0:01 Welcome once again to Words of Life. We've been studying through the Bible in the past few sessions. And today we reached the Acts of the Apostles. And the first verse of Acts of the Apostles is very important. Just like the last verse is also very 0:24 important. This is written by Luke. And you know Luke was very careful about finding exact details and then only writing. And he tells Theophilus, "The first 0:43 account which I composed was all about Jesus, what Jesus began to do and teach." Now, so how shall we describe the Gospel of Luke? Exactly like Luke described it here. 1:06 What Jesus began to do and to teach. Uh understand that clearly. What Jesus began to do and to teach. And I need to say that again for you to grasp it. 1:26 The Gospel is a description of what Jesus began to do and then to teach. So, what did Jesus teach? What he had done. That is what I was trying to stress. 1:45 He never taught what he had not done. He did not first teach and then do. No, that itself would be good. Most people just teach and don't do. But Jesus first did and then taught. And the if the Gospel is what Jesus 2:10 began to do and teach, then what is the Acts of the Apostles? What do you understand from that first sentence? I understand that the Acts of the Apostles is what Jesus continued to do 2:29 and teach. First, in Luke, through his physical body. And in this book, through his spiritual body. So, strictly speaking, 2:49 we could say the Acts of the Apostles are the Acts of Jesus Christ. The The Luke is the Acts of Jesus when he was on Earth. And these are the Acts of Jesus through 3:06 his body, the church. And that is why at the end of the book, in the last verse, it's written like this. Preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus 3:25 Christ with all openness, unhindered. Without any hindrance. And that has not finished. 3:41 There is no amen to end this book. The Acts of Jesus Christ through his apostles and children and body have been continuing for 2,000 years. This is actually an unfinished book. 4:03 It's only telling us what happened in the first 30 years. And what about after the next 2,000 years? Many, many things which we shall one day hear. But the principle is the same. 2,000 years. 4:22 It applies to us today. How shall we serve the Lord? It is Jesus must continue to do and teach exactly like he did when he was on the Earth. And we must remember that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and 4:41 forever. So, he's not going to do things differently today from what he did the other day. For example, when some preacher gets up in a meeting, public meeting with a lot of believers 5:00 present, as often happens, he says, "The Lord Jesus has told me to take a collection from all of you today." Which Jesus? The same Jesus who never took a 5:19 collection when he was on Earth? Has he gone up to heaven and says, "No, I've changed my mind now. Now I think you should I should take a collection." That means I made a mistake when I was on Earth. I should have taken a 5:34 collection from everybody. Or has Jesus changed or is he the same? Or is it more likely that this is another Jesus who has told him to do that? Who is this other Jesus? 5:53 It is Satan who comes as an angel of light. That is just one example. Give me another example. What did Jesus begin to do and teach? When he was on Earth, he never lorded it over anybody. He was always a servant, respecting 6:14 people, and washing their feet. Has he changed today? He is exactly the same. He still washes people's feet. Through his body. 6:33 So, when somebody says, "I'm a servant of Jesus Christ." and he sits like a big lord in his organization, hardly anybody can meet. And when these preachers say, "You have to give me so much money if you want me to come there to preach for one 6:51 evening." "And you must arrange one five-star hotel for me and airfare and all that then only I'll come." Did Jesus do that when he was on Earth? Or has he changed his mind after going 7:11 to heaven? Or is it possible that these people are not representatives of that Jesus, but of another Jesus? That is what we need to consider. If you think of that, you will see how 7:29 Christendom is being deceived left, right, and center by preachers today. A lot of those preachers are very angry with me because I expose all this. I never mention any names. 