have no strength. We have
no abilities. We only have what you've given
us. And oh Lord, we only know what you've taught us. And so
Lord, we're gonna do like Barnabas did, said we're going with purpose
of heart, cleave unto the Lord. We purpose here as a body of
believers to embrace our Lord Jesus Christ, bow to him, submit
to him, and love him, and honor him, and glorify him, not only
with what we say and in our worship, but with our tongues, our hearts,
our feet, our eyes, our ears, God help us to glorify your son
and bring honor and glory to you too. We ask these things
in Christ's name, amen. ? Jesus Christ is made to me ?
All I need, all I need ? He alone is all my plea He is all I need
Wisdom, righteousness, and power Holiness forevermore My redemption
full and sure He is all I need. See you Sunday, God willing.