This is going to be the last time I say this for a while. I think it's been 53 sermons. We started a while ago, a couple years ago actually. So you're going to just turn to the first chapter and in a few minutes we're just going to go over, I don't know how we're going to do this, but we're going to go over some highlights and really five truths that I want you to remember from this book. Let's pray. Loving Heavenly Father, we can't say thank you enough. It's amazing to us, when we really grasp it, that you would love us as you do. Thank you for that. And we praise your name. We bless your name. Thank you for being our God. Thank you for sending Jesus, that we might know you, and we might know him. Thank you for your word that has laid it all out for us. Thank you for your spirit who indwells us, who teaches us, that divine teacher who's in us. Thank you for this book that we've been privileged to walk through. And Father, you've done a lot in our lives through this. Thank you for that. Fathers, we come before you. We recognize the reality of what it is to live on this side of heaven. Father, there's heartache here, there's grief, there's fear, there's discouragement. We recognize that you're always with us and that you want to help us through that. And you take those things that come in our life that are so troubling, and you use them to help us to grow, to help us to look to you. Father, for those that grieve today, I place them before you. I pray you will bless them powerfully. Bless them wonderfully. Encourage them. For those that have come in, they're tired, they're wore out, perhaps they're afraid, perhaps the issues of life have caught up to them and they're weighed down by that. Help them as well. Father, in these next few minutes, you know that our desire is to run through this book and just look at a few highlights. And I pray that you will bless that. There's some that haven't been with us for this whole time in the teaching of it, and so I pray that you'll help them to understand And Lord, if there's someone here today that is yet to know what it is to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior, and to be born again, to be redeemed, to be forgiven, to have a right standing before you, help them to know that as well. Father, take this teaching and help me with it as I proclaim it. Use it in the lives of the listener and myself as well. And we would give you the honor and glory in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Acts 1-8. This is the risen Christ speaking. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth. September 21st, two years ago, we began a journey in which we looked intently into this Powerful, transformative message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is recorded in this book. The book of Acts relays to us the work of the Holy Spirit through the word of God to transform lives, to build the church. It is here in this book, the book of Acts, that the church is born. It exploded onto the scene in human history. It turned the world upside down, and it's been making a dynamic impact ever since. The work continues. It really does. It's in this book we discover the stories of ordinary individuals embracing an extraordinary Savior. Common folks, people like you and I are in the pages of this book. This is a book that transitions from the Gospels to the church epistles, and it reveals God powerfully at work to bring salvation to the lost, to build up the church, the body of Christ. I believe the apostle Peter said it well in chapter 15. Verse 14, and he said, as describing what God is doing, Simeon has related how God first concerned himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for his name. And that's what the Lord is doing. He's taking from among the Gentiles. It's primary of the work. It's not only the Jewish people are being saved as well, but right now it's all about taking from among the Gentiles, a people for His own name. God is saving individuals today. You just heard of one of those, where God intervened in her life. That's what he's up to today, primarily calling from among the Gentiles, the people for his glory, for his name, for his fame. In doing this, the Lord takes individuals, warts and all, who are yielded to him, who stand in the gap, who will influence others for Jesus Christ. That's what he's doing. He's all about you and I in that. Now, the world has changed. And it has changed ever since Acts 2, but in Acts 2, the world really changed. 3,000 souls were saved through the preaching of the gospel where the Spirit took the Word of God straight into the heart of needy individuals and brought them into saving faith. We are deceived when we think this is not happening anymore. I'm not talking about Acts 2. I'm talking about God saving men and women, boys and girls. It's been happening ever since that day 2,000 years ago. And we have the privilege, friends, of being a part of God's redemptive history. His ministry that's going on here and now. One of my desires in preaching the book of Acts is that we would see that God is powerfully at work still today. Not just then, but still today. And that's really what I want to sort of rehash with you for a moment in time today. God is powerfully at work. to bring men and women, boys and girls, into relationship with him through faith in Christ. And he's looking for people to help in that. And we need to be those willing to be used of him. That's what he's looking for. Pride, of course, keeps us from it. Time keeps us from it. Our attitude keeps us from it. Our plans, our agenda. We want to call the shots. We want to set the order of our day and our lives. And, you know, the scripture said God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. He's looking for humble people. He's looking for you and I. He's looking for those who will bend the knee, who will say, not my will, but yours be done, who will say, I want to be a part of what you're doing here and now. Five things I want us to remember from the book of Acts. First of all, I want us to remember the promise given. I read that to you. You might say, wait, a promise? We look at this as a great commission, and it is written in a way of imperative. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit, or part of the Great Commission, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, there it is. And Jesus speaks those words. And here is the risen Christ before the apostles, the disciples. And we remember today that he's risen, right? The impact of the resurrection was dramatic in the early believers, and it cannot be overstated. Some of you may think I overstate that. But it cannot be overstated. He, Jesus, is alive forevermore. He's risen. They knew the truth concerning the resurrection. He was alive standing before them. And boy, did it make an impact on them. It provided for them a powerful, transformative hope. This hope is the only way you can explain the lives of these individuals, the birth of the church, and what has been happening ever since. But there's a promise here. I don't want you to miss it. It's a promise. He says, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses. You will have the ability. We sometimes look at this in a different realm, And it is a command to witness, it is. But it's much more than that. I hope you guys realize that. It's much more than that. Jesus is setting forth an amazing fact for them. He's presenting and promising them this, I will give you the ability to do this. Witnessing is what we do, but who we are, witnesses this is who we are and because of who we are we're in Christ we're his the Lord makes a promise you will witness of me and we do now we may not do that at times as we ought to and we may fail in our attempts And we may at some point set it aside, but we, make no mistake, we are witnesses. And the power and the ability is there for us, the Spirit of God who lives in us. We never do it alone. He says, you'll have the ability and you will witness me. The Holy Spirit did come upon them. That's recorded in the second chapter. And they did witness from that moment onward for his glory, for his name. promise given by the Eternal Living Son has catapulted the church forward to this very day. Followers of Christ in every nation are living out this promise made in Acts 1.8. You and I are part of that. As a result, men and women, boys and girls are coming to faith today. Listen, I realize we lived in a messed up world big time. Our country's never been a messed up country. Our country's never been into place in its thinking, in its morality, in its doing as it is today. That's just the facts. But God has placed you and I here with great hope. The Spirit of God is in us. The promises have been made. We will witness Christ. And we will see God at work. And so, let's bow our knee and our will to Him. Witnesses are what we are. Witnessing is what we do. I don't want you to think of it as, I need to win the world to Christ. No. You just need to be faithful. And I want you to think of it as one person at a time. One person at a time. This is an original of me. I heard this once. It stuck with me for a long time. This missionary said, one person at a time as fast as I can. one at a time as fast as I can. You know what God has done? He's placed all of you in strategic places for His glory, for His honor, that you might be a powerful witness for Jesus Christ. And I don't want you to think you need to know everything. You don't. There'll always be more that you can know. You have a story. You heard a story this morning of someone who had come to faith in Christ. You'll hear more of them. How do you argue with a story? You have, if you know Christ, you have a story that you can share with someone. Hey, just want you to know, I got to share my story yesterday. I did, I got to share my story with a religious man yesterday. It was a great joy to share my story. You know what he couldn't argue? He couldn't say, that's not your story. He couldn't say that didn't happen to you. He couldn't say God didn't do that. It's pretty hard to argue with the story, isn't it? And so we want you to know your story and be able to share your story. Jamie did a great job of that this morning. I'm back there saying amen. And for the next, I'll be saying amen, right? So the promise is given. The promise is given. And then there is, if you'll, I'm not gonna read all this, but in Acts three through five, just turn there. Acts 3-5, this is the name we proclaim. I want you to remember, the name we proclaim. Fifteen times in these three chapters, name is mentioned. When His name is referred to, it stands for all He is, all He has done, and all He yet will do. Look at chapter 3. I want to pick it up in verse 6, Peter and John are going to the temple. And they see a man, they fix their eyes on him, he was a beggar, verse three, four. Peter says, look at us, and he began to give them his attention, verse five, expecting to receive something from them. Peter said, I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazarene, walk. And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up, immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. With a leap, he stood up. We spent some time in Colorado the last couple weeks. And I found out at 53, you can't hike like you did when you were 25. And I have a young son who's in, he ran, about a month ago, he ran 12 miles. at 9,000 feet in Colorado. He ran 12 miles at 9,000 feet. Do you get that? He ran. Okay, so I'm hunting with him. And he says, Dad, let's go up to this place. And we left the camp at 5 a.m. And we walked till 7.40 to get to our