Let's go ahead and get started, page 355. You may keep your seats. Oh, first and in my sacred need, and in my suffering died, He loves me, He loves me, He loves me this I know. He gave Himself to die for me because He loves me so. The simple crime that I have done He called upon the tree Amazing pity, grace unknown And loved me, I did pray He loves me He loves me, He loves me, yes I know He gave His life to die for me Because He loves me so I give Page 320. When my life's work is ended and I cross the swelling tide, When that bright and glorious morning I shall see, I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side, And His smile will be the first welcome beam. I shall know Him I shall know Him, and redeem my sight, I shall stand. I shall know Him, I shall know Him, by the Prince of the Nails in His hand. Oh, the so thrilling rapture when I knew His blessed face, and the luster of His kindly face, Above all, I will praise Him for His mercy, love, and grace, and prepare for me a passion in His eye. Well, I shall know Him, I shall know Him, and redeemed by His side I shall stand. ♪ I shall know him, I shall know him ♪ ♪ By the prince of the hills in his hand ♪ ♪ Through the gates to the city in a robe of spotless white ♪ ♪ He will love me where no trees will ever fall ♪ ♪ In the black sun of ages I shall be with delight ♪ Let's do one more, page 310. There'll be a happy feeling in heaven, I know. Make me see the many loved ones we've known. I will be with you every day. If I had a temple for a stake Then would all the holy angels have a place to stay I would live every year and day Every lonely city will sing and rejoice. Praise and bless and bless and send you with heart and with voice. Tell him how we came to love him and make him our choice. I will be in every year. And we'll be glad for you ♪ Yonday ♪ ♪ When we live a many days in that wonderful place ♪ ♪ Asking in the love of Jesus, beholding his face ♪ ♪ He will sing the justice of God, our praise in his praise ♪ ♪ And we'll be glad to hear yonday ♪ What a wonderful day! What a glorious day! When we're all the angels and the ones to say, That we'll live like we knew in yonder day. What a day that'll be. It says when we've been there a million years, I can't even, my mind can't even wrap itself around that kind of thought. You get to thinking about God who's never had a beginning and try to fathom that in your own mind. It's just way beyond us. And you know what? I believe he gives us eternal life because it's going to take us that long to get to know him. Amen. Somebody that big and that powerful and that good and that wonderful. And that eternal, oh my, my, my. As far as announcements go, let me make a few right here. April the 9th will be Easter this year. And on that day, we'll have an Easter sunrise service. Brother Chris Cornett's gonna be coming in and preaching for us that Easter sunrise service. And then we're going to have breakfast over in the fellowship hall for everybody. I understand Brother Gene and Brother Brady are really going to cook themselves to a frazzle over there for us all and be serving a big breakfast over there right after sunrise service and feed everybody. And then we'll have Sunday school morning service at regular times, but no evening service. We do it that way every year. Anyway, that'll be on Easter Sunday morning. Then don't forget our revival coming up with Brother Bud Stiltner begins April the 16th through the 19th. And just be in much prayer about that meeting that God would do a work in all of our hearts. I need him to do something in my heart, amen. As far as prayer requests go tonight, we need to, yes. Next. Next when? This coming Wednesday. Boy, they did a good job tonight cooking up for us. Amen. Thank y'all so much, ladies. Y'all do so wonderful back there for us, and we appreciate it so much. So next Wednesday night, I understand that this coming Sunday is spring break, going into that time of season. And can you believe it? We're already entering into April. And don't forget, this coming Saturday is April Fool's Day. So be on the lookout. Be on the lookout. Leo Gertz is still breathing air, so watch out. So anyway. So no restaurant next Wednesday night, amen? OK. As far as our prayer requests go, we need to continue praying for Brother Warren. It's so good to have him back with us tonight. And yes, sir. Yes, sir. Love Brother Warren and his family, and just praying that he keep getting stronger physically and spiritually, and the Lord do a great work in his healing. Brother Keith Lloyd, we need to pray for him. He had knee surgery yesterday on his right knee, complete replacement. And Deb and I went by, Deb cooked up a bunch of food for him, carried that by to him, him and his dad. And anyway, need to pray for Brother Keith, that God would be with him as he mends now. How about your prayer request tonight, Brother Jeff? Billy Bob. I understand that Brother Tim is headed to Hawaii. No, he don't. Oh, my word. Billy Bob who? Strickland. And Tim Mitchell, wow. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Isn't it wonderful that you can pray for your children? Yeah. So glad that God is. He's that kind of God that we can pray over our children and ask God to Can't see him, believe him, yes ma'am. Yes ma'am. Peggy Phillips. Yes ma'am. Anything else on anyone's heart tonight? Anybody want to? Yeah. Yeah. Tragic, tragic event. Anyone else tonight, anything else on your hearts that we need to pray for? Yes, ma'am. Anything else tonight? We've heard the names, and we don't know all the needs, but I know the one who does. He also knows all the names, and he knows the needs and the nature of those needs. He knows better than any doctor, better than any psychiatrist, better than any physician that we could ever think of. He knows exactly what they need in their lives. Let's all come get around these altars together and pray over these needs, these names, and ask God to bless in His way tonight. Y'all come on. I'm going to do the same thing on this side. so If you need a study sheet, they're on the table tonight. If you have any mission offering, you can come give it at this time. Brother Tommy wanted me to announce that they're having a singing at the White Plains Baptist Church this Friday at 7 with a Mark Trammell portrait. All right. We appreciate all of you being here tonight. I pray that you've had a good week thus far. It's been a good week, a loaded week, a hectic week. Thank you, Brother Chris. Thank you. Thank you, orchestra. Appreciate it so much. Amen. We'll be in Acts chapter number 11. Acts chapter number 11. We went down Monday and did the funeral service for Sister Peggy's son and then went Where was Alpharetta? Was it Alpharetta the burial? And never had this happen. We were following the hearse down there and the hearse got lost and went into the wrong place to run around. We rode all the way around this huge church down there and there was no graveyard or nothing like that. He had to pull over and get directions of where to go bury him at. Never had that happen on that story, but we got it tended to, amen. We're going to cover the entire chapter of Acts chapter 11. We spent a great deal of time in Acts chapter 10 because Acts 10 in the book of Acts is a very important transitional chapter That's the chapter where the gospel message opens up to all the Gentile world. And you remember it begins with God giving Peter a lesson on a rooftop and had to teach him some things about calling things that they normally would call unclean, calling them common or unclean. And then God opens that gospel door to the entire Gentile world. And that is our chapter. That's how we got in by the grace of God is Acts chapter number 10. Now Acts chapter 11 is some kind of some of the aftermath of that great revival that just happened among the Gentiles. And we're going to look at some of that tonight. If you got your study sheets together with us tonight, we'll go through this together and see if we can learn something from God's word tonight. Let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask his blessings upon this time together. Our father tonight, Lord, we love you. We thank you for loving us and being so good to us. You're a wonderful God and I praise your blessed name. Thank you for, Lord, all the things of God that you grant us in life, Lord. the good food, the good place to sleep, Lord, the good home, the family. Thank you for the good church family that you've given us, Lord. And I pray God your richest blessings upon every one of us tonight. May the good word of God have free course and be glorified among us. And may we all receive that engrafted word, which is able to build us up in the faith. So God, you do a work in all of our hearts tonight, and we'll thank you and praise you for everything that you'll do. For it's in the holy, blessed name of Jesus we pray and ask, and all of God's people said, amen, amen. Let's look at our study sheets together tonight and go through this Acts chapter 11. The gospel has been opened unto the Gentiles, and you can read all about that in Acts chapter 10 to refresh your memory. And the news spread rapidly. Peter had been in Caesarea with Cornelius and several men of that region. All Gentiles had gotten saved. Peter and the few Jewish men with him would have never believed the reality of this meeting, but the Holy Ghost fell upon the Gentiles just like he did in Acts chapter number 2. The men who were there could not deny the fact that God included the Gentiles. The Jews had been the only ones involved in God's plan for so long that it was hard for them to believe that God would include anyone else. They saw salvation as a racial issue. If you were born into their bloodline, you were accepted. When Jesus came into the world, he began a ministry that included Jews and Gentiles. Even though Jews were staunchly taught not to have any dealings with Gentiles, There were times in the ministry of Christ when he interacted with those Gentiles. This was one of the reasons that the Jewish people had a hard time believing that he was the Jewish Messiah. His way of doing things did not line up with their traditions. We read about this in Luke 15 verse 1 and 2. One of their accusations, it said, Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured saying, this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. I'm glad he does. Amen. The sinners they were referring to were Gentiles. Jewish people saw themselves as righteous and everyone