So we are in Acts chapter 9. I'm going to read verse 36 through
verse 42 and we'll go back and work through our outline. Just
a marvelous contemplation of this journey that the Apostle
Peter is on and the assignments to which he has been called and
how it might benefit us too as the people of God. So I'll start
at verse 36. Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named
Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas. This woman
was full of good works and alms deeds, 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 Lydda 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
calm 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 and turning to the body said tabitha
arise And when 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. Thus is the reading of God's
word. So I told you that we are in a parentheses period in the
excursion of Luke's narrative of the gospel. We are in between
the call of the apostle Paul, who is still Saul, and some of
the preliminary introduction of his calling to the early Jewish
brethren. And God appears to want us to
take a brief break and move back into the life of Peter. for the
purpose of helping us understand the larger picture of him addressing
the Gentiles. This is really about the door
about to open to the Gentile church. So from a from a redemptive
standpoint, as we talk about what we call. Biblical theology, and this is
the class that we're in with our women's theology class, biblical
theology is history, according to whom? History according to
Jesus. That's right. History according
to Jesus Christ. And so the narratives, the historical
events that occur from the beginning of time to the book of Revelation
are all one linear sort of woven fabric of God's providence and
purpose in the life of his people, in the life of humanity, as he
works out his salvation in the life of those that are called
to faith in Christ. And the Book of Acts is a critical
juncture between the Old Testament and the writings that are given
to us in the Gospels and the New Testament. That is the epistles
in Romans. The Book of Acts is that large
body of narrative wherein God is working to show how he is
bringing to pass his promises in the Old Testament. So tonight
I want you to be thinking we're headed towards Gentile country.
We're headed towards Gentile country. Peter will open the
door for the Gentiles, but it will be Paul who will go into
that door with his comrades and do all of the labor of proclaiming
the gospel and establishing Gentile churches. So for chapters 9,
10, 11, and 12, we will have Peter prominently
featured And there will be a smooth transition from Peter to the
apostle Paul. And from that point on chapter
12 and 13, Paul will take off and you will meet people like
Barnabas and Silas and Aquila and Priscilla and others who
will be part of his ministry headed to Rome. But the overarching
thought that we always want to keep is theological in nature.
When we are interpreting scripture, remember, a theological interpretation
of scripture means that you and I are not reading Aesop's Fable. This is not Reader's Digest.
This is not Ebony magazine. This is not Jet magazine. This
is not the Chronicles. This is not New York Times. This
is the word of God. And because it's the word of
God, a theological reflection must always be in the backdrop
of what's taking place. What do we mean by that as part
of our fivefold hermeneutical tools? We mean this whenever
you read the narrative of scripture ask the question What is God
up to? Those are God thinking Christians
What is God up to I don't want to be merely trapped by the historical
narrative I want to know what God is up to because we all live
and move and have our being where I That's right, and God is controlling
everything, is he not? And he's working everything after
the counsel of his own will, is he not? Every minute detail.
So for those of us who have been given an ear into the fact that
God is moving history according to his plan, we want to know
what is God up to? We've left Saul, we've come to
Peter, and Peter now has been going through the regions of
Caesarea, leaving Jerusalem and he's headed down south as if
you and I were in Jerusalem, Middle California, Central California. We're more northern now, but
Central California headed all the way down to Los Angeles and
San Diego area. That would be for us, Southern
California. That would be equivalent to not
as radical. I'm just giving you a picture
equivalent to where Peter is going down to the Mediterranean
Sea, down to Lydda, down to Joppa, very prominent places in the
Old Testament. very popular places in certain
historical events. You guys remember Joppa. That's
where Jonah decided to take a ship because Joppa became a seaport
where a lot of the wares came from different nations into Israel
and Palestine. And Jonah thought to leave his
mission and go elsewhere. So it's in this region now that
Peter has been led by the spirit of God. We saw last time how
that he had met the man whose name was Anais, a few verses
earlier, who was lame, whom by the spirit of God, he was granted
to bring about a healing in that man's life. And while he is in
Lydda, and Lydda is a few miles away from Joppa, so Lydda would
have been Lod in the Old Testament. would have been a certain amount
of miles from Joppa. We say it's about eight miles.
We know that geographically from Joppa and Joppa is some 30 something
miles, 35 miles or so from Jerusalem. So Peter has left Caesarea, he's
gone through Jerusalem and actually it should be the other way around.
He went to Lydia first and now he's headed to Joppa, which is
fascinating. because he wasn't catching trains
or driving cars. They were walking or riding donkeys. Mostly they were walking, which
tells us that the ministers of the gospel in that day and age
were healthy people. You know, take it for what it's
worth. Me and my wife had a lengthy conversation yesterday or today,
I can't remember, about how important it is to take care of your body
because it's the only one you got. And you can, you know, depend
completely upon, you know, conventional technology if you want to and
let your body break down to where you can't even walk to the corner.
And that would be a problem if God is calling you to do ministry.
But you're too lazy to even go to this corner. You know, what
if your car breaks down? And so what we want to do is
really thank God for the first century church, because those
people were healthy. They walked everywhere they went.
Thus comes to pass. the quotation out of Isaiah and
out of the Psalms and out of Romans 10, blessed are the feet
of those that proclaim good tidings. They walked, Peter walked. And as he walked, God met him
and things occurred as we had learned last week. And so Peter
is in Lydda. Having healed the layman and
the brothers and sisters in joppa as we read in verse 36 Now there
was at joppa a certain disciple named tabitha which by interpretation
is called dorcas This woman was full of good works and almdeed
verse 37 and it came to pass in those days She was sick and
she died in verse 8 and as much as Lida was nigh to joppa see
it And the disciples had heard that Peter was there. They sent
unto him men desiring him to that he would come and not delay. So we will pull up our first
PowerPoint. Just let it ride with us. The
sicknesses in both of these accounts are obviously sicknesses that
will recover. The persons that are sick will
recover and therefore God will manifest his glory through these
events. And so the first thing I want
to call your attention to is this sickness is for the glory
of God. Especially Dorcas's. Because
see, while Peter is just doing ministry in general and an opportunity
to heal Aeneas takes place, the handful of brothers and sisters
who believe the gospel down in Joppa, they heard that Peter
was in litter. They heard that Peter was in
litter. Now they had a very prominent sister in Joppa. Her name is
Dorcas, whose name by interpretation means roe or doe, like a deer
that's able to run, just a common name for females at that time. And she dies on them. And this
is a tragic death for this body of believers and for this culture,
because Dorcas is a very important person to those people. Which
point I do want to stress as we begin to work through this
sickness is for the glory of God, that our life should count
to other people more than ourselves. And I've said it before, when
you and I die, we ought to want people to miss us when we die. Now, if we're going to affect
that kind of love and affection on the part of people, what are
we going to be noted for by which when we die, people will be able
to say, I sure miss brother Jesse. I sure miss sister such and such.
