Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's have a word of prayer, and let's get into
the Bible. Let's pray.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Dear Heavenly Father, give us Jesus boldness to live and
love and share Jesus in our lives. And give us
obedience so that it makes sense. There's a witness that
is consistent. Now we're sinners, sinners by nature, but when
(00:25):
we look at the cross, we don't want to be so,
Lord put the Holy Spirit in us. Thank you for
every one of these young people who let out.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Today in this worship service. May they grow in the
word of God.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Lord, I am so blessed by the fact they're digging
into the Book of Hebrews to discover the sanctuary message,
the covenants, to go deep into the Bible, not shallow.
May they be men and women of God in their
generation in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Sophia Magdalena Shoul died nineteen four standing tall for Jesus Christ.
Both she and her brother were beheaded by the Nazis
for boldly speaking up for Jesus Christ a campus outreach
ministry protesting as collegiates for the cause of Christ in
(01:17):
Nazi Germany. She would not align with those who would
kill the Jews in the Holocaust. She called her nation
her leaders to righteousness. She opposed the Nazi regime, and
she chose to not align with those Christians who would
force the conscience of Christians to go along with Hitler.
(01:38):
When many Christian organizations and churches chose to get along
with Hitler to compromise to force compliance among their members,
Sophia Schouw, as only a teenager, became the voice of
conscience for Germany, the conscience of Christ facing Nazi Germany.
(01:59):
A teenager, she opposed Hitler, She opposed his evil acolytes.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
She faced evil in the eye, and she did not flinch.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
She died at the age of twenty two. Her life
ministry was in her teens to twenty two. Sophia was
a student protester in the God kind of way, the
good kind of way, not the selfish, arrogant kind of way.
We've seen that in recent years in our country. Lately,
students have protested for social justice causes. Now I'm for
(02:31):
social justice. I am I'm for it in the right way.
I believe Martin Luther King Jr. Left an indelible impression
upon this country for God and good. When we took
the pathfinders, and we stood on the steps of the
Lincoln Memorial. We found the very place where it says
I have a dream, where Martin Luther King Junior stood
there and called our country to its conscience, to its constitution,
(02:56):
to value every person as significant. But Martin Luther King
Junior would not go along with the Marxist revolution that
was actually occurring in other parts of this country, trying
to advocate the same things but for different reason and
to get outcomes that were not of God. So lately
students had protested for social justice causes in our country
(03:17):
that are Marxists based in their ideology. Now many people
don't know what Marxism is, what communism is. The version
that has come to America is deeply rooted in Antonio
Gramsky's version. It was adapted for the West. He was
incarcerated during World War II by Mussolini, and he adapted
Marxism so it would work in America, would work in
(03:41):
inter America. The Jesuits developed liberation theology, which fomented Marxist
revolutions in inter America and in America. The leftist philosophy
of Marxism, also known as communism, has killed well over
one hundred million people in the past one hundred years.
(04:03):
Think about that. It's as a single philosophy. More people
have died because of communism than any other philosophy in
human history. Now that's the left, that's the extreme left.
Let's go to the right. Hitler was the right. Hitler
on the right only killed a few million. But a
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few million is still awful, isn't it. Joseph Stalin probably
fifty million. They're saying that Mayo seventy five, so that
one hundred million number is small.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Now, it doesn't matter if you're on the right or
the left. Here's my point.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Oppression in the last one hundred years has come from
both ideologies, from both sides. In Daniel eleven, the right
is the king of the North, the left is the
king of the South, and they duke it out at
the time of the end until they unite as one
persecuting force to bring God's people to an end.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
It was both the.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Right and the left, with the left in power, that
crucified the Son of God.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
So one thing we should.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Guard against in the church is aligning with political parties,
is aligning with causes that are based on what we
think we can get because someone gets elected, be it
a president we have now or one we will have friends.
I'm telling you it doesn't matter who's in power. When
the time comes, all the forces of left and right
will unite to persecute the people of God. Sophia Shaw
(05:27):
was caught in a storm, in a nightmare where the
left and the right in her country aligned with Hitler,
and she would not, and she stood as a voice
of conscience. She wrote these words of wisdom before she
was martyred at the age of twenty two by the
Nazi regime.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
She said, the real damage.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Is done by those millions who want to survive, the
honest man who just want to be left in peace,
Those who don't want their lives disturbed by anything bigger
than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those
who won't take measures of their own strength for fear
of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don't like to
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make waves or enemies. Those for whom freedom on her
truth and principles are only literature. Those who live small,
made small, die small. It's the reductionist approach to life.
If you keep it small, if you keep it under control,
if you don't make any noise. The boogeyman won't find you.
But it's all an illusion, because they die too. Those
(06:29):
people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls
so as to be safe, safe from what life is
always on the edge of death. Narrow streets lead to
the same places as white avenues, and a little candle
burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I
(06:49):
choose my own way to burn made profound little girl,
and Sophia Schoul said this about her faith in Jesus Christ.
