Good evening. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 61. Hymn number 61. The deep, deep love of Jesus
pressed unmeasured, boundless, free, rolling as a mighty ocean
in its fullness. Over me, underneath me, all around
me, is the current of Thy love. Leading onward, leading homeward,
to my glorious rest above. The deep, deep love of Jesus
spread his praise from shore to shore. How he loveth, ever
loveth, changeth never, nevermore. How he watches o'er his loved
ones, Died to call them all his own. Now for them he intercedeth,
Watcheth o'er them from the throne. O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
love of every, love the best. Tis an ocean vast of blessing,
tis a haven sweet of rest. Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus,
tis the hand of heaven to me. And it lifts me up to glory,
for it lifts me up to Thee. Be seated, and we'll sing hymn
number 117. It's been a while since we've
tried this one as a congregational. What is it? 117. If I can remember it here. He was wounded for our transgressions
He pour our sins in His body on the tree For our guilt He gave us peace,
From our bondage gave release. And with His strides, And with
His strides, And with His strides our souls Let's speed up just a little
bit. He was not heard among transgressors. He did esteem him forsaken by
his God. ? As our sacrifice he died ?
Let the law be satisfied ? And all our sin ? And all our sin
? And all our sin Him was laid on His. We had wonder, we all had wonder. Far from the fold of the shepherd
of the sheep. But he sought us where we were,
on the mountain flake and bank. And brought us home And brought
us safely home to God Who can number his generation? Who shall declare all the triumphs
of his crawls? Millions dead, now live again. Myriads follow in his train. Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9. They start at verse 31. Then had the churches rest throughout
all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and were edified in walking in
the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost,
were multiplied. and the comfort of the Holy Ghost
were multiplied. And it came to pass, as Peter
passed through all quarters, he came down also to the saints
which dwelt at Lydda. And there he found a certain
man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years and was sick
of the palsy. And Peter said unto Aeneas, Jesus
Christ maketh thee whole, arise and make thy bed. And he rose
immediately. and all that dwelt at Lydda,
and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord. Now there was at
Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, by interpretation which
is called Dorcas. This woman was full of good works
and almsdeed, which she did. And it came to pass in those
days that she was sick and died, whom when they had washed, they
laid her in an upper chamber. And forasmuch as Lyda was nigh
to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they
sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to
come to them. Then Peter arose and went with
them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber,
and all the widows stood by him, weeping, and showing the coats
and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them. But
Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed, turning
him to the body, and saith, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes,
and when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand,
and lifted her up. And when he had called the saints
and widows, presented her alive, and it was known throughout all
Joppa and many believed in the Lord. And it came to pass that
he tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon, a tanner." Our Lord and our God, our Savior,
our Redeemer, the one who loved us and gave
himself for us. And we now live by the faith
of the Son of God, who did love us, who gave himself for us. Lord, it's such a blessing to
be able to approach you, to have access into the holiest of holies
by a new and living way, through the blood, through the offering,
of your son, our Lord, our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
Father, we gather here to worship. We gather here to listen to your
word. And I pray that you'd be pleased to come down, come down
in the Holy Spirit, come down among us, take care of our, help
our minds and our bodies to be involved in this service tonight.
Lord, we know our bodies get weird, our mind gets tired, and
Lord, and I thank you for your saints that come to hear the
gospel. So Lord, take control of us tonight. Please help us
and subdue our flesh for just a little while that we seek to
honor and glorify you. Lord, please be mindful and gracious
of those who are not with us. Please keep them and preserve
them. Those who are not with us through frailty of body, weakness,
we thank you and pray that you'd bless them and strengthen them.
