Breaking the Mold - 3

Greetings and welcome once again to the Wednesday night service being live stream from the auditorium of beacon Baptist Church Kirkpatrick Rd. in Burlington, NC.

We are still having Sunday night and Wednesday night services from an empty auditorium by means of lifestream and Sunday morning. We are continuing our people present service at 930, which we have been doing for several months and it has been going very very well, but this coming week. Things are going to be very different will be having our fall Bible conference with Dr. Jim Warrick from Louisville, Kentucky, and those services will all be with people present Sunday morning 930 Sunday night, 6 o'clock and Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night at 715 so please plan to join us. That'll be the most people present services. We have had in one week since before this covert business all began last whenever February or March and were looking forward to it. We were grateful to hear that our governor moved from stage II 1/2 to 3 today, which indicates further progress.

I looked over the regulations for category three or whatever the word is that is used before the number and things have loosened up a little bit, but haven't changed a great deal. However, moving up indicates that things are moving in the right direction. What we are told is that the number of covered cases has not increased for quite a while. In other words, the rate of infection is stable and steady. It is not going up there waiting for it to go down before they lift the restrictions altogether.

If in fact that time comes anytime soon. It's a little difficult to say but of the were not there yet. We are making progress by little by little and it is likely that we will also be adding a few activities to our scheduled will indicate the improvement will indicate the recognition of the improvement that is taking place, but all of these things being done carefully and cautiously because there still is a covert, 19 virus present in this world and it is still infecting people and some of the people who are infected are affected severely either suffer long-lasting health problems and damage to their body.

And some of us die. No death is a part of life were not afraid of death. We are going to be as wise as we can. So anyway, we are enjoying our our times together, but we are being careful we are wearing masks therefore able and we recognize some people cannot please please please if you are one of those people who would be and is exempted from masks by the state regulations that you're certainly exempted from masks and attending our services. We understand that some people who have breathing problems. Some people who have other problems are related to your nasal passages. I was talking to a man yesterday, a member of our church who has asthma. He carries his inhaler with him everywhere he goes in every now and then he'll have a very severe attack and has to address it quickly and a mask is it is actually a source of danger person like that. We understand that. So if you're in that category. Please don't feel conspicuous, just, were brothers and sisters in Christ, we give everybody the benefit of the doubt.

But we are also brothers and sisters who love one another and esteem others better than ourselves. So were willing to wear masks if were able to do it in order to reduce the potential for infection. That might be spread from one person to another. So keep all of that in mind. But,,, come on Sunday morning, Sunday night. Come Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night. Looking forward to having you come not one other thing that is opening up for us is that we will be conducting the tri-state particular Baptist Fellowship this coming Monday afternoon October 5, beginning at 2 o'clock or three speakers, one will be Emmanuel Pittman from beacon Baptist one will be Dr. Jim Orrick from Louisville, Kentucky are conference speaker and the final one will be David Morris, evangelist David Morris from the Raleigh area. I think he lives in Fuquay Marina somewhere in that area, and is a fine preacher of God's word sore. Looking forward to a very good day. We have not been able to conduct our tri-state Fellowship meetings or since the February last was in February. We normally have them every two months so we didn't have any role we didn't have June.

We didn't have August, but we are going to have October and so they'll be some folks coming in from other places, but you're invited to come as well to any other part of the schedule that your own schedule will allow. Yet another thing our our ladies a coffee encourage has cranked up for the new year they were holding Bible studies on Tuesday mornings every well not every week, but two weeks on one week off two weeks on one week off so they had one yesterday and the be having another one this coming Tuesday wonderful time for ladies to learn the word of God and fellowship together.

Ladies coffee encourage meets in our fellowship hall on Tuesday morning. I think at 915. I'm not sure of the time, but and those ladies are enjoying a wonderful time together in the things of God. So if you are interested in that. Please feel free to join our ladies on Tuesday morning some 3119 says, oh, how great is your goodness which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have prepared for those who trust in you in the presence of the sons of men. We have a number of praises to publicly declare our thanks to God for answers to prayer Deanna Bethea who had soldier shoulder surgery. I had a good surgery and she's recovering well.

This is the granddaughter of Henry and Dorothy Campbell.

Members of our church. Marianne freedom Freeman, another member of our church received her SLP a license this last week a few days ago that is speech language pathology associate.

She's a speech language pathology associate license associate at this time. Congratulations to Marion Freeman.

That's an answer to prayer.

We pray for her. There were some complications in regard to that and were praising the Lord the missionary Stuart Wahoo recently had a liver transplant, a very very serious surgery has recovered well enough to be out of the hospital and I'm going to read an email from him in a moment the came on Sunday morning, but he is certainly doing a great deal better and making plans for active ministry in Zimbabwe that will be starting within a few weeks, Lord willing. Our government official. The week is Burlington Mayor in all ball tutors pray for him. Pray for our pope is waiting on results from his MRI is going to be having a biopsy in October.

Early in October I think next week Mary Shaw is scheduled for shoulder surgery on 14 October is going to be a long recovery for her. Please pray for her.

This is her sixth surgery. Shirley Watkins is at peak resources recovering from a rather serious infection which took her to the hospital several days ago.