7:50 I don't speak evil of any man. I present Jesus and I say, "Compare everybody with him." And you can decide yourself who fits in with that pattern and who doesn't. So, that's something we must bear in 8:09 mind. And then he was for 40 days on Earth before he went up to heaven. What was he doing those during those 40 days? He wasn't just cracking jokes with his disciples. He was speaking the things concerning 8:26 the kingdom of God in verse three. He doesn't mean joking is wrong. Joking I believe humor is a gift of God. But when you have a very limited time with people like 40 days, you have to make full use of the time. 8:47 What I'm trying to say is when you have very little time with people, what you should speak about is the kingdom of God. And then he said to them, "John baptized you with water, but in a few days you'll be baptized with the 9:04 Holy Spirit." And that promise comes at the beginning of the first five books of the New Testament. Don't you think that's important if it is comes in the first five books at the right at the beginning? And then he told them know whether they 9:27 were baptized in the Holy Spirit. A lot of people have a question on that. Well, you can't do better than the give the sign that Jesus gave. There's only one sign that Jesus gave. He said, "When the Holy Spirit has come, 9:47 verse eight, you will receive power." They waited for 10 days. And during those 10 days, if you had gone to any of them uh what are you waiting for? You say we are waiting for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. How will you know when you'll be and ask 10:05 them, do you know when it will come? No, we don't know when, but Jesus said in not many days later it will come. And then if you ask them, how will you know that you are baptized in the Holy Spirit? They say right now we don't have 10:21 spiritual power and Jesus said we'll get that spiritual power. None of them would have said like a lot of people today say, oh when I speak in tongues then I'll know. If that was the case, Jesus would have said, but you will speak in tongues when 10:41 the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Don't change the words of Jesus. That's a serious crime. Millions of Christians have done that. Even though there's not a single teaching like that anywhere in the 10:58 epistles or in the teaching of Jesus. And um we see also in the life of Jesus himself. Acts 10:38 When Jesus himself was anointed with the Holy Spirit Peter says 11:19 what Jesus got was not tongues, but power. Jesus never spoke in tongues. But he had power. The same power which he told his apostles you will also get. And then he said with that power you'll be my witnesses everywhere on the face 11:39 of the earth. First starting in your own home, Jerusalem. And in bigger circles, Judea Samaria and to the ends of the earth. That's how the gospel has gone in all these years. They took it seriously those apostles. 12:01 And then we read in verse 15 there were about 120 people waiting for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Now we read in 1 Corinthians 15 that 500 people saw Jesus after his resurrection. They were all believers. 12:23 Because Jesus never appeared to a non-believer after his resurrection. 500 people knew that Jesus had told them to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. How many people knew? How many people were invited? 12:41 500 How many people came? 120 Those 120 received. I don't know what happened to the other 380. Is it the same today? The invitation is everybody is for everybody come and be filled with the Holy Spirit. So many people believe in the 13:02 resurrected Jesus. But only few will wait on him for that power. Then we read in Acts chapter 2 verse 3 and 4 that they started speaking in tongues when the Holy Spirit came upon them. It is from this verse that many people 13:24 have got this doctrine that if you're filled with the Holy Spirit you speak in tongues. Remember the Acts of the Apostles is not teaching doctrine. It's a history book. It's just telling you the good things 13:42 and the bad things that happened. It's not teaching a doctrine. For example in Acts chapter 2 it also says just like it says here they all verse 4 spoke in tongues. How many? 14:02 All. It also says in verse 44 all of them had everything in common. And they all began to sell their property. And you see the hypocrisy of these people who will take verse 4, but not 14:20 verse 44 and 45. Where have you seen people say being filled with the Holy Spirit leads you to sell all your property and share everything with other believers? That is also in Acts 2. 14:39 There you see the utter hypocrisy of these deceivers who tell you that Acts 2:4 is the only mark of being filled with the Holy Spirit. You got to take both verses together. But I'm not saying either. Cuz I don't believe you can get doctrine 14:59 out of the Acts of the Apostles. If Jesus wanted none of his believers to own children to own property it would have been written somewhere in the epistles. But if you get it from the Acts of the Apostles 15:19 then it says they all began to sell their property. Then you have to say that any believer who owns property today is living in disobedience to God. He is not he is not filled with the Holy Spirit. Say, where do you say that? I say Acts 15:38 2:45. It's a very dangerous to take our doctrine from