WE HAVE REACHED OUR PART OF THE BOOK OF ACTS WHERE WE READ A VERY BEAUTIFUL SCRIPTURE. YOU SEE, SAUL HAS BEEN SAVED BY THE GRACE OF GOD, AND HE NO LONGER IS SEEKING TO KILL THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE ACCEPTED JESUS OF NAZARETH AS THE MESSIAH, AND THE CHURCHES HAVE A CHANCE TO HAVE A BREATHER. And we'll read that in the ninth chapter of the book of Acts. And we read these beautiful words after the man who had tried to kill and put in prison, everyone who had put their trust in Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. And so we read these words in verse 31. Then because of that, churches rested throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and were edified built up and walked in the fear our great reverence for Yahweh our for God And in the comfort, they had the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Now, when we get through with this verse, there are some things that happen that we do not learn in the book of Acts. But Paul, writing to the Galatian church, picks up something that happened right after verse 31 that Luke did not record. the book of Acts and so we'll look over to the Galatian Church and we'll find out what happened that will be a blessing to you and so we'll start with verse 11 Galatians chapter 1 now remember while the churches were having their rest and their peace the people in Galatia were not having that They were a long ways away from Jerusalem. They'd be in what we'd call today Northern Turkey. And they were having great problems because the Judaizers, who are the Judaizers? They were those who demanded that you follow the traditions rather than the word of God they had their own interpretation and if you did not follow it you were nothing and you were dirt. Traditions are no value get rid of them they're trash follow the word and only the word and you'll be safe FOR TIME AND ETERNITY. NOW HE WRITES TO THESE GALATIANS WHO ARE HAVING, THEY'RE NOT HAVING REST. AND WE BEGIN WITH VERSE 11 OF CHAPTER 1 OF GALATIANS. I CERTIFY YOU, THAT IS, I AM WRITING YOU A CHECK AND YOU CAN TAKE IT TO THE BANK OF HEAVEN. IT IS, IT IS, THERE'S PLENTY POSITIVE THERE. there's always enough no matter what you may be God is more and so I certify to you brethren that that is those of you have accepted Jesus of Nazareth as your savior that the gospel and what is the gospel it's good news WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH GOOD NEWS. I LISTEN TO A, AND SOMEONE ASKED ME AT EIGHT O'CLOCK WHY I LISTEN. I LISTEN AND WATCH A LOT OF PREACHERS ON TELEVISION. AND THEY SAID, WHY DO YOU DO THAT? I WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON IN THE CHURCH. I WANT TO BE ABLE TO KNOW WHAT'S RIGHT AND WHAT'S WRONG, WHAT'S NOT HAPPENING. AND I'M TELLING YOU THERE'S SOME JUNK out there on that television and there's some good things. I certify you, brethren, that the gospel, the good news, which was preached of me is not after man. If you follow a human being or a human organization, you're going to be hurt. Follow, you have a direct, listen to me, please, If you don't believe this, I have great compassion for you. You have a direct contact with the high priest, Jesus Christ, who when he ascended from Mount Olives, he ascended to the right hand of the Father. And there is one mediator between God and man, that is the man. Oh, I'm so thankful Jesus became a human being. and live the life that I can't live. And I have to confess to you that one of the most difficult things that I ever had to learn to believe that God would love me enough to become a human being, to become a baby in the womb of the Virgin Mary and spend 30 years in Nazareth just living the human life. And as a carpenter, he got his hands calloused. He wanted everyone to know that he could relate to you and that you could relate to him. Neither I received it of man, nor was I taught it, but by revelation of Jesus Christ. Now this tells you something that you need to know. Jesus himself, the resurrected ascended Jesus left heaven and came down to Arabia at the Mount Sinai and taught Saul what he could not, he could not let go of the law of Moses which Jesus said, I didn't come to destroy the law, I came to fulfill it and he did. But that had, people had to be convinced of that. Otherwise they'll always be in bondage. As Brother Phil was singing, my chains are gone. Get rid of them, your spiritual chains. You don't have to be bound by religion. And I didn't receive it of man. I was taught by a revelation of Jesus Christ. He could not find this in Jerusalem. but he founded in Arabia at the foot of Mount Sinai, where Moses gave the law to the children of Israel, which they promised they would keep and they didn't. And they have until this day all they're