hunting spot. Spent like 20 minutes, 30 minutes hunting. And the rest of the morning we were walking. We got back to camp at 12.30. He's got one of these, some of you will know, I'm a little dated, you know that, right? He's got a watch that takes his blood, not blood pressure, but his heartbeat, maybe blood pressure, I don't know what all it does. It tells him right exactly where he's been, tells him how many steps he's gone. By 1230, we'd walked 22,000 steps. I was geeked. Went hunting that afternoon, but the next morning, I experienced shin splints. And 10 days later, I'm still dealing with those a bit. Do you see what this guy did? He hadn't walked since birth. He got up, he leaped straight up. With a leap, he stood upright, began to walk. Enter the temple. Why? Because there's power in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Peter goes on to say, look, it's his name we proclaim. They got in all sorts of trouble for proclaiming his name. But the name that we proclaim is Christ. It's all he is, all he was, all he stands for, all he yet will do. And they interjected that name, and there's power in that name. Look at verse 16. Also, the people from the cities and the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with God's clean spirit. They were all being healed in the name of Christ, for the glory of His name. That got them in all sorts of trouble. But you know what? We, you and I, get to proclaim His name. It's offensive, isn't it? It's not comfortable. There's power in it. There's conviction in it. They go too far. Philippians 2, 9, 11, for this reason God also highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that the name of Jesus, every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on the earth, under the earth, and that every tongue will confess what? That Jesus Christ is Lord, he's over it all. to the glory of the Father. One day, one day, all people of all time will bow to that name. That's the name you and I get to proclaim. Yeah, there's power in it. There's power in that name. There's also salvation in it. Look at chapter four, verse four. Many of those who heard the message And the message is the gospel, and the gospel is all about Jesus Christ. Many who heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to be about 5,000. There were 3,000 saved in Acts 2, now we're at about 5,000. Look at chapter 4, verse 12. There is salvation in no one else, no one else, for there is no other name. under heaven, that has been given among men, whereby we must be saved." It is His name. It's His name we proclaim. We proclaim Him. You know, in spite of the threats, the beatings, the imprisonment, they kept proclaiming His name. See, Jesus lives, and the living Christ imparted to Peter, John, and those other first century Christians' ability to proclaim the one name that sets people free. The one name. This is the name we proclaim. of all the so-called, think of this a minute, of all the so-called famous people in the world, none hold a candle to this one name, to this Savior, to this person, Jesus Christ. How many of them created something from nothing? How many of them did that? No, none of them did, only Jesus did that. How many of them died, rose again, never to die again? How many? How many could make that one sinless sacrifice for all people of all time? None. Jesus did though. How many of them raised the dead, defeated death, sin and Satan? How many will one day be the focus of heaven? How many will light up heaven? Just one. Just one. Paul would write this in Colossians 128. No wonder, right? We proclaim who? Him. We proclaim Him. No one else like Him. We proclaim Him. Admonishing every man, teaching every man with all wisdom so that we might present every man complete in Christ. It's all about Christ. Paul says we proclaim Him. We want Him to mature. We want Him to come to faith. We want Him to mature. We proclaim him. And by the way, folks, this is a name we proclaim. This is a name we proclaim. Politically correct? No. Not at all, right? Comfortable? Not very often. Sometimes, surely. This name is heard, by the way, all across the land, mostly in a derogatory way, right? But this is the name we proclaim. It's a name given. It's what the early church did, and that's what we will do. Well, I want you to remember that. I also want you to remember the impact of the Lord on one man, on Stephen. Turn to Acts 7, if you will. Acts 7. Three more points, right? So we'll get through it. Acts 7. I want to just read a few verses there toward the end of this. Acts 7 is all about Stephen giving a defense. Here's a man that is full of the Spirit of God, a man who just in a moment of time quoted freely the scripture. He has been impacted in a mighty way. By the way, he's on trial. And he is before a group of men who ultimately will kill him, but this isn't a good company he's in as far as those who would have his back. They don't have his back. They hate him. They hate Christ. And here he is, and he's proclaiming to them. He goes over history, really, of God's dealing with Israel. But he brings it pretty pointed in verse 51. He says to them, you men are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in the heart. And here he's always resisting the Holy Spirit. He says, you guys are just like your forefathers. And then he says in verse 51, we pick it up, when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, or cut to the heart. They began gnashing their teeth at him. But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven, saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he made it known, he said, behold, I see the heavens opened up, and the Son of Man, this is the one, this is the name, this is the Savior. This is the person that gets people in trouble. And Stephen freely says it. I see Christ, the Son