Please forgive us of everything that's so unlike you. Bring glory
to yourself through Christ our Lord tonight. It's in His holy
name we pray. Amen. Amen. In number 295. 295. He leadeth
me Blessed thought, O words with
heavenly comfort fraught. What error I do, where'er I be,
still tis God's hand that leadeth me. He leadeth me. He leadeth me by His own hand. He leadeth me, His faithful follower. For by His hand He leadeth me. Sometimes, mid scenes of deepest
gloom, Sometimes where Eden's towers bloom, By water, still,
or troubled sea, Still tis God's hand that leadeth me, He leadeth
me. He leadeth me by His own hand
He leadeth me This faithful follower I would be For by His hand He
leadeth me Lord, I would clasp thy hand in mine Nor ever murmur
nor repine Content whatever lot I see Since tis my God that leadeth
me He leadeth me He leadeth me by His own hand He leadeth me
His faithful follower I've been For by His hand He leadeth me
And when my task on earth is done, When by Thy grace the victories
won, In death's cold grave I will not plea, Since God matured and
leadeth me. He leadeth me. By His own hand He leadeth me. His faithful follower I would
be, For by His hand He leadeth me. Alright, I hope you're still
in the book of Acts with me in chapter 9. We're going to deal with Christ makes
whole. The Lord Jesus makes whole. You
remember last week we talked about Saul of Tarsus and what
a radical conversion he had. He went from being a hater and
persecutor of the Lord Jesus Christ to preaching that He indeed
is the Son of God, that He was the Christ. And so they had to
let Him down. He went, they took Him, and all
the other disciples were afraid of Him. And Barnabas took Him,
and they went to Tarsus where Saul was from. This is where we start dealing
with Peter here for the next couple of chapters from this
rest of this to chapter 10. Our Lord gave Peter the keys
to the kingdom. You remember in Matthew 16, I
think it's verse 11. He said, I give unto thee the
kings of the kingdom. Whatsoever you shall bind on
earth shall be bound. Whatsoever you shall loose in
heaven shall be loosed. And then he turned around and
told that to all of his disciples would be that way. and we see
him, and you know what, he is two times he used the keys here.
He used the keys of the kingdom to open the door to the Jews
in Acts chapter 2 when he preached the Lord Jesus Christ to the
Jews, and they said, Men and brethren, what must we do? Peter
says, Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So the keys
was opened to the door of the Jews, to Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then here in chapter 10,
He opened, God used Him to open the door to the Gentiles with
Cornelius. And I tell you, you know, and
the instrument, the instrument, you know what the key is that
God uses? It s the Scriptures, it s the Word of God, it s the
preaching of Christ in Him crucified. That s the open door for everybody
that believes the you don't believe the gospel, then the door is
shut. If you don't believe here, you're
bound. And if you believe here, you're
loosed. And the instruments that he used to open was preaching,
and preaching the master, preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. Cause
he had just made his confession in Matthew 16. We are sure and
believe that thou art the Christ, the son of God. And that's when
he gave him the keys to the kingdom. Now, Simon Peter had denied the
Lord Jesus Christ three times, three times, but yet God's purpose
didn't stop. God's gospel didn't stop. God's
salvation didn't stop. And I tell you, the sin that
he committed didn't hinder God's purpose, didn't hinder God's
will, didn't hinder the gospel. And his failing, you know, where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound. And yet with his
sin and his failing, the Lord Jesus Christ gave him the keys
to the kingdom. And before he fell and denied
the Lord, he gave him these keys. to the kingdom, and thank God
for grace. I know I've denied the Lord Jesus
Christ a heapsack more than Simon Peter ever did. He denied him
three times in just one night. I've denied him countless times
in my life. Countless times. How'd you deny
him? Not standing up for him the way
I should. Not honoring him the way I should. not preaching the
gospel with my heart like I should, so many ways. But it said here
in verse 31, then the churches had rest and it came to pass. Verse 32 said, and it came to
pass. And you know what had came to
pass then that the churches had rest throughout all Judea, Galilee,
Samaria, and were edified. So what happened was after Saul
was converted, things calmed down. The whole church had rest. They had some comfort. They had
some rest from persecution. They had some rest from their
enemies. They had some rest. And they
had rest. They had no troubles. They had
no persecutions. Saul had been converted and they
were edified. That word edified means to be
built up, means to be strengthened, means to be established. And
that's what, you know, Paul told all the preachers, he said, you
know, edify, you know, edify, build people up. Don't tear them
down, build them up, establish them, preach the gospel to them. And then it says not only that,
but they were walking in the fear of the Lord. There in verse
31, they were walking in the fear of the Lord. You know why
they were walking in the fear of the Lord? Because they were
conscious of God, conscious of their relationship with God,
conscious that God Himself is the one that's got all the power
that can do everything. they were understanding. I tell
you what, I walk in the fear of the Lord, and I know you walk
in the fear of the Lord, not the fear that we have that we
re going to perish, that God s going to forsake us, that God
is going to let us go, but we walk in the fear of the Lord
in the sense that we know who God is. and that our relationship
with Him based on the Lord Jesus Christ. And we walk in the awe
of God, knowing God, believing God, and knowing that God can
do anything He will whenever He will to do it. And I walk
in the fear of the Lord. I don't want to, and I know I'm
speaking for all of us, I don't want to dishonor Him. I don't
want to walk and say, well, I'm not afraid of God. I don't fear
the Lord. No, no, I do fear the Lord. You
know all it takes for God to do something for any of us is
just do nothing. Just do nothing. Just do nothing. Just do nothing. And then look
what else it says. Then they, and in the comfort
of the Holy Ghost. Oh, to have the Holy Ghost to
comfort us. they said they walked in the fear of the Lord and in
the Holy Ghost, the comfort of the Holy Ghost. That s what our
Lord told them. He says, You know, I ll send
you another comforter. I ll send you another comforter.