I sure miss these individuals. What would we really be noted
for that? We would feel their hearts with
that kind of affection towards us. Here's the word good works. Here's the word good works. I
want you to understand how this works People will not miss you
largely Merely because you have as it were acquired to yourself
a lot of Bible knowledge People will not miss you if missing
you means anything and we're gonna learn tonight that it does
it should people are not gonna miss you if You know, if you're
just an individual who spends most of your time boring down
into biblical truth for your own aggrandizement, people are
only going to miss you if that knowledge that you have acquired
produces a fragrance that emanates and impacts the lives of those
that are around you to such a degree that when you are gone, something
is missing in their life also. This is very, very important.
This is why all over the New Testament, we are called upon
to see to it that our faith is so vital that it produces this
kind of fruit. So I want you to think with me
as we work this through these sicknesses that these two had,
and one of them led to the physical death of the woman Dorcas is
for the glory of God. Anus' sickness, anus' sickness
was for the glory of God too. We saw how the people in Lydda
had turned to the Lord. And we're gonna see how the people
in Joppa are gonna turn to the Lord too. But mark with me before
we begin to deal with our points, mark with me what the text says.
That the widows were moved significantly because of Dorcas. Verse 29,
then Peter arose and went with them. And when he was come, they
brought him into the upper chamber and all the widows stood by him,
what? Weeping and showing the coat
and garments which Dorcas made while she was with them. They
really missed that woman. They really missed her. Now,
there's something going on behind the scene, going back to our,
Reflection on theology. What is God up to? Why would
God give us this scenario of? Joppa and litter well because
there was a promise in the Old Testament I want you to see that
this is under our first point the sickness is for the glory
of God Go with me your Bible to Isaiah 65 verse 10. I want
to show you a promise about the very city of Sharon that God
makes some 700 years before the Apostle Peter even goes to Joppa
and litter Here's what God said. This is a promise that God has
declared concerning that area. This is a remarkable prophecy
because it's set in the context of some real difficult language
that God uses because of the disobedience of Israel. So I
want you to mark this as I read it. Isaiah 65. I'm going to start
at verse 8. Is that okay? Here we are. Let me see. No, you know what
I want to do. I'm going to start at verse six to give you the
negative part. And then we're going to see how
God in his mercy is still gracious. Behold, it is written before
me. I will not keep silence, but I will recompense even recompense
into their bosom. Verse seven, your iniquities
and the iniquity of your father stood together, said the Lord.
which have burned incense upon the mountains and blasphemed
me upon the hills. This is called idolatry. Therefore,
will I measure their former work into their bosom that is punished
them by degree according to their transgression. This is something
I'm going to develop for us on Sunday. Why God and righteousness
must punish sin. We read in verse eight, thus
said the Lord, as the new wine is found in the cluster, And
one says, destroy it not for a blessing is in it. So will
I do for my servant's sake that I may not destroy them all. See,
the analogy is of a cluster of grapes and that cluster of grapes
by enlarge is being rejected by the masses. But one person
says, don't destroy it, even though it looks like it's useless
because there's a blessing inside of it. Remarkable, because it's
designated for destruction. but someone now is advocating
for that cluster of grapes. That cluster of grapes represents
you and me. You and I are clusters of grapes that by nature are
destined for destruction. But in God's mercy, he had an
advocate for us who said, do not destroy it. There is a blessing
inside that cluster that he saw. And that's Christ in us, the
hope of glory in this city of Sharon, which right down the
street is litter, is destined to actually be blessed. Now,
the reason why the cluster is going to be thrown away is because
the mass as a whole is living in idolatry, living in wickedness,
casting God's law behind their back, just an open rebellion
against God. But almost in all cases where
you have masses of people living in rebellion against God, God
always sees The one or two or three that are actually trying
to live for his glory. Let me set this principle to
give you a context. You remember when God told Abraham,
I'm going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. We're going to be dealing
with this again in Romans two, because what we're getting ready
to learn in Romans is why God must punish sin. Even the sin
in the life of his people who just dare to rebel against him.
And you remember how, uh, Abraham negotiated with God about not
destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. Now watch this. Sodom and Gomorrah
was blessed beyond their awareness. Why were they blessed? Because
the same thing going on in Isaiah 65 is going on in Genesis chapter
18. Do you know what that is? An advocate is standing on the
behalf of people who are under the judgment of God. The judgment
of God should fall and wipe them out. And when it falls and wipes
them out, it will be a just judgment that will come without warning
because they have been given warning all alone. Haven't we
learned that in Romans chapter one? The light is piercing through
the darkness all the time, bearing record to the truth so that no
man can say, I didn't know. And when once the light has pierced
through the darkness long enough, all God has to do is drop the
judgment. He's not warning anymore. But here's Abraham pleading with
God, do not do it. Lord, if there are 10 righteous,
he said 50 at first, that's asking a lot. That's asking a lot. And he got down to 10. This gives
us some insight into the character of God. Again, we're going to
learn something about that on Sunday. People despise his mercy. God said, if there were 10, I
won't do it. You better mark that down. That
means he's a God ready to show mercy. If there's just 10, I
won't do it. Now he did it, didn't he? Because
there weren't even 10. So the whole was so rotten that
Isaiah 65 could not be the ultimate claim. There's a blessing in
it. There was no blessing in it. And so God poured his judgment
upon it. But there was mediation, was
there not? And God had his people in there and God had to pull
his servant out, which is a lot, didn't he? But he destroyed Lot's
whole house because of their rebellion, didn't he? And so
really, that's the context here in our text. We're 700 years
away from the Acts account in Isaiah chapter 65. So don't look
at Isaiah 65 as if it's chronologically the same area of time in Acts
chapter 10 chapter 9. Acts chapter 9 is 700 years down
the line. Almost a millennium down the
line. So 700 years beforehand, these people are living like
hell. 600 years like hell. 500 years like hell. 400 years, 300 years, 200 years
like hell. Maybe over the last 30 years,
God has started to sprinkle a handful of true believers into the land
of Joppa and Sharon and Lydda. Because of this promise watch
this verse 9 Because there may be a blessing in it. I will not
destroy them all I Will bring forth a seed out of Jacob. Do
you see it glorious? glorious That promise is being
fulfilled in our acts chapter 9 right now. I will bring forth
a seed out of Jacob we're seeing that in acts 9 already are we
not and we haven't even unpacked it yet and See, in other words,
theologically speaking, God is doing something, isn't he? He's
fulfilling his promises, is he not? And so the seemingly, you
know, discombobulated actions of men are really orchestrated
by a God who has made promises hundreds of years earlier that
he's bringing to pass. Now watch how the language goes.
