Book of Luke - Ch. 8, Vs. 16-39 (06/08/2003)

Park Meadows Church

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R .I. 816. No man, when he hath lighted a candle, cover it with a vessel, or put it under a bed, but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light.

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That which every man has received, that which every man has received in private, he ought to bestow to the use and profit of all men, for nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest, neither anything hid, that shall not be known, and come abroad.

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That which you are taught by the Holy Spirit, you shall teach publicly.

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Nothing is given to us for us alone. Well, I've got to wait until they come in or quiet down.

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All right. Whatever Jesus, through His Holy Spirit, teaches you, you shall teach publicly, and you shall illustrate and explain every parable now delivered to the people.

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That's what we've been doing. R .I. 818. Take heed, therefore, how you hear.

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How do you go about hearing? Clarence, what state of mind must you be in?

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R .I. 818.

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Take heed, therefore, how you hear. For whosoever hath to him shall be given, and whosoever hath not from him shall be taken, even that which he seemeth to have.

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If you know a little bit of truth, but Charlotte, you want to know more, the

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Lord will see to it that you do know more. But, if you do not want to know any more,

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He protects that right also. We're held responsible to the degree only that light has been given to us.

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What's that mean, David? That's right.

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To seem to have a thing is only to have it in appearance, if you just seem to have it, and not in reality.

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But, what is possessed in appearance only can only be taken away in appearance.

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Therefore, on one side we gain, and on the other we lose.

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R .I. 819. Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come to him for the press.

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And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to see thee.

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Now, it would appear that he would stop everything and go see what was going on, but he answered them like this and said unto them,

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My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word, hear the word of God and do it.

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Well, none are so near to Jesus Christ as those who hear the word of God and do it.

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Do you? He knows that if he makes more of his mother than this, the church will worship her as the

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Catholics do. Now it came to pass on a certain day that he went into a ship with his disciples.

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And he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake.

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And they launched forth. It was a simple request.

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They had a ship that was available. Now, if you observe the

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Lord's orders, you may assume, rightly so, that he'll be with you.

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Is that true, Joy? If he sends you, he goes with you.

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Is that right, David? It is expedient for us sometimes to come into extreme danger.

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It's as though Christ isn't with us, but he is.

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This has come about both to show his power and our weaknesses.

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But as they sailed, he fell asleep. Well, that's unusual. I didn't think Christ ever had to sleep.

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Yes. Jesus, the man, fell asleep. He was subject to all things of man.

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He fell asleep and there came down a storm of wind on the lake and they were filled with water and were in jeopardy.

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Did Jesus know this storm? Did Christ know this storm was coming? Yes. But he went to sleep.

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Jesus fell asleep and it appears that he was very fast asleep. Of course, they had to call him twice before they awoke him.

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The tossing ship has been accepted in all of history as the perils of the church.

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They came to him and awoke him saying, Master, Master, we perish.

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Then he arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water and they ceased and there was a calm.

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Because you do not use the grace which I have already given you. Many are looking for more faith without using that which they have.

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And he said unto them, where is your faith?

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Where is your faith? As though they had misplaced it. Russell, is it possible to misplace faith?

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Well, he asked, where is it? Well, they wondered.

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It amazed them that this man calmed the tossing ship.

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And they being afraid saying one to another, what manner of man is this?

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For he commandeth even the winds and water and they obeyed. Now, Virgil, what state was their boat in?

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Jefferson. Exactly.

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And the storm stopped, but he did not help them bail the boat out.

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Now, why did not he? Virgil? He did not help them bail out the boat.

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I guess that is probably a lesson they need to learn on their own. They could do it. 26 and they arrived at the country of the

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Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. Do you know anything about the

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Gadarenes, David? Well, we go from a storm at sea to a storm in a man's heart.

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The man with Jesus did not. And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devil's long time, and wear no clothes, neither a boat in any house, but in the tombs.

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Clarence, why did he dwell among the tombs, do you suppose? Do you know there are people today that do not believe in spirits or demons or angels or anything?

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Well, it is difficult for me to explain what is taking place in our world without believing or the existence of demons.

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Some things we find out about demons is that they are always destructive in place of any demon.

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It is just their nature. This man was degraded, debased, and had no will of his own.

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He was in the possession of demons. Russell, how does a man get that way?

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Beware of the small sins that may open the door to the heart for an entrance to a whole legion of demons.

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28. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said,

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What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God, most high?

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I beseech thee, torment me not. Now, who is speaking, the man or the demons?

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The demons. They had taken over this man.

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It is almost strange that the insane recognize Jesus immediately.

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Well, the normal ones do not.

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That is right. And they recognize the

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Son of God. Well, I wonder if it is because they are more spiritual than us.

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And if we are not walking in the spirit, or is it the spirit speaking through them?

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Was it the spirit speaking here, in this case? Yes. Yes, it was the spirit that possessed him.

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The man could not even speak for himself. The demons had control.

