Well, today I'm gonna preach on Tabitha, not Tabitha Swab, but her namesake in Acts chapter nine, and if you'd turn there, I want to read verses 36 through 43. At Joppa, there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did. But it happened in those days that she became sick and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. And since Lydda was near Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them. Then Peter arose and went with them. When he had come, they brought him to the upper room, and all the widows stood by him, weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. But Peter put them all out and knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body, he said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes. And when she saw Peter, she sat up. Then he gave her his hand and lifted her up. And when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive. And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed on the Lord. So it was that he stayed many days in Joppa with Simon a Tanner. Father, I thank you for this passage. What a gem of a passage this is, and I pray that you would enable me to faithfully communicate some of the thoughts that you have embedded into these words. I pray that each one of us would be encouraged. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. I recently came across a children's chorus that said this, Shamgar had an ox goad, David had a sling, Samson had a jawbone, Rahab had a string, Mary had some ointment, Aaron had a rod, Dorcas had a needle, all were used for God. Now, what I like about that simple little song is that it's highlighting the fact that God, many times, uses just the ordinary things of life to advance His kingdom. Pietists have this tendency to think the only way that we can serve God is by doing churchy things. Well, if that was the case, then Jesus wasn't a very good model to us because most of His life was spent doing carpentry, right? And what we'll see is that Jesus' carpentry, and yes, His theology and churchy things were all used as a part of being about His Father's business. And Jesus said even the giving of a cup of cold water in His name will by no means lose its reward. And so we're going to be looking at how Tabitha used her needle and thread and how God by faith, as we saw in the catechism earlier, by faith turned those works that would have ordinarily just been done in the flesh into good works that counted for God. Now it has to be done in God's name, which there's a lot more to it than just verbally saying it's in God's name. But here's what Colossians 3.17 says, whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. And that's the first thing that we see in Tabitha. Yes, she was a seamstress, and apparently a good one, but first and foremost, she was a disciple, a follower of Christ. Verse 36, at Joppa, there was a certain disciple. Now, interestingly, she is the only lady in the Bible that is called a disciple, and this is the only occurrence in the Bible of that feminine form of the word for disciple. And because Luke is deviating from convention here, this is very deliberate on his part. By using that word, Luke is highlighting the fact that the labors she engaged in were labors that she was doing as a disciple, as a follower of Christ. Now, there's actually a lot more that goes into that word disciple. For example, in the dictionary it says that it's not just a follower of Christ, but the word mathetria also means a pupil, learner, or student, and that it is the antonym, an antonym is the opposite of a synonym, it is the antonym of the Greek word amathas, which means ignorant or unlearned. So Luke is saying that she was learned in the Scriptures. She was a woman, like the boy Jesus, who made it her goal in life to study the Scriptures that the Lord had given to her. It's not only pastors who should be immersed in the Scripture. And down through history, it is astonishing to see how many ordinary men and women God has used to advance the kingdom through their service. Yes, but they were theologians on the side. They really studied the Scriptures. You can think of Aphra of Augsburg in the 3rd century. Now, she was a converted prostitute. But like Tabitha, she used her skills to help widows and other disadvantaged people, especially abandoned children. And there were a lot of abandoned children back then. Thieves, and prostitutes, and smugglers, and pirates, and all kinds of people would father or mother children and just leave them in the streets. And so she would have a whole coterie of people that would pick up these children. She established an adoption service to make sure there were qualified Christians who would raise these children. But even though she was most known for the work of her hands that helped the disadvantaged, She was motivated to do that because she studied the scriptures, okay? That motivated her in her labors, and she was used to influence culture toward Christianity. George Grant gives a beautiful portrait of Dimtna Kehlrin. sometimes known as Dimtna of Giel. She was born in the late 700s A.D. And as a child she fled from her father's incestuous advances through the help of a pastor. And yes pastors have been involved in an underground railroad system for people like that for the last 2,000 years. It's one form of interposition. We have got a lot