That other comforter takes the place of Christ. And He said,
He ll comfort you. And they were walking in the
comfort of the Holy Ghost. He gave peace to them, gave rest
to them, gave comfort to them. And I tell you, teaching them
about the Lord Jesus Christ and upholding them. And then it says
we're multiplied. You know, I mean, it's three
times already we've done found out that the church multiplied.
That means that God just kept adding and kept adding and kept
adding and kept adding. And then in verse 32, and it
came to pass that Peter passed through everywhere he had been
before and he came down also to the saints which dwelt at
Lydia. And I'll tell you, he came down to the saints. Why
did he come down to the saints? You know, why did he come down
to the saints? You know, we remember Peter says,
feed, feed the sheep, feed the sheep of God, not as a Lord,
not as a master, But as an overseer, you watch them, you feed the
sheep of God. And remember, our Lord Jesus,
three times, He said, feed my lambs, feed my sheep, feed my
sheep. And that's what He's doing here.
I'm going down to the saints, I'm going down there to feed
the Lord's sheep. And that's what He's doing there.
He comes down there to feed the... Came down to the saints. One
thing I utterly despise, I hate this idea of clergy and laity. Now, you know what that means?
That means that the preacher is the clergy, and he got all
the power, and he got all the authority, and he knows everything,
and you fellas don't know nothing. You're just lay folks, and they
make this big distinction between the church and the preacher.
Now, the Scriptures doesn't do that. The Scriptures doesn't
do that. Paul said, I'm nothing. He said, we're just see-saws
and waterboys. It didn't act like he was above
everybody else. He said, when he got among them,
he said, do you know you fellas talk about being weak? I'm weaker
than any of you. So this idea that preachers is
above the church, that's just, that's awful. That's why Peter
went down to the saints. Went down to the saints. And
then he found a certain man, in verse 33, found a certain
man. And all that means he come down
through there and there's a certain man laying there. And this man's
name was Aeneas, Aeneas. And all he saw this man and it
says here in verse 33, which had kept his bed eight years
and was sick of the palsy. Now, the palsy in the scriptures
means PARALYSIS, PARALYZED. I don t know what caused him
to be paralyzed, he d just been paralyzed eight years. The other
fellow that was at the gate called Beautiful, and then this fellow
was laying on his bed. He was laying out in the public,
laying on his bed, probably begging or asking for some alms or whatever,
and he was laying there and he was paralyzed, and he was laying
on his bed. And here comes Simon Peter, paralyzed
man, and this paralyzed man, utterly, utterly helpless, helpless
and hopeless apart from God doing a miracle for him, apart from
God doing something for him. And I tell you that's, if you
remember our Lord Jesus Christ, when they was at the pool of
Bethesda, And that certain season, you know, water would be troubled,
and everyone who got in at the water would be healed of whatever
they had. There was people everywhere. And our Lord Jesus walked up
to one man out of all that crowd, and he looked at him and said,
Will thou be made whole? Why didn't he ask everybody that?
That's according to free will, he would have walked up there
and said, hey, anybody here want to accept me? If you'll believe
me and get up and do the best you can, I'll give you an opportunity
to be healed. No, no, he just found one fellow,
one man, singled out one man, and that man couldn't get up.
He says, sir, there's nobody to help me. And when the water's
troubled, I can't, nobody will put me in the water. He couldn't
get in there himself. He said, somebody had to put
me in. Well, our Lord said, get up, just get up. And that's what
Simon Peter says to this man right here. You won't know how
many other paralyzed people was around there. But oh, he found
him in his bed. He kept his bed for eight years
and sick of palsy. He was paralyzed. And look what
now Peter said unto him. And this, Jesus Christ maketh
thee whole. That's exactly the same thing
he said to that man at the gate. Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. And you know, he didn't say,
I'm going to do it. If I can get John up here to pray with
me, we'll lay hands on you. No, no, no, no, no. Peter said
unto him, Jesus Christ makes you whole. He didn't ask him if he wanted
to be made whole. Didn't tell him that Jesus loved
him. Didn't tell him that Jesus died
for him. Didn't tell him to get in a healing
line. Get in the line here, get in
the line here, and I'll tell you, we'll lay hands on you.