the Acts of the Apostles. You can teach from the Acts of the Apostles that all believers should shave their heads. Because you read in Acts of the Apostles 16:00 that Paul went and shaved his head in chapter 21 onwards. What do you what doctrine do you get from that? You read that in Acts 21:26. And you read also um the doctrine that all 16:20 believers should be circumcised. It says in Acts 16:3 Paul circumcised Timothy. Then even more dangerous doctrines. All believers must shout at judges. Acts 16:40 23. What all strange doctrines you get if you take Acts of the Apostles as your doctrinal guide? Paul shouted at the judge there. So remember Acts of the Apostles is not 17:00 a book of doctrine. You can learn many things from it. Don't get a doctrine in Acts of the Apostles which is not found in the epistles. In the epistles you read, do all speak with tongues? Concerning property 17:22 in the epistles you read in 1 Timothy 6 tell those who are rich to share their wealth with others. Not to sell all their property. But to help the poor. as a warning because so many believers are being deceived in this area. 17:45 Because preachers take one verse and try to brainwash believers into They were filled with the Holy Spirit. And got up and preached the word. And what was the first gospel message? Repent verse 38 and be baptized in the 18:03 name of Jesus Christ. He preached Christ first. And then he said this is what you got to do. Today people don't preach about repentance. And many of them don't preach about water baptism. But that's what Peter preached. 18:24 And he said then your sins will be forgiven. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Four things. Repent. Be water baptized. You'll get forgiveness of sins. And you'll get the gift of the Holy Spirit. How did these four things What do you 18:39 hear in today's preaching? Only number three. Your sins will be forgiven. No repentance. No water baptism. No baptism in the Holy Spirit. Have you ever heard in an evangelistic meeting people preaching on repentance? Have you ever heard in any gospel 18:59 meeting preaching people preaching about water baptism? Or about baptism in the Holy Spirit? Christianity has drifted far away from the gospel of the Apostles. Acts chapter 3 we read Peter and John 19:16 work together going to the temple. This is something Jesus could not accomplish in 3 and 1/2 years. They were all arguing who is to be the leader. Soon as they were filled with the Holy Spirit 19:35 a miracle took place. It says in Acts 2:14 Peter stood up and 11 stood up supporting him. They were not pushing Peter back and say, hey, I want to stand up here. No, they supported him. 19:53 And in Acts 3 Peter and And in Acts 3, Peter and John went together to the temple. They could work together now, these dissimilar people. And this man was uh Jesus Peter saw and John saw this 20:13 beggar sitting at the gate. And you know, in those days people put all their money at the feet of the apostles. You read that in Acts And when they gave all their money in Acts 2:45, they gave it to the apostles 20:32 to distribute. The apostles had more wisdom whom to give. You have to give them the money. They had more wisdom. I don't have any. What about all those thousands of denarii which people have given you? He says, "That's not mine." 20:54 I can you see Peter must have this man we read in Acts chapter 4 verse 22 was more than 40 years old. He was lame from birth. He was put in the temple for 40 years. He was older than Peter. Peter was a young boy coming to the 21:05 temple would have seen this man sitting there. And as a 25-year-old Peter came to the temple, Peter would have seen this man. This man would have begged for money. Peter would have given him money because Peter was earning money as a fisherman. 21:17 And this man would have seen Peter many times. And now he asks for money. And Peter says something like this. Peter says something like this. when I was a fisherman, I had some money. Now, I'm a full-time worker. I don't 21:31 have any money. It's very different from today's full-time workers. Now, they say once I was in I had little. Now, I'm full-time worker. I got plenty. People have become the opposite of Peter. That's why the power of God is not there 21:45 in their ministry. So, there are the things we can learn here. Jesus must have seen this man all his life in that temple. That chap must have asked from Jesus for money. And Jesus would also have given him money. And never healed him. 22:03 Why didn't Jesus heal him? Because Jesus never healed anybody where the Father didn't prompt him to heal. Have you ever thought supposing Jesus had not listened to the Father and healed this man 1 year earlier? You know 22:18 He would have got healed. now that he wouldn't be sitting here. In Acts 4:4, the 5,000 people who became believers through this man's healing would