of cowardly pastors who turn down opportunities to save people like that. But her pastor, Garib Burness, discipled her in the scriptures. And because she had a transformational theology, a biblical theology, it made her want to do something about the evils that were around her. She didn't just know theology, she wanted to put it into practice. And so she spoke out against abortion and infanticide, and she helped orphans and handicapped children. And according to George Grant, her Her labors, she wasn't even that much of a speaker, but her labors were used to advance the cause and even Christianize the Flemish Lowlands. But she mainly did it with her service. I would recommend, actually, if you want, it's a bunch of stories. It's a fun book to read. Read George Grant's book, Third Time Around. I've recommended it in the past. And you will see that God over the past 2,000 years has used thousands of ordinary men and women using ordinary service to advance the cause of Christ. You don't have to be a preacher to be used by God. And I'll grant you that some of the women that are mentioned in George Grant's book are anything but ordinary. Some of them are extraordinary. For example, Frances Cabrini came to America in 1889, and get this, she established six schools, four hospitals, seven orphanages, two maternity homes, and 23 prison ministries. Most people could not do that. I certainly could not do that. She was an absolutely amazing woman. But you know, most of the men and women that were used to turn nations upside down in that book were ordinary people, unknown people for the most part. The point of this sermon is that the carpentry of Jesus and the sowing of Tabitha are important for the advancement of Christ's kingdom. But you need to make sure you're doing that carpentry or you're doing that sowing in the name of Christ, by His power, in faith, in Him, for it to be good works. To quote Colossians 3.17 again, whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Now the second thing we see about Tabitha is that she was a converted Jewess. No Gentile would likely have used the name Tabitha. They wouldn't have known what it meant. It's a Hebrew word that means gazelle, and it's a beautiful name. It's used in the Song of Solomon two times to describe the beautiful wife in that book. And the fact that Luke translates the name into the Greek for gazelle, dorcas means gazelle in Greek, rather than transliterating it, as most names were transliterated, shows to me that Luke and Dorcas and those who were around her thought that there was something about her that matched the meaning of this name. Perhaps she had a graceful beauty of a gazelle, or maybe she had some of the loving kindness that was associated with that word in some of the passages in the Old Testament, we don't know. But there was something about the meaning. In any case, she was a converted Hebrew woman. We aren't told whether she was young or old. whether she was married before and widowed, or whether she was an unmarried woman. All that we know for sure is that she died, at least from their perspective, prematurely, which means that she was likely not very, very old. The fact that she ministered to widows may or may not, there's differing views on that, may or may not indicate that she herself had gone through the trauma of losing a husband. But we do know she was a converted Jewess. And the significance of that fact will not be lost when we see that they delayed her burial. That is a very strange postponement. But before we get to that, I wanna point out a third thing that we can see in Tabitha's life. Her ministry reached across racial boundaries. First, she lived in Joppa, which was a mix of both Jews and Gentiles. In earlier years, it was mainly Gentile. I mean, you can think even back to the time of Jonah. It says, Jonah fled from the presence of the Lord to Joppa. Well, if Joppa is away from the presence of the Lord, that's not saying too much about Joppa, right? The Gentiles of this city had killed 200 Jews during the time of the Maccabees. Antony gave the city of Joppa to Cleopatra of Egypt. Later, through wars and whatnot, Rome gave this city to Herod. It was a beautiful city. But the point is, this seaport had had a long history of Jewish-Gentile conflict, and so the fact that she's reaching across those boundaries is a good indicator. By the way, if you wanna know where this is in terms of modern Israel, Tel Aviv not too long ago annexed Jaffa, and so it's really on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. But the fact that she had two names shows that her ministry reached out beyond the Jewish community to the Gentiles of that city. She didn't make the Gentiles call her by the name in Hebrew, transliterated. It was unknown to them. Verse 36 says, at Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. And it wasn't just translated so that the Greek readers would know what the name meant. because verse 39 uses Dorcas as the name that the widows used for her, ok. She translated it for them and she used Dorcas with them. And so she had two names, the Jews who knew her, like Peter would call her Tabitha, And the Gentiles who knew her would call her Dorcas. And to me this shows that her heart really had been gripped by the New Testament mandate to go out beyond our boundaries, and in her case the boundaries