No, no, he didn't tell him any of those things. Oh, no. He said, Jesus Christ maketh
thee whole. Then look what happened to it. Arise and get your bed. Make it up. Make up your bed. Oh, my. And what does this say? Well, I believe I'll get up. No, no, the scripture said he
arose immediately. Everything you find except one
place where the Lord Jesus soaked that in the fellow's eyes. And
he said, I see men as trees walking. And the Lord anointed him again.
He said, now I see everything clearly. And I'll tell you what,
he himself, the scripture said he arose immediately. Immediately. Oh, look what it
says, and then in verse 35, And all that dwelled at Lydda and
Saron, that would be Sharon in the Old Testament, saw him and
turned to the LORD. Then he turned to the LORD. There
we are multiplying again. So here's the first thing he
does. As it came to pass, he said, I'm going to go back and
visit the brethren. Then, oh my, then he, this is what Christ
does. He makes men whole and he gives
men life from the dead. Now look what it says in verse
36. Now there was at Joppa, Joppa was on the seashore down there
on the Mediterranean Sea. Get your map out sometime and
look at some of these places. Now there was at Joppa a certain
disciple. See again, just certain, certain
man, certain disciple. Named Tabitha, which by interpretation
is called Dorcas. This woman was full of good works
and alms deed, which she did. And it came to pass in those
days that she was sick and died. Died. Whom when they had washed,
they laid her in an upper chamber. Oh my. Dorcas says she is a certain
disciple. And the margin calls her a doe,
or a roe, like a small deer. A doe, which is a beautiful thing.
And she was full of good works and alms deeds. And let me tell
you something. Look over here in Titus. Titus
is right before the book of Hebrews. Look in Titus with me. Talking
about good works. She was full of good works and
alms deeds. And you know what alms means?
Well, you turn over there and look in chapter three, verse
eight. You know, alms means acts of
mercy, acts of pity, acts of kindness. And that's why the
Lord says, you know, don't do your alms before men to be seen
of men. Don't do your acts of kindness,
your acts of pity, your acts of mercy. towards anybody, so
you just get recognized for doing it. But look what He said here
in verse 8, Titus chapter 3 and verse 8, This is a faithful saying,
And these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that
they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain
good works. These things are good and profitable
unto men. But you know what He said before
He told her that and told us that? Look what He said in verse
5. This is the reason why we're
to have good works, not by works of righteousness, which we have
done, but according to His mercy, He saved us by the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. which hath shed
on us abundantly, get the Holy Ghost on us abundantly, through
Jesus Christ our Savior, that, being justified by His grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
He said, since you know Christ, Christ saved you, Christ washed
you, Christ justified you, now you be careful to maintain good
works because of what Christ did for you. That's the reason
why anybody does anything. That's the only reason why we
have any reason to do. And then it says here that she
was sick back over here in Acts 9. She is sick. We don't know
how long she was sick. Some people get sick and go pretty
quick. Some people get sick and stay
for a long, long time. She was sick and the scripture
said she died. She was sick and she died. That's what's gonna happen to
us one of these days. We're gonna get sick And we're
going to die. Sarah, Abraham's wife, died. You go through the scriptures,
you find so many people and they said, and they died. Well, she
died. She died. And what they done
is they got her and they washed her body. That's one of the first
things they do. You know, when you're in hospice
or anything else, people come and they take care of the body.
They wash the body, they put clean clothes on the body, and
they prepare the body for the funeral home to come and get
it. And that's what they did. That's what they did with our
Lord Jesus Christ. They prepared his body, and they
washed her body, washed her and cleaned her up real good, put
clothes on her, and then they carried her to an upper room.