not have got saved. You see how you can hinder God's work by healing at 22:30 the wrong time. Jesus never did it. See, Jesus did not go around healing people. He went around doing the will of the Father. He never did anything without listening. Lot of believers bring confusion into 22:49 God's work by doing things without listening to God. So, that's what we learn from this lesson. Peter preached the sermon. Peter preached the sermon. Even though they locked them up in jail, it says in Acts 4:3. They couldn't stop verse 4, 5,000 people 23:13 from being converted. The next morning, they pulled them out of jail and said, "Who asked you to do this?" He said, "It's by the name of Jesus Christ." Verse 10. Verse 12, there is salvation in nobody 23:36 else. You can only be saved through him. said in John 14:6. And there is no other name. No other God, no other religious leader. 23:58 Salvation is only through Jesus Christ. We should not be ashamed to proclaim. Don't be ashamed yourself. God bless you. Welcome once again to Words of Life. We've been looking in our study through the Bible and I've reached the book of 24:18 Acts. And let's look now at Acts chapter 4. The revival in the early church brought people to a tremendous unity. Remember this is speaking in verse 4 of 24:37 at least 5,000 some of them were from other countries and may have gone back. But in Jerusalem alone, there were 5,000 believers. And the congregation of these people, verse 32, were of one heart and one soul. It is a fantastic revival, 5,000 people 25:00 with one heart and soul. All these 5,000 people, not one of them said, "My property is mine. If you are in need, I can't give it to you." Not even one. I mean in a church today, if you find 50% like that, it's a fantastic church. 25:20 100%, it says not even one. And there was not even one who said, "This is mine." All their things were common property. And there was not a single needy person, verse 34, among them. All those who owned lands and houses 25:37 sold them. Because there were so many poor people among them. And they said, "We've got to share with But the Lord had never given a command like this. apostles to give up everything. Because they were called to full-time 25:53 work. But he never gave a to all the people. In the Sermon on the Mount, there's no teaching that everybody must sell all that they have. They didn't do this as a result of some command. They did it because they felt like doing it. 26:10 And there is no command for anyone to do it. the centuries, there have been some people who have given up everything to the Lord. And there are others who also been equally dedicated who have not given up everything, but who kept it and 26:23 used it for the Lord. And see this great apostle, Barnabas. didn't start as an apostle. He was not a married brother. Verse 36, his name was Joseph. He didn't have He did not have any great gift of preaching. But he had a tremendous gift of 26:43 encouraging people. He would go and meet brothers and just share a few sentences with them and they'd go away encouraged. He did that so much. The apostles said, "Hey, we got to change your name. We got to call you the son of 27:01 encouragement. what Barnabas means. He also had a tract of land and he sold it and brought it to the apostles' feet. In this when this type of revival happens, there are always crooks who try to come in. It happened then and it happens today 27:19 also. So, they were not crooks. You know, some preachers Some preachers today are million times worse than Ananias and Sapphira. Ananias and Sapphira didn't take anybody else's money. They sold their property. 27:38 And maybe gave 50% to God. And is Supposing you sell your property today and give only 50% to God. You can All their things were common And there was not a single needy person, verse 34, among them. All those who owned lands and houses 27:58 sold them. Because there were so many poor people among them. And they said, "We've got to share with But the Lord had never given a command like this. apostles to give up everything. Because they were called to full-time 28:14 work. But he never gave a command the people. In the Sermon on the Mount, there's no teaching that everybody must sell all that they have. They didn't do this as a result of some command. They did it because they felt like doing it. 28:28 And for anyone to do it. the centuries, there have been some people who have given up everything to the Lord. And there are others who also been equally dedicated who have not given up everything, but who kept it and used it for the Lord. 28:45 And see this great apostle, Barnabas. He didn't start as an apostle. He was not a married brother. 36, his name was Joseph. He didn't have He did not have any great gift of preaching. But he had a tremendous gift of encouraging people. 