This is phenomenal to me. I will bring forth a seed out
of Jacob and out of Judah, inheritor of my mountains and mine elect
shall inherit it and My servants shall dwell there washes and
Sharon see the word Sharon. That's our word Saron right next
to Java Sharon shall be a fold of what? glorious Now, you know,
we're not talking about literal sheep here. You know, we're not
talking about goats and sheeps and lambs We're talking about
the Church of the Living God Acts chapter nine, is that fulfillment?
In other words, Acts chapter nine for us allows us to say,
you know what? God kept his word, didn't he?
Watch this. Sharon shall be a fold of flocks
and a valley of acre, a place for the herds to lie down and
for my people that have what? Yes. Yes. Anybody got any loose ends going
on right now? Let's tie them back together. Go back to Acts
chapter nine. God has just described in Isaiah 65, a people that seek
him. I told you that Peter was up
in Lydda doing ministry some eight miles away. Oh, that wouldn't
be anything for you and I driving cars, right? That's here to Fremont. But if you had to walk from here
to Fremont, Would you be willing to seek God with that kind of
effort if you had a brother or sister who was sick? And you
might be able to retrieve them from that sickness through the
ministry of God's servant who is only eight miles away. Do I have your attention? This
is my point. This is my point. What our text
is saying in Acts chapter nine is this. These people were serious
about believing God. They were serious about getting
a hold of God in a situation really that most of us would
have given up on. Sister did. Whatever illness
she had, they already rolled that out. Most of us would just
do the funeral arrangements, try to get a preacher to do the
burial. Right. But there were a handful of believers,
a flock of the Lord who sought God. Powerful. Powerful powerful listen to what
the text is back in chapter 9. Here's what it says I'm at verse 8 38 and For as
much as little was nigh to drop in the disciples had heard that
Peter was there They sent unto him two men Do you see that? Can I get two men that's willing
to walk? eight to ten miles to catch up
with Peter and tell Peter, we need him to come down here now.
Not knowing whether or not Peter might've been too busy, might've
been tied up. He might've left by now. We don't
have texting. We don't have cell phones. We
don't have iPods. We don't have any form of concrete
communication. These two brothers are moving
out by what? Faith. Those that sent them are
sending them by what faith because they're trusting that God Will
actually do something in this situation. You guys see what
I'm getting at Do you understand what I'm saying that we cannot
overlook these little details because all these details Indicate
the nature of their heart as the prophecy is being fulfilled
in Isaiah chapter 65 see What these men are doing is phenomenal
in fact I'll get there in a moment under our first point. The sickness
is for the glory of God. That's John chapter 11 verse
4 and John's gospel chapter 11 verse 4. We're dealing with Jesus's
best friend. His name was what Lazarus and
Lazarus had died, didn't he? And what did Mary and Martha
do when Lazarus was sick? They call for Jesus. Because
they love Lazarus and they love Jesus and they had believed that
Jesus could heal him. So they did what believing people
do, call on God, right? Now, Jesus wanted to teach them
a lesson. So he showed up on his own time
and not theirs. So the old folks always put it
like this. He may not show up when you want
him to show up, but he's always what? That's right. Because God's
never late. He's never late. Look, when you're
God, you're never late. You understand that and so in
John's gospel chapter 11 We are told over in verse 4 when Jesus
catches up with the sisters and she they're tripping He says
in verse 4 when Jesus heard that he said this sickness is not
unto death But for the glory of God Watch this that the Son
of God might be glorified thereby Do you see that? So three things
are occurring here He's quelling the way that his Dear sisters
whom he loves he loves Mary Martha and Lazarus He's quelling all
the verse 2 It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with
the anointment and wiped his feet her hair whose brother was
Lazarus Therefore his sister sinned under the Lord behold
he whom you love is sick That's prayer, isn't it? Jesus said
don't worry about it. This is for the glory of God
in order that The Son of God might be glorified by it. The
Father will be glorified and the Son of God will be glorified
through the sickness. That's where we are in Acts chapter
9. Let's go back there. Do a little bit of work. So the
prophecy of Sharon is being fulfilled. The character of those people
are clear. They are believers. And again, we are reinforcing
a fundamental principle that sickness and death, in many cases,
is not the ultimate victory of the enemy. In many cases, it's
an opportunity for God to be glorified, and it's certainly
the case in this account. For we read in verse 39, as we
move to, well, let me just start at verse 36 and go through our
PowerPoint. Dorcas was a model of good works.
I'll get to our other part at this point. Now, there was at
Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation
is called Dorcas, This woman was full of good works and alms
deeds, which she did. So I want to call your attention
to this briefly, but not without significance. Dorcas is a model
of what? Good works. So there are three
things under that I want to call your attention to. The first
and foremost is the gift and fruit of grace. The gift and
fruit of grace. Good works, biblically, are always
consequence of grace in the life of the people of God. Good works.
People do works and those works that they do are not always good
works. There are works that religious
folks do that they will call good works that God won't. Okay
so when you hear a Human being says, talking about do good works. What you and I must ask is, are
those good works that they are doing, watch this now, are they
God's work? Because if they are not God's
work, they are not what? Good works. Because all good
works proceed from God. So stay with me now, this is
a fundamental principle. If you and I do good works in
order to get God to approve of us, then our good works are no
longer good works, they are bad works. Because they do not proceed
from the nature of God who is goodness personified. This too
you will learn on Sunday, but you ought to know this grace.