carried her, I don't know how many steps they had or whatever,
but they carried her and laid her out in the upper room. Laid
her out in the upper room. Have y'all ever been to a viewing
at somebody's house where they brought the casket to somebody's
house and you have to go in the house and see them? That's what
it used to do. They had what they call a Setting up a lot
of places called is setting up setting up with the dead they'd
bring the casket home And they'd lay the person out and people
be sitting to eat and over the casket doing on you know and
that's and that's what happens and Here she was she died and
he washed her up and carried her upstairs and laid her out
later out and oh my and then look what they said to Peter
and As for as much as Lida was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples
had heard that Peter was there, he was at Joppa. So he had got
through his preaching, doing whatever he was doing, he went
home, went to Joppa, where he was staying. And they sent two
people to him, two men, asking him, desiring him, delay not
to come. And he says in the margin, don't
be grieved, don't be aggravated at us for asking you to come
over here, don't do that. don t be grieved because we want
you to come. Well, then two men come, and
then Peter arose and went with them. And when he got there,
they brought him into the upper chamber, and look what it says,
And all the widows, all the widows stood by him, got by Simon Peter,
stood there just weeping and crying, and look, they said,
look here, look at all these things that Dorcas made. Look at these wonderful coats
she made. She made coats for people that was poor. She made coats for folks that
needed a coat. And garments, made garments that
Dorcas made while she was with him. She did, they stuck all
this stuff that she made. Said, look here, look at this.
Look at all the things she made. And they stood there crying,
crying. And oh my. And she made all these
things while she was with them. While she was with them. Then
look what happened. You know, when our Lord Jesus
Christ, you heard about Lazarus. He waited four days, four days,
before he went to raise Lazarus from the dead. And I don't care
how long a man's dead, the minute life, his heart stops beating,
he's as dead then as he's ever gonna be. Whether he's dead a
minute, or dead an hour, or dead for days. When you're dead, you're
dead, and there ain't no way in the world a dead man can give
life. And oh my. And look what He says here, man.
A man's dead whether he's dead a second or just days. And these
people desired Him to come and to comfort them. I think they
called Him to comfort them and to maybe preach to them. Come
and preach to us. Come and comfort us. Come and
comfort us. And then look what happened.
But Peter put them all out. This is exactly what our Lord
Jesus Christ did. You know, when he went in to
Jairus' daughter, and she's 12 years old. She's laying there,
dead, and they were just wailing and carrying on, and he told
her, he told his own disciples, he said, she's not dead, she's
just sleeping. And they just laughed. Oh, Lord,
she's dead. What are you talking about? She's
dead. So he put them all outside. Get out of here. You don't believe
it? Just get out of here. Made everybody
else go. Unbelief's bad. Our Lord said,
if you don't believe, just get out of here. That's what Simon
Peter, he put everybody out. Put everybody out. And when our
Lord Jesus got her by the hands, he said, he told that little
old girl, said, rise, damsel arise, maiden arise. And she
got up. He said, and then he called them
back in there and said, fix her something to eat, she's hungry.
Living people get hungry. When he gave her life, she got
hungry. And when Christ gives us life, we get hungry. We're
hungry for the gospel. We're hungry for the Word. We're
hungry for God. We're hungry for Christ. We're
hungry. We want a relationship with God
Almighty. And oh my, the widow's weeping,
showed him the coats and garments which Dorcas made. These were
acts of kindness and mercy and pity she had towards others.
And then oh my, I tell you something, empires have come and empires
have gone. Kings and great men of the earth
are gone, but here's one of God's elect. Here's one of God's elect. A woman of good works, loved
of God, loved of those who knew her, and here she is, she's remembered. She's remembered, huh? She's
remembered. She did what she did for the
glory of God. Love and need for others. And
then look what it says, back there in verse 39. While she was with them. While
she was with them. Huh? She wasn't with them anymore. Oh my. How many have we went
with and they said, while they were with us. While they were
with them. One of these days, that's what
they're gonna say. He was with them. And oh my, she was with
them while she was with them. Oh my. And let me tell you something. There's a time coming when we
won't be with them anymore. I want you to see something in
Matthew 26, talking about this Matthew 26. talking about being remembered.
Here's this woman, with all these mighty people, and yet here she
is, she's being remembered, her name's mentioned, what she did
is mentioned, how much she's loved is mentioned, how much
she did is mentioned. She was so loved, and they took
such great care of her, and it's why she was with them, and she
will be with them. Now look what it said here, In
Matthew 26.6. Now our Lord was in the house
of Simon the leper. There came unto him a woman,
having an alabaster, that word alabaster means white, box of
very, very precious ointment, and poured it on his head as
he sat at knee. when His disciples saw it, they
got indignant, oh, they got aggravated, they got indignant, they got
angry, saying, To what purpose is this waste? Call it waste! And she s putting it on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and they call it waste! For this ointment might
have been sold for much and given to the poor, When Jesus understood
it, he said unto them, why trouble ye the woman? For she hath wrought
a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with
you. There's always going to be poor
people, but you don't have me always. For in that she has poured
this ornament on my body, she did it for my burial. She's preparing
my body for burial. Verily I say unto you, now listen
to this now, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in this
whole world, there shall also this that this woman hath done
be told for a memorial of her. As long as the world stands,
Christ said, I want this woman, she gonna be remembered. And
that's what was with Dorca. Huh? She shall be remembered. Well, look what Simon Peter did.