I will cling to the God has thrown me in
Jesus Christ, even when my numb hands can no longer
feel it. Look, if you're looking for a cause in
your generation, why not make Jesus Christ your cause. Why
(07:13):
not align with the Gospel proclamation in your life, with
sharing Christ to a world that doesn't know him, reaching
out to people on the left, the right, the sinner,
every race, and having no boundaries, no barriers in your
love for the world that Jesus died for.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
I will cling to the robe.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
God has thrown me in Jesus Christ, even when my
numb hands can no longer feel it. On her way
to death, she said, this, How can we expect righteousness
to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give
himself up individually to a righteous cause. Such a fine
sunny day, and I have to go, But what does
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my death matter if through us thousands of people are
awakened and still to action. She also wrote this, the
sun still shines, Oh what a blessed, blessed flower. And
you'll see the flower a symbol of her resistance right
there on her sweater, as she stood against the most
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evil powerful men in Europe at that time. Of such
people like Sophia schol were the early apostles of the
Apostolic Church. They were men and women of conscience who
would not compromise with evil and would not force others
to comply with evil. In this way, the early Apostolic
Christians were the antithesis of the modern lateacy and condition
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that denies Jesus as the truth that wants to get
along prosper be in the comfort zone, as Sophia said it,
but unwilling to stand as it should when conscience is
on the line.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
And acts four.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
We see the early Church, led by Jesus, young and
committed apostles fighting against depression in the right way, by
proclaiming the truth, by healing good, by doing good, by
pouring love where darkness is at light and darkness. And
they proclaimed the truth of Jesus Christ, and oppression came.
Look at Acts four, verse one. And as they were
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speaking to the people, the priests and the captains of
the temple and the sadducees came upon them, annoyed because
they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the
resurrection for the dead. And they arrested them and put
them in custody until tomorrow, for it was already evening.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
They had just healed the man who was laying for
over forty years. He became the walking and leaping and
praising God man instead of the lame man. And in
fact they arrested them all, including the lame man. They
threw him into the clinker until the next day. The
miracle of the healing of.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
The man at the Gate Beautiful became a scandal for
the Jews. Jesus was crucified by religious leaders who wanted
to preserve the peace, to ensue security, to placate the
Roman Empire, to remain rich and increase with goods in
need of nothing because they didn't want Jesus.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
They wanted the status quo in their life.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Caiaphas deemed it necessary for one man to die then
for the whole nation to perish, so in the collective
he sacrificed Jesus on the cross. That's what many churches
did in Germany, also under fascist rule.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Let the Jews die.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
And those who support them, so that we can prosper
and be left alone to enjoy our religious freedom.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Dear heart, no man or a woman is an island
to themselves.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
We will either stand with the weak, the oppressed, and
the persecuted, or we will die at the hands of
a righteous God who allows no cowards into the.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Kingdom of Heaven. There is no middle ground. As a Christian.
The matter of courage.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Accring the Book of Revelation, the fearful, the cowards have
their place in the Lake of fire.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
That means we must be bold.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Christians in Jesus and not look at the consequences, but
look at the calling of the truth. Cornaback Revelation, No cowards,
no fearful.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
In the Lake of fire.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Three evil components are singled out, coming after the apostles
number one, the priests number two, the captain of the
temple number three, the Sadducees. Let's look at them and
modern vernacular. The priests were the religious leaders, the captain
of the temple was the police, and the Sadducees were
the unbelieving in this case, secularized sect of Judaism, the
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left of center. It was not the right, it was
the left here in crucifying Jesus. I mean, if you
don't realize it, the left was in power when Christ
was crucified. The right worked with them to do it.
I don't know what it will be like at the
end of time. The Bible indicates the right will be
in power, the left will be brought under the power
of the right. It doesn't matter if you're against Jesus,
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and on that fact, you're on the wrong side of things.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Caiaphas was a sadducey.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Many of the Pharisees on the right were converted by
the apostles teaching. But to my knowledge and educate me
if I'm wrong. There is no record of a single
sadducey conversion to Jesus.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
In New Testament, not one.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
So of the two, it's the most dangerous of the
two sects. I was recently meeting with a union president
to have a high respect for, and he was our
union president, Elder Marcellus Robinson. And Ellen Robinson's a keen
social justice, moral sense of justice. It's always guided him
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and I respect him highly as a dear friend. But
this last Monday, we're talking about the right and the
left as we were eating at the lunch together, and
we both said, you know, the problem is that if
you're unconverted on the right, you're unconverted on the left,
you'll hurt the cause of God. It takes converted people.
And you know Christians can be a little here, a
little there, but converted people come together to do the
(13:03):
right thing. I'm a right they come together do the
right thing. In modern times, the Sadducees would have made
excellent Marxists, and their desire to build a utopia right
here on earth by persecuting others, by seizing their assets,
and by getting their way.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Through in political intrigue.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
The Greek text indicates that they were greatly annoyed and
disturbed the preaching of Jesus Christ got under their skin.
Why because the Sadducees believed there was no resurrection, and
here they were preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ based
on the outpoint of the Holy Spirit. They were irritated,
so they looked at the apostles and they locked them
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up to contain the threat. The first thing they do
shut them down. The early Church began with persecution. The
Church of the Last Days will finish out through persecution.
If you aren't willing to put up with persecution in
your life, the Book of Revelation indicates that you will
worship the beast his image and receive the mark of
the Beast at the.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
End of time. So let me ask you a question.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Let's say you're a Republican and you align with the
Republican Party more than the Church of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
What will happen to you at the time of the end.
You'll receive the mark of the beast.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Let's say you're a Democrat you align with the Democratic
Party more than the cause of Jesus Christ, that you
align with political interests, what will happen to you at
the time of the end.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
You'll receive the mark of the beast. You see, these
parties aren't intrinsically bad. Well, maybe they are.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
But what I'm getting at is that we as Christians
can't go there in our heads. We have to stay focused.
What's the focus of the Christian life. It's Jesus, the
good News, and so we it's healthy to keep stuff
like that out of a church. Sister White has told
us that when we vote, were to keep it to ourselves.