There's none. What good? No, not one. There's
none that do it. What good? There's none that
seeks God none to understand non-profitable That means that
by nature what you and I do if it does not proceed from faith
Rooted in grace Having its origin in God no matter how you and
I call it good works. It's not good works So let me
say that again The works you and I do, if we call them good,
but they do not proceed from faith, which proceeds from grace,
which has its origins in God, they are not good works. Truly
good works flow from the nature of God through the grace of God
by the faith that comes out of that grace as a fruit and an
adornment of the love of God towards his people and the love
of his people towards God. Am I making some sense? So that
what we say is it is God who works in us the will and to do
of his good pleasure. What I want to nail you on is
the necessity and benefit and blessing of good works. That's
what I want to nail you on, because there's no such thing as having
grace. And not having faith that produces good works, no such
thing. No such thing. In fact, this
is the argument of the Apostle Paul as he gets ready to deal
with the second category of people in the Book of Romans. He wants
us to understand that the nature of grace producing faith manifests
itself. in good works. This whole account
that you and I are dealing with is an account of good works.
Would you say that those men who heard that Peter was down
in Joppa and decided to go request of Peter to come down was a good
work that they did? Would you recognize that that
good work was a result of faith in their heart, faith in God,
faith in Christ, and maybe a prompting of the Spirit of God in a special
way that you and I don't know, like a word of knowledge or a
word of wisdom, which don't always appear in the scripture, elliptical
statements. We don't know if the Spirit of
God did not Plainly tell some of those people go get Peter
I'm getting ready to work something mighty in the lab because this
is going to be an outbreak that's going to result in the conversion
of a lot of people and out of that revelation They acted in
faith to go hunt Peter down. Remember now no cell phones. No Texan Not even a telegram Eight miles away, do you know
how many hours you have to walk to go catch up with a brother
that far away? Three hours. It's a three hour
walk up and a three hour walk back. Stay with me now because
I'm going to tell you something. What's taking place here is the urgency,
the urgency of a one day event. Stay with me for a moment. What's
taking place right now in our account is the urgency of a one
day event. What do you mean by that, Pastor?
Our, uh, one of our sisters lost her husband a few days ago and
I'll be, uh, doing the funeral next Thursday. You'll get in
a bullet to the mall. So in our country, our tradition is when
people die, you know, the, the mortuary comes and picks them
up from the hospital or from the home and they do all of the
stuff they do. And we generally have a window
of five to seven days, sometimes depending on the controversy,
maybe even up to two weeks before we do the funeral. Are you guys
following me? That destroys any sense of absolute
urgency. This is not done anywhere else
but in Western countries, virtually everywhere else in the world.
When a person dies today, guess when they get buried? Today. So we're talking about an urgency
of events. Stay with me now. This is why
I'm saying you got to understand the nature of good works flowing
out of faith, rooted in grace, compelled by the nature of God.
Because see, if you and I only had a 24-hour window where a
loved one died on us, you and I might rationalize again. Let's
get some rest. Let's clean her up, anoint her,
do all the other stuff, and put her away this evening. Because
they're going to put her away. But before they actually go through
that process, and time is ticking, time is ticking, these brothers
are hunting down the preacher. See what I'm getting at? And
you see how slothfulness and laziness and indecisiveness and
double-mindedness could destroy all that? That's what I'm getting
at, Saints. That's what I'm getting at. That's
what I'm getting at. And so on to point number two,
darkest and model of good works. All of this energy on the part
of these fellows going hunting down Peter is a consequence of
her love labors in that society. This sister is remarkable to
me. So let me give you two verses to affirm my argument. that you
and I must aim at good works as an evidence of true grace
and true faith and as an adorning of God's salvation in our life.
That the only thing left for me to do is glorify God by good
works. That's all I've got to do because
God has done everything else for me. This is just to believe
his word and do what he's called me to do. That's all I'm called
to do. So Ephesians chapter two, verse 10 is one of our Pointer
passages underscoring this call to good works. Of which Dorcas
is an example of it imminently. Acts chapter two, verse eight
through 10. Now you guys all know verses
one through eight, the fundamental premise of the gospel is to raise
people from the dead. That's how radically sinful we
are. We are so sinful that we're dead. That means the work is
monergistically done, singularly a work of God in raising us from
the dead. We do not cooperate with God
in our salvation, not in that initial work of regeneration.
We do not cooperate with God. That is a sovereign, solitary,
what we would call a unilateral act on God's part. It is monergistic. It's an energy that comes from
God that enters into that which is dead and gives it life. Are
you guys following me? It produces faith. Which then
moves out in obedience to the thing from which it was begotten
Faith always attaches itself to that which begotten as a child
does to its mother So we cry Abba what because we've been
born again And so act chapter 2 verse 8 tells us For by grace
are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is
a what? not of works lest any man should boast. So what Paul
is doing in verse eight and nine is saying your salvation is by
a unilateral monergistic work of God so that when people ask
you how that you were saved, you will tell them that God did
it and God did it alone. You will not boast that you did
something to save yourself. Got it? Verse 10. For we are
his what? Yeah, I love this. Because this
goes back to the critical term that was in Romans chapter 1,
where I broke down in about verse 20, 21, where it says, For the
invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen by the things that are made, even his eternal power
in Godhead. And I dealt with three words
underscoring the character of God, the created thing, the cosmos
and the things made. And I said that the things made
is God's intelligence and wisdom, his power in bringing together
all of the universe in such an exquisite way that when you look
at the detailed harmony, unity, efficiency, sufficiency of our
creation, you must acknowledge that there was an intelligent
designer behind it. It is too, too efficient for
us to call this the mere consequence of a Big Bang Theory or an inanimate
object working within its own confines to become something
on a level of absolute, meticulous, detailed efficiency as this universe
is. We say that it was a handiwork
of God. And long ago, The theologians called it God's poem I'm getting
up to a side of myself here. But what they were saying is
that when you read a poem Which is a line of propositions telling
you a story One of the things that attracts you to the poem
is the syntactical order and structure of the poem that actually
gives you insight into the author of the poem, knowing that the
poem was not the consequence of a bunch of random words that
are thrown into a box, shaken up, and then tossed out, and
out comes a poem. No. It was a person with a mind. who sat there and thought through
all of the syntactical, semantical, harmonious, structural, symphonic
terminology to make it beautiful, to make it attractive, to make
it powerful in its impact. And you go, now that is a poem,
right? And when you and I see creation
the way we ought to, we go, God is. the quintessential poet. He's the quintessential poet.