29:00 He would go and meet brothers and just share a few sentences with them and they'd go away encouraged. He did that so much. The apostles said, "Hey, we got to change your name. We got to call you the son of encouragement. Barnabas means. 29:17 He also had a tract of land and he sold it and brought it to the apostles' feet. There are always crooks who try to come in. It happened then and it happens today also. So, they were not crooks. 29:36 You know, some preachers Some preachers today are million times worse than Ananias and Sapphira. Ananias and Sapphira didn't take anybody else's money. They sold their property. And maybe gave a to God. Who does that? 29:55 Who gives even 10% to God? These fellows are much better. If Ananias and Sapphira were in a church today, they would probably be elders in that church. But they were in the wrong church. They were in Jerusalem. Everybody was on 30:09 fire. It's like being in a class where everybody is getting 100%. You get 50%. You're You're a failure. Ananias and Sapphira were half-hearted. And even that was okay. I don't know what they were If they didn't pretend 30:28 that they were whole-hearted. So, there's nothing wrong in getting 50% in a class. I don't know what happened I don't know what happened If you change the marks and make it 100% in your report report card. That is serious. 30:45 You don't get You don't fail if you get 50%. But they will throw you out of the school if you change the marks card and make it 100%. I don't know what happened I don't know what happened I don't know what happened I don't know what happened 30:58 That was the sin of Ananias and Sapphira. Only wanting to give half their thing to God. There's nothing wrong in that. But they pretended that they were giving everything. And Ananias Peter told Ananias, "Why are 31:17 you telling a lie to the Holy Spirit?" And he dropped dead. I don't know what happened His wife did not know it. I don't know what happened After 3 hours His wife came in verse 7. She didn't come along with him. 31:37 And that was God's plan. To give her a chance. Peter asked her "Did you sell this land for this price?" verse 8. And the Holy Spirit said, "Yes, that was the price." "Why are you telling a lie?" 31:58 She also dropped dead. Can you imagine what would happen in the church today if all those who told lies and were hypocrites dropped dead? Somebody asked me this once. And brother Zach, why doesn't this happen today? I said, "There would be 32:16 nobody left in most of the churches." So, God is can't do it. But in those days in 5,000 people there were only two people like this. So, God removed them. I don't know what 32:34 happened The other 4,998 were whole-hearted believers. When you are in a church of whole-hearted people God judges very severely someone who lowers the standard. So, any of you who want to have live by 32:53 a low standard of the Christian life My strong recommendation to you is don't join a whole-hearted church. Go and join some dead church. They'll even make you an elder there. That's what we learn from this passage. 33:12 A great fear came upon people. And nobody would dare to join the apostles, it says in verse 13. The high priests were angry. A lot of religious leaders are not happy with the revival. When people become holier and 33:33 whole-hearted, they don't like that. Even today they don't like it. So, they put the apostles in jail again, verse 18. I don't know what happened that night Same night an angel of the Lord opened all the gates and said, "Go out and 33:52 preach." Oh, tremendous experiences those early apostles had. Imagine an angel coming and opening all the doors of the prison and telling all the apostles to go out. I don't know what happened 34:13 They were locked up. All 12 were released. And then they went and stood in the temple and preached. Next morning, they come to take these fellows out of the jail to bring them to before the high priest. And they come back and report, "We don't 34:34 know what happened. The doors are all locked, but these fellows are not inside." Because the angel locked the gates after they released them. And then the captain of the temple guards said, "Hey, these people are all 34:51 standing in the temple and preaching." I don't know what happened I don't know what happened I don't know what The high priest said, "We told you not to preach this message in Jerusalem." I don't know what happened In verse 28, 35:07 "You're putting his blood upon us." Listen to these wonderful words of Peter. Every believer should always bear in mind In verse 29 of Acts 5 I don't know what happened I don't know what happened We 35:24 must obey God rather than men. I don't know what happened I don't know what happened The Holy Spirit, verse 32, is also witness. God gives the Holy Spirit to those who 35:40 obey him, verse 32. Then in Acts 6, we read about the selection of people who are servants to take care of the serving