of the Jews, and reach out to the Gentiles. And actually when you read all of Acts 9 and 10 you'll see there was already a thriving Jewish Gentile church. that was a tremendous testimony to the world. Now, the application of this to me is obvious. Very easy for us to minister to our family and to our friends that we're really comfortable hanging around with, but God's grace causes us to get out of our comfort zone and to minister to those who are outside our cultural and our racial upbringing. In Luke 6, 32 through 34, Jesus said this, But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. So her ministry reached beyond racial boundaries, and it's another example of genuine grace at work in her. And the verses 36 and 39 both show that she didn't give to those that she would, you know, she didn't scratch their backs so that they would scratch her backs. They're called widows, and if you know anything about widows in the first century, they didn't have Social Security back then. Many widows, unless they had their own financial means, many widows were in desperate straits. They would have been often destitute. Now the second sentence in verse 36 says, this woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did. And I think that that sentence perfectly exemplifies the genuine Christianity that James 1 verse 27 talks about. Now let me read that. pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." And I want you to notice it wasn't just a once a week kind of a work for her. Either she was independently wealthy, or maybe she was a widow that was taken into the church, I think that second is less likely, into the church and was a deacon's assistant who worked full-time in ministering to widows. We aren't told, but it does appear she spent a lot of time in this ministry. It says she was full of good works and she was also full of charitable deeds. Now let's dive into each of those clauses. Good works has gotten a bad rap in some Christian circles because evangelicals are so intent on trying to avoid salvation by works, justification by works, that they don't even have that word good works in their vocabulary. That's a huge mistake. The phrase good works in the plural is used 15 times in the New Testament. Jesus said He did good works in John 10 verse 32. Matthew 5.16 He commands all believers to do good works so that their Father in Heaven will be glorified. In fact Paul says you can't even claim to be a Christian if you don't have good works in your life. You can't. And there are many scriptures in Paul's writings. Ephesians 2.10 says that we are God's workmanship. created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So the reason we were saved and made into new creatures is so that we would engage in good works. 1 Timothy 2 verse 10 says, all Christian women must engage in good works. 1 Timothy 5.10 says that a widow should be rejected from even getting financial help from the church if she is not known for good works. Titus 2.14 says this is one of the purposes of our redemption. It says, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people zealous for good works. Hebrews 10 verse 24 says, we should gather together to stir each other up to what? Love and good works. Let me read you a poem that I think says it quite well. If a man would be a soldier, he'd expect, of course, to fight. And he couldn't be an author if he didn't try to write. So it isn't common logic, doesn't have the right true ring, that a man to be a Christian doesn't have to do a thing. There are many Christians that are not characterized by good works, which makes you wonder, are they genuine Christians? I think the scripture would say no. If their life is not being changed, is not being transformed, are they genuine Christians? In contrast, the word full indicates she overflowed in good works, probably to a greater degree than the other Christians who were around her. She was constantly trying to help people who were in need. Perhaps she went out and she bought a piece of fabric, and she could imagine in her mind the very person that she's bought this for, what that person would look like as she sews this clothing for that person. She's probably imagining in her mind's eye, yeah, this person who is in rags, this person who's maybe got soiled garments is going to be able to stand up and much taller and to feel much better about themselves. And so they loved her because she ministered to them more than just outwardly. This was something that ministered to them emotionally and physically, as their tears seemed to demonstrate. Now, as already mentioned, verse 39 shows that she ministered to those who could not repay her. Then Peter arose and went with them. When he had come, they brought him to the upper room, and all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. Next, the same verse shows she was actually with them when ministering. You know, she didn't send some other people off to give the clothes to them. She was with them, which implies she was among them. Okay, she was probably in their home, or they were in her home. She probably hugged them and encouraged them and spoke into their lives as she gave these gifts to them. In other words, her ministry had a personal presence with them, a personal touch to it. Next, the text says that she made the garments rather than giving them money to