of Man. I see Him there, standing at the right hand of God. By the way, note that Jesus is not seated here. He is seated at the right hand of the Father. But in this instance, in this instance, I believe He's standing for encouragement and approval of Stephen. They cried out with a loud voice, covered their ears, rushed at Him with one impulse when they had driven Him out of the city. They began stoning him, and the witnesses laid aside the robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against him. Having said this, he fell asleep." Let's remember the impact of the Lord on Stephen in speaking the truth. Scripture states in chapter 6 verse 5 that he was full of faith in the Holy Spirit. He was chosen from among the congregation as a deacon to serve. He went way, way beyond. He just was in a mode of maturity toward faith in Christ. But he speaks the truth here. I don't think Stephen thought he was going to get a free pass when he did it that day. These men need to hear what he had to say. It was not comfortable for them, but he said it. And speaking the truth, and that's what our Lord always did, but in a willingness to forgive. Did you see it there? They drove him out of the city. They began, verse 58, began stoning him. By the way, this sometimes is a long, drawn-out process. And the reason that Paul saw then is holding the cloaks, the coats of those men, is because it's dirty business and they have to be free to engage in the stoning. It's an ugly thing. Saul is there in hearty agreement. They drove him out. They began stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord. He said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. But notice what he does here. The Lord do not hold this sin against him. So here he is willing to forgive. He died praying. He died looking to Jesus. He's willing to forgive. Why? I believe because he's just like Christ. Here's a man that really is just like the Lord. How many of us in that position at that moment in time would be the same? He's been looking to Jesus. He is here. He's got the heart of Christ on him. Stephen inspires us with his heart toward Christ because That's where his gaze was all along. In reality, he's not a very old believer. He's really not. He hasn't known Christ for very long, but boy, is he close to him. He's looking to Jesus. He never took his eyes off from the Lord. What an example for us. What an example. Stephen, impacted powerfully by Christ. And you'll note that Jesus is in heaven, I believe, urged. He's given his amen. He's given his amen to him. But he also, I mentioned he died praying. Do you notice his prayer in verse 60? Do not hold this sin against them. Having said this, he fell asleep. The Apostle Paul was part of this ugly killing. He's known as Saul here. He's holding the coats of those men. In Stephen's prayer, Lord do not hold this sin against them, is answered a couple chapters later. a couple chapters later concerning that man Saul who became Paul. And Jesus doesn't answer this prayer by sending someone else to catch Paul on the road to Damascus to give him a gospel witness. No, he goes himself. He goes himself. But here's Stephen's prayer. Lord, don't hold this against him. And you know, here's a man, Saul, who became Paul, powerfully transformed. He hated Christians. He hated Christ. He hated the church. He would go into homes and pull believers out, leaving, I believe, homes a wreck. Mom and dad got pulled out. Dad got pulled out. The children are left there. He disrupted. Boy, he was zealous. He would write later on this. Think of it from that point of view. You were a person who shook your fist at Christ, who was part of the killing of Christians. He wrote later on this. If anyone is in Christ, he's what? Isn't that amazing? This man would become the greatest missionary this world has ever known. He hated the church, he became a defender of the church. He hated Christ, he began to proclaim it. That's the power of the gospel. And that's the influence of one man's prayer for someone else. We could run on that a while, huh? But if any man is in Christ, are you in Christ? You might say, you know, I got a past. You don't believe this past I've got. It's piled up with wickedness and sin and ugly stuff, and I've been carrying it, but I really don't believe that God could forgive me. He can, friend. If he can forgive Paul, he can forgive you. And by the way, if you know him, yeah. If any man is in Christ, he's a new creation. redeemed, forgiven, his child forever. How glorious is that? Let's remember the impact of the Lord on Stephen. Let's remember the simplicity of the message. Turn to Acts 16. This is just glorious. Acts 16. You know, here Paul, the Saul has become a Christian. He's on missionary journeys now. We pick it up in Acts 16 and he gets tossed in prison. He's in a jail and it is in that place that God powerfully uses him and Silas. They've been beaten. It's around the middle of the night and we find them whining and crying and complaining and saying, God, how could you? No. They're praising the Lord. They see that God has guided them. It's around midnight. They're singing praises to the Lord. And while they're doing that, God shakes things up. Verse 25, about midnight, Paul and Silas are praying and singing hymns of praise to God. Prisoners were listening to them, I believe, also The prison keeper was listening as well. Suddenly there came a great earthquake, and you know the rest of the story. Prisoners are ready to go out. The individual watching over the prison understands what has happened. If he loses a prisoner, his life is gone. He's about ready to take his life. And Paul cried out with a loud voice, verse 28, don't harm yourself, we're all here. Verse 29, he called for lights, rushed in, trembling with fear. fell down before Paul and