Revive Us Again | Part 5 | Acts 5

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November 26, 2023 Covenant Reformed Baptist Church Tullahoma, TN Pastor Jeff Rice

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If you will at this time, please take your copy of the scriptures and turn with me to Acts chapter 5, which you should be already there unless you closed your
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Bible. The old habit of telling people where to turn, right?
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Acts chapter 5, we're going to be considering verses 12 through 42.
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Acts chapter 5, verses 12 through 42, and this is the fifth message in the book of Acts.
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Let me pray. Oh God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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Lord, I come to you as I do every time before I'm about to attempt to explain your word.
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I ask that you give your people clarity to the words that I speak.
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What I pray that I've done my due diligence. And most of all,
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I pray, Lord, that you fill me with your spirit to speak these words with confidence, knowing that you have worked through my study.
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Lord, use me this day to speak to your people the magnificent works that we see being done at the hands of the apostles and help us to take from this the application that we too have the same
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Holy Spirit and that we too should be out proclaiming this magnificent work in Jesus' name, amen.
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All right, so our overarching theme for this book is Revive Us Again.
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And listen, when I tell you it has been extremely, extremely hard to preach a chapter each week.
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Right? So much of what we've been through so far, this would have been months.
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Of study, months of exposition, right?
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But since we have been in that exposition of John and we decided to take a short break to go through the gospel presentations and to look at revival and just focusing on that, knowing that there's so much here that I cannot touch.
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It's hard. And listen, if I come across something and you want to know more about it, please talk to me because I'm dying to tell people about it.
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And there's just so much that I'm unable to get here because if I talk about everything, we'll be two or three years in the book of Acts and then we'll take a break from the book of Acts to go do something short and then finish it and go back to the book of John.
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Right? And so trying to go through this has been very difficult. So please pray for those
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Mondays through Thursdays as I'm studying the text and the layout of the text and what to present and what not to present.
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I would really appreciate those prayers. But we want to know what is revival, right?
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If revival was to come, well, what does it look like? And I just believe that we can just go through the book of Acts and see that.
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And to be honest, we could do this study of the whole Bible and see revival.
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It takes place and then what happens when it takes place and you see the persecution upon God's people.
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Revival is the one thing that the church needs, but Christians do not want. Let me say that again.
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Revival is the one thing that the church needs, but Christians do not want. We talk about how it would be great for revival if God's hand would fall upon the church and to bring about revival.
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But we are unwilling to take part in revival. We're unwilling to do the necessary deeds that have to occur for revival to take place.
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Christians say they want revival, but in truth, they want the idea of revival and not true revival.
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Jesus finished the work of salvation and he calls his followers to be the means by which through the gospel man receives salvation.
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He's finished the work on the cross. He said it is finished. Tell us, it is finished.
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The work of salvation is finished. But if you understand the covenant of redemption, how
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God purposed to save a people and in time Christ comes to accomplish that purpose through his life, his death, his burial, his resurrection and his ascension and how he's finished that work.
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There's another part of that that takes place and it's through the Holy Spirit. So the purpose of the father was to save a people and the purpose of the son was to accomplish the purpose and the purpose of the
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Holy Spirit is to apply the purpose. And the Holy Spirit applies the purpose through the preaching and teaching of the gospel.
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Well, who does that? I wonder if there's a vessel that the
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Holy Spirit feels in order to accomplish this purpose. It's you and me.
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It's Christians. It's Christians. We are to accomplish the purpose with the help of the
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Holy Spirit. And that's what we see taking place in the book of Acts. That's what we see taking place in the book of Acts.
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And that's why we're focusing on this theme overarching theme of revive us again.
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We want God to fall upon us and to give us this power, this bonus to go out into the world and to proclaim
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Jesus Christ. Listen to me. If that does not happen, listen to me.
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If that does not happen, something is wrong. And there's going to be many Christians appearing before the throne room of God and they're not going to have an answer to why they did not accomplish the purpose.
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I feel that preachers have failed in this point. They're afraid to challenge the members to go and do what the
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Bible says for fear that they'll walk out the building. Let me tell you what
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I'm afraid of and what I fear. I fear standing before God on that last day and not challenging you to go out and be a witness for Jesus Christ.