She is gaining strength and seems to be doing well. Pray please for Trinity French, who is the granddaughter of Eddie and Clara driver, and she has been diagnosed with covert, 19 pray for Gaylord Rummel was recovering from a heart ablation. I think on Monday and then is maybe that was a week ago Monday and that is scheduled for a lung biopsy tomorrow in Wisconsin. This is the father of Leo Lee and Michael handle a member of our congregation. Pray for Lee Vestal who had an ultrasound today and I haven't heard the results of that I'm sure he doesn't have the results yet. And then missionaries Grace Goodman in Alaska had surgery today. In fact, because of the time differential is possible. She still in surgery because I don't know what time that took place all read a letter from them. In a moment, please continue to pray for Trevor Johnson and his family in the US, and Paul Snyder and his family. Also in the US for health reasons, and we have a number of other missionaries who have needs and the Lord knows each knee we are expressing our condolences to the families of Eva Davis sister-in-law to Joe Davis and goad cousin of Sue Elliott and Ray McIntyre, a neighbor of Tommy Blanchard and a former neighbor of ours, right next door to us when we lived on Woodberry Drive for 15 years and Ray and Pat were our next door neighbors. So we got to know them and very at that time young boys who now grown up.

Ray was a was a solid man and a good citizen and it and a committed Christian.

We thank the Lord for all of that and he was 85 years old so we wish.

His wife Pat and his two sons the blessings of God at this time under cancer were praying for the sister of Wendy Lynch, Linda Bruner, who has lung cancer and for a friend of Jane mature Stephanie Corbett who has a tumor on the brain night.

I believe I'm correct. And for Scott mature, who was a cousin to Pastor Bob mature and he has cancer in his thigh and 24 David Moxley, who lives over on the other side of Winston-Salem and is a friend to Nancy Verity, a member of our congregation and he has cancer and it the last MRI showed the cancer had grown since the previous one, so they're going to put them on different drug.

Please pray for David Moxley in his battle with cancer and praying for Gina Boswell, who recently had a stroke. Small stroke. Minor stroke took her to the hospital.

She is now home recovering well by one of those coincidences. To him that I brought to the pulpit tonight to read is the same one that was selected for our prelude music before the service today. So if you tuned in a few minutes early. You heard the congregation singing this him by James Montgomery boys to him who loved us long ago before we came to be left his throne for earth below to save a wretch like me all praise to Christ from grateful men forevermore. Amen. To him who freed us from our sin by dying on the cross to make us whole without within redeemed from dreadful loss all praise to Christ from grateful men forevermore man to him who comes arrayed in light when sinners here shall see the one they pierced and mourn the site. God promised it shall be all praise to Christ from grateful men forevermore. Amen with angels, saints and seraphim. The new creation saying all glory, power and praise to him who made us priests and King all praise to Christ from grateful men forevermore them.

Pray father. We are grateful to the Lord Jesus Christ. We are exceedingly grateful for. We recognize that without Christ we would be headed to eternal condemnation and deserve it and how grateful we are for him who loved us long ago before we came to be, who left the splendor of heaven above to come here and to die upon the cross for those who trust in him, all praise to Christ from grateful men. Lord, we express our praise to you. We pray father for our nation. We are we are deeply concerned we are greedy. We recognize that conditions in our nation are not improving and we recognize unless there is a chain of parts, they will not improve, but only growers we recognize that there is no political solution. We recognize that there is no social solution for the Lord God. We recognize that there is a spiritual solution. There is a God word solution that if you will Lord will take pity upon us and will visit our nation with the power of your Holy Spirit to change hearts to turn his back to truth and to righteousness, and to the Lord Jesus Christ into your word, then all Lord we will see deep, lasting and wonderful changes in our land, O Lord, can we hope That We Anticipate That Such a Thing Would Be Possible. And Yes, Lord, We Know That with You. All Things Are Possible. And so We Pray That Out Of Your Loving Kindness Because of Your Tender Mercy Because You Are God of Grace, Not Because We Deserve Any Favor but Because of Who You Are, Not Because of Who We Are Frail, Lord, That You Might Have Mercy upon Us in Favor Our Land with a Breath of Fresh Air from above Father Meet with Us Tonight We Ask in Jesus Name I Always Look Forward to the Missionary Communications That We Consider on Wednesday Nights.