Silas. After he brought them out, he said, sirs, what a question. What must I do to be saved? That's quite a question, isn't it? Where's that come from? I believe you heard a lot of the God has prepared his heart. He asked the one question. It seems to me this question that so many are asking today, what must I do to be saved? They'll ask it in different ways. How can I be right with God? How can I feel His presence? How can I have an entrance into heaven? What do I need to do to please God? It's asked in a lot of ways. You might say, what must I do to be right with God? And the answer is given in verse 31, the first part. Don't ever forget this. This is the simplicity of the gospel. What must I do? Do I have to be better than my neighbor? Do I have to be baptized? Do I have to attend church? Do I have to go on an admissions trip? Do I have to... On and on. The question is answered. It's not a mystery. It's not difficult. Responding to it in the right way can be really hard. What must I do to be saved? They said, Paul and Silas, the one thing is here. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you'll be saved, you and your household. You believe. You trust. You take note of this one who came, who is not only a man, he's God. He went to the cross as a perfect, sinless sacrifice for you. God accepted his sacrifice as evidenced by the resurrection. You believe in him. You believe in him. You believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the one answer. Jesus said it well in John 14, 6. He said to them, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. It's me. It's through me. You have a relationship with the Father. No one comes to the Father but through me. It is through faith in Him. Him alone. Him alone. It's not a mystery to this question. God's revealed it. All right, we were in Acts 4.12. There's no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. It's Him and Him alone. Jesus said, I am the way. There's no other way. There's no other way to the Father. You can't do an end around. It is through me alone. That's kind of difficult at times, right? Because we want to think, well, all people, whatever way you want to take is fine. Whatever way they want to take is, that's great. I'm not going to judge that. And Jesus said, no. I'm the way. There's no other way. And the scripture says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. So there's the one question, the one answer, and the one reality. There it is. You will be saved. You believe on him and you will be saved. The power of the word of God, its ability to bring conviction and transformation to individuals, you can trace it right through the book of Acts. Here is one reality. Man has a great need. The wages of sin is death. It's separation. We are condemned apart from Christ. We have a great need. The wages of sin is death. Praise God He doesn't just leave us there. He doesn't leave us condemned. If you're without Christ, you're in line to incur eternal hell. That's what you're in line for. You are under the wrath of God today. How does that change? Well, what you get for your sin is wages and it's separation from God. How does it change? Free gift of God is what? Eternal life in who? Christ Jesus. It's not in a church. It's not in a work. It's not in whatever you can present to God. Whatever it is, it falls way short. Are you perfect? No. So you have a need. The wages of sin is separation. It's death. If you're in that place today, you've never trusted Christ. If you die in that place, you will die eternally separated from God. And I believe you'll look back at this morning and say, what was I thinking? I could have had it. It was right there. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's what we see here. There's one name. There's one way. And there's one person. And it's Jesus Christ. The one reality is we must trust Him as our Savior. We need it. We've missed the mark. We're not perfectly righteous all the time. Have you trusted Jesus? Friend, today, in this moment in time, place your faith in Him. So, we saw the simplicity of the message. Why is this so hard? Well, if I pulled out a $10 bill and I said the first one up here can have this as a gift, you know the first one up here who that would be? I don't think it's going to be Geno. I don't think it's going to be Kathy. It's going to be one of these kids. You know why? They don't care. They don't care what you think. You know, their pride, there's still, there's some humility there yet, see? And as we get to be adults, we say, well, we don't want somebody to know that I'm a great sinner and I have a great need, or what will they think if I respond to the simplicity? That's a simple message. Do you mean to say that faith alone and Christ alone in a person is saved? Yeah. So we want to say, well, It's a different way. No, there's only one way. There's only one name. So don't let your pride set you up. Maybe a little later, maybe another day. I don't need that. You need this. You need Christ. So there's the simplicity of the message. We balk at that. But there it is. How do you argue with it? How can I be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Put your faith there. Whatever you're thinking, bring it over here. Put it on Jesus. He'll save you. That's good news. Lastly, I want you to see the story yet unfolding. You know, as I put this together, I was thinking, I want to talk about this. I want to talk about that. What about that? Well, if you're going to do this in less than one message, you can't get it all, right? You guys already had it all. You can go back and look at those messages if you need to see them again. X-28, 30, and 31. Incredible story. of God bringing the church into existence, seeing the Spirit of God moving, leading the power of God through the Word of God, bringing