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Hebrews tells us that I'm in charge of the shepherding of your souls. I'm going to have to give an account for you and for what you do.
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And from what I tell you from this pulpit, I'm going to have to be accountable for that.
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So you might walk out of here because of some challenge that I gave you, but I will not have that blood on my hand.
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I will be free of that disobedience. Again, I do not want persecution, but I do not not want persecution.
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I want to be faithful. Revival is when
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God's people obey God by doing what God has told them to do.
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What did he tell us to do? Go and make disciples.
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This is done through evangelism. I wished it was easy enough to just have a church sign for unbelievers to walk in and hear the word.
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Oh, how great that would be. But that's not the case.
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That is not the case. Jesus is the one who gave to his disciples as well as you and I are marching orders.
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We are to make disciples. Making disciples begins with preaching the gospel.
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Those that receive Christ by repentance and faith are to be baptized, added to the church and taught.
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This teaching process that we see here is what's done in the church. This gathering is for disciples.
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We're not to make our worship service pleasing to outsiders.
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This right here is sacred and holy. Unbelievers don't want sacred and holy.
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Believers want sacred and holy. So I don't expect unbelievers to come in here and want what we have to give.
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So we have to go out there and give what they don't know they want, what they need.
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Make sense? Let me read that again.
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Those that receive Christ by repentance and faith are to be baptized, added to the church and taught.
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That is the clear order laid out in scripture. Repentance, faith, baptism.
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Those that have repented, put their faith in Christ. They're baptized.
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They're part of the church. And as the church, we teach them. We help them to grow and to develop in their
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Christian walk. So many Christians are focused on what's called
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Christian nationalism, that they miss the forest from the trees.
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Give you a little illustration story time, right? Again, I asked my wife.
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She says, sure, it's appropriate. The story is about a poopy diaper.
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How many parents we got in here, right? Me and Haps last week were talking, and this is where this story came up.
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Would you imagine having a kid, newborn, an infant, and this infant has pooped.
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And you know it, right? There ain't no not knowing it. You have this infant, the infant is pooped.
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But you're so focused on planning for this child's future. You're so focused talking about what grade school they're going to go to or what college they're going to go to, what vehicle you think is going to be out when they're of age so you can purchase it for them, right?
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You're so focused planning their future, a future that they might not even go to when all the baby needs in that very moment is its diaper changed.
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We can get like that in life. And that's what I believe is taking place in Christian Christendom right now, is we're so busy looking so far out into the future, and we're unwilling to see the need that's before us right now.
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Parents are too busy focusing on their baby's future when in the moment, what needs to happen is one of them needs to change the diaper.
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We have all this talk about Christian nationalism. Listen, it doesn't matter what you believe about it. The present need is for Christians to leave the pew, to hit the streets, and preach the gospel.
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If that doesn't happen, there is no Christian nationalism. There's no revival. There is nothing coming to us.
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There's nothing. This world will not be Christianized. Your neighbors are going to die, and they're going to go to hell.
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Sorry, it's just the way that it is. And listen, it does not matter your eschatological position.
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In order for our nation to be Christianized, Christians must be
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God's witness in the public square. Our nation needs godly leaders.
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Yes, I agree 100 percent. But what our nation needs right now is for Christians to make disciples.
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Our theme for this Lord's Day is obedience. You and I as Christians are called to live in obedience to Jesus Christ.
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Galatians 2 .20 says this, I have been crucified with Christ.
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And it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life which
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I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.
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He says, I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer
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I who lives. I live in Christ. I'm in Christ.
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This isn't me. The old me has died. I am a new creature, a new creation in Christ.
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Question, does Christ live in you? If so, he is your boss.
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He is your king. You are to do what he says.
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If he doesn't, if he does live in you, what is Christ doing in you through the
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Holy Spirit to further his kingdom? Again, it looks different for everyone, right?
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Some people are not called to do what I do, but listen to me, you are called to do.
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And if you're not doing, do, find something, do something.
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You say, well, that didn't fit for me. Okay, find something else. We are called to do, every one of us.
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There's no exceptions. If you're in Christ, you're called to make disciples.
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Everyone obeys someone. And Christians are called to obey the one who created everyone.