(14:52):
That were to vote our conscience and let God work
out the details. She was active in social causes like
the abolitionist movement. She said that the early Avenist Church
should oppose Lincoln in one area where they were complying
with the mandate to return slavelyes but slaves before the
Emancipation Proclamation. She by all means supported Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
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She was in the Temperance movement. She marched with other
Christians who were not abnous for the sake of alcohol
prohibition and the like, and she wrote alongside of others
in the book A Solemn Appeal who called the conscience
of the country on the issue of abortion. She stood
with them in those publications. Sister White was highly engaged
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in causes that would make a difference, but she kept
her eyes on Jesus. What is known for, primarily in
our time, is that little lady who always spoke of Jesus,
who wrote of Jesus, who brought the prophecies to bear.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
To lift up Jesus.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
My father was converted by her writings of Jesus. I
was converted by reading the book Steps to Christ, which
pointed me to Jesus.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Now.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
And so they locked the apostles up in prison because
they were enamored with Jesus. The early Church began with
persecutional in that way, if you aren't willing to put
up with persecution, in the end, you'll give into the
mark of the beast. So in spite of these extreme measures,
the early Church was growing fast. And because of this fact,
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the religious leaders dragged Peter and John before their religious
tribunal to shut them down. Look it acts four verse four.
And many of those who heard the word what does
it say in your Bible?
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Believed?
Speaker 2 (16:43):
And the number of the men came to about how
many five thousand. On the morrow their rulers and elders
and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annis the
high Priest, and Caiaphas, and John and Alexander, and all
who were of the high priestly family, and when they
had set them in the midst they inquired, by what
power or by what name did you do this? I
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mean they're at it now. They're focused on these obstinate
preachers and teachers of God's word. These were the very
men who had crucified Jesus a few months before.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Think of this.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Peter was standing before Jesus murders now on trial for
the gospel of Jesus death is buried in his resurrection,
on trial for Christ, standing before a high priest didn't
even believe in the resurrection, and yet he was proclaiming
the resurrection. Caiaphas's name in Hebrew means basket man.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Did you know that? Well? It does and I in.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Abraham dash Publications, one of the best word study sites
I think in the world. It carried the sense of cryptographer.
It was a it was a person in cryptography. My
brother used to work at the NSA and he was
into that. He was into signal analysis. Another thing doesn't
tell them anything other than that one thing. Caiaphas was
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the modern equivalent of a politician who wields power by
obscuring the truth, by using code language, working with covert
agents and virtue signaling and.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Corruption to get his way.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
He was the cryptographer, the basket man, the man who
was only concerned with power. Got to the heart of
his concern with a forthright question to these men, Peter
and John. He says, by what power mean an authority,
or by what name meaning approval?
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Did you do this?
Speaker 2 (18:34):
This unseemly deed for Caiaphas was the act of healing
that lame man at the gate beautiful Imagine that being
a crime. They healed the man in the name of
Jesus of Nazareth, and now they were on trial for
what had happened at the beautiful gate.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Who gave you the right to heal this man?
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Whose power did you steal to do it before the people?
What right do you have to make a difference in
this man's life without our approval, without coming to us
our control over you. He's implying that they work this
miracle illegitimately. Therefore the miracle should be ignored and they're
in trouble. Any church can act that way, any group
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of church leaders can act that way. When God's Holy
Spirit is moving the church, we don't need to shut
it down. We need to encourage it. Peter's answer is
forthright and certain. Look at verse eight, asked four. Then Peter,
filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of
the people and elders.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
I wish I just a fly on the wall.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
When he said this, if we are being examined today,
he's acting like a lawyer concerning a good deed done
to a cripple, by what means this man has been healed?
Now he's quoting Jesus. Jesus said, for which good deed
do you now crucify? Do you now stone me? Remember
that in John So he learned how to respond to
the mob and respond in a quasi legal setting. He says,
(19:55):
all right, what's the good deed that we did and
healing this cripple that has brought us before?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Now look at verse ten.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Be it known to you all and to all the
people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the
dead by him, this man is standing before you. Well,
now this is the man who had denied Jesus a
few months before, and now he's confessing Jesus. And they
may very well kill him, and he is proclaiming the
(20:23):
name of Jesus Christ. Can God change a man or
woman in a few short days? Yes?
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Or no?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Can He redirect their life so they're dynamically engaged making
the difference?
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Caiaphus had ripped his garments when Jesus answered his question
whether or not he was the Messiah. The trial, Caiaphus
had asked Christ forthrightly who he was. He said, are
you the Messiah, the Christ, the son of the Living God?
He asked Jesus boldly, and Jesus said, after saying nothing
at his trial, he spoke up, I Am, meaning I
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am God, I am the Massiae. The ancient Jews knew
the Son of God was equal to God because he
was God.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
That was understood in Judaism.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
And Jesus told Caiaphas that he would see him once
again in the future, sitting at the right hand of
Power and coming in the clouds of glory. Caiaphas and
the others asked the apostles by what power and in
whose name this miracle had been wrought, and they answered
in clear and unambiguous terms, for the man whose name
means cryptography, the basket man, you know you hide things
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in a basket. Peter said, in the name of Jesus Christ,
whom you crucified. Is that boldness, yes or no? That's
boldness full of the Holy Spirit. I mean, the Holy
Spirit does not inspire us to not share our faith.
The Holy Spirit does not inspire us to just do nothing.
The Holy Spirit inspires us to engage for the cause
(21:51):
of Christ. Peter accused the accusers of Christ. Peter brought
those who judged Jesus before the judgment bar of Jesus Jesus,
and then Peter spoke right there. He indicted the indicters.