individuals to faith and then using them to impact wherever God has planted them. That's what you see here. And we finish with verses 30 and 31. in Acts 28. And this is speaking of Paul, he stayed two full years, his own rented quarters, was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God, teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness unhindered. And the book ends there. Pretty strange, kind of a strange ending. It really is. But there's a story that's yet unfolding, and it's through believers. It's through believers. Listen, you're still alive. Your blood is pumping through you. I think you guys are in your right mind. You may be wondering if I am, whatever. But God still has us here. He'll call you home when He's done, okay? Until then, and I love this chapter in 1 Corinthians 15 because it's a resurrection chapter. It's about the resurrected Christ who's risen. You guys are weak, He's risen. Yeah, and he ends that chapter with this, therefore, put it all together. He shared the gospel, he shared about the impact and the significance of the resurrection. Therefore, my beloved brethren, what? Crawl in the hole, the world's going, it's a mess, just stay to yourself. No, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding, in the work of the Lord. We got Iwana coming up. We got all these studies. You know, this is a time. Here's our schedule for this church. When September begins, it's a hot race to April. I mean, we're going to give it all we got, right? It's summer, we have great ministry, but this is the big time, the big push. We need people. We need people praying, we need people doing. It's a big, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. It isn't about us, you guys, it's about Him. And it is that we're to abound or super abound or be involved in the work of the Lord. It might be encouraging somebody. I got something this morning in my box in the office. And it was, I looked at that, I said, well, that's encouragement. Praise the Lord. Somebody did something. I don't know who it was. Whoever you are, thanks. Raise your hand. Always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. There are going to be a lot of things that we do in life that don't add up to much, but doing the work of the Lord. Do you realize the book of Acts, it's a record of the work of the Lord through the lives of individuals who are willing to bend the knee, who are willing to serve. That's what it is. That's what it is. And you and I are writing a history of God's work in and through us. So be steadfast. Be steadfast. He does it through believers. He does it through you. I'm going to end here. It's through you. It's through me. God's desiring to work through us. This book that God has allowed us to peer into has recorded the work of the Spirit through the proclamation of the greatest message this world has ever known or needed. You and I are writing a history of God's work through us. The story yet unfolding, and that's where the book of Acts ends. Kind of Paul Harvey. You didn't hear, though, the rest of the story. It's still ongoing. It's yet unfolding. The story yet unfolding involves individuals. And if you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, it involves you. It involves you. Every one of you are vital. Every one of you. But we need to yield, to yield to his leading. He's writing out his story of his work through you, through me. But we must yield. We must yield. He's going to get his work done, either through us or someone else. I'll let you know that. God's got a plan, and he'll get it done. But you and I can have the privilege of being part of that plan. You're just one person, but you are the one person that he desires to use as his instrument of light in a dark place. There are those who he has placed in your life, those he's placed in your life at this moment in time who need to hear from a witness. Sorry, let's close it here. God's powerfully at work through his people in order to build the church. Okay? He's powerfully at work through his people in order to build the body, not the building, the body of people. So I want to end with that. Let's be willing to serve him. Okay? That can be tough, but let's just say, okay, I can trust Him. As He leads, I'll follow. Let's pray. Loving Father, amazing, amazing book. Not just the Bible, but specifically this book of Acts, as we see you working to bring about your redemptive history through individuals who have been used of you in a powerful way. Thank you that you take individuals that don't have it all together, who maybe at some point were openly and disdainly standing against you and hurting those who would proclaim you. Thank you for that description of Saul, who becomes Paul, who becomes this new man, who becomes this greatest missionary the world has ever known. That's reserved for him. But for us, Father, each one of these individuals that are before you, you have a specific plan to use them. And we don't know all the details of that. Sometimes we struggle to believe it. Sometimes we struggle to give into it. But I pray we would be those who would say, not my will, yours be done. Use me. Use me wherever you would want me to be used. I pray that will be our heart. Father, there may be some before you who have yet to come to faith in Jesus. Move them now. Let them know you love them like no one else could or would. You've expressed that in the giving of your perfect son, who expressed his love by going to the cross. Thank you that he not only died, made that sacrifice, that propitiation, his blood was shed, made that sacrifice for sin, but that he rose again in triumph, never to die again. It's to him we look. Save those who need to come to faith. Bless our people, Father. May they be of a great impact for you in the days to come, in Jesus' name. Amen.