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On your way here this morning, I don't know your route, but I guarantee you, you had to stop at red lights and go at green lights, right?
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Anyone, did anyone here go at red lights and stop at green lights?
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She looks at Brad. Right, right.
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Those signs, right? The speed limit, the stop signs, the red lights.
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When you see them, you are obeying them. Everyone obeys.
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Your whole life, all you're doing is obeying. There's nothing wrong with obedience. But who is your main obedience to?
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That's the question. Are we willing to stop at red lights and go to green lights and telling
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God, no, not me? I'm gonna listen to my government, but I'm not gonna listen to you.
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Are we willing to stand before God with that kind of attitude? I'm not. When you are baptized, your baptism is a picture of your dying with Christ.
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But not only you're dying with Christ, but also you're being raised from the dead to live with Christ.
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Show me someone that says they're a Christian, but says they don't have to obey, and I'll introduce you to a false convert.
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In our outline today, we're going to see Christians stand in the face of tyranny and preach
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Christ. We're going to see the reason behind their persecution, the message, their persecution.
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So point number one, the reason behind their persecution. Point number two, the message. Point number three, their persecution.
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And as we transition back to the diaper, I'm sorry.
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When you find something good, you just gotta drag it out. Now I want you to imagine.
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I want you to imagine. I'm gonna speak for myself because I don't like changing diapers.
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All right. I got a weak stomach. Let's say Catherine goes to the store and she leaves
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Titus with me. Titus is not potty trained. And five minutes after she leaves,
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I know. I don't have to tell you how I know. You know. I know
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Titus has pooped. I checked his diaper. Yeah, it's true. The evidence pointed to reality.
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What if, not knowing how long Catherine's going to be gone, she might do what she normally does, stops at Sonic and grabs a
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Diet Coke. That could take two to 30 minutes by itself.
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Right? Hallelujah. Let's say, yeah, hallelujah. Let's say
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I say to myself, you know what? I'm just gonna pretend that I don't smell it.
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And I'm gonna let him sit in it because it's not my job. She's the woman.
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She's the mother. I got a weak stomach. I'll end up changing him and, you know, bombing on him or something, right?
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I don't wanna have to clean up two messes. Like I'm thinking of excuses, right? I'm sorry. I'm just trying to bring it, make it real.
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What kind of a father would I be to neglect my son? Not a good father.
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Not a good father. And there's been times when I've checked that diaper and I've thought about it. I mean, I should just let this one wait.
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I wouldn't be a good father. I wouldn't be a good father. I would say it's not my job.
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It's hers. Listen, so many Christians when it comes to evangelism, they say it's not my job.
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It's the pastor's. Oh, you're wrong. We're all to do the work of an evangelist.
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Every one of us. Every one of us. It's your job. Your job.
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Point number one, the reason behind their persecution. Let's look at Acts chapter five.
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We'll begin with verse 12. Now at the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were happening among the people.
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And they were all with one accord in Solomon's portico.
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But none of the rest dared to associate with them. However, the people were holding them in high esteem.
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And more than ever, believers in the Lord were added to the number, multitudes of men and women to such an extent that they even carried out, they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on coats and mats.
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So that when Peter came by, at least his shadow may fall on any of them.
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Also, the multitude of the cities in the, excuse me, the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits.
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And they were all being healed. In this paragraph,
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I believe three things are clear. First thing is miracles were taking place.
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The second, they were meeting publicly at Solomon's portico for the preaching and teaching of God's word.
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Third, men and women were being saved. The miracles that were taking place is what
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God was using to do two things, to validate the message of the gospel and the messengers.
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However, excuse me, the two things were to validate the message of the gospel and the messenger.
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All right, now listen. How are people to hear the message?
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How were these people in first century to hear the message and the messenger from God?
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How were they to hear? How were they to hear the message and to understand that the message and the messengers are from God?
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And the answer is miracles, right? God gave them at this time the ability to perform miracles.
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The miracles would draw a crowd. When the crowd was drawn, they preached the gospel.
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Remember, Nicodemus tells Jesus that no one can do these kind of miracles unless they're from God.
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As we read through the gospels, they knew that Jesus was from God because of the miracles.