He had spoke those words that struck fear into the
heart of Caiaphas. He said, that God, that God raised
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Jesus from the dead, and is by this living man
that you killed the resurrection that you deny in your theology.
That God has made alive this living man, who is Lord,
who healed this man that you arrested with me, It
is because of Jesus this has happened. I guarantee you
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had struck fear in the spines of those religious leaders.
They had arrested the lame man also because he was
standing there. His crime was the crime of being healed
and walking and leaping and praising God. Evil church leaders
who work to destroy others rather than heal people are
the same in every age. It was that way in
Nazi Germany. It was that way in communist countries as well.
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They are threatened when God's works makes a difference in
the world for Jesus. They are challenged and nervous when
the miracle working power of the Holy Spirit gets out
of control and changes the landscape of religion and faith
in ways they don't plan. What will bring the mark
of the Beast to this country will be an engaged
Christianity that proclaims the truth of the Three Angels messages,
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the Everlasting Gospel. Bablin has fallen in the Third Angel's message,
the warning of the mark of the Beast, which is
a call to obedience to keep the commandments of God
and the faith of Jesus.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
That is what brings the mark of the Beast.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Many religious leaders in many churches oppressed their own people
in Hitler's day. Will happen in America when you make
a pragmatic choice to survive under the rule of an
evil oppressor rather than accept the rule of Jesus. Christ
in your life so that you will share the truth
under any circumstance. Don't be surprised if evil sets in
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and you become just like the regime you have rendered to.
Caiaphas and Annis and the rest of the priests were
no different than the emperor, Tiberius, Caesar and Ponscious Pilot,
who were dictators. I mean, it doesn't matter if you're
a dictator in the left, a dictator on the right,
if you're following dictators because it just makes you feel
good as a Christian, you've aligned with the wrong leader
(24:18):
in your life. They also murdered these dictators to get
their way, and they will stand together on the last
day facing Jesus, the judge of all the earth. At
this point, Peter appeals to them. Does God love dictators?
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Yes or no?
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Someone said no, Okay, well, all right, that's pallid. I
ask for honest responses, not unhonest responses. I'm not going
to go after you because you said that. But it's
a good question to ask, would you say, it's a
good question to ask, does God care about the EDII
means the.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Well, you know who he is.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
He's an old dictator. Saddam Hussein. He's another old dictator,
but we get I'm not going to name modern dictators
because you may like him.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Well, it's true.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
But here Peter appeals to Jesus murderers Caiaphas and Annis
and all the rest except Jesus and be saved. Isn't
that beautiful God? In Christ prayed at the cross, Father,
forgive them.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
They know not what they do.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
And those men right there that had Peter and John
in front of them had heard that prayer. And now
Peter is appealing again for these men to be saved.
And through Peter, who had denied Jesus, but then who
had been restored by Jesus, Jesus here offers his murder.
Is the offer of salvation of being restored, even though
they had murdered him. Does God love his enemies absolutely?
(25:45):
Let's look at verse eleven of XKED four. Peter said,
this is the stone which was rejected by you builders,
by which has become the head of a corner. And
then verse twelve is the awesome part. And there is
salvation and no one else, For there is no other
name under Heaven given among men by which we must
(26:05):
be saved. The Holy Spirit pushed these words through Peter's
mouth holy boldness. If you want salvation in your life
and you're trying to get it through any person or
means or politician other than Jesus Christ, you will not
be saved by them or it. The world religions are
not valid roads of truth that lead to salvation.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
I'm sorry. The Bible does not teach that.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Philosophy will not save you with its intricate ideas, So
don't try to look smart.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
To be saved.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
The Church can't and won't save you either. That's the
latest sea and problem thinks the Church is somehow.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Going to save us.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Doing good to be noticed by God or others will
not save you. So virtue signaling is out as a
Christian trying to appease God by proving yourself will not
save you or anyone else either. Friend, the name of
Jesus Christ means his character. God's name is this character.
Christ's name is this holy character. Jesus' name means in
(27:04):
Hebrew Yahweh saves.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
The Lord saves. So what will save us? The Lord
not us.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
And when you call on the God of Love to
forgive you, who has a character of love that is
good and kind?
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Even to his enemies and well able to save you.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Don't disbelieve his name, don't reject his character. Believe that
God's love was poured out for you. And I guarantee
you that God in Jesus Christ, will answer your sincere
prayer on your knees in brokenness to be saved, and
you will be saved. We come home to God when
we call on the character the name of Jesus Christ
(27:43):
to save us, because his name and his character is
the greatest name in the universe. What did these murders
of Jesus' notice in Peter and John when they engage
them in this way? Look at verse thirteen. Now, when
they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceive
that they were uneducated common men, they wondered, and they
(28:04):
recognized that they had been with Jesus. It was evident
to the religious leaders that Peter and John were not
educated men. They didn't quote the rabbi theologians, the school
of Helale and the school of Shamad.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Or any other school of rabbinical thought.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
They didn't rattle off some pat answer the Church provides
for questions that are hard to answer. They didn't appeal
to their religious pedigree. To make a point, I got
this degree here, there, and so on. They were common men,
the text says, in my translation enamored with Jesus. The
Greek word for common here used with men is idiot
tastes in the Greek. What does that sound like the
(28:44):
English word? It's the word for idiot. They were idiot men,
common men. Idiot means in ancient Greek coin a Greek
a layman or a non specialist.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
She was describe an unskilled or untrained person.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yet the religious leaders marveled at these idiot men because
they were speaking like Jesus would if he were there,
and it was not idiotic stuff coming out of their mouth.
They had a mastery of the scriptures at their disposal.