The First One I Have Is from Stewart Law Is He Is Feeling so Much Better, Still in South Africa and Will Be for A While and He's Able to Travel to Zimbabwe's Health Would Not Allow Him to Do That yet He Can't Get That Far Away from His Doctors, with Whom He Is Following up at This Time and Furthermore the Covert Situation in South Africa and Zimbabwe Makes Travel between Countries in Africa Very Very Difficult. In Fact, in Some Cases Impossible, but Nevertheless He's Feeling Better, and He Writes Dear Greg, Thank You for the Blessings and Encouragement of the Church in Your Own Prayerful Involvement in These Somewhat Stressful and Challenging Time. We Received the Wonderful Financial Helps of $5000 for Food Made Maintenance for the Churches, and $3000 for Extra Medical Expenses with the Transplant. We Are Blessed beyond the Telling! Please Thank Our Precious Brethren for Their Loving Initiatives, and so Clear an Expression of Their Faith in What They Do and Who They Are to the Brethren Who Observed from Zimbabwe Lift Your Voices, and Hearts to the Lord Today. He Is Worthy, We Are Always Thanking Our God for for You All for so Many Things. You Are Special in All the Ways That Lift Us up. Stewart and Laverne Sent from My IPhone These Technologically Up-To-Date Secondly Have a Letter from Andy and Trish Goodman in Alaska through Serving the Lord through Missionary Aviation in Alaska That Is the Largest State Land Wise of the United States Of America and I Think the Least Populated of All the States in America. So When You Take That Small Population and Spread It out over That Huge Landmass and Realize That Many of the Towns and Villages in Alaska Are Not Even Attainable, except by Plane, You Cannot Get There by Road and If You Did, It Would Be in Incredible Journey. Some of Them Can Be Reached during the Summer Season by Road and Not during the Winter, and Others, Not Even Any Time except by Plane, You Can Realize How Important This Ministry Is so Here's What They Right. We Wrapped up Our Busy Summer Season, a Kingdom Air Core with Three Days of Staff Meetings and Team Building Time the Lord Use Our Time Together to Grow Our Team and to Give Us.

Continued Focus As We Serve Alongside One Another. Andy Is over Halfway Done with Completing His CFI Certified Flight Instructor Doing More Training Getting More Qualified for More and More Areas for This Ministry of Aviation. He Plans to Finish up the Flying Portion This Fall and Be Ready to Instruct Next Summer.

This Is a Huge Answer to Prayer and a Continued Prayer Request As a Family We Have Been Enjoying Summer Fall in Preparing Our Minds and Hearts for Winter. Believe Me, When You Live in Alaska Preparing for Winter Is a Deal near North Carolina. Much Smaller Matter. Some Scarcely Give It a Thought. You Prepare for Winter If You Live in Alaska so We Are Preparing Our Minds and Hearts for Winter.

It Is Coming Soon.

We Are Back to School. Most Activities Are Underway, Ukulele Trail, Life, Youth Group, Water, Etc. Micah Is in Fourth Grade. Grace Is in Seventh.

This Upcoming Week. Grace Is Having Her Adenoid and Tonsils Removed. That's the Surgery That She's Having Today. The Surgery Will Take Place on Wednesday, September 30 and We Would Appreciate Your Prayers for the Surgery and Recovery. Prayer Requests Number One.

Please Pray for Andy As He Completes His CFI Number Two. Please Pray for Grace's Adenoidectomy and Tonsillectomy Never Heard It Called in Adenoid Net Annoyed Ectomy but It Is on Wednesday, September 30 Third. Pray for Kingdom Air Core As We Implement What We Learned during Our Staff Meeting and We Praise God and Thank Him for You for His Glory. Andy Trish Grace and Micah Goodman so Good to Hear from the Goodmans That I Have One Final Letter I Sent out an Email and Told You I'd Be Reading This Letter from David Edens Tonight Then When I Took It out, Give It a Closer Look. I Saw Written across the Top. Confidential Do Not Publish on the Web or Any Other Social Media Site. Thank You for Not Going to Publish It on the Web.

However, We Are Live Streaming Our Wednesday Night Service Which Means It Is Going out on the Air and Will Be Posted on the Web in the Audio and Video Form. Not in Not in Written Form. For That Reason, Therefore, I've Crossed out All the Names All the References to the Country All the References to Individual Names. I'm Assuming That Those of You Who Are Tuned in Oh What Country It Is Where the Even Serve the Lord Has Blessed Their Ministry Wonderfully and What Area Where They Are and Here's What They Right, Dear, Praying Friends.

We Praise the Lord That, despite Many Discouraging Difficulties. The Believers Continue to Distribute the Word of God. We Have Received Reports of Those Who Are Coming to Christ As They Hear His Word through Audio Scripture Players Radio Broadcasts and Testimonies of Believers As They Meet for Prayer Meetings and Bible Readings This Year. The Rains Did Not Come until Several Weeks Later Than Expected. The First Significant One Coming on 19 July. Once the Rains Began. They Came in Abundance in Many of the Adobe Much Struck Mud Structured Homes Were Swept Away As Well As Gardens and Animals. The Livelihood of Many in the Area and Some Children Were Also Lost At Least One Adult. Meanwhile, We Rejoice in the Salvation of At Least Five New Believers besides an Entire Family, a Group of Craftsmen Came to and the Individual Is One of the Preachers and Evangelists Who Have Been Trained under This Ministry to Carry on an Active Ministry in That Area and I'll Just Refer to Them by the G Group of Craftsmen Came to G. Toward the End of June and Asked for Audio Scriptures in Their Language.

They Were Distraught Because They Felt They Had Been Left out While so Many Audio New Testaments and MP3 Players Have Been Distributed in Recent Years At Least 10 of Them Repent Professed Faith in Christ. In Early July. Another Group of Men Came in the Town to Have Them a and I Profess Their Faith in Christ and SG to Meet with Them Each Sunday Evening at 5 O'clock They Have Obtained New Testaments and Have Asked to Be Taught Scriptures from Them Due To Ongoing Restrictions Resulting from the World Wide Virus.