go to the Salvation Army to buy secondhand clothing. Now, I'm not opposed to secondhand clothing. I actually buy secondhand clothing myself. But there is something special about a new garment being given to a needy person. It's another indication of the personal touch in her ministry. Now, I recently ran across a story that happened in a New England village, a man's house, and barn actually had completely burned down, and all he was able to rescue was just a few pieces of furniture and four cows. And a neighbor drove up, and after poking around in the embers a while, he just shook his head sadly and in disbelief, and he said, if you ever need anything, just call me. Okay, good sentiment, good sentiment, but no action, no good works. Okay, in contrast, the other neighbors immediately showed up without even asking with beds, mattresses, potatoes, vegetables, cooking pots, clothes, hay for the cow. One actually gave a heifer to this person to help his herd continue and labors to clean away the damage and to help with rebuilding. Okay, Christianity should look more like that second group, not, oh, if you need any help, just ask me. You know, you can see that they needed help. You could see it. Now, the second phrase that describes her ministry in verse 36 is charitable deeds, which she did. Now, the Greek word there is very interesting. It's made up of three Greek words, mercy, an ear, you know, an ear for hearing, and an attitude or characteristic of the heart. Now, it does refer to pity, but because of that word mercy, it's caring for people who don't even deserve to be cared for, okay? And so there is an outgoing ministry of compassion toward those who are hurting. Now that word already implies deeds within it, but by adding the phrase, which she did, which seems almost like a redundancy, you know, she did deeds of mercy, which she did, type of a thing, Luke's showing that her pity was not just emotion. If you've got the gift of mercy, but it just burns you up inside, it's not driving you to action, you're not using your gift of mercy the way God wanted you to use it. It's just going to drive you crazy. No, it's always intended to move us, and it did move her. So verse 39 has the widows showing Peter their clothing that she had sewed, but I think it wasn't just the clothing that they were displaying. they were displaying the fact that she had shown them friendship and love and concern. Her needle and thread were not just physical, she was touching their hearts with her needle and with her thread. And many Dorcas societies have been named after her and modeled after her. I think she's a marvelous example for what Dorcas societies stand for, which is not just sewing, but they're engaged in all kinds of tangible ministry to the needy. Now, the next point that I want to deal with is that Dorcas, or Tabitha, was dearly missed when she died. We many times think that God's timing has been messed up, you know, when somebody is taken out of this world earlier in their lives. I'll just give you one example. I really grieved when Greg Bonson died, and he was fairly young. Now, the Lord had already extended his life, much like he extended Tabitha's life one time, but he extended Greg Bonson's life twice through heart surgery, pig valves being put in. But that last time he died on the operating table, and so many people felt like, in our age of apostasy, why would God take out Greg Bonson? It seems like this is so premature. And there are many other men and women who have been taken out early, sometimes in their 20s, and they showed such promise. Let me assure you, brothers and sisters, God's timing is always perfect. She got sick and died at the perfect time. And in her case, the extension of her life was perfectly timed, and then the second death was perfectly timed. We cannot die one second sooner than it's God's will for us to die. We can be confident about that. But like many deaths, her death resulted in much weeping in verse 39. She was sorely missed. Her service had impacted the lives of many, many people. Let me read you a pretty scary medical story, actually, that was just recently posted on the web. This guy said, some years ago I was talking to a fellow who for a year or so worked in a hospital in the kidney dialysis unit. His job had been to clean out the dialysis machines after each use, where people are generally hooked up for several hours at a time. Well, as things would be, after one of these cleanings, he inadvertently forgot to flush the machine of the chemicals that were used to clean the machine. The next person to be hooked up to the machine was a man in his 90s. Upon being hooked up, the man almost immediately went into shock and died. This fellow told me he was sick over this mistake and expected there to be major ramifications against him. But as things would be, the old man was known to his family as a real grouch that no one liked. And when word came out of his death, they were all filled with joy and relief. Now, there's no justification for that hospital employee's mistake, no justification whatsoever. But when I read that, I wondered, you know, what are people's reactions going to be when you die or when I die? Is it going to be, well, you know, that's sad, but we move on with life? Or will our good works have so contributed to God's kingdom, Christ's kingdom, that each