They could reason with boldness on the spot. They could
quote Jesus and integrate it into their defense. That is
why these religious politicians could discern the character of Jesus
(29:22):
in these common men. Friend, education is helpful, but only
if you have been with Jesus. Jesus is the greatest
teacher this world has ever known. If you have never
had the opportunity of attending university, if you have no
advanced degree, and I have a master's degree at the seminary.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
And I value that degree.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
But I tell you most of what I have learned
that I preach and teaching the pulpit has come from
my devotional time in the Bible and the spirit of prophecy.
You can keep all the nonsense ideas the philosopher, king,
theologian types, self appointed healers to yourself. As for me,
just give me Jesus in my life so I can
(30:04):
grow in the knowledge of God and share it with others.
Spending time with Jesus is what qualifies us to serve God.
The religious leaders couldn't answer Peter and John, so they
sent them out of the council to allow themselves to
confer with each other. And a committee is if that
would help them do the right thing. Inside the council
(30:24):
with the apostles on the outside, the lame man who
had been healed on the outside now a leaping and
walking and praising God men, they asked themselves, what can
we do with these men? Think about that, they just
hurt the gospel. They just had another appeal of mercy
and grace from God come into their lives. And what
are they concerned with?
Speaker 1 (30:44):
These guys? Causing trouble, not the truth, not Jesus. The people.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
These common idiot men obviously performed a miracle. They could
figure that, and all of Jerusalem knows they did, and
they've admitted it because they couldn't deny it. Paradoxically, they
show no interest in letting Jesus into their lives to
work the miracle of saving them or healing them. They
didn't feel they needed Jesus saving them. They had set
(31:11):
themselves up to save the people from Jesus. When you
resist Jesus long enough in life, hear me, it's possible
for anyone in the church to act just like these
religious leaders did. Thus, they decided in a committee to
command them to no longer speak in Jesus' name. Look
(31:33):
at Acts four eighteen. So they called them and charged
them not to speak or teach at all in the
name of Jesus, Holy spirit filled men and women. Don't
obey this kind of command, am I right? There should
be a lot more amens to that. Look at verse nineteen.
But Peter, and by the way, in the Reformation they
had a doctrine called the teaching or doctrine of the
(31:53):
Lesser Magistrate. It was derived directly from Acts four in
other parts of Scripture that when a high our magistrate's
tyrannical and they order you to violate your conscience, it
is the duty of the lesser magistrate to resist them.
In the book Great Controversy, we have the picture of
the protests of the princes where they stood before the Segeesemun,
(32:17):
the Holy Roman Emperor, and they resisted him on the
basis of conscience. And that is our Protestant heritage, as
our Protestant heritage in our church and others Verse nineteen.
But Peter and John answer them, whether it is right
in the side of God to listen to you rather
than to God. You must judge, for we cannot but
(32:39):
speak of what we have seen and heard. They left
no doubt at all as to what they, as followers
of Jesus, were going to do in the future. Peter
and John were compelled to share the good news of Jesus.
I ask you the question, are you of like mine
with Peter and John in your personal life, in your
commitment to Jesus, are you, like them compelled to share
(33:03):
your testimony Christ Scripture as you can with others who
Jesus brings into your life. Are you compelled to share
the goodness of the Lord with those you mean at work,
or in your neighborhood, or in your family, or in
your practice with people who do.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Not know that the Lord is good? You're the only
Jesus they may ever see Verse twenty one.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
And when they had further threatened them, these guys, as
they never give up, do they When they had further
threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to
punish them.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Why because of.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
The people they are politicians For all men praise God
for what had happened. For the man on whom the
sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.
And the evidence and the good will of the people
prevented those religious politicians from getting rid of Peter and
John right there. And furthermore, the walking and leaping and
(34:01):
praising God Man was over forty years old. You couldn't
deny the evidence. How does a man who never walked
do that in a single day at the gate beautiful
without God performing a special sign that is beautiful. Immediately,
Peter and John and I assumed the walking and leaping
and praising God Man, who was no longer the lame
(34:22):
man went to their friends and told them everything that
they had told them.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
That's why it's in our New Testament.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
They told them what the religious leaders had said and
how they had threatened them so they would stop sharing
the Gospel of Jesus. At this point, the apostles chose
to pray, as they invoke the Word of God in
psalms too, and their prayer to God. You see, when
you have overcome a massive challenge, you've prayed through that challenge.
Don't think you need to stop praying. You need to
(34:52):
end the experience by praying and seeking God's will and
thanking God.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
That's what they do.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Look at verse twenty four, and when they heard it,
they lifted their voices together to God and said, so
the apostles are leading the people in prayer, Sovereign Lord,
who DIDs make the heaven and the earth to see
and everything in them. They're quoting the Sabbath, the fourth Commandment.
There verse twenty five, who by the mouth of our Father,
David thy servant, did say, by the Holy Spirit, why
(35:20):
do the gentiles rage? And the people's imagine vain things?
The kings of the earth set themselves in array, and
the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Against his anointed.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
And now they seized on that scripture they're quoting in
their prayer Psalms two one and two.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Psalms two seven, according to Hebrews.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Five five and Acts thirteen, is a direct prophecy of
the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
God has sworn and will not change his mind.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
He says today I've begotten you, since today I've begotten you,
And it's paraphrased again in Hebrews one ten Psalms one ten,
verse four and three. Really, they were enamored with Psalms
two in Psalms one hundred and ten because it was
resurrection imagery. They focus on the fact that these religious
leaders who are opposing the word of God are not
(36:10):
any different than the Romans and ponscious pilot who crucified Jesus.