And it's the same here, for we are his what? We are his poem. We are God's poem. It's amazing. Boy, I've been going deep with
God. I've been going deep with God. It's amazing. He calls believers his poem. so that when people read you
in your symbiotic relationship with God, God is producing things
in you and through you for his glory, that people ought to stand
back and say, now that's a poem. That's a poem. In other words,
they ought to get an aesthetic satisfaction out of your relationship
with God. Am I making some sense? Like
we get aesthetic satisfaction out of Hamlet and other poets. and the newer contemporary poets
who do a great job today, we get aesthetic satisfaction out
of it. We go, wow, how can a thing that's so beautiful be so powerful
in its propositional truth? Well, that's the way God is. When God's done with the work,
it's beautiful. Beautiful is his holiness. And so the people
of God are his creation, his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto what? That's right. So see, when you
and I are grown up in Christ and functioning on all eight
cylinders, we are going to be a blessing to people. Can I sell you on that? Can I
sell you on that? Can I sell you on the fact that
when we grow up in Christ, Wherever we go, we're gonna be a blessing
to people because we're gonna learn how to do the gospel in
a way where it adorns Christ and cause people to be attracted
to Christ because of us That's what Dorcas did. I Want you to
see that here in a moment. I want you to see what our sister
did Created in Christ Jesus under good works, which God has ordained
before That we should walk in them what the word walk-in means.
That's our lifestyle. I Every day I wake up, I want
to be a poem to somebody. I want to be a poem to somebody.
I want somebody to get aesthetic beauty out of what I say and
what I do, and then I want them to be apprehended by the penetrating
truth of my life that causes them to think, you know what?
That guy makes me think about God. That woman makes me think
about God. Is this good reflection, Saints?
I'm glad you came out tonight because these are the things
are meditating on and I've been meditating on this for a while
because I'll read up four or five chapters Way ahead of you
guys and I'll see stuff and I'll say man I don't know how I'm
a frame this and talk about this in one night God Darkest is amazing
to me Titus chapter 3 verse 8 Titus chapter 3 verse 8 Let me just
kind of deal with us in terms of our contemporary Impediments
and weaknesses you and I are best served by sound bites So
I'm gonna give you a sound bite to attach yourself to for the
night. Here's the takeaway sound bite.
Are you ready? I want to be a Dorcas. I want to be a Dorcas I want
to be a Dorcas I Want when I'm gone people to be able to show
the work of grace in my life by all of the garments laid out
and And the materials left. Are you hearing me? And this
is what we're going to deal with now is even more remarkable to
me. More remarkable, because see, what I'm getting ready to
share with you here in a moment is this, that Dorcas was a blessing
to the desolate. She was a blessing to the desolate. You missed that. See, when I'm
thinking about garments, the garment of my good works, the
garment of my love, the garment of my patience, the garment of
my service, the garment of my giving, the garment of my sacrifice,
the garment of my preaching, the garment of my ministry, the
garment of my love. I'm thinking my wife and my kids,
my grandkids, nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts. I'm thinking
of all you guys and all the people I minister to. But you guys are
desolate. You aren't desolate. The people
to whom Dorcas is ministering are desolate. This is what makes
it so remarkable. See, it's easy to do all this
stuff with folks who can recompense you. Isn't that what Jesus said?
That is nothing. I give you five next week. You
give me five. That's nothing. That's expected of us. We're
supposed to do that to one another. I'm gonna make a 60 if I need
$10 I got to come to you in the week later. You can come back
to me. That's expected But you know what that brother that's
gonna ask me for Tina. I know he ain't gonna come back and
give me That's gonna have to be from grace I'm gonna have
to expect that 10 back from the Lord now it's gonna be by faith,
isn't it? Cuz he'll give me the 10 back
And then if God puts me in a position where I'm around desolate people
like that, I'm never going to receive in recompense from them
what I give. I need the spirit of Christ to
endow me completely to that kind of work, because now I'm a vessel
that's pouring out to people that can't receive in return,
at least from them. Titus 3, 18. Three, this is a
faithful saying in these things, I will that you affirm constantly,
you preachers, that they which have believed in God, that's
our premise, do we believe in God? Might be careful. That's our word. Be careful. Be careful. This would be called pastoral
theology to pastors about the kind of people that he will have
in his congregation, the kind of people he wants to shape.
This would be part of pastoral theology, the pastor saying,
if you do the gospel right, you will not raise up a bunch of
people who are intellectually heavy and practically empty. If you do the gospel right, you
won't have a bunch of eggheads. If you do the gospel right, you
will have people who will understand the natural impulse of imperative
as a consequence of God's grace in their life. If you do the
gospel right. Are you guys understanding what
I'm saying? If you do the gospel right, you will see people simply
move out in obedience and do things for the gospel sake without
even asking you. That's right. That's right. Most
of the ministries here at Grace, somebody else started it. Hey,
Pastor, is it all right for you? You better do it. You got to
meet the King of Kings one day. You need some help structuring
it. We'll help you. But you better move out in obedience. We're
not sitting here talking for nothing. You guys understand
what I'm getting at? So, that they which have believed
in God might be careful to maintain, maintain good works. These things
are good and profitable unto what? Good and profitable. Awesome. Why do we do good works?
Because they are good and profitable to men. There's your theology
there. There it is there. Here's your
impetus. Here is your objective Here is
your argument for why you do good works because they are good
goodness flows from God only God is good He's intrinsically
good. Every other goodness is a derived
goodness, right? We borrow from God. That's all
we do Goodness doesn't originate in me. I borrowed from God right
and I borrowed from God in order that I might do good and And
I do good in order that men might profit from it and we're getting
ready to see the prophet here in a moment We're getting ready
to see the prophet see see see so you and I get a big picture
Scenario of what it looks like to be Christian on a very practical
level Point number two in our outline. Not only do we have
the gift and fruit of grace as the basis for good works But
Jesus said this about another woman. She wrought a good work
on me. I Do you remember that account? She wrote a good work on me that
there should have been in quotations and it's from our master. And
when you read the account of this woman who wrote a good work
on Jesus, you will be amazed at what Christ was saying about
her. So here's my second argument as to why you don't want your
faith to be merely a said faith of intellectualism. and have
absolutely no devotion proceeding from it. This woman came into
the midst of a dinner that Jesus was having at a Pharisee's house. In another account, they was
tripping because he didn't wash his hands, kind of like your
pastor. Well, see, now we know he's not a Pharisee because the
dude didn't even wash his hands, man. He had been out there rubbing
up against Gentile. The Pharisees all washed, they
took baths and put on their white clothes. Jesus sitting there
eating him and the disciples, they eating at it. Didn't wait
on them or nothing. So the Pharisees tripping. Then
on top of that, he broke protocol because, you know, we're not
godly if we don't wash our hands and pray, right? We're scared
the food gonna kill us and all that, right? You didn't pray, Jan? Yeah, I
prayed, I prayed in my heart. So Mark chapter 16, 14 verse
six, pull it up. I want you guys to see this.