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God gives the apostles these miracles through the Holy Spirit so that they were able to perform miracles through the miracles, draw a crowd, preach to the crowd the message.
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These people were able to hear the message and then the message was validated because of the miracle.
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And so they knew because of the miracles that these men were from God and what they were speaking was from God.
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In order to witness to people, you have to go to where the people were or where they are in our context.
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Because of the miracles being done in the place where the people were gathered, people were able to preach the message of the gospel.
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The apostles were able to preach the message of the gospel and people were being saved. Look real quick at verse 14 again.
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It says, And more than ever, believers and the Lord added to their number multitudes of men and women.
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So right here, this is speaking about the ethnic Jew. Jew first, then the
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Gentile. Begin in Jerusalem, then in Samaria. I mean, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and then to the nations.
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All right, so beginning of the book of Acts. Remember, Haps talked about it earlier. It's a period of 28 to 30 years this book has been written, right?
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And so as we go through it, we're going to see it move away from Jerusalem.
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It begins in Jerusalem. It ends up given to the nations. So it begins with ethnic
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Jews, believers in Yahweh who become believers in Jesus and were being added to the church.
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This brings about persecution because they were told not to speak.
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They were told not to teach at all in the name of Jesus. Look back at chapter four.
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Chapter four, verse 18 through 20. And when they had summoned them, they commanded them.
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So this is talking about Peter and John. They commanded them, Peter and John, not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
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But Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to hear you rather than God, you be the judge for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.
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That's how John opens up his epistle. He says,
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I'm just telling you about what I've seen and heard. We're going to see in chapter five, them being judged because the apostles chose to listen to God and not them, not man.
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They chose to listen to God and not man. Ladies and gentlemen, whenever you choose to listen to God and not man, persecution comes.
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There's different stages of this persecution, but trust me, persecution comes, right?
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It can begin with your family members. I've seen it in my family.
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Persecution comes. Point number two, the message. Let's look at this message. The section is taken from verses 17 through 32, but we'll begin reading from 17 to verse 24.
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But when the high priest rose up and those with him, that is the set of the
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Sadducees, and there were, excuse me, and there were filled with jealousy and they laid hands on the apostles and put them in public jail.
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But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison and taking them out, he said, go.
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And stand. Go stand and speak to the people in the temple.
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The whole message of this life. Upon hearing this, they entered into the temple about daybreak and began to teach.
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Now, when the high priest and those who were with him came, they called the
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Sanhedrin together. Remember, Sanhedrin is the 70. This judgment and the high priest is that final answer if they cannot come to a decision.
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Even all the council of the sons of Israel and sent orders to the jailhouse for them to be brought.
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But the officers who came did not find them in prison, but they returned and reported back saying, we found the jailhouse locked quite securely and the guards standing at the door.
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But when we opened it and found no one, we opened it and found no one inside. Now, when the captain of the temple guards and the chief priest heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them as to what would come of this.
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The apostles were put in prison for preaching the gospel, for disobeying the man, right?
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The angel of the Lord opens the door to the prison. The angel of the
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Lord tells them to go and run home and live your best life now. Oh, no, he didn't.
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My bad. The angel tells them to go stand and speak to the people in the temple, the message of life, in the temple, the very place that they were just arrested for, for preaching.
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I know you were just persecuted, but I need you to go back there and do it again, right?
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Can I get an amen? Go back to where you were just arrested and do it again.
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Now, what is this message of life? Again, Galatians 2 20,
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I have been crucified with Christ and is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me and the life which
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I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.
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The message of life is in Christ. It's us being in Christ.
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We do not live by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.
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Galatians 2 21, I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then
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Christ died needlessly. Paul says, I do not set aside the grace of God, God's grace.
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This is what I stand on. I stand on the grace of God to save sinners, not the law.
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Not the law. Imagine me coming to you and say, hey,
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I got some really good news. It's about how you can make it to heaven. Keep the law.
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You say to me, it's not good news. That's not good news because I've already broken it.
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It's not good news. Keeping the law to earn favor with God is not good news.
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That's why you cannot call keeping the law good news. The good news is that Christ has kept the law in your place.
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And if you will repent and put your faith in him, you will have life. I have been crucified with Christ.