And they see it right there in their Bible. And
they confess in prayer that these Jewish leaders, their leaders
who crucified Jesus, who persecuted them, had become unbelieving gentiles.
Why because they would not stop conspiring against God's anointing
(36:31):
his messiah, Jesus and those who followed Jesus. In verse
twenty seven, they affirmed that Jerusalem is no longer the
holy city that promotes truth and righteousness as it once did.
Look at verse twenty seven. For truly, in this city
there were gathered together against thy holy Servant, Jesus, whom
thou didst anoint both herod and ponscious pilot, with the
(36:52):
Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever thy
hand in thy plan had predestined to take place. In
this prayer, they're making direct reference to the seventy week
prophecy of Daniel nine that promised the coming of the
Messiah the probationary time for the Holy City of Jerusalem.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
In Dale nine twenty four.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Daniel had prophesied that the people of the Prince who
is to come will destroy the city and the sainctuaries.
Not talking about Jesus primarily here at all, I mean
in a secondary sense. Only could you see it that way.
By rejecting Jesus, both the Jewish leaders and the Romans
united under the Prince, that would destroy the city, the sanctuary,
and the Messiah, who is the true temple of God.
(37:35):
Jesus had destroyed this temple three days, I'll build it
up Jesus said in John fourteen thirty that the ruler
or prince of this world is coming, and he has
no power over me. They were aware of Bible prophecy
in the Early Church. They were engaging their adversaries with
the seventy week prophecy of Daniel nine and Acts two.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
In other places, both the.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
Romans and the Jewish leaders have become agents of Satan.
It was the Prince that had gained control of their
lives and hearts. And at this point they're both gentiles
as followers. The Early Church's concerned. If you're going to
follow the prince of this world, you're a gentile. That's
how they looked at it. Based on Psalms too. What
does that mean for us today? For the implications, Friend,
(38:19):
if we oppose the truth of Jesus in our time,
and we oppose men and women coming to Jesus, the
book Revelation says that such believers become a synagogue of Satan,
and they will receive the mark of the Beast. It
doesn't matter if what day of the week you keep.
If you don't have Jesus, you get the mark of
the Beast. They continued their prayer in verse twenty nine.
(38:43):
And now, Lord, isn't that a great place to come
to grips in your prayer with? And now Lord look
upon their threats and granted thy servants to speak the word.
And what does it say in the Bible? Help me
with this with all boldness? That's right, Katie? Did you
say that boldness? Is Katie bold about her profession of
(39:07):
Jesus Christ in our church?
Speaker 1 (39:08):
Isn't she?
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Amen Verse thirty, While thou stretchest out thy hand to heal,
and signs and wonders are performed through the name of
thy holy servant, Jesus. Sophia Shoul got it right when
she said, I will cling to the rope God has
thrown me in Jesus Christ, even when my numb hand
can no longer feel it. Friend, when our hands are numb,
(39:34):
Jesus Christ is the one who can stretch out his
Holy Spirit hand to heal us and to strengthen us,
to give us courage. Jesus has the power, through the
Holy Spirit hand to perform signs and wonders. Jesus is
not irrelevant in our lives just because evil men and
evil women oppose the work of God in our time.
(39:55):
The apostles prayed for boldness from thy holy servant, Jesus.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
What was the.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
Outcome of holy boldness in that day? The Jesus kind
of holy boldness in this prayer? What was the outcome
of that? You may have a lot of opposition in
your life. I mean, the whole world may be coming
down on you. But if you speak in the name
of Jesus, you get on your knees, you call on
(40:24):
His name to be your sustaining power.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
God will get you through it.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
But He'll get you through it in an attitude of boldness,
of strength, not of weakness. You're not a victim if
you're in the cause of Christ and friend, don't ever
apologize for lifting up the name of Jesus with a humble,
sincere heart to share Jesus with other people. How did
God respond to this humble and sincere prayer for holy
(40:49):
boldness to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ dear heart?
God responded with a second outpouring of the Holy Spirit
as a second blessing of Pentecost that shook the place
to share Jesus boldly. The Holy Spirit shook the place
to affirm that they would go forth with greater Holy
Spirit power in their life Verse thirty one. And when
(41:12):
they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered
together was shaken, and they were filled with the Holy
Spirit and spoke the Word of God with boldness. Dear Father,
help us to get our minds off ourselves as all
that significant. We're not powerful, our ideas are not profound.
(41:34):
Our influence doesn't make a difference unless we are surrendered
to Jesus, unless the Holy Spirit is in our lives,
unless we pray. And so Father, we pray to you
right now as a church family for love and kindness,
for truth telling, to protect the vulnerable, and care and
(42:00):
love the world that's in our sphere, in Laurel, in Lord,
the world. And I pray for every person here.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
Father. They're broken people here.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
They don't need to be broken a long It didn't
take but an act of faith and grace to make
that broken lay man walk.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
May they hold on to Jesus, claim Jesus.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
In their life, not look back, not look back, and
watch you work in their life to take common people
who've come from them horrible places some of us, and
see God do great things that's not of us. And
so the Lord lift up Jesus here. May our young
(42:43):
people lift up Jesus. May the older people lift up Jesus.
And may Jesus dwell here through the Holy Spirit in
Jesus' name, Amen,
Let's have a word of prayer, and let's get into
the Bible. Let's pray.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Dear Heavenly Father, give us Jesus boldness to live and
love and share Jesus in our lives. And give us
obedience so that it makes sense. There's a witness that
is consistent. Now we're sinners, sinners by nature, but when
(00:25):
we look at the cross, we don't want to be so,
Lord put the Holy Spirit in us. Thank you for
every one of these young people who let out.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Today in this worship service. May they grow in the
word of God.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Lord, I am so blessed by the fact they're digging
into the Book of Hebrews to discover the sanctuary message,
the covenants, to go deep into the Bible, not shallow.