of food. We see something very interesting in 36:03 Acts 6 verse 1. And that is that when the number of the disciples increased murmuring and complaining started. Till now there was no murmuring and 36:21 complaining. And this always happens. I don't know what happened A church is small. I don't know what happened Mighty movement of God And then it increases in size and more and more and more people come in. They bring their uncles and aunts and 36:38 sisters and brothers and all the First man may have been whole-hearted. But if his relatives may not even be converted. And the church increases in size. And they're not whole-hearted people. This is what's happening in every church 36:58 throughout the centuries. They are murmuring. complaining And what are they complaining about? "We're not getting as much food as those people." This is in the early days of the church. 37:16 Human nature is the same. And the apostles said "We can't spend our time sorting out these type of problems. We have to give ourselves to the preaching of God's word. I don't know what happened in preaching. So, let's appoint some other people to 37:38 do these type of jobs. But whom shall we find? Verse 3 men of good reputation filled with the Holy Spirit filled with wisdom Have you thought of that? I don't know what happened You need to be filled with 37:55 the Holy Spirit to distribute food? Whoever thinks today that if you're distributing food somewhere, you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Today we learn something. I don't know what happened that the apostles wanted 38:10 anybody who did any job in the church to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I don't know what happened Not filled with the Holy Spirit, it says full of the Holy Spirit means they are continuously full of the Holy Spirit. And they selected um 38:28 six people like that, seven people like that. And one of them was a man called Stephen. He wasn't called to be a preacher. He was called to distribute food. He did a very faithful job of distributing food equally to the widows. 38:47 And then when that work was finished he didn't just sit back and do nothing. He started preaching. And we know him more for his preaching than for his distribution of food. And the longest sermon described in the Acts of the Apostles is one given by 39:05 Stephen. Acts chapter 7 I don't know what happened in verse 7 Very bold sermon where he tells the priests, "You are guilty, all of you, for crucifying And he had the honor of being the first martyr. I don't know what happened I 39:22 don't know what happened I don't know what Because it says in Acts 7:54, all the people who heard his message were so deeply convicted. And when people are convicted, they do one of two things. I don't know what happened All of them 39:41 All of them One, they repent. I don't know what happened Or Or they get angry and kill the preacher. That That's what happens. Now, if it's a third-rate, useless preacher who just tickles your ears and makes you feel nice, 39:59 then they'll go and congratulate him and give him some money. But, here when there's a strong, anointed, prophetic word from the Lord, you have two choices. Either get upset with the preacher or 40:15 repent yourself and turn to God. So, these fellows didn't repent. Just like a lot of people today. They hear a strong, prophetic word from the Lord. Pastors, preachers hear it. They get convicted of their sin. 40:35 What do they do? They do exactly what this high priest did. Get angry with the preacher. And try to tear him to pieces. They don't kill him because they'll be locked up in jail if they do that. But, they try to They tear his 40:54 reputation to pieces. They are no different from the high priest. And if they didn't have any fear of the police, they'd even kill such preachers. Today's Christendom is no different from those religious high priests in the 41:10 Jewish synagogue. They killed Stephen and shut their ears so they don't hear what he's saying. Verse 57. And what was he saying? 41:30 Why did they shut their ears? They said, "We don't want to hear this man cursing us." But, he wasn't cursing them. He said, "Lord, and don't don't lay this charge sin to their charge." Verse 60, "Forgive them." They don't know what they're doing. 