of our deaths will mean a great loss to the kingdom? And some people say, well, if God's taken it out, it's not a great loss. No, death is still an enemy, and we need to treat it as an enemy. Yes, that person, when he goes to heaven, is going to be rejoicing. There's no more misery for him, but there's always a loss when we have people pass on down here below. We should aspire to be like Tabitha, men and women who are so used by God, we will be missed when we die. But there is something strange in this text that shows me that some people in that church had faith that Peter might bring Tabitha back from the dead. Now, it's not as if there was no precedent for this. Both Elijah and Elisha in the Old Testament raised people from the dead, and certainly Jesus did. And it seems like the disciples had before. Jesus raised one. Now, this is not into glorified bodies, right? This is into the old bodies. So some people say, let's not call it a resurrection. Let's call it a resuscitation. But it's a kind of resurrection. It's just not into glorified bodies. Luke 7 records Jesus raising the son of the widow of Nain from the dead. Matthew 9.25 shows Jesus raising the daughter of a scribe from the dead. And John 11 records Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. And Jesus said, He's dead, right? So why do I say the verses 37 and following show faith that this might happen again? Let me give you four reasons. They're just hints, but I think they are sufficient to come to this conclusion. First, they violated Jewish custom by not burying her immediately. Verse 37 says, when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. Now Jews in that day, and even to the present, always bury on the same day of the death. They do not delay the burial. You can see examples in Acts chapter 5. One example is Ananias. is struck down, they immediately bury him. Three hours later, on the same day, Sapphira comes in, she lies, she's struck down, they bury her immediately on the same day. And so, this was Jewish custom. She's a Jew, why did they not follow Jewish custom for her? Well, I believe they had a faith that she would be raised, and so they're storing her body for a while. And there are other hints of this. My second reason is how long it took to fetch Peter. Verse 38 says, they sent two men to fetch Peter, who was at Lydda. Now, if you look at, well, you don't have that coordinates, but if you look at specialized maps, it'll show you where they can't go as the crow flies. If you follow the highways, it's 17 miles from Joppa to Lydda. And using Naismith's rule on the walkingenglishman.com, it would take six hours and 48 minutes to walk that there and then six hours and 48 minutes to walk back. And unless they walked at night, which is unlikely, that would mean an overnight stay. So that would definitely break the Jewish custom of burial on the same day. But third, let's assume for the sake of the argument that they did it on the same day. You can walk, especially if you're trotting. You can walk faster than three miles an hour, which is Naismith's rule. But even assuming that, you still have to deal with the urgency of their request in verse 38. It says, since Lydda was near Jophon, the disciples had heard that Peter was there. They sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them. Imploring him not to delay. Their urgency for Peter to come shows they're not inviting him to a funeral. And then fourth, verse 39 shows one more hint. but they're not inviting Peter to a funeral or to a memorial service. It says, then Peter arose and went with them. When he had come, they brought him to the upper room. So they're bringing him to the upper room for a purpose, and the purpose is not a funeral. A funeral would not have involved him dropping everything and coming up into the upper room. They'd just go to the burial place, right? Now, the point is, God gave some of these people faith to believe that Peter could raise her from the dead and should raise her from the dead. She was that much of an asset to the church that they called Peter, please come, hurry, we need her back. That's the point. Now the last thing I want to mention is that Tabitha's good works counted for the kingdom. I just find it remarkable that our catechism this morning tied in so perfectly with this. Not all people can say that their good works do count in this way. Paul said, whatever is not of faith is sin. That means that our good works that are not of faith is sin. That's why Proverbs chapter 21 verse 4 says, even the plowing, plowing of the fields of the wicked is sin. In Isaiah it says that of the wicked, all of their righteousnesses are as filthy racks. Now he doesn't deny that they are righteousnesses, that they're good works as far as a horizontal, but God does not consider them good works. So the only thing that makes our good works good in God's sight is if God sees Christ doing those works through us, okay? This means that we must do them in faith, to God's glory by the power of the Spirit who unites us to Christ." It's exactly what the catechism earlier said. And we can do everything, everything in this way. I remember, as I was going through this, Dr. Gordon Clark told me after one of his classes, and a lot of the students that were hanging around were kind of puzzled and surprised at that. He said, yes, even