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It's no longer I who live, but it's him that lives in me. Paul says, I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness came through the law, then
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Christ died needlessly. If keeping the law can make us right with God, Christ died for no purpose.
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There's no purpose. It was a needless death because what
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Christ has done in the sending of his son, for you and I and those of us who have faith in Jesus, we are to live by faith in Jesus.
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All right. When you first become a believer, you turn from yourself, your sins, turn to God by looking to Jesus Christ.
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Guess how you are to live your life? By turning from yourself, turning to God by looking to Jesus Christ.
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The life that you live, you are to live it by faith in Jesus Christ.
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Trust me, when that angel tells them to go back to the place where they were just persecuted, they did that by looking to Jesus Christ in faith.
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Faith is the message of life. Faith, not works of the law,
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Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for by grace you have been saved through faith.
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And this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works.
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Think works of the law, not of works so that no one may boast.
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Faith in Jesus is how Jesus is building the church, turn with me to the book of Romans.
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We'll go to chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. Give you all a second to turn.
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We're going to start with verse 9. Romans chapter 10, verse 9. That if you confess with your mouth,
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Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
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For with the heart, a person believes, leading to righteousness, and with the mouth, he confesses, leading to salvation.
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For the scripture says, whoever believes upon him will not be put to shame.
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For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the Lord, I mean for the same
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Lord is Lord of all abounding and riches for all who call upon him.
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For whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
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Verse 14. How then will they call upon him in whom they have not believed?
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How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?
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And how will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim the good news of good things.
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However, they did not all heed the good news.
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For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our reproach? Verse 17.
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Listen. So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.
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How does a person receive faith? They have to hear.
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How will they hear without someone telling them? It's the purpose of the
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Holy Spirit. We are to, it is to apply in us who have the
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Holy Spirit were to preach this message so that spirit can apply what Christ has done for them.
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Faith can only be given to a lost person if a Christian opens their mouth and gives them the message of Jesus Christ.
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Close your mouth and no one in your area, your vicinity, those whom
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God has for you to speak to will hear the message. At least give them an opportunity to call upon the name of the
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Lord. That's what we're called to do. We, you and I, have to be willing to be used by God.
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We have to be willing to be used by God. Because did you know that you can, you can close the spirit's mouth?
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You didn't know that, right? That you can keep that spirit from operating in you, right?
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The Holy Spirit is to keep, is to cause us to keep God's law. You know, when you break
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God's law, that's not the Holy Spirit, that's you. Every time you break God's law, that's you.
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Breaking God's law is sinning. Every time you sin, that's not the Holy Spirit, that's you. The Holy Spirit is in you and it causes you to keep
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God's law. All right? That means that whenever you speak for Christ this message, that's not you.
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That's the Holy Spirit. And when you don't speak, when you're supposed to, that's you. That's you.
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That's me. So let the cars fall where they land, right?
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That's what the apostles were doing. And that's what you and I are called to do.
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The apostles were opening their mouth and allowing the Holy Spirit to speak through them.
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However, we can only do this if we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Go back to Acts chapter four.
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This has been a wonderful verse for me the last two weeks. Verse 31. And when they had prayed earnestly, the place where they had gathered together was shaken.
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And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with confidence.
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Now I got made fun of last week after the service for making up a word because I said, this church needs a shakening.
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And I don't mind continuing to make up that word. We need a shakening.
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We, this church, me, you, all of us, we need a shakening.
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We need the Holy Spirit to grab us and shake us. We need that.
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And that's my prayer. My prayer is for this. However long it takes,
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I don't know how long it takes to go through the book of Acts, looking at these presentations, focusing on revival, that through that, the
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Holy Spirit grabs us, yanks us up, shakes us to where we become obedient to what the
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Bible tells us to do. And I can stand before God with a clean conscience.
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We, as a church, as well as individuals, must earnestly pray to the
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Lord that the Lord will use us and fill us with the Holy Spirit so that we can speak the word with confidence.
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Again, I mentioned this last week, when I say fill us with the Holy Spirit, I'm not talking salvificly. You have the
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Holy Spirit. They had the Holy Spirit, and yet they prayed earnestly to be filled with the
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Holy Spirit. We see this a lot in the book of Acts, to be able to speak the word of God with confidence.