Because we're going to commend the women now. So back up with
me three verses. Watch this. Verse three, 14 verse
three. Let me see if I'll start there.
If we can do this. Mark 14 verse three. You guys
can go in your Bible too. Mark 14 verse three, just so
you can see this. because I'm talking about the
importance of good works. So here's what's going on in
our account. Mark 14. I'm at verse three and being
in Bethany in the house of Simon, the leper, as he said at me,
there came a woman having an alabaster box of spikenard, very
precious, and she broke the box and poured it on his head. And
there was some. that had absolute indignation
within themselves. They said, why was this waste
of ointment made? Do you see how skewed a person's
perspective can be? So right there, if we lift up
that interrogative question, we would be able to analyze how
people can, by virtue of their prejudice, by virtue of their
ignorance, by virtue of their false presuppositions, by virtue
of their assumptions, misinterpret your motives and what you're
doing. So now follow this again. When
you and I decide between us and God alone to do a good work with
the objective of Christ being glorified, because that's the
only way it's good, Right? You stand the chance of somebody
always misinterpreting it and speaking blasphemously and negatively
about you. You got that? I want you to understand
that's the cost. Watch this now. That's the cost
of your serving Jesus Christ. You have to accept that as part
of the price. You and I get ready to learn
some lessons when we go back, because see, one of the things
I learned about Simon, Simon did a lot of talking when he
was running with Jesus. Ain't no doubt about that. He
was the one always running off at the mouth. But there are some
brothers, and I know I talk a lot too, there are some brothers
who actually can do two things at once. You know what that is? We can talk and we can hear at
the same time. Some of us can't do that. Now
there's others of us who hear acutely because we keep our mouth
shut. So you got two different types
of people. You're in, you know, you're, you're people that are
extroverts and you're introverts, right? John hardly ever talked
throughout the gospel. Once Jesus rose from the dead,
he said, the Holy ghost, John started talking all over the
place. He wrote the book of revelation, talking all over the place. But
during the time of Christ's earthly excursion, Very few people talk
besides James, John and Peter. And Peter was the prominent talker,
wasn't he? But if you pay attention to Peter, post resurrection and
ascension, watch this. He was listening all along. He was paying attention all along. What are you saying? When the
scripture says in the Holy Ghost, which shall be given to you,
shall bring you into remembrance those things which I shared,
you. He's not bringing you into remembering
stuff that's not there. So you don't read your Bible,
the Holy Ghost ain't gonna give you verses you not read. You
can think he will but he won't. Holy Ghost bring that verse up
that I never read. He ain't gonna never bring a
verse up you never read. He's never gonna bring a verse up
you never read. Are you hearing me? He's never gonna bring a
verse up that you never read. His goal is to bring up things
that were already given to you in order to magnify those things
and give them an efficacious application so that you know
it was the Holy Ghost that did it. out of the obedience of faith,
studying the word of God, reading the word of God, imbibing the
word of God, hiding the word of God in our heart, drinking
in the word of God so that we are richly filled with the knowledge
of God's word. Now the spirit of God can take
what's in us and pour it out. Am I making some sense? Peter
learned a lot. Peter learned a lot. And this
lady and her boldness breaks into a men's meeting out of all
places. And she anoints the master in
their presence. I would argue that she was moved
by the Spirit of God. I would say that she was moved by the
Spirit of God because it was a major object lesson that had to take
place. Simon the leper invited Jesus to his house, but he didn't
even wash Jesus' feet. Are you hearing me? See, Jesus
is going to admonish him about that in a minute. Hey, dude,
you invited me here, but I mean, you treated me like one of the
common cats. And that's how people are with Jesus, too. So what
our master is doing is demonstrating that just because y'all invited
me in, listen, I'm not like, I'm not like one of you guys.
I'm not your colleague. I'm not your ministerial partner.
That's how they were treating him. But this woman knew him
for who he was and she demonstrated it publicly to their shame. Are you guys hearing me now?
Watch this. Why was this waste made of the
army? And we could argue because we have an elliptical statement
here. The disciples were there too. And Judas Iscariot was definitely
one who was blinded and darkened and ignorant and corrupted in
heart. It could have been him who said
that because he was the one who had the money bag. He looked
at all of that precious garment that this woman is dumping on
the Lord Jesus. And man, I could have made a bunch of money off
of that. He he in the business. Verse five. Watch this. For it
might have been sold for more than 300 pence. Do you see that?
Man, we could have got three hundred dollars in our day. That's
like three thousand dollars. Okay, that's how much that's
how much this woman sacrificed on Christ 3,000 That just slays
every one of us in the room we're all rebuked right now when last
time you dropped 3,000 on Jesus who who Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? You read
that text all this time and you just thought she was some exquisite,
exotic sister in Christ. You know, little 5150, you know,
exotic. But the question is, will you
in your lifetime, in your lifetime, at one moment drop on Christ
three Gs? Isn't that amazing? See, they
completely underestimated that sister, didn't they? Now watch
what he says in defense of her. Like he knew her. The master
knew her and she knew him. She knew the master so well that
she broke protocol. Where he at? He at Simon House? I'm on my way. Girl, you better
not go. You better not come. If you don't
have faith, you better not come. I'm going. I love him. This might
be my last shot at it. Oh, verse six. Sorry. Yeah, verse six. And no,
it's my verse six. Go back to verse five. Let me
see some. OK, now watch for it might have been so for more than
300 pence and have been given to the poor. There you go. Good
religious works. Nothing wrong with that. But if you give to the poor and
don't give to Christ first, it's no longer good works. Jesus is going to teach that.