my going through the Greek paradigms, which are as boring as you could get, I find those to be a devotional exercise to Christ. Even Greek paradigms were used to worship and glorify and to serve the Lord. I quote in Colossians 3.17 again, and whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. And I believe that's what this woman did. Acts 9.36 makes clear, the sowing projects that she did were indeed good works. You can sow to God's glory, cook to God's glory, do carpentry to God's glory, clean the drain to God's glory, do absolutely everything to God's glory. You can think of the scripture, what is it? 1 Corinthians 10, 31, right? Whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, you do all to the glory of God. This means all of those things can be done in faith rather than trusting self. That's where our focus is. That's key. It must be done in faith. And it also means that the Holy Spirit can enable you to do even menial tasks by His power so that you find fulfillment and joy and purpose that ordinarily those menial tasks would not give to you, because the Holy Spirit's doing them through you. This means also that since you're part of Christ's body, that what you do can indeed be Christ doing it through you. And I think Tabitha is a beautiful illustration of this whole concept that the catechism points to. Paul characterized everything he did, which means his tent making, making tents out of leather. He characterized all of that in this way. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God. So Christ made tents through Paul because Paul was making those tents in faith to God. Okay? It may seem strange to you, but it shouldn't. Ever since I read the book by Brother Lawrence, Practicing the Presence, It enabled me to, even when I'm typing on my computer, have this sense of God approving, looking over my shoulder, as it were. We need to get used to. Now, I'm still not there 100%. I was telling my wife earlier today, I'm probably somewhere between 70% and 80%. I wish I was 100% of the time living in God's presence, but I'm not. But we should be. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 10 says, I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was in me. So if God touches your common labors, they become suddenly uncommon, just like everything that Joseph touched in the Old Testament was blessed and prospered by the Lord. But on the other side of the coin, this means that when your boss is mean to you and he refuses to give you the well-deserved raise that you should be getting or the well-deserved bonus that you should be giving, he's not giving that to Jesus, right? And you can tell Jesus, hey, my desire, Lord, is that I get this raise so that your kingdom can be even further advanced. I want to be a steward of this. Jesus told Saul, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? What Saul did to believers, he was doing to Jesus. And so if you're doing your computer programming as under the Lord, and the boss does not reward you, the boss is not rewarding Jesus. is really what that amounts to. And you can take it to Jesus in prayer, right? We need to get used to seeing everything in life through the lens of Christ and His Kingdom. The only reason Tabitha's works were good works was because she was doing them as a disciple should, as a follower of Jesus. And thus, verse 39 shows that her works positively impacted the widows. They were not taken for granted by those widows. Now, if our works are accompanied by the power of the Spirit, All of a sudden, they're leveraged for kingdom purposes. They're not just us doing them, it's God doing them through us. Verse 39 also shows that her works outlasted her life. They were continuing to benefit the widows after she died. God's grace can enable our works to do that. And actually, this is a huge motivational factor, knowing that cleaning the toilet, washing dishes is not wasted effort. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, 58, therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. And interestingly, the word for labor there is kapos, which refers to hard, sweaty labor that is exhausting. The meaning of exhausting is in there. It's not in vain if it is done for the Lord. This is why both Colossians and Ephesians tell the slaves, and you can bet that the slaves were having to do a lot of menial work, that they could do it as unto the Lord and receive the reward from the Lord. And then lastly, her resurrection by God's power leveraged her good works for an even greater impact. Now, I'll hasten to say that most of us don't have our good works leveraged by the Lord in a phenomenal way. George Grant's book, A Third Time Around, it's just filled with cool stories of Christians who made at least some impact. Now some people had their impact very, very small, but then he lists others who God leveraged their good works through martyrdom, because that martyrdom made their good works famous all of a sudden. Others had their good works leveraged because a king loved them and got behind them, and all of a sudden they became famous, or they became famous in other ways. But it doesn't matter whether our works are leveraged or not, they still count and receive God's well-done, though good and faithful service. Now in her case, I'm sure it was extremely painful to be coming back into her body. After