May they be men and women of God in their
generation in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Sophia Magdalena Shoul died nineteen four standing tall for Jesus Christ.
Both she and her brother were beheaded by the Nazis
for boldly speaking up for Jesus Christ a campus outreach
ministry protesting as collegiates for the cause of Christ in
(01:17):
Nazi Germany. She would not align with those who would
kill the Jews in the Holocaust. She called her nation
her leaders to righteousness. She opposed the Nazi regime, and
she chose to not align with those Christians who would
force the conscience of Christians to go along with Hitler.
(01:38):
When many Christian organizations and churches chose to get along
with Hitler to compromise to force compliance among their members,
Sophia Schouw, as only a teenager, became the voice of
conscience for Germany, the conscience of Christ facing Nazi Germany.
(01:59):
A teenager, she opposed Hitler, She opposed his evil acolytes.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
She faced evil in the eye, and she did not flinch.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
She died at the age of twenty two. Her life
ministry was in her teens to twenty two. Sophia was
a student protester in the God kind of way, the
good kind of way, not the selfish, arrogant kind of way.
We've seen that in recent years in our country. Lately,
students have protested for social justice causes. Now I'm for
(02:31):
social justice. I am I'm for it in the right way.
I believe Martin Luther King Jr. Left an indelible impression
upon this country for God and good. When we took
the pathfinders, and we stood on the steps of the
Lincoln Memorial. We found the very place where it says
I have a dream, where Martin Luther King Junior stood
there and called our country to its conscience, to its constitution,
(02:56):
to value every person as significant. But Martin Luther King
Junior would not go along with the Marxist revolution that
was actually occurring in other parts of this country, trying
to advocate the same things but for different reason and
to get outcomes that were not of God. So lately
students had protested for social justice causes in our country
(03:17):
that are Marxists based in their ideology. Now many people
don't know what Marxism is, what communism is. The version
that has come to America is deeply rooted in Antonio
Gramsky's version. It was adapted for the West. He was
incarcerated during World War II by Mussolini, and he adapted
Marxism so it would work in America, would work in
(03:41):
inter America. The Jesuits developed liberation theology, which fomented Marxist
revolutions in inter America and in America. The leftist philosophy
of Marxism, also known as communism, has killed well over
one hundred million people in the past one hundred years.
(04:03):
Think about that. It's as a single philosophy. More people
have died because of communism than any other philosophy in
human history. Now that's the left, that's the extreme left.
Let's go to the right. Hitler was the right. Hitler
on the right only killed a few million. But a
(04:23):
few million is still awful, isn't it. Joseph Stalin probably
fifty million. They're saying that Mayo seventy five, so that
one hundred million number is small.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Now, it doesn't matter if you're on the right or
the left. Here's my point.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Oppression in the last one hundred years has come from
both ideologies, from both sides. In Daniel eleven, the right
is the king of the North, the left is the
king of the South, and they duke it out at
the time of the end until they unite as one
persecuting force to bring God's people to an end.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
It was both the.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Right and the left, with the left in power, that
crucified the Son of God.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
So one thing we should.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Guard against in the church is aligning with political parties,
is aligning with causes that are based on what we
think we can get because someone gets elected, be it
a president we have now or one we will have friends.
I'm telling you it doesn't matter who's in power. When
the time comes, all the forces of left and right
will unite to persecute the people of God. Sophia Shaw
(05:27):
was caught in a storm, in a nightmare where the
left and the right in her country aligned with Hitler,
and she would not, and she stood as a voice
of conscience. She wrote these words of wisdom before she
was martyred at the age of twenty two by the
Nazi regime.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
She said, the real damage.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Is done by those millions who want to survive, the
honest man who just want to be left in peace,
Those who don't want their lives disturbed by anything bigger
than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those
who won't take measures of their own strength for fear
of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don't like to
(06:07):
make waves or enemies. Those for whom freedom on her
truth and principles are only literature. Those who live small,
made small, die small. It's the reductionist approach to life.
If you keep it small, if you keep it under control,
if you don't make any noise. The boogeyman won't find you.
But it's all an illusion, because they die too. Those
(06:29):
people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls
so as to be safe, safe from what life is
always on the edge of death. Narrow streets lead to
the same places as white avenues, and a little candle
burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I
(06:49):
choose my own way to burn made profound little girl,
and Sophia Schoul said this about her faith in Jesus Christ.
I will cling to the God has thrown me in
Jesus Christ, even when my numb hands can no longer
feel it. Look, if you're looking for a cause in
your generation, why not make Jesus Christ your cause. Why
(07:13):
not align with the Gospel proclamation in your life, with
sharing Christ to a world that doesn't know him, reaching
out to people on the left, the right, the sinner,
every race, and having no boundaries, no barriers in your
love for the world that Jesus died for.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
I will cling to the robe.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
God has thrown me in Jesus Christ, even when my
numb hands can no longer feel it. On her way
to death, she said, this, How can we expect righteousness
to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give
himself up individually to a righteous cause. Such a fine
sunny day, and I have to go, But what does
(07:55):
my death matter if through us thousands of people are
awakened and still to action. She also wrote this, the
sun still shines, Oh what a blessed, blessed flower. And
you'll see the flower a symbol of her resistance right
there on her sweater, as she stood against the most
(08:20):
evil powerful men in Europe at that time. Of such
people like Sophia schol were the early apostles of the
Apostolic Church. They were men and women of conscience who
would not compromise with evil and would not force others
to comply with evil. In this way, the early Apostolic
Christians were the antithesis of the modern lateacy and condition
(08:41):
that denies Jesus as the truth that wants to get
along prosper be in the comfort zone, as Sophia said it,
but unwilling to stand as it should when conscience is
on the line.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
And acts four.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
We see the early Church, led by Jesus, young and
committed apostles fighting against depression in the right way, by
proclaiming the truth, by healing good, by doing good, by
pouring love where darkness is at light and darkness. And
they proclaimed the truth of Jesus Christ, and oppression came.