See, he's going to argue that her priorities were right. He's
going to argue that her priorities were absolutely right. See what
I'm getting at? Watch this now. And they murmured
against her. In other words, the word murmured
there means that that was the constant conversation all during
the time she was there. So here comes the advocate because
Jesus is the advocate of all such people Go to verse 6 and
Jesus said leave her alone Isn't that good? Isn't that good? Now literally in the original
it's a word that means you are laying a burden on her you are
causing her to toil and You are obstructing her free Volitional
desire and unpeded worship of god You are putting stumbling
blocks in her way You are making it hard for her to do her job
Let her alone watch this why are you troubling her? Do you
guys see that they were troubling her they were troubling so her
worship of christ was mixed with trouble. What a lesson. What a lesson. Well, see, the closer you draw
to Christ, the more the devil is going to put snares and gins
and traps down to get you anyway. Because he understands that the
man or the woman who has their priorities right and that is
to get to Jesus, to get to Jesus is to get to the prize. And his
job is to either stop you from getting there, or stay with me
now, not only stop you from getting there, watch this now, or once
you get there, stop you from doing what you're doing. Once
you get there. And this goes to show the grace
of God that was on this woman to keep her focused. Was this
sister focused? Focused. Focused. He said, why are you
troubling her? She hath wrought a good work. Watch this now. Oh me. The object
of her good work was the master. The master defends her, he advocates
for her, and he affirms her. That's a good husband, isn't
it? This woman got a good husband, doesn't she? This man has a good
wife, doesn't he? We can carry this over to the
marriage class. Can we carry this over? You can tell your
girl to go out and spend $3,000 on some oil for you tonight.
And just lay it on you. Go tell Barb, too. It's awesome! This is the love
of God in her heart. This is the love of God in Christ
towards her. He's defending her motive and her method and her
manners in the midst of all of these religious hooksters. And
what is she doing? A good work. What's her reward? Verse 7. Watch verse 7. Watch
this. For you have the poor with you.
What? What did he just do? He just
demolished the argument of that superficial complaint that you
could get us to the poor. And that what he just did. He
demolished. He said, your argument is not valid in this case. In this case, your argument is
not valid. In fact, your argument is a stumbling block because
watch this. You always will have poor people
with you. This gives us insight into the
economy of God in the world. You know what that means, ladies
and gentlemen? There will never be a day until Christ comes to start
this thing all over again, where you and I won't have poor people
with whom we can do good. There will never be a day where
we can look around and say, you know, ain't nobody poor that
need anything. I'll just keep it all to myself
and just enjoy my life. There will never be a day where
we cannot have an opportunity to do good to some poor person.
And in God's economy, watch this now, in God's economy, there
are going to be people around us who will not have as much
as us. That's just true. Here's the other truth we can
derive from that. Can I keep making application? Your situation
may be difficult, but there's going to always be someone who
has it worse than you. You know how we love complaining
about not having enough? Most of that lying on ourselves.
We're just lying to God. We lying to God. There's always
someone to whom you could do something who is in a more desperate
situation than you. Is that true? So Jesus defends
her by saying, you will always have an opportunity. Now watch
this. And when so ever you will, whenever you will, since you're
talking about doing good to the poor, he really questioned whether
or not they would do it. Cause you know, you have a lot
of people talking about just give to the poor. Here we go. When
the last time you wrote a check to the poor, when the last time
you gave to the poor, the spirit of God is cutting, isn't he?
You see how we end up being so pharisaical and self-righteous
and how the water of grace stops in this little pond and never
flows out into the oceans of humanity. Now he's saying that
you can always have that opportunity. Watch this. And whenever you
will, you may do them what? called good works if your motive
is right if it's done for Christ's sake it's good but watch this
but me you're not gonna always have that's amazing that lady
understood something that they didn't understand next verse
watch this verse 8 she had done what she could so now Do you
understand what that statement says? She has determined to do
something for the glory of God. The object of her efforts are
going to be the Lord Jesus Christ. Now she finalizes this determination
by doing what she could. And what she could was all that
she could do. You know what that means? Whatsoever
you do, Do it with all your might. Do it mightily as unto the Lord. Whenever you do something for
the Lord, you do it with all your might. You guys follow that
logic? What she did, she did what she
could. $3,000 of ointment executed at one sitting with Jesus. Did
she not estimate that Jesus was worth it? Did she? See I'm trying
to I'm trying to make sure that we don't that you and I don't
shut it down Get it. Now. You're not have to ask the
question every day. Is Christ worth it? Every day
we have asked that question because you know the things That you
spend $100 on Or a thousand or three, you know the things you
spend it on and the question is Do we ever? have a situation where Christ
is made to be estimable in our own sight, worthy enough to do
something so extravagant. Because this is extravagant. Is it not? Extravagant. I mean, 2,000 years later, $3,000
is still a bunch of money to this preacher. You understand
that? 3G! She had done what she could.
She has come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. Crazy! Crazy! The Spirit of God must have had
this woman following Jesus Everywhere he went Listening
to every word that came out of his mouth She was one of his
disciples Are you guys hearing me? And she listened as he preached
the gospel and he told his disciples the son of man is going to Jerusalem
and I'm gonna be delivered into the hands of sinners and They
are going to kill me She heard it and she deduced from that. Well, I ain't going to have him
long. In a minute, things are going to change permanently between
me and him. The blessing of me being able
to be in his presence and see his face and hear his voice and
in proximity to all that he's doing is a one time shot for
me. What can I do before this dispensation changes between
me and him? See what I'm getting at? Because
there's a day coming. Watch this. There's a day coming
when it won't do any good. No matter how much the ointment
cost, his body will not need it because he will have been
exalted and glorified and the nature of the glory of his body
will so outshine any price that we could pay in a temporal dimension
to, as it were, adorn him. that it would be an act of folly.
That lady's theology was deep. You know what she said? Now is
the time to do it. And she went out and gathered
it all together, all her resources, got one little bottle, said,
I'm going to be the one to anoint him. I'm going to let him know
I believe he's the Messiah. I believe that his death is my
death. His burial is my burial. His
resurrection is my resurrection. I believe in the bodily resurrection
of Christ. Now, I'm actually sharing this
with you as a segue back to our text. I haven't forgot we're
talking about Sister Dorcas. What I'm talking about as an
overall rubric are good works that are rooted in faith, that's
based in grace, that has its origins in God, wherein God hath
ordained from the foundation of the world. Am I making some
sense? Am I making some sense? So go with me back to our text
now, and let's work this through. I got about five minutes. I'll
play with this a little bit more, and then we'll pick this up next
week. The gift and fruit of grace, she wrought a good work on me,
and she was a blessing to the what? Her sister was a blessing
to the widows. This is huge. It's huge. I'm gonna ride this out for a
moment. I can say this. I can say Dorcas,
was Christ's mediator between him and those people. I can say
that Dorcas was the revelation of Christ to those poor, desolate
women when everybody else had rejected them. I can say that
Dorcas sent her as an apostle, a pre-apostle to the apostles. I can say that Dorcas was so
filled with the spirit of God and committed to biblical principles,
which remember Jesus has said in Mark 14, the poor, you will
have what you always. And when we talk about the poor,
you know what we're talking about? We're talking about orphans.