not of the Jewish bloodline was despised sinners. They so disdained Gentiles and anyone with Gentile blood in them that even the mixed-race Samaritans were considered unclean. The bloodline was essential to the Jewish people. But when Jesus came, things began changing. That is why the gospel according to John records these words in John chapter number 1, beginning verse number 11, it says, He came unto His own, talking about the Jewish people. and his own, the Jewish people, received him not. But as many as received him, Jew or Gentile, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them which believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, it's not the Jewish bloodline, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God, the new birth. Jesus told a Pharisee one night that he needed a new birth from God. In John 3, one, we read these words. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. that which is born of the flesh is flesh, that old Jewish bloodline, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit, the new birth. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. This new birth is only attained through the Holy Spirit, not a racial bloodline. Even today, this is something that Christians must realize. Being born into a Christian home does not make someone a Christian. Everyone must be born again to be saved. Out of Acts chapter 11, the first thing that we want to look at is the criticism of some in verses 1 through 3. We read these words. It said, And the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter was come to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, saying, Thou wentest into men uncircumcised, and didest eat with them. Peter had stayed with Cornelius for a while, and when he made his way back, he was met with great opposition. Some brethren had heard this great news, but what bothered them was that Peter had been around uncircumcised men. He even ate with them. Horror of horrors. Peter had crossed the line of their religion and his actions were unacceptable. In their minds, he must be challenged and reprimanded for his actions. As noted earlier, this is the same accusation that the Pharisees accused Jesus of. Peter was hanging with the wrong crowd. Peter had defiled himself and was unfit to be the apostles' leader in their world. The same underlying spirit prevails in some circles today. If someone does not do things their way, they're treated as outcast and written off by the super spiritual. We will all be surprised when we get to heaven and meet some of God's choicest servants. They will not line up with our expectations and yet we will need to take a place at the back of the line with them in front of us. On that day, the numero uno will be the numero lasto. It says in Matthew 19.30, but many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first. Now the convincing of Simon, they've criticized him, now he goes into his defense. We read about this in verses 4 through 17 of Acts 11. It says, But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning and expounded it by order unto them, saying, I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, a certain vessel descend as it had been a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners. And it came even to me, upon the which, when I had fastened my eyes, I considered, and saw four-footed beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and fowls of the air. And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter, slay and eat. But I said, Not so, Lord, for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth. But the voice answered me again, what God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. And this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven. And behold, immediately, There were three men already coming to the house where I was, sent from Caesarea unto me. And the Spirit made me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover, these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man's house. And he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa and call for Simon. whose surname is Peter, who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning, a reference to Acts chapter two. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water, but she shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. For as much then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I should withstand God? Without hesitation or contention, Peter begins his defense. He only had to tell them the truth, nothing more, nothing less. Peter reiterates the Lord's lesson using a vessel like a net sheet full of unclean animals. In the illustration, God tells Peter to kill and eat. The command is not allowed by his Jewish law, and he has never eaten unclean food. So, Peter refuses God's request. In response, God corrects Peter by saying, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou uncommon. As Peter thought about the vision, the three men sent by Cornelius came to Peter's place of dwelling and informed him that Cornelius wanted to meet with him. Peter told them that the spirit of God instructed him to go, nothing doubting. Peter leaves nothing out in his story and then tells him how the Holy Ghost fell on