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For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him, and it was kept bound within chains and in fetters.

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He was kept bound in chains and fetters, and he broke the bands and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.

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Virge, why is it that an insane man sometimes has tremendous strength?

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So, I would say, based on that, that we have more strength than we say we do, or realize we do, or exhibit.

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Is sin contagious, David? All right, let me ask you this question.

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Is salvation contagious? I want to hear

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David's answer. Yeah, you can catch it with the Holy Spirit. No.

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So, there is no bad sin. No, amen.

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We say that sin is, but if the

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Holy Spirit is in us, then we're going to resist that sin, right?

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So therefore, it wouldn't be contagious, would it? In reality, the true us does not sin.

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Salvation is not contagious. Sin is on a human level.

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Jesus asked him, saying, what is thy name? Now, Bob, was he asking the man, or was he still speaking to the demons?

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And he said, legion. Didn't give the man time to answer.

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In fact, I doubt if the man could answer. Legions, because many devils were entered into him, and they besought him that he would not command them to go into the deep.

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David, what is the deep here? Into that abyss, or bottomless pit, was a proper abode of demons.

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It's mentioned nine times in Scripture. And there was there a herd of many swine, pigs, hogs, feeding on the mountain.

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And they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them, and he suffered them.

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Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine, and the herd ran violently down a steep slope into the lake, and were choked to death.

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They drowned. Russell, what does that tell you about the man and the hog?

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Well, I guess you could call him a man. Well, we learn from this that the demons evidently did not intend to destroy the swine.

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Their desire to have live bodies to dwell in shows that they did not. But the presence of the demons in their bodies made the hogs go crazy.

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The man was crazy. The hogs were crazy. And they ran whichever way their nose was pointed at the moment.

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When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled and went and told it to the city and in the country.

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Now, who is it that can deliver from Satan?

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By the way, is Satan at war with God?

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Bob. Yes, he is. Virgil.

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Well, Bob, this is your last visit until you return home.

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Get this one straight before I leave. Satan is not at war with God.

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He is at war against God. But we need to learn to express it correctly.

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God created Satan, and he has control. He is sovereign.

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Then they went out to see what was done and came to Jesus and found the man out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.

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David, what were they afraid of? The way they did.

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They also, which saw it, told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed.

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Those who regard the possession and security of property more than the presence and favor of Christ deprive themselves of inestimable blessings.

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And never without a great change can they be prepared for or become partakers of the bliss of heaven.

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Then the whole multitude of the country, of the Gadarenes round about, besought him to depart from them, for they were taken with great fear.

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And he went up unto the ship and returned back. The devil is not able, with all of his might and with all of his malice, to hurt even the hogs without God's permission.

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He knew the outcome if he stayed. He knew there would be nothing there.

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Now the man out of whom the devils were departed, besought him that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away saying,

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Now, we have the man. Can't you just imagine this man? He's been possessed for so long, and he's in his right mind.

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He's got himself back, and he wants to stay with Jesus. Russell, that seemingly would be the normal outcome, but why do you suppose he was wanting to stay with Jesus?

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When you were a child, any of you, a small child, old enough to watch television, and you go to bed, and you have a very frightening dream, and you suddenly wake up and cling to your mother or father.

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Have you ever been down that road? As a child, you cling to that which gives you hope.

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This man was afraid. That's right.

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Well, Jesus tells him, And return to thine own house, and show how great things

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God has done unto thee. And he went his way and published throughout the whole city how great things

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Jesus had done unto him. Now, I want to stop there, because next

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Sunday, David, I want to go back over this and look at it in more detail.

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Faith. I mean, he was not saved because he didn't have faith.

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Can you have faith without salvation? I think it symbolizes that he was saved, and God had a mission for him.

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His mission was to go back and proclaim to his people what a wonderful thing

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God had done. He wasn't just to sit on the sidelines and borrow actions from Christ, but he was to go back and deliver faith.

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James says that you can have faith and not still be saved, because it's not a savior's faith.

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It's that even the demons have to believe there is a God. They just don't believe.

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They don't want to do one thing that's required. That's not the message I'm talking about. Hebrews 10, verse 39, where he says,

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If any man falls back, I will have the position that I had in faith.

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We were talking about that back in the day, in that verse. So in this interim period in which

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Jesus is not saved, will he eventually come back full of gospel, be baptized by the

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Spirit, or how does that work? Well, I don't want to get into a long discussion, but if under the

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Old Testament, was Moses saved? If Moses was saved, whether he was saved and dwelt, he didn't have the

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Holy Spirit dwell in him, because no one had the Holy Spirit dwell in them.

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All right. All of the Old Testament saints were saved.

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We were saved, and it all culminates in the cross. There is an inner time in there, which the book of Acts covers, and we have to look at that as separate.

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So either you are under the Old, or you are under the

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New, and the time in between, you are, well, everybody is saved when

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Christ dies and resurrects. That's the best I can do. Well, you're saying it's one group.