She Is Meeting with Them in Groups of Five at a Time.

At the End of July. A Reported That a Neighboring Marketplace Merchant, Another a Has Confessed His Faith in Christ along with His Entire Family. I Continue to Get Reports from Him, and He Desires to Speak to Me by Telephone. It Hasn't Been Possible. Yet As We Work with Time Zone Differences in Cell Phone Network Failures but We Are Working on It. T Is the Widow of a Friend Who Died in a Road Accident.

About Eight Years Ago. She Is Related to Another a Who Was Also a Believer in Mid-July Team Came to Visit Her Friend and When She Heard the Ongoing Gospel Teaching Her Heart Was Touched and She Confessed Her Faith in Jesus Christ. Pray for Her and for This Group of Believers Who Study and Pray Together and She's Home Another Dude New Believer K Came in to Town Early September He Was Asked He Asked Asked for Two Boxes of New Testaments for New Believers Pray for Them As They Study God's Word Together on September 7.

Another New Believer in Visiting G from a Mining Town. She's a Schoolteacher.

G Obtained Two Boxes of New Testaments for Her to Use in Teaching Her Pupils at School. She Also Asked for 20 MP3 Players Due To the Slow down Commercial Exchanges, Enclosed Borders, Only Five Were Available for Believers to Give Her Today. She Returned to Her Students. Please Pray for Them As They Learn More about Jesus, the Last Three Weeks over Hundred and 50 MP3 Players Have Been Distributed. Most of Them to New Believers. They All Contain the New Testament in Audio Form. Many Gatherings Have Taken Place in Recent Works a Accompanied for Believers for Prayer Meeting in T Location in Late June. One of the Main Prayer Request Was for Much-Needed Rain in July and Was Caught in the Rain Walking out to a Meeting in This Town.

He Was so Through And Through. By the Time He Arrived for the Prayer Meeting Wonderful Answer to Prayer and Prayed for in the Previous Prayer Meeting and That's the Way the Lord Answered His Prayer There Prayers, Groups of Ladies Are Meeting for Prayer in September.

Jay and Her Mother M along with A's Daughter F Went out to a Certain Village about 5 Miles from Their Home for a Special Prayer Meeting They Were Surprised to Find That the Seasonal Unusually Dry Riverbed Had Become a Torrent Finally Able to Afford the Stream and Attend the Meeting.

Mosquitoes Have Multiplied with the Rain, but They Are Now Better. These and Other Ladies Now Sisters in Christ Are Having Special Prayer Meetings for Donna David Missionary David Edens Wife Donna, Who Has Pretty Significant Heart Problems They're Having Special Prayer Meetings for Donna. This Is an Encouragement to Us.

Hey Has Prayer Meetings at His Home in Town in Early July, Another a and S Visited Him.

They Were Both Converted Religious Teachers Who Now Teach Their People. God's Word from the New Testament. They Had Special Prayer for Us at That Time. Another Group Gathered at A's Home on 13 September 16 Were in Attendance Somewhere His Neighbors G, a Nearby Neighbors a New Believer While He Goes on and Listen Number of Other Things Which Were like for Sake of Time, I'm Going to Skip Just Read This Final Paragraph. Please Pray for These Requests. We Expect the 2000 New Testament Snubbing Printed to Be Delivered to Us Soon Winning Special Wisdom to Know How These Are to Be Shipped to the Central Town from Which All of These Other Ministries Spread out, Pray for These Believers Who Have Been Ill G the Parable Collegiate Canal Very Week Is No Longer Able to Leave Her Home. S Has Been Ill, As Has the Wife of a High They May Have the Covert Virus. The Very Few Cases Have Been Reported around Here. She Was Recently Very Ill. Please Pray for These Families Whose Elderly Fathers Believers Passed Away the Family of a and That of M. We Appreciate Your Intercessory Prayers for These in a Land Where Many Have Never Heard the Gospel of Christ.

Thank You for Sharing Your Financial Means to Help Broadcast the Good News of God's Word to Them. Sincerely in Christ, David and Donna Needs and Now You Open Your Bible with Me to Acts Chapter 11 Passage That We Have Been Sojourning in on Wednesday Nights off and on over the Last More Than a Month Were Coming Back to It Again Tonight As We Consider the Missionary Heart of the Early Church.

As These Believers Broke Out Of the Mold Member That They Are Jews Who Have Come to Saving Faith in Jesus Christ.

They Have Spread out across Their Part of the World over Distances of Several Hundred Miles Because of Persecution in Jerusalem. They Have Been Preaching and Witnessing the Gospel, but Only to Jews in Every Location Because of the Cultural Background Which They Brought to Their Christian Understanding the Cultural Heritage Which Caused Them to Think in Terms of the Jews Being the People of God in a Will in a Special Way That Others Were Not in Would Not Be Unless They Entered through the Door of Judaism and of Course, and That That They Were All Mistaken. And That's What Had to Happen This This Way of Thinking Had to Be Changed. This This Mold of Restricting the Gospel to the Jews Had to Be Broken and This Is the Passage Where That Takes Place in a Big Way.