I got to hurry on. And oh my. Now Peter put everybody
out. And here he comes. Look what
he does. He kneels down. He kneels down. And this is a work only God can
do. Here he is. She and him. A soul
left alone with God. He kneeled down and he prayed.
And I want you to notice how his prayer was definite, definite
prayer. His heart and soul was centered
on this one thing, this dead soul. It's like Elijah. When
he prayed, he prayed for nothing but rain. And that's the thing
about a beggar who cries for everything, he'll usually get
nothing. So you make, he made his prayer
definite. We make our prayers definite.
Somebody asked me the other day, I said, I have an, you know,
I've got a prayer request and you know, God knows it. And that's
what I told her. And then somebody else mentioned it. And you know,
you mentioned me praying for the baby. I can't pray for the
baby without praying for you and Aubrey. And so when something,
that's what he done, he prayed definitely. And it, you know,
it don't make no difference whether you tell me to pray for it, but
you say, well, it's an unknown request. Well, then God knows
it. So you say, Lord, hear that person. You know, I don't know
what it is, but God, you know, so please do meet that need. And that's, that's, that's, we
don't just go out here and say, Lord, give me this, give me that,
give me this. We just don't do that. We pray definitely for
things. Tonight, I pray definitely. I
prayed, Lord, meet us. Give us up, please keep this
flesh out of this service. We prayed definitely for definitely,
and especially for Christ to get the glory. Well, and he called
her by name. He knelt down and turning him,
look what it said, and he prayed, and he turned to that body. Evidently,
he was way from the body, and then he turned to that body.
He turned to look at that body. And that's all he sees then is
just a body, just a body. And then look what he says. He
said, Tabitha. He said, Tabitha, arise. What happened? She opened her
eyes. Oh my goodness. She opened her
eyes and what's the first thing she saw? She saw Peter. Then you know what else she did?
She sat up. She sat up. Oh my, oh my. Oh, no, he didn't say, oh, I
see how dead you are, get up soon. Tabitha, you want to, you
could get up, no, no. There's a definite call to a
definite person. And oh, listen, he said, Tabitha,
arise. And a voice called her name,
and it gave her life. Have you ever heard that voice
that gives you life? You life. She opened her eyes,
and when she saw Peter, and I tell you what, when you hear his voice
in power, your eyes are opened too, and you see things you ain't
never seen before. And he gave and this is what
happens now. This is how gracious he is and how gracious she was.
And she rose up, and she's sitting up, and he rushed and got her
by the hand. And he said, come on, get up,
come on, come on, get up. And he lifted her up. And look
what the first thing he did, he said, all you saints come
back up here. All you folks I told to leave
out, get back up here. They come back up here. And look
what it says, presented her alive. That's what happens to us. Christ
presents us alive to his father. Presents us alive to one another. And oh my. And then look what
happened. And it was known throughout all
Joppa. And many believed on the Lord. And oh Simon Peter, he stayed
many days in Joppa. Down there with Simon the Tanner. Oh my, what a thing. When Christ comes, he makes the
dead live and the crippled able to walk. He's the only one that
can do it. Our Lord, thank you. Blessed
be your name. How gracious and kind you are.
We thank you for your gospel, thank you for your word, thank
you for the miracle work and power of the Spirit of God, the
miracle work and power of the Word of God. We're thankful that
you use, you give life to the dead, you give feet to the lame,
and you set at liberty the bruised. Oh, Lord, thank you. Blessed
be your name. God bless these dear saints as
they go their way. Thank you for meeting with us.
Thank you for giving us your word. Bless these dear children
of God. We ask you in Christ's name. There is a name I love to hear. I love to sing its worth. It sounds like music in my ear. The sweetest name on earth. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Because He first loved me. Amen. Good night and God bless
you. See you Sunday, Lord willing.
And don't forget. We're having a dinner Sunday,
and I know the time changes, but we'd all get up and come
to services anyway. So since we're up and we're here,
we just will eat. You can go home and nap then.