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Are you doing that? Is that something that's active in your life? I can tell you right now that it's not always active in my life.
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There's a lot of times where I'm speaking and I'm trying to witness to someone. Let me tell you what, it's not the
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Holy Spirit at all, right? You ever had a knock, you ever done something you shouldn't have done, you knew you shouldn't have done, you've broken
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God's law, and all of a sudden, you get a knock at the door and it's Jehovah's Witnesses, and you're trying to argue with them and nothing's coming out right, and you feel like you're being defeated.
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It's because you are. You shut the Holy Spirit's mouth by not following his direction and keeping
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God's law and allowing yourself to fall into temptation. And now God has put someone in your path to destroy you, to make you feel small.
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All these things that you've got memorized out the window, you cannot recall them because it's through the
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Holy Spirit that we're able to do these things. We 100 % rely upon the
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Holy Spirit to give us the word, to give us the understanding, to help us understand how we are to present the message.
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We rely upon him, and so did these apostles. After being arrested and released by the angel, arrested and being released by the angel of the
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Lord, they were told to go back to the temple, back to the public square, back to the place they were arrested, and to preach the message of life, which is the gospel of grace.
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The report of them teaching at the temple got them face -to -face meeting with the
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Sanhedrin to be judged. Let's look back at verse 25 through 28 of the text.
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But someone came and reported to them, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple teaching the people.
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Then the captain, along with the officers, and proceeded to bring them back without violence, for they were afraid of the people.
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By now they had tens of thousands of people following them, that they might be stoned.
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And when they had brought them, they stood before them, before the Sanhedrin, excuse me, this is to be judged, and the high priest questioned them, saying, we strictly commanded you not to continue teaching in this name, and yet you have filled
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Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.
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Turn to your Bibles, to Matthew chapter 27. Matthew 27.
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Look with me at verse 19. Now while he, speaking of Pontius Pilate, was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message saying, have nothing to do with this righteous man, for last night
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I suffered greatly in a dream because of him. Verse 20, listen right here.
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But the chief priest and the elders persuaded the crowd, say that again, but the chief priest and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to put to death,
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I mean to put Jesus to death. But the governor answered and said to them, which of these two do you want me to release to you?
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And they said Barabbas. Pilate said to them, then what shall
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I do with Jesus who is called Christ? And they all said, let him be crucified.
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And he said, why, what evil did he do? But they were crying out all the more saying, let him be crucified.
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Now when Pilate saw this, he saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather a riot was starting.
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He took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd saying,
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I am innocent of this man's blood. Say to that yourselves and all the people answered and said right here, listen, his blood be on us and on our children, his blood be on us and on our children.
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Then he released Barabbas for them, but after, I mean, but after having
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Jesus scourged, this is a beating, he delivered him over to be crucified.
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Now go back to Acts chapter five. Look at verse 28 again.
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They said, we strictly commanded you not to continue to teach in this name and yet you have filled
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Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.
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Ladies and gentlemen, they asked for the blood of Jesus to be upon them and their children.
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They asked for it. Now let's see if the apostles responded by cowering.
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Verse 29. But when
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Peter and the apostles answered and said, we must obey
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God rather than man. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you put to death by hanging on a tree.
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This one God exalted to his right hand as a leader and a savior to God.
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Grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these things.
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And so is the Holy Spirit whom God gives to those who obey him.
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No cowering. Bold as a lion.
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Notice with me the four things given to this text. First thing is they said, we must obey
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God rather than man. Second, the blood of Jesus is on the hands of the
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Jews. Third, through Jesus the Jews can have forgiveness of sins.
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Fourth, the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey. The apostles did not shrink back in the face of death and neither should we.
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If we ever find ourselves in this position, neither should we. They obey
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God and not man. If you don't want to be in that position, like I told you last week, obey man and not
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God. If you don't want to be persecuted, obey man and not God. But if you want revival, if you want the salvation of your neighbors and friends, obey
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God and not man. But persecution will come. The Jewish leaders had
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Jesus crucified. They claimed that the blood of Jesus, they claimed that the blood of Jesus, they claimed the blood of Jesus upon their heads and the heads of their children.