I'll Read Acts 1119 and Following All Those Who Were Scattered after the Persecution That Arose over Stephen Traveled As Far As Phoenicia Cypress and Antioch, Preaching the Word to No One but the Jews Only Some of Them Were Men from Cypress and Styrene Who, When They Had Come to Antioch, Spoke to the Hellenist Hellenist Preaching the Lord Jesus, the Hand of the Lord Was with Them in a Great Number Believed in Turn to the Lord. The News of These Things Came to the Ears of the Church in Jerusalem and They Sent out Barnabas to Go As Far As Antioch When He Came in and Seen the Grace of God. He Was Glad and Encourage Them All That with Purpose of Heart.

They Should Continue with the Lord, for He Was a Good Man, Full of the Holy Spirit in the Faith, and a Great Many People Were Added to the Lord Than Barnabas Departed for Tarsus to Seek Salt and 20 and Found Him He Brought Him to Antioch so It Was for a Whole Year They Assembled with the Church and Taught a Great Many People and the Disciples Were First Called Christians in Antioch and in Those Days Prophets Came from Jerusalem to Antioch That One of Them Named Agatha Stood up and Showed by the Spirit That There Was Going to Be a Great Famine throughout All the World Which Also Happened in the Days of Claudius Caesar and the Disciples, Each According to His Ability, Determined to Send Related Relief to the Brethren Dwelling in Judea This They Also Did and Send It to the Elders by the Hands of Barnabas and Saul When We Have We Have Number One Evangelism Number Two Church Planting Number Three.

Deprive Patient Number Four. Response First of All, Evangelism. That's Where Begins Talking about Missionary Activity in Begins with Evangelism You Have To Preach the Gospel Jesus to Go into All the World and Preach the Gospel to Every Creature Is How One Translation Puts It, and That's Where It All Begins in so These Believers, Faithful Believers, Earnest Believers, Bold, Courageous, Witnessing Believers Were Scattered Because of Persecution and They Preach the Gospel Wherever They Went, but Only in Synagogues and to Gatherings of Jewish People until They Came to Antioch and Some of Them Recall Who Were Jews but from the Dispersion They Grew up in Gentile Locations and Were Not Quite As Steeped in Traditional Judaism As the Others, They Began to Witness to Preach the Gospel to Witness to Gentiles to Greeks and Antioch. They Broke the Mold out Where Is Antioch Antioch Is 300 Miles Directly North of Jerusalem. It Was a Large Gentile City, an Important Gentile City in That Day in the Roman Empire and That's Where the Mold Was Broken up until This Time There Had Been Little Small Numbers Individuals and Families in Small Pockets of Gentiles Who Had Had Come to Faith in Christ Because Someone Preach the Gospel to Them.

But in Antioch Is the Place Were Great Numbers of Gentiles, Believed the Gospel and so Here in Antioch. Some Began Preaching the Lord Jesus. We Read in Verse 20, Which Is Interesting and I Don't Know If This Is Making Too Much of the of the Language Are Not. Some of Them Were Men from Cypress.

That's the Island and Styrene.

That's a Major City in Northern Africa That Day When They Had Come to Antioch, Spoke to the Hellenist Preaching the Lord Jesus, I'm Focusing on That Phrase.

The Lord Jesus, Which Is What They Preach and Christ Is Referred to by Various Names, Various Terms Varies Combination of Names and Titles throughout the New Testament. Sometimes He Simply Called Lord. Sometimes He Called the Lord Jesus As He Is Here Sometimes Is Called the Lord Jesus Christ. All Three of Those Terms Put Together. But Whether This Is Them the Intention of Saying That They Preach the Lord Jesus or Not It Is True That the Term Christ Would Be of Greatest Significance to Jewish People That When You Are Witnessing to Jews. It's Very Important to Talk about the Christ Because to Them. Christ Was a Title It's Is the Greek Equivalent of of the Lord Messiah Would Be a Would Be a Good an Exact Synonym Christ Means the Anointed One, and It's a Reference to the Messiah and Jews. Religious Jews Were All Looking for the Promised Messiah, Which Is Another Way of Saying Looking for the Promised Christ and so with Jews, You Would Emphasize That Title. Let Me Tell You about the Christ You Know about Him from Your Old Testament Scriptures.

You Have Been Looking for Him.

You Have Been Starting Your Scriptures with the Thought in Mind, What Do the Scriptures Tell Us about the Coming of Christ. When Will He Come What Will He Accomplish Very Similar to the Way That Most Believers in Our Day Study the Prophecies about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ with Great Interest. We Read Those Prophecies.

We Study Those Prophecies with Think about Those Prophecies with Discuss Those Prophecies with Others. We We Debate Different Views Different Interpretations of What Exactly Takes Place When Christ Will Return It, How Will He Return to What Takes Place When He Returns and What's Next after He Returns, and so Forth. Because All of These Things, Though Prophesied, Are Not Entirely Clear to Us and It Is My Opinion That They Will Never Be Entirely Clear to Us until the Event Happens Just like in the First Coming of Christ, Sincere, Godly Believers, Mostly Jews Studied the Old Testament Scriptures Wondering about the First Coming of Christ and yet It Doesn't Seem like Anybody Understood Fully and Completely What Was Encompassed in These Prophecies until Jesus Came and When He Came the Fulfillment Then Shed Light upon the Prophecies. It Was Clear This Is What the Prophecies Told Us This Is What They Were Talking about, and Therefore Jesus of Nazareth Is Indeed the Christ, the Very Christ, Who Was Prophesied by Our Old Testament Prophets in the One for Whom We Have Been Looking at so If You're Preaching the Gospel of Your Jewish Believer in Jesus Christ near Preaching the Gospel to Jews What He Going to Talk about More Than Anything Else. Christ, the Christ, the Messiah, the Fulfillment of the Prophecies You're Interested in the Christ.