Look at Acts four, verse one. And as they were
(09:16):
speaking to the people, the priests and the captains of
the temple and the sadducees came upon them, annoyed because
they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the
resurrection for the dead. And they arrested them and put
them in custody until tomorrow, for it was already evening.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
They had just healed the man who was laying for
over forty years. He became the walking and leaping and
praising God man instead of the lame man. And in
fact they arrested them all, including the lame man. They
threw him into the clinker until the next day. The
miracle of the healing of.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
The man at the Gate Beautiful became a scandal for
the Jews. Jesus was crucified by religious leaders who wanted
to preserve the peace, to ensue security, to placate the
Roman Empire, to remain rich and increase with goods in
need of nothing because they didn't want Jesus.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
They wanted the status quo in their life.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Caiaphas deemed it necessary for one man to die then
for the whole nation to perish, so in the collective
he sacrificed Jesus on the cross. That's what many churches
did in Germany, also under fascist rule.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Let the Jews die.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
And those who support them, so that we can prosper
and be left alone to enjoy our religious freedom.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Dear heart, no man or a woman is an island
to themselves.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
We will either stand with the weak, the oppressed, and
the persecuted, or we will die at the hands of
a righteous God who allows no cowards into the.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Kingdom of Heaven. There is no middle ground. As a Christian.
The matter of courage.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Accring the Book of Revelation, the fearful, the cowards have
their place in the Lake of fire.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
That means we must be bold.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Christians in Jesus and not look at the consequences, but
look at the calling of the truth. Cornaback Revelation, No cowards,
no fearful.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
In the Lake of fire.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Three evil components are singled out, coming after the apostles
number one, the priests number two, the captain of the
temple number three, the Sadducees. Let's look at them and
modern vernacular. The priests were the religious leaders, the captain
of the temple was the police, and the Sadducees were
the unbelieving in this case, secularized sect of Judaism, the
(11:37):
left of center. It was not the right, it was
the left here in crucifying Jesus. I mean, if you
don't realize it, the left was in power when Christ
was crucified. The right worked with them to do it.
I don't know what it will be like at the
end of time. The Bible indicates the right will be
in power, the left will be brought under the power
of the right. It doesn't matter if you're against Jesus,
(11:59):
and on that fact, you're on the wrong side of things.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Caiaphas was a sadducey.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Many of the Pharisees on the right were converted by
the apostles teaching. But to my knowledge and educate me
if I'm wrong. There is no record of a single
sadducey conversion to Jesus.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
In New Testament, not one.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
So of the two, it's the most dangerous of the
two sects. I was recently meeting with a union president
to have a high respect for, and he was our
union president, Elder Marcellus Robinson. And Ellen Robinson's a keen
social justice, moral sense of justice. It's always guided him
(12:41):
and I respect him highly as a dear friend. But
this last Monday, we're talking about the right and the
left as we were eating at the lunch together, and
we both said, you know, the problem is that if
you're unconverted on the right, you're unconverted on the left,
you'll hurt the cause of God. It takes converted people.
And you know Christians can be a little here, a
little there, but converted people come together to do the
(13:03):
right thing. I'm a right they come together do the
right thing. In modern times, the Sadducees would have made
excellent Marxists, and their desire to build a utopia right
here on earth by persecuting others, by seizing their assets,
and by getting their way.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Through in political intrigue.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
The Greek text indicates that they were greatly annoyed and
disturbed the preaching of Jesus Christ got under their skin.
Why because the Sadducees believed there was no resurrection, and
here they were preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ based
on the outpoint of the Holy Spirit. They were irritated,
so they looked at the apostles and they locked them
(13:42):
up to contain the threat. The first thing they do
shut them down. The early Church began with persecution. The
Church of the Last Days will finish out through persecution.
If you aren't willing to put up with persecution in
your life, the Book of Revelation indicates that you will
worship the beast his image and receive the mark of
the Beast at the.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
End of time. So let me ask you a question.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Let's say you're a Republican and you align with the
Republican Party more than the Church of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
What will happen to you at the time of the end.
You'll receive the mark of the beast.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Let's say you're a Democrat you align with the Democratic
Party more than the cause of Jesus Christ, that you
align with political interests, what will happen to you at
the time of the end.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
You'll receive the mark of the beast. You see, these
parties aren't intrinsically bad. Well, maybe they are.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
But what I'm getting at is that we as Christians
can't go there in our heads. We have to stay focused.
What's the focus of the Christian life. It's Jesus, the
good News, and so we it's healthy to keep stuff
like that out of a church. Sister White has told
us that when we vote, were to keep it to ourselves.
(14:52):
That were to vote our conscience and let God work
out the details. She was active in social causes like
the abolitionist movement. She said that the early Avenist Church
should oppose Lincoln in one area where they were complying
with the mandate to return slavelyes but slaves before the
Emancipation Proclamation. She by all means supported Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
(15:17):