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And here in the book of Acts, they denied that the blood should be upon them. They said, put it upon us.
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And then they said to the Jews, they told Pilate, the blood is upon us and our children. And they said to the apostles, why are you accusing us of this man's blood?
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Let's double talk. And although they crucified
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Jesus, Jesus is their only Savior then and now. He is the only
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Savior at all. Jesus is still the Savior of Jews. An ethnic
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Jew can become a true Israelite by looking to Jesus Christ, by calling upon his name and faith.
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The Holy Spirit comes to those who obey. This is speaking about the obedience of the gospel.
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When I stand yesterday and I call them guys to repent and to believe, if God truly granted them this faith, they obeyed the gospel and received the
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Holy Spirit. Again, Paul says, did you receive the
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Holy Spirit by works of the law? That's by keeping the law. Or did you receive it by hearing in faith?
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It's a rhetorical question. It means to hear in faith. Point number three, their persecution.
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This is taken from verses 32. 33 to 42 will begin with 33 to 39.
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But when they had heard this, they became furious and intended to, right here, kill them.
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They're going to kill them. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all people, stood up in the
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Sanhedrin and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. And he said to them, men of Israel, take care what you purpose to do with these men.
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For some time ago, Theodosius rose up and rose up claiming to be somebody and a group of about 400 men joined up with him.
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But he was killed and all those who were following him were dispersed and came to nothing.
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After this, man, Judas, the Galilean, rose up in those days of the census and drew away people after him.
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He too perished and all those who were following him were scattered.
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So in the present case, I also say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone.
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For if this plan or action is of man, it will be overthrown.
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Verse 39. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them.
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Or you may even be found fighting against God. Now, not to dive too much into Gamaliel, but among the
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Pharisees, he was a teacher of teachers, highly respected. And he was also the teacher of Paul the
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Apostle. He was the Pharisees that raised up Paul as a Pharisee.
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And here in our text, he speaks up. And notice again in verse 39 what's said.
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He says, but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. Or you may even be found fighting against God.
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Now, a lot of commentators, they say that this right here is he's speaking, but he's not really understanding what he's speaking.
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That he shouldn't have said this. Christian commentators are saying that he shouldn't have said this because we have movements today like Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons, right?
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These movements that came about and yet they're still flourishing. But in the context, he's not speaking about movements and false teachers and prophets that are going to come about.
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He's speaking about the Christ. He's speaking about the Messiah. These people right here he's speaking about, they were claiming to be the
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Messiah. Joseph Smith and Charles Taze Russell and all these other heretics are not claiming to be the
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Messiah. People claim to be the Messiah and they were killed and their groups of people dispersed.
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He's saying the same thing here. Because this is the time where they're expecting the Messiah to come.
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And the Messiah has come. He says that if he's not the Messiah and he's already dead, right?
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Then this group is going to disperse. Because they didn't believe in the resurrection. Just want to kind of clear that up in case you go and read into that and check the commentaries.
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I think most of the people that are writing these commentaries are wrong. Because I think they're talking about two different things.
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They're talking about the Messiah versus false sets of Christianity. Jesus makes clear in Matthew chapter 16 verse 18 that upon this rock, the rock being that Jesus is the
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Christ, that Jesus is going to build his church and the gates of hell will not overpower it.
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And listen, that's even in persecution. The gates of hell will not overpower the church of Jesus Christ even in persecution.
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Real quick, let's go to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5 as we're wrapping things up.
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Chapter 5, look at verse 10 through 12. Jesus speaking.
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This is the Sermon on the Mount. Greatest sermon ever preached. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness.
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For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
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Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great, and for your reward in heaven is great.
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For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
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The apostles were told that they were going to be persecuted. Go to chapter 23 of Matthew.
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Matthew chapter 23. Look at verse 34.
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Jesus speaking to the Pharisees. He's rebuking them. He's calling them a den of thieves.
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He tells them that they are just nothing but a pit of snakes. He says, on account of this, them being a den of thieves, them being a pit of snakes, behold
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I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in the synagogue and persecute from city to city.
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One more chapter over. Chapter 24. Look at verse 9 through 12. Jesus speaking to his disciples.
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He says, then you will be delivered. So when Jesus in verse 34 of chapter 23, he's sending them people.