Now Let Me Fill You in These Already, His Name Is Jesus.

Here's How He Came. Here's What He Did. Here's How He Died. Here's How He Rose Again from the Dead and All of Those That in Many More Are Found in the Old Testament Prophecies Here. Let Me Give You the, the History of Jesus Christ. What He Did from His Birth to His Resurrection and Ascension Back to Heaven. These Are the Things That He Did Not Let Me Show You All Those Things in Your Old Testament Scriptures. Your Prophecy Says This, Jesus Fulfilled That Your Prophecy Says This in Jesus Fulfilled That Prophecy Said This in Jesus Fulfilled That Jesus Is the Christ, the One That They Were Looking for When You're Preaching the Gospel to Gentiles Who Have Not Been Studying the Old Testament Scriptures Probably Know Nothing about the Old Testament Scriptures Unless They Have Been Worshiping at the Synagogue and Most of the Gentiles Who Had Come to Christ before Acts Chapter 11 Were Those Who Were Studying the Old Testament Scriptures along with Jews in Synagogues or in Restarting the Old Testament Scriptures through Some Other Means Thinking of the Ethiopian Eunuch Who Went to Jerusalem and Purchased a Copy of the Prophecy of Isaiah Was Reading and Studying It in His Chariot. On the Way Back Home in God Put Philip Right There beside His Chariot and He Philip Was Invited up on the Chariot and Philip. They Didn't Worry about What He Was Reading and and Did He Understand and the Eunuch Said, How Can I Understand except Someone Explained It to Me and so Philip Took the Old Testament Prophecy from Isaiah 53 and Explained How That Spoke of Jesus Christ This to a Man Who Was Studying the Old Testament Scriptures about the Promised Christ.

But If You're Coming to a Group of Gentiles with the Pagan Background to Have Been Worshiping in Temples Who Have Not Been to the Synagogue Who Have Not Read the Old Testament Scriptures Who May Not Even Know of Their Existence, Then a Major Emphasis upon the Christ May Not Be the Wisest Way to Approach Them. What Do You Need to Preach to Them Exactly What Is Indicated Here Preaching the Lord Jesus, Let Me Tell You about Jesus. They Still Need to Know about Jesus.

Don't and Knowing That History of Jesus and What He Accomplished in His Humanity. They Also Need to Know That This One Is Lord He's He's a Man but Is More Than a Man. He Is the Lord Jesus.

That's What Paul Did in Preaching the Gospel in Athens. Remember Next Chapter 17. That's Exactly How We Approach That on Mars Hill with These Scholarly People, but They Were Not Students of the Old Testament and What Did He Say They Took Him and Asked Him What He Was Representing an Vault Posted in the Midst of the Areopagus, and Said, Men of Athens, I Perceive That You Are in All Things Very Religious. As I Was Passing through and Considering the Objects of Your Worship. I Even Found an Altar with This Inscription to the Unknown God.

Therefore, the One Whom You Worship without Knowing Him, I Proclaim to You. That's Lord, Isn't It the Unknown God God Who Made the World and Everything in It since He Is Lord of Heaven and Earth, Does Not Dwell in Temples Made with Hands, and so Forth. And He Makes a Reference to Jesus in This As Well. I'm Looking for It Now without Reading the Whole Thing but I May Not Be Able to Find It without Reading the Whole Thing, but He Did and Here It Is Somewhere Because He God Has Appointed Today on Which He Will Judge the World in Righteousness by the Man Who He Has Ordained This Man Jesus Is Lord Is Judge She Is King He Is the Lord Jesus.

No Reference in That Message to the Christ Messiah. We Understand That He Is the Messiah. Anyone Who Comes to Faith in the Lord Jesus Will Then Be Taught about the Promised Messiah Will Will Get an Understanding of the Old Testament Background in the, the Scriptures, That Link Together the Goal of the New Testament. The Old Testament Prophecies Fulfilled in Jesus, Who Is in Fact the Christ Prophesied, but They Came to Antioch, Preaching the Lord Jesus and We Read in Verse 21 the Hand of the Lord Was with Them When They Preaching the Lord Jesus Whose Hand Is with Them.

The Lawrence I Take This Is This Is Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ from Heaven on His Throne, Who Is Attending There Preaching with His Power in the Hand of the Lord Was with Them and a Great Number Believed and Turned to the Lord See That Subtle Shift Away from Christ to Lord, Though You Don't Eliminate Christ from Your Thinking Anymore Than with the Jews Talking about the Christ Eliminate the Concept of Lord but It's Just a Subtle Difference in Emphasis That Is Suitable to the Background and Understanding of Different Groups of People so the Hand of the Lord Was with Them. That's the Indispensable Component You Can Preach the Gospel All Day Long for Years and Never See One Convert Unless the Hand of the Lord You Believe That. I Hope You Do Because It's True. The One Indispensable Component Is the Hand of the Lord Now by His Design.