41:49 What a testimony. He says, "I have seen the Lord Jesus at the right hand." And one of the people who cooperated in this murder of Stephen was a young man called Saul in verse 58. Stephen was like a corn of wheat that 42:08 fell into the ground and died. Young man, maybe 25 years old. You think of a wasted life. That's how it can look like that. That too, 25 years he died. How sad. 42:33 And it bears much fruit. So, when Stephen died, because he was not cursing people. He said, "Oh, God, please forgive them." He says, "I see you at the right hand." You know, just like when Jesus said, "Forgive them, for they don't know what 42:52 they're doing." And Roman portion Because he saw He'd seen many people being crucified, but never one like this. So, when people saw Stephen saying, "Forgive them. Don't punish them for 43:12 this sin." They They shut their ears. They said, "We don't want to hear all this." This young man didn't shut his ears. He said, "That's amazing." He says, "Is this a false religion that 43:29 teaches people to behave like this?" He got convicted. Holy Spirit convicted. His name was Saul those days. He said, "And the Holy Spirit said, 'You know, this is the truth.'" He killed it. He killed that voice. 43:48 The Jewish religion is the right thing. And it says in Acts 8:1 that Saul was in hearty agreement with the death death of Stephen. On that day, a great persecution started. So, what happens when there's 44:05 persecution? They were scattered through all Judea and Samaria, verse one. And so, the gospel went to Judea and Samaria. So, was not a good thing that they were persecuted? See, when God sees people are sitting 44:25 comfortably in Jerusalem and saying, "Let's stay here forever. There's a good fellowship here." What about the people in Judea who haven't heard the gospel? So, the Lord arranges a persecution here. They run away. And they run to Judea and Samaria. 44:44 And the gospel when they go there, they share the gospel there. That's how God brings good out of evil. But, Saul He went, verse three, house to house and dragged men and women to prison. And we know from his testimony he even 45:01 killed some of them. Then, Philip was led by God to go to Samaria to preach. And there was a great revival, too. Many sick people were healed. And a certain man named Simon also 45:21 pretended to be converted. But, one thing Philip could not do was he could not lead them into the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He could lead them to conversion and water baptism. And later on, Peter and John came. 45:41 And they led them into the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Then, you see Philip's obedience, willing to leave this great revival and go to help one man. Philip also was one of the people called to 45:59 serve the widows. But, he got into a preaching ministry. He wasn't an apostle. You don't have to be an apostle to preach. He may be the person serving food like Stephen and Philip. You can give the gospel to others and 46:19 there can be anointing on your ministry. That's a very lowly job to serve food. But, these people brought such revival, both Stephen and Philip. And we read here finally 46:41 that Saul went off to Damascus to persecute Christians there. Along the way to Damascus, he heard a voice and a light saying, "Why are you persecuting me?" Acts 9:4. He was surprised. Voice from heaven. 47:01 And there he sees Jesus. And he said, "Where am I persecuting you, Lord?" And the Lord says, You see that in another place. He says, "It's hard for you to kick against the pricks." He's been convicted right from the day 47:22 that he killed Stephen. He's fighting that voice. Fighting that voice. Many people were who've been converted after years of fighting a voice which was telling them to go to God. The Lord said to Saul, "You can't keep 47:40 on kicking against that." But, you're going to the city. You go to the city. I am the one you're persecuting. And for three days, Paul stayed in one house and didn't eat or drink. He fasted. And he was beginning to think, 48:01 "How do I persecute somebody who's in heaven? I've never touched him." And that's where God began to reveal to him a great mystery. That Jesus is the head. 48:19 And his body is here on earth. I mean, you see it when you touch the body, immediately the head feels it. This is why you're persecuting me. That's where Paul began to get revelation on what the body of Christ is. So, that's a great comfort for us to 48:39 know that. When somebody harms us, immediately the head feels it in heaven. Even if a mosquito sits on your hand, how long does your head take to understand that? Not even 1 second. 49:01 As soon as the mosquito bites your hand, the head knows it immediately. And the head tells your other hand to strike off that mosquito. So, that is how quickly Jesus knows when you 49:19 are being troubled by somebody else. That is one great truth about the body of Christ. And there in that house in Damascus, the Lord sent one of his servants called Ananias. Go and for Saul. 49:41 Lay hands on him. Let him be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Because I have chosen him for a great task. And then Paul began to preach Christ also. And the news went around this man who was persecuting the church is now being 49:58 converted. That's happened through the years to many people who have persecuted Christians. They finally become converted. What a wonderful God we serve. God bless you.