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He's speaking about his, he's speaking about those that follow him. And in the near context, it's the apostles.
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Then they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
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And at that time, many of you will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.
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Many false prophets will arise and many and will deceive many. But because of lawlessness and is multiplied, most people will grow, most people's love will grow cold.
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You want to know one of the reasons for persecution, I'm going to give it to you. This is why we need revival.
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One of the reasons for persecution is persecution will let you know who's truly in Christ.
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Persecution will let you know who's truly in Christ. Look at Matthew chapter 13. This has to do with the parable of the sower, right?
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So, but so, and I want to look at the explanation. Matthew 13, look at verse 20.
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This is talking about the seed that was sown on the rocks, on the rocky places. Verse 20, and the one on whom the seed was sown on rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, and yet he has no root in himself but is only temporary.
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And when afflictions or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.
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Persecution is a gift to the church, right? When COVID took place, so many
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Christians listen to man rather than God, and they're still listening to man rather than God.
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They haven't come back to the meeting. Churches are not as full as they used to be, and glory be to God, because we don't need false converts in the church.
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Persecution will let you know who the Christian truly is. We need revival to find out who are truly
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God's people. Go back to the book of Acts. We'll read our last little section and close. I'm sorry,
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I'm gonna be like two minutes over. Beginning in verse 40, they followed his advice, and after calling the apostles in and beating them, they commanded them to not speak in the name of Jesus.
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And then they released them, so they went on their way from the presence of the
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Sanhedrin rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for the name.
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And every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the
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Christ, proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ in the same place where they were arrested twice and beaten.
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They did not stop going back and proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ, the good news that Jesus is the
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Christ. They received a beating, a public flogging, and began rejoicing that they was considered worthy to suffer for his name.
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Instead of falling away, they continued to go back to the temple and preach the message of life and to share that message from house to house.
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Ladies and gentlemen, that's revival. That's what it looks like. That's what it looks like.
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Begins in the pulpit, ends up in the houses. It's easy to look like a
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Christian today in America, which is why we need revival. We have these
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Christianese words, these little words that we say. I've received them in my heart. I asked them to come to my heart.
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Like we have these words that we say. But ladies and gentlemen, I need to know who's going to be in the foxhole with me when persecution comes.
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I need to know who's going to be in the foxhole with me when persecution comes. Who's going to be in the foxhole with me experiencing the
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Holy Spirit? Just as in the book of Daniel, when
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Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were in that fiery furnace and that fourth man showed up. I'm telling you, during the time of persecution, the fourth man, the
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Son of God, is going to show up. And when he does, I want to be there. I want to be there.
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God is going to bring about revival. And it might be on a small scale. And I want to be there.
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Do you want revival? And when it comes, do not fall away.
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And if you're beating, rejoice that God considered you worthy to suffer for that name.
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Today you have heard the gospel. You have heard the message. And I pray if you're not in Christ today, you will repent and put your faith in Christ.
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Let's pray. Oh God, thank you for your
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Word. Thank you for all that you do. Lord, you are so worthy of worship.
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You are glorious. And Lord, we need you.
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We need you to just show us and lead us and guide us.
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Lord, you have given us your Word. And by your Word, we're able to see, we're able to speak to you in prayer.
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And through your Word, we're able to read what you have to say to us. We can have this community, this conversation.
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But Lord, we need you to lead and to guide us and to show us what to do.
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Our nation doesn't look like they did then. And Christians aren't as bold as they were then.
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And Lord, we need that boldness so that we can, as members of this church and other churches around us,
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Lord, we pray that they will receive revival so that we can turn this world upside down for Jesus Christ.
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Lord, if you don't speak to these people or have other churches who have pastors who are willing to stand up and say these hard words, if you don't speak to them, they're not going to go out and do what they're called to do.
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Lord, please give us grace and give us mercy that we may be found worthy to suffer for that name.
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And Lord, I pray for this supper that we're about to partake. And God, I pray if there's anyone in the room here today that's living in sin,
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Lord, that they will pray and they will confess their sins and they will ask for forgiveness and trust that they are truly forgiven by looking to Christ in faith so that they're able to partake with a clean conscience.
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this meal to grow us in holiness. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.