He Has Chosen to Use the Preaching of the Gospel. So Maybe We Can Say There Are Two Indispensable Components, but without Both of Them You're Not Can Have a Convert on the One Hand, from the Human Standpoint There Is the Indispensable Component of the Proclamation of the Gospel. On the Other Hand, the Divine Standpoint, There Is the Indispensable Part of the Indispensable Part of the Hand of the Lord Being with You That Is Necessary If There's Going to Be a Convert and Hear the Left Hand of the Lord Was with Them in Unusual Measure an Unusual Degree so That If There Was, Not Only a Conversion or Some Conversions or Several Conversions, but No a Great Number Believed in Turn to the Lord Is How Many How Many It's Interesting in the Early Chapters of Acts We Are Given Number of the Day of Pentecost. How Many Were Saved 3000 Shortly Thereafter. Another Great Ingathering. How Many Were Saved 5000 and Then after That We Just Read Things like in a Great Many Believe a Great Number Turn to the Lord.

The Exact Numbers Are No Longer Given, but There Are Indications of More Fruitful Harvest. In Some Places Than in Others. And This Is One of Those Places a Fruitful Harvest. Many Believe That's Faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We Are Saved by Grace Alone through Faith Alone in Christ Alone. Many Believe and Turned We Are. We Read a Great Number Believed and Turned What Is Not Turning That's Repentance What Is Repentance Is a Turning, Turning around Going the Other Direction in Our Sinful Adamic Nature. When We Doing We Are Marching toward Darkness. We Are Marching toward Sam Were Drawn to It Were Marching Away from God and Sometimes Running Away from Them As Fast As We Can and Then When the Hand of the Lord Attends the Preaching of God's Word That Comes to Us in Our Hearts Are Changed. What We Do We Turn around Now Sand and Darkness in the World Are behind Us and Now Our Faces Set toward Jesus Christ Our Faces That toward Righteousness.

Our Faces Set toward the Light Arson Faces Set toward Truth and That's Repentance We Repent of All of This We Put It behind Us, We Renounce It and We Turn in Another Direction Turn to the Lord.

That's Repentance so They Believed Faith, They Turned to the Lord. What's That That's Surrender That Submission, They Turned and Again These Words Are Important. Doesn't Say They Turned to Jesus, Though They Did It Doesn't Say They Turn to Jesus Christ so They Did, but the Words Are Chosen Carefully. They Turned to See Laurent That Speaks of His Deity That Speaks of His Sovereignty That Speaks of His Authority. And so, in Believing They Repented and Turned to the Lord.

This Is an Act of Submission and Active Surrender and They Did so We Are Told in Great Numbers As Faithful Eventual Were Obedient to Preach the Gospel and in This Case Broke Out Of the Cultural Mold and Preach the Gospel to Every Creature.

Not Just to Those of Jewish Origin, God Blessed That Evangelistic Work with His Power, God Worked and a Great Number Believed That's Evangelism but That's Not All There Is Submission. That's Just the Beginning. Preach the Gospel and of God Blesses It with the Salvation of Souls. That's Just the Beginning. Some People Have the Mistaken Idea That We Just Preach the Gospel. People Get Saved We Got Our Work and We Gone Someplace Else and Preach the Gospel and People Are Saved, We Done Our Work and We Go Someplace Else and Preach the Gospel. No No No No No No No That's Not the Pattern Using the New Testament. That's Not the Pattern You See in the Greatest Missionary. The Apostle Paul. What Did He Do When People Were Saved. He Established Churches Every Place.

The People Were Saved and That Pattern Starts Right Here from the Very Beginning Talking about the Missionary Heart of the Early Church Number One Evangelism Number Two Church Planting What I Read It All Read That Section Again. Verse 22. The News of These Things Came to the Ears of the Church in Jerusalem.

I've Always Found That Phrase to Be a Little Bit of Music but Churches Have Ears Churches Have Ears Talking about Buildings, Churches Have Ears How to Churches Have Ears. The Members of the Church As the Churches Are People Churches Are a Congregation of Believers Who Have Come Together in a Particular Place to Worship and Serve the Lord Come Together As One Organized Body and the News of What Was Going on in Antioch Came to the Ears of the Church in Jerusalem.

The News Was Proclaimed There and the People Heard about It and They Followed up on It in the News of These Things Came to the Years the Church in Jerusalem and They Sent out Barnabas to Go As Far As Antioch Was Barnabas.

Barnabas Has Been Mentioned Once before Becky Was Introduced Back in Chapter 4 in the Closing Verses of Chapter 4.

Describe How with This Great Work of God Was Going on in the Church in Jerusalem There Was an Amazing Spirit of Sacrificial Giving and the People Were Selling Their Possessions and Bringing the Proceeds in Laying the Money That They Received from the Sale of Their Houses and Lands at the Apostles Feet so That the Apostles Could Distribute It to the Poor among Them, and in That Way Nobody Was in Poverty.