you've been in heaven and enjoying the comforts of heaven to now be in your body again, I'm sure that probably was not a fun thing. And in the same way, some of the men and women in George Grant's book, Third Time Around, found their fame And it was their fame that leveraged their good works, but found their fame extremely painful. They wished they were not famous. They wanted to get about other things, but no, their fame made them have to work their tails off in other areas of life. Don't wish for what they got or what Tabitha got, right? Some people are ruined by fame and fortune. Let's read verses 40 through 43, see how our resurrection and continuation in this life, at least for a while longer, made a huge impact upon that city and beyond. Verse 40 says, and we aren't told why, and there's no point in guessing. You know, well, maybe you can guess. Was it because he didn't want there to be unbelief? Unbelief can negatively impact miracles. That's what some people think. Others say, no, it was not because of unbelief, because then he would have only put out the widows. There were at least some people who had faith, so why does he put all of them out? Others say, well, maybe he's just modeling, you know, following Christ as a model. But continuing on, but Peter put them all out, knelt down and prayed. And the point is, healers don't heal. God heals, right? And so Peter prayed to God, from whom all blessings flow. We don't have any magic touch. It's God who leads us and guides us. And it appears that God had given some kind of a supernatural sense of authority to Peter. And verse 40 continues, and turning to the body, he said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up. Then he gave her his hand and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive. And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed on the Lord. So it was that he stayed many days in Joppa with Simon a tanner. God used this sign and wonder to get people's attention so that they would hear the message of the gospel and believe it. And I have seen God use signs and wonders in our own age with the same effect. I have seen no solid exegetical basis for saying that miracles have ceased, and I've seen many miracles in my own life. And when I preached through Axe in 2005, most of my focus was not on her biography. In fact, I didn't bring up any of the points that I've brought up today. Most of my focus was demonstrating, because it was an overview of that section, a bigger section of the chapter, that God continues to be a miracle-working God. And even in modern times, we have seen people who were dead raised from the dead. We have a relative that that happened to. The point is God's hand is not too short that it cannot save, but His hand is not too short that it cannot do miracles. Tabitha is a wonderful testimony to the fact that Jesus is advancing His Kingdom against all enemies. And it appears that there is going to be longer and longer life, which means the enemy death will be put off further and further as we go on in history. Isaiah prophesied that. But here is the point. Death is the final enemy to be destroyed completely, and so 1 Corinthians 15 calls it the last enemy, and it will not be completely put under Christ's feet until He returns in glory. Romans 8 says that's the time when the redemption of our bodies, redemption will be applied to our bodies and to the whole of creation fully. And so anything that we experience now of healing, changes in our culture, and there are even changes in farming and things like that where God blesses as a result of Christianity. But any of those things are just down payments, they're foretastes of a far greater redemption in the future, which means we can't demand it. It's a gracious gift of mercy. But one constant that should be a daily experience for every believer is that the same power that worked in Tabitha to do good works is a power that can work in you every single day to be doing good works right now. Every task we do can be transformed from a task performed merely by the flesh into a work that has God's anointing on it. In other words, a good work. And Joseph, as I've already mentioned in the Old Testament, is a prime example of this anointing by God. If you read through Genesis 39, you'll see two times God says and emphasizes that everything Joseph's hands touched, and a lot of it was menial tasks, everything he touched was blessed and was prospered by the Lord. And I would urge you All to aspire to turn your manual labor from labor that will not last into labor that is good works that will last forever. Revelation 14, 13 says, Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works follow them. I love that. Their works follow them. May your works follow you into heaven just as Tabitha's works followed her into heaven because they were works made into good works by God himself. Amen. Father, thank you for the example of Tabitha. We bless you. You are so kind, so good. And I pray that we would press into you, even as Tabitha did, so that what we do, whether it's sewing, carpentry, cleaning, whatever it may be, is done in faith, as unto you, receiving your reward. May we, Father, be more and more characterized by the good works that Tabitha was known for. I pray you, Father, that you would bless this, your people, in this way, in Jesus' name, amen.