the Gentiles just like he had done with the Jews in Acts chapter number two. He also adds that the six men with him who were also Jewish witnessed the same thing. Peter's conclusion in question to them all were, how could I withstand God? He had personally witnessed the moving of God at this meeting and he and the men with him were all convinced it was without any doubt of God. Now we want to look at the concluding sentence. In verse number 18, And when they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. The men who began their conversation with Peter in contention and criticism were now holding their peace. The phrase means they realized they had been wrong in their criticism and were willing to reconsider their contentions. What they had to say, instead of saying it, they held their peace. We have heard it said, I'll give them a piece of my mind. After hearing Peter's story, they were ready to change their hearts and then they understood what God was doing. That is how it should work in situations that arise, and they will among the brethren. The contentious should be willing to sit down and with a listening heart understand the truth of the matter. The apostles and brethren at Judea had heard one thing and were ready to accuse Peter of misconduct. But once they listened to the truth from the horse's mouth, they stopped their criticisms. God was saving people. That should have been the topic at the outset. When Peter returned, the conversation could have started. Peter, tell us about the people getting saved in Caesarea. We have heard the good news. When people start getting saved, the devil always gets the focus on other issues. But now, everyone realizes that God is working and willing to save whosoever, even the Gentiles. Now we want to look at the continuing servants in verses 19 through 21. It says this, now, they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, traveled as far as Phanesi, Cyprus, Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, And a great number believed and turned to the Lord. Excuse me just a minute. And they turned to the Lord. When Stephen had been stoned in Jerusalem, we covered that in Acts chapter 7, a great persecution began against the church. When this happened, the brethren started scattering into regions around Jerusalem. This was the beginning of the gospel spreading outside of Jerusalem. A great revival occurred in Jerusalem when the church was born in Acts 2. But God needed to get the word out further than just Jerusalem. Those scattered began proclaiming the gospel in those regions, even as far as Antioch northward and Cyrene to the west. I've given you a map on the back to see the general layout of where those places were in reference to Jerusalem. They say that Antioch is probably about 300 miles from Jerusalem. The only problem is that they had concentrated their efforts only among the Jewish people, but they were only doing what they know to do. As far as the scattered people were concerned, the gospel of Jesus Christ was still meant only for the Jews. Even with this handicap, God is with them in a powerful way that many are converted to Jesus Christ. It is amazing how God uses our mistaken ways and still saves people despite us not having everything just right. It is a proof that the saving work of God is all His work. We are messengers, but Jesus Christ is the Savior. Paul wrote concerning this great truth in 1 Corinthians 3 verses 5 through 8. He wrote these words, Who then is Paul? Who and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed? Even as the Lord gave to every man, I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. God can and will use our efforts if we are faithful to tell his story. We've been teaching on Sunday nights about personal evangelism and trying to equip ourselves, trying to prepare ourselves to be witnesses as Jesus has commanded us all to be. And this is a great lesson for us to learn because a lot of times, I think I mentioned to you one of the largest, most common reports that I hear back from y'all about things like that is that you're just not confident enough. But notice this, God can and will use our efforts if we are faithful to tell his story. Don't be ashamed and watch this most certainly. Don't be afraid that you will mess things up. God is greater than our mess ups. I mean, I've been preaching at times and had, I've had Noah up the sycamore tree and Zacchaeus building the ark. I mean, I've had, who was it? Jonah in the welly of a bale. I mean, we've all messed up. Don't let that intimidate you. Just be bold enough to talk to them about Jesus. Now we wanna consider lastly in these last few verses of Acts 11, the church's sending part one. Verses 19 through 26, we read this. Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem. And they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. Who, when he came, and it seemed the grace of God was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith. And much people was added unto the Lord. Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. The church in Jerusalem heard about the great revival happening up in Antioch. And they determined to send Barnabas to offer any assistance they might need. Barnabas has already been highlighted at other times in the book of Acts. The first time he appears, his giving heart is underscored. We read about this in Acts 4 verses 36 and 37. where it says this, And Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which is being interpreted the son of consolation, a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. The next time he is introduced to us, he is seen defending Saul in his conversion to Christ. We read about this in Acts 9 verses 26 and 27, where the Word of God says this, And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed, he tried, he attempted to join himself to the disciples, but they were all afraid of him and believed not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way and that he had spoken to him and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. Now Barnabas is the one the church selects to send to Antioch. He has already proven himself to be to the church and is known for his discernment, wisdom, and giving attitude. Once he arrives, he finds it to be just as it had been reported to them, and God's work excites and gladdens his heart. He begins by exhorting them all. The word exhort means to stimulate with words and warnings, to advise with caution, to comfort with words. So Barnabas observes them for some time and then tells them to stay with God, cleave unto the Lord. Is Barnabas's advice of exhortation? The word cleave means to stick with, to stay put. But his warning is that they must do it with purpose of heart. In other words, they need to be intentional. Daniel was intentional in his heart and relationship with God when he determined not to defile himself. In Daniel 1.8, we read this, but Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's meat or with the wine which he drank. Therefore, he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Daniel knew that his defilement would damage his relationship with his God. You cannot be casual in your relationship with Jesus. Any relationship we are involved in, whether a marriage relationship or our relationship with Christ, must be nurtured and intentionally built upon. A relationship will not survive without us being intentional with our involvement in that relationship. Our text says that Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and faith. That is a great reputation for any child of God to have. But again, Barnabas did not casually obtain that report. He was intentional with his relationship with Christ also, and it gained him a good name among the brethren. People are added to the Lord during his time in Antioch, and he decides to travel to Tarsus and seek out Saul for some help. They return together and remain at Antioch for a year, teaching the people the ways of the Lord. The influence of Barnabas and Saul and their teaching is such that the people of God are branded as Christians. This is the first time the word is used in the scriptures. And it is not what the disciples named themselves, but rather what the world called them. The word means a follower of Christ, Christ-like. The lives they lived reminded the world of Jesus Christ. They are just like Christ is what they meant when they called them Christians. Now we want to consider the latter part of the last part of this Acts chapter 11 verses 27 through 30, the church is sending part two. And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem and to Antioch and there stood up one of them named Agabus and signified by the spirit that there should be great dearth among all the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, y'all, excuse me, this pollen's killing me. I had three hummingbirds gather around my nose today. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief under the brethren which dwelt in Judea, which also they did. sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. Several people from Jerusalem go to Antioch, and a prophet named Agabus is among them. He is only named twice in the Bible, and this is the first time. A dearth is coming, sounded out the prophet from Jerusalem, and it came to pass just as he said. The word dearth comes by combining the two words death and earth. And just as the prophet foretold, a great famine of food plagued the land. The Christians in Antioch were so moved when they heard of the effects of the dearth that they decided to send relief efforts to the brethren that dwelt in Judea. Barnabas and Saul left, carrying the collections they had gathered. At first, the church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch to help any way it could. Now, after a year among them, the church in Antioch is sending Barnabas along with food, money, clothing, and other needs to the brethren in Judea. Barnabas' influence is a significant contributing factor in the early heart of the church. He first began by giving of his own, and then taught other Christians how to give to the needs of others. Indeed, Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and faith." Amen. He'd be one that we would need to... Well, no, I'm not going to say that. We need him as an influence and inspiration but we need to pattern our lives after Jesus Christ. Amen. Pray that this has been a blessing to you. We're doing good tonight right on time. We can get out of here so the kids