Nobody Was in Need. So We Read with Great Power the Apostles Gave Witness to the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And Great Grace Was upon Them All.

Nor Was There Anyone among Them Who Lacked for All Who Were Possessors of Lands or Houses Sold Them and Brought the Proceeds of the Things That Were Sold, and Laid Them at the Apostles Feet, and They Distributed to Every to Each As Anyone Had Need Is the Passage Unfolds, We Get a Little Clearer Idea of What's Going on Here. It's Not That If Someone Was Living in a House and That Was the Only Place He Had to Live. He Sold His House and I Was out on Street Living in a Tent Note This. This Is People Selling Vacation Homes, Second Homes, Surplus Homes, This Is People Selling Land That They Don't Need. They're Not Using It's an Investment. It's It's an Inheritance and so Forth Their Getting Rid of Surplus Their Getting Rid of Extra They're Willing to Give It Away. They Don't Need It and They're Willing to Give It. That's What Happens Here and We Read in Verse 36 Joses Was That Who Was Also Named Barnabas by the Apostles Which Is Translated Son of Encouragement, a Levite of the Country of Cyprus, Having Land, Sold It and Brought the Money and Laid It at the Apostles Feet.

There's Barnabas and Really Learn a Number of Things about Barnabas in This Brief Introduction of the Last of Acts Chapter 4 We Read That His Given Name Was Joses or Short or Joseph, but He Was Named Barnabas by the Apostle Swine Because of His Nature Because of His Character Because of His Spirit Because of His.

His Activity in the Way the Effect He Had upon Other Believers in What Was That Barnabas Which Is Translated Son of Encouragement.

He Was One of These People Who Just Had an Especially Encouraging Spirit and Encouraging Manner and Encouraging Way about Him That Encouraged Others. We All Know People like That God's Gift to the Church All of You Should Try to Be Encouragers but As in Everything.

Some People Are More Especially Gifted That Way.

Another We Should All Learn to Teach God's Word. The Best We Can, but Not Everybody's a Gifted Teacher We Should All Give Everybody's Expected to Get but Some People Have the Gift of Giving and Can Give to an Unusual Degree into Two an Unusual Way on a Go.

Some Have the Gift of Administration.

They Just Have This Lack of Organizing Things in Caring Them out.

We Have People like That. I'm so Thankful for the They Have a Special Gift or Eager to Do It. We Have People in Our Church Who Are Are Asking for the Opportunity to Organize Certain Things with That Hold Back Because of Covert. No, Sorry, Not yet. What Just Let Me Know. All Latest Two Weeks Notice and I Can Organize All Their Eager to Do It That Gift of Administration and They Love to Exercise Their Gift to the Glory of Christ, and Some People Have a Special Gift of Encouragement and Barnabas Was One of Those Joseph Was Renamed, Nicknamed, We Would Say Barnabas by the Apostles Which Means Son of Encouragement. What Else We Know about Him. He Was a Levite of the Tribe of Levi and of the Country of Cyprus from the Island of Cyprus and That Man Having Land, Sold It and Brought the Money and Laid It at the Apostles Feet Will Have To Learn More about Barnabas and What Took Place under His Leadership in Antioch at Another Time. Now We Shall Bow Closing Prayer Heavenly Father We Give You Thanks.

We Praise You for Answering Prayer in Regard to Tiana Batavia That Her Shoulder Surgery Went so Well. We Praise You for Answering Prayer in Regard to Marianne Freeman Who Was Able to Receive Her SLP a License Recently. We Rejoice in the Lord and Answered Prayer in Regard to Steward Wall First That He Finally after All These Years Was Brought to the Place Where He Failed to His Successful Liver Transplant and Dental Lord That He's Gaining Strength and Is Out Of the Hospital. For This We Give You Praise. We Pray for Government Officials, Particularly for the Burlington Mayor EN about to Do This That You Might Guide Him and Guard Him. We Pray for Our Pope As He Goes through Additional Tests for Mary Shaw As She Faces Shoulder Surgery and for Shirley Watkins at Peak Resources As She Recovered, We Pray for Trinity French and for Her Family and She Has Been Diagnosed with Covert, 19 That You Bring Her Safely through the Shall Protect Others to Pray for Gaylord Rempel As He Recovers from His Heart Ablation and As He Undergoes His Lung Biopsy Tomorrow. We Pray for Lee Vestal and the Discoveries of the Ultrasound He Had. Today, We Commit Them to You. We Pray for Grace Goodman, Who Had Surgery Today We Pray Lord That Went Well or May Even, yet Be Going on and They Had Go Well Pray That You Will Help Her to Recover and We Pray for Trevor Johnson.

We Pray for Paul Snyder. We Pray for Other Missionaries Pray for the Families of Eva Davison and Note In Re McIntyre, Who All Passed Away Recently and We Pray for Linda Bruder As She Battles Cancer and Stephen or Stephanie Corporate Rather Also Battling Cancer and Scott Mature Likewise Battling Cancer and David Moxley, Who Is Battling Cancer and We Pray All Lord for Ourselves Is Cleaving to Yourself and Honoring Christ in Whose Name We Ask These Things