trying. Verse 13, but you have heard of my conversion. In times past, you have heard of my conversation, pardon me for not saying that word right. In times past with the Jews religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and I wasted it. And I profited. Did you know that there, as long as you're alive in this body, If you will embrace religion, just religion, not salvation, not eternal life, that there is more money made out of religion than anything in the conflict that they are establishing in the Middle East. The Muslims, they are, they have billions of dollars that they have to spend TO TAKE WHAT THEY BELIEVE WILL BE CONTROL OF THIS ENTIRE WORLD. AND THAT CALIPHATE'S GONNA GROW. IT'S GOING TO DEVELOP. AND THE FALSE CHURCH, THE CHURCH THAT HAS GIVEN UP JESUS, THEY'RE GOING TO PROFIT WITH THEM. AND I PROFITED IN THE JEWS' RELIGION. HE WAS WEALTHY. HE DIDN'T HAVE TO MAKE TENTS. HE DID AFTER HE BECAME A PREACHER AND PREACHED ALL OVER THE MEDITERRANEAN AREA. I HAD THIS MORE THAN MY EQUALS IN MY OWN NATION. I WAS MORE EXCEEDINGLY ZEALOUS. I WAS VERY ENERGETIC. THERE'S NO ONE CAN GET MORE ENERGETIC IN THE FLESH THAN SOMEONE WHO JUST HAS RELIGION AND THEY DON'T HAVE SALVATION. And when I, it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace, he revealed to me his son that I might preach him among the heathens. The heathens were considered to be those who were not all that were not Jews. CONSIDERED BY THE JEWS TO BE HEATHENS. HE SAID, I BEGAN TO PREACH AMONG THOSE WHO DID NOT BELIEVE IN THE TRUE AND THE LIVING GOD, AND I CONFERRED NOT WITH FLESH AND BLOOD. HE GOES TO THE FOOT OF MOUNT SINAI. NEITHER WENT I UP TO JERUSALEM. THEY WOULDN'T LISTEN TO HIM THERE. EVEN THOUGH, THINK ABOUT IT NOW. THINK ABOUT IT. These people in Jerusalem, in the church there, they had been filled with the Holy Spirit, they had been filled with God Almighty, and yet they still had this fear of this man that wanted to kill them. Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them that were apostles before me, but I went to Arabia. I went to the Mount Sinai. and I returned again unto Damascus. And after three years, he hadn't been back to Jerusalem in three years. Listen now, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter. Now this is the only apostle he could talk to. All the rest of them wouldn't have anything to do with him. He did have some fellowship with one other person and that one person was considered was James. Now the things which I write to you behold before God, I lie not. That's what they said about him. They said, you are nothing but a liar. You did not have a Damascus road experience. You're not saved. You're not a part of the church of God. You're just doing this so that you can make us believe you're that way so that you can persecute us again. Now, after that, We go back to the book of Acts. He's in Galatia, a long ways away from Jerusalem. So now we go to the ninth chapter, verse 32. The churches had rest. And now we come to Peter begins to become the dominant person that the Bible tells us about. And we start with verse 32. Now it came to pass As Peter passed through all the quarters, he came down to the saints, which were in Lydia. When you land in Tel Aviv, if you visit Israel, you'll land real near where Lydia was, there at what was called the Lod Airport, till they changed the name of it. And so he's there near to what we would now call Tel Aviv. And there he found a certain man named Aeneas, which was kept his bed eight years and was sick. This man had not gotten out of his bed for eight years. He had to be 100% cared for. And Peter said to him, Aeneas, JESUS MAKES YOU WHOLE ARISE AND MAKE THY BED NOW I WANT TO TELL YOU IF YOU'VE SEEN THESE ADS ON TELEVISION ABOUT THESE BEDS THAT YOU CAN SLEEP ON ONE SIDE AND PUNCH SATAN AND IT'LL FIT YOU AND ON THE OTHER SIDE IT'LL FIT SOMEBODY ELSE WELL THAT'S NOT WHAT THEIR BEDS WERE LIKE THEIR BEDS WERE STRAW AND YOU KNOW I DON'T THINK THEY HAVE AS MUCH BACK TROUBLE AS WE DO THEY SLEPT ON A HARD PIECE OF AND SO HE SAID roll up your bed and he arose immediately. And all that dwell in Lydia and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. Eight years of suffering and God used that eight years of his suffering to cause many people to turn to Jesus. Really? And people don't like to hear this. But there's not very many things that are accomplished in this world without suffering. But thank God, as I made it clear at Sister Abla's funeral Friday, she was such a beautiful, sweet, faithful lady, but her last years were very difficult. But I have, I advise myself first, as I look in the mirror and I advise you, if you suffer, go to the cross. And the Bible teaches, and the song is so beautiful. ♪ Must Jesus bear the cross alone ♪ And all the world go free no there's a cross for everyone and there's a cross for me thank god and i'm gonna go because i want to reign with him that's what the bible says are you hearing are you listening if you don't hear anything else hear this IF WE SUFFER WITH HIM, QUOTING FROM THE WORD OF GOD, WE SHALL ALSO REIGN WITH HIM. WE'LL HAVE A SPECIAL PLACE IN HIS KINGDOM. THANK YOU JESUS. NOW THERE WAS, NOW HE'S MOVING ON DOWN FROM WHERE HE WAS TO A PLACE CALLED JOPPA. Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tobiatha, which interpretation is Dorcas. You see, the Jews had two names. They'd have a Jewish name and a Greek name. And this woman was a very good woman. She helped everybody. She made clothes for people. She helped people that was in need. And it came to pass in those days, she became sick. That is this Dorcas. And she died. And when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper chamber. They put her in the top room of the house. For as much as Lydia was nigh Joppa, and the disciples heard that Peter was there, and they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not be delayed, but he would come to them. And Peter arose and went with them. And he came and they brought him to the upper chamber where Dorse's body was there. And the women were standing around weeping and showing the coats and the garments that Dorse's had made while she was with them. Now, Peter said, clear everybody out. Get everybody out of here. I don't want any crying going around here. Get everybody out of this place. He did the same thing Jesus did when he raised Jairus' daughter up in the Galilee. And he brought her forth from the dead. Someone said, well, that doesn't happen anymore. Well, if you read the paper, I'm a, I see somebody shaking their head, thank you. I'm a dinosaur. I still read the paper. I got to know what's going on. But there was a woman in Eastern Europe. Doctor said she's dead. They put her in some kind of a container and zipped her up, took her to the morgue. This really happened. And there she was laying in there in that morgue. They brought another body in. And the morgue keeper said, hey, that sack over there that that woman's in is moving. He unzipped it. She's alive. And went home. And that's where she is right now. She's at her house. So people still get raised from the dead as far as doctors know. Now I must hurry along. Verse 43. And it came to pass that they tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon the Tanner. Ah! Now, you see, I know about the stink, and I mean stink of a tannery. Oh, I know you can wear a leather coat. You don't know how bad it smelled when it first came off the dead body of an animal. And so Simon was not really, he didn't have a lot of friends because he took the skins off of dead animals and used a mean of curing them and making where they were curing become useful. Well it just happened that my wife and I know about how bad a tannery stinks. We used to travel from, Tripoli, Tripoli, Libya, to the air base and between our home on Shiranakala Street, we had to go through Souq Al Juma. Now, just so you don't know, I'll translate that for you. That's Arabic, Souq Al Juma. It means marketplace on Friday. But there was a tannery. And when you drove through that town you held your nose It was awfully stink. They would almost make you become nauseated. It was so bad. And so that's where God says Saul I'm gonna get you acclimated to real life I'm gonna have you go stay with a man who lives in Joppa who is a man who takes care of tanning hides. And there he was in that stinking place. GOD WAS SAYING TO HIM, THE WORLD, I'M GONNA SEND YOU INTO A WORLD NOT LIKE THE PHARISEE WORLD YOU'VE BEEN RAISED IN AND GAMALIEL THE GREAT TEACHER YOU SAT AT HIS FEET I'M GONNA SEND YOU TO WHERE YOU'LL FIND OUT WHAT LIFE IS REALLY ABOUT A PLACE THAT STINKS AND YOU KNOW WHAT? FROM THERE AND WE'LL GET INTO THIS GOD WILLING IF WE'RE STILL AROUND NEXT WEEK. WE'LL GET INTO WHERE HE GOES FROM JOPPA TO CESAREA. BUT HE HAD TO GET HIM ACCLIMATED THERE IN JOPPA BEFORE HE WAS READY TO GO PREACH TO A GENTILE ROMAN GENERAL WHO LIVED IN CESAREA BY THE SEA. YOU KNOW I THANK GOD for the times that he has made me go through some sukeljumas, because you never forget it, and you thank God that you're not living there all the time. May God bless you. Jesus is the answer to the stink of this world, as we stand to sing and have an invitation. Let's all offer up amazing grace this day. ♪ Amazing grace, how sweet the sound ♪ Father, thank you. for those who have assembled here in your assembly of God. May they be blessed and give them safety as they make their way home. For we ask these things in the name of the one who's above every name, the name of Jesus.