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They're saved in the same way, in the sense that they weren't saved until Jesus died.

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That's right. Whether they were covered, or it was faith, they believed in that system that God gave them.

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Yes, yes. And then after the cross, especially after Pentecost, you were saved at the baptism of the

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Holy Spirit, back at the cross. Yes. And if I understand

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Russell's question, it's an interesting question, because he's saying what happened with the group.

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There's only one generation that could have been saved under Moses, and then seen

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Christ, and still be alive after Pentecost. His question is what happens to them.

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There are examples of some people who, the

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Jesus disciples, and they said, have you, have you looked at them, laid hands on them, and they were, did that happen to this man?

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And did all the people that got saved before Pentecost, don't you think they would have been instructed more evangelistically in the past, and then be filled with the

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Holy Spirit? So they were saved under both, they're saved under both.

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That's why it's an interesting question. We know that there are those that were not saved, or they were saved, but not saved.

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The Holy Spirit had not come yet, and when they were made aware of it, he came.

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Now that doesn't happen today. Well weren't they, they were saved, I would guess they were saved, because they were not filled with the

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Holy Spirit. Yes. They, at Pentecost, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, first the disciples, and the 70 that were enrolled.

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But also it talks about later, the Gentiles, who had received

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Christ, they were saved, but did not receive the hands on them, and they blessed them, they were filled.

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Now you have some of the groups like Charismatics, even today, believe there is a period of salvation, and then there's a period of filling with the

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Holy Spirit. But the Bible teaches that there's only during that transition period of time, that up to Pentecost, you were saved, and then received the

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Holy Spirit. After Pentecost, you're saved, and the Holy Spirit... ...expresses

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a full life to Jesus.

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That's good. Because Jesus' mission was to warn the possessed animals,

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I think it went into him to kill them, to get rid of the demons. Because if you think about it, what other possessed animal was it that walked with him, that was it?

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So it destroyed him.

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And then they wouldn't focus on that case either. Alright.

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Let's call it quits. I urge you to dismiss us, please.

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Father, I thank you for this day. Today is a glorious day.

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I thank you for the

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Lord's kingdom and blessings. Paul is getting ready, he has been for some time, to go to Jerusalem.

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Let me ask you, which is the stronger, spiritual affection or natural affection?

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Alright. Paul is having to literally tear himself away from the people.

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But let's see in today's lesson, chapter 21, verse 1.

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And then it came to pass, that after we were gotten from them, the elders, and had lost, we came with a straight course to Cusi, and the day following unto

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Rhodes, and from thence to Patra. Who knows what

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Rhodes was famous for? We're in Acts 21.

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Dennis, do you know what Rhodes was famous for? No, I don't. Well, evidently they were not very famous.

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One of the seven wonders of the world was built there. Now, do you have a key?

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It's obvious you don't know, and I wouldn't have either. It was principally distinguished for the brazen

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Colossus. Colossus. Colossus.

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No, we're going to find out. Which was built by Charles of Lindis.

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It stood across the mouth of the harbor and was so high that vessels could pass between its legs.

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Stood 56 years and was thrown down by an earthquake. One of the seven wonders of the world, if you can imagine.

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This was a giant man that stood across the harbor. Two, in finding a ship sailing over into Phoenicia, we went aboard and set forth.

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Now, when we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand and sailed into Syria and landed at Tyre.

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And there the ship was to unladen her burden. Now, in what way do clouds resemble a

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Christian? We've seen several clouds recently.

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How do they act like a Christian, Dennis? All right, there.

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That's one thing. What else? All right, what else?

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All right, who said that? All right. The providence of God is demonstrated in governing the motions of the clouds.

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I suppose you thought they were just blown here and there with no rhyme or reason.

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Now, we have discovered a few laws that we can predict to a certain degree.

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But this is just as it is in ordering the spirits and motions of his ministers.

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And we're all ministers. The motion of the clouds is not spontaneous and from themselves.

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But they move as they are moved by the wind. And neither can the ministers of Christ choose their own stations and govern their own motions.

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But must go when and wherever the spirit of providence of God directs all.

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As evidently appears in Paul's present journey. Though the journey was full of dangers, yet his spirit was fully bent and set upon it.

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He said, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem. I have no other choice.

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In reality, none of us have any other choice except that we do.

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Now, finding disciples, we tarried there seven days who said to Paul through the spirit that he should not go to Jerusalem.

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Now we're going to get lots of opposition for Paul to not go to Jerusalem.

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They foretold through the spirit what dangers were about to befall him.

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And this they did as prophets, but they misdirected him away from Jerusalem because of fleshly affection.

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When you have been instructed, Dennis, by the

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Holy Spirit to do or to say a certain thing. Will the spirit instruct you to not do it through someone else?

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The spirit instructs you to do it. Say that again.

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Alright, when you have been instructed by the Holy Spirit to do a certain thing or to say a certain thing.