We're talking about widows. We're talking about fatherless.
We're talking about the abject desolate. Are you hearing me?
The people whom the common society would not frequent with. This
sister is a disciple of Christ. Got it? Isn't that what the text
said? And Dorcas was his disciple?
Isn't that what the text says? And Dorcas was his disciple. So this is what I taught us in
evangelism class. I said, you can't evangelize
anyone. You can't win anyone to Christ until you become a
disciple. You can't win anybody to Christ
until you become a disciple. And the reason why you won't
evangelize is because you're not a disciple. Only disciples evangelize. Did
you guys get that? Only disciples evangelize. Because
a disciple now has committed his life or her life to becoming
a platform and a precursor to evangelism by their good words. That's what a disciple is. A
disciple understands they don't save anyone, but they become
a facilitator to the salvation process. By the good works that
they do, she laid out a platform for what's about to take place.
This sister's good works to the widow and the fatherless, of
which God said in the Psalms, I will be a father to the fatherless.
I'll be a father to the orphans. How will God do that? Through
Dorcas, through disciples. This woman here is now a bridge,
now watch this, to a direct direct presentation of the apostle himself So in other words God shined
on her good works Didn't he? so much so that he says I'm gonna
recompense these labors by the very presence of my servant who
is so full of the Holy Ghost That he's raising people from
the dead Just crazy crazy crazy though the implications so the
gift of fruit of grace. She wrote a good work on me She
was a blessing to the widows James chapter 1 verse 27 Deuteronomy
10 18 and 19 Isaiah 1 23 through 15 is God constantly told Israel
Israel. Oh I want you to hear this. This
is going to be Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 18 and 19. Don't go
there. Leave it there. I just I want to talk this through.
Here's what God said to his people when he brought them out of Egyptian
bondage. Watch this now. He says, now I brought you out
of the house of bondage. I brought you out. You were a
slave. In another man's country. Are
you guys following? And you were a stranger. another
nation and you knew you were strangers and you felt like strangers
and on top of strangers you were slaves that means they treated
you bad they treated you real bad and I brought you out with
an outstretched hand and a mighty arm I showed out when I showed
up I tore it all up I destroyed it I laid it low and you walked
out with your head high remember that You walked out with your
head high. You weren't slouched over as
slaves. I could talk about that when they went in They went in
free but in their own voluntary idolatry they became slaves But
when God brought them out, he didn't bring them out as slaves
in some kind of humbled demeaning non-human state He broke the
chains of bondage. He told them to stand up straight
according to Leviticus. They walked out with their head
high that's what the scripture says in the dignity of the image
of God and Because their god had delivered them from idolatry
and brought them back to a state of dignity. They walked out free
Through the miraculous power of the red sea opening up and
they walked out rich Woo, that's cold I know see you americans
like that part. They walked out free and walked
out rich Remember what they did a couple days before time leave
they went to all their egyptian buddies said man You got any
gold any silver I can borrow for a minute Now Pharaoh had
put a hit out on him. He's going to kill them all.
But God had another thing coming, didn't he? We just want to borrow
this. They went out with so much gold and silver. See, what had
happened was those Egyptians had got tired of God tearing
up everything. You can have it all. They went
out with tons of gold and silver, turned it into that golden calf
that tore up a bunch of people. But what God was saying is when
I bring you out, I bring you out in the context of freedom.
I bring you out in the context of dignity. I bring you out in
the context of wealth. When I bring you out, I don't
bring you out in poverty. I bring you out in wealth. I
bring you out in order that you might be a blessing to other
people. But when I bring you out, I'm
going to have to teach you. Remember the wilderness is about
being taught. God had to teach them to depend
upon him and instruct him. And one of the things he told
them in the wilderness was this, Don't you ever neglect the stranger
and the foreigner. He says, because you were a stranger
and a foreigner when you were in Egypt. Are you ready for this? And because the Lord loves the
stranger and the foreigner. See what he had did he had placed
an ethic in them to tell them don't ever forget the hole from
which you were dug and the pit from which you were hewn. Don't
ever act like you hadn't been there. Don't forget those people.
Don't forget because I'm getting ready to turn you around. This
is going to be a U-turn. You're going right back to where they are.
Are you hearing me? You're going right back to where
they are and let them know you've been there, done that. Am I making
some sense? That's when you're disciples.
That's when you're a disciple. You know what's amazing? I'm
gonna stop it right here. This is where you and I gotta fight to
divest ourselves of hypocritical false religion. Because false
religion will keep you and I mortified in nothing. Am I making some
sense? Okay. You know what amazes me
about the Son of God? Now watch this. This is what
amazes me about the Son of God. This man lived, did ministry,
died and rose again, runs the universe right now. The most
famous name in all the world is the name of our master. Are
you guys hearing me? He's got billions of believers
all over planet earth and has had millions up to this point.
Watch this. Are you ready? Cal Day. All his ministry was,
was in the hood. He never left the hood. He lived
Mac and die in the hood. You got it, Jan. He didn't go
to Europe. Didn't go to Italy. Didn't go
to Corinth. Didn't go to Turkey. Didn't go
to Asia. His mom and daddy took him down to Egypt a while. He
never went to India, for those of you in the pseudepigraphers.
Never went to India. He didn't get taught how to levitate
by the Indians. Him and Mary Magdalene didn't
go on a liaison. Here's what I'm getting at he
doesn't mean for us To after we get saved jump on a plane
and go 5,000 miles away to reach people with the gospel They're
all right here Let's pray father. Thank you for this time. Thank
you for my brothers and sisters. Thank you for that word bless
our labors and gatherings tomorrow night as we look into the Enormous
blessing of marriage and bless our hearts on Sunday as we once
again come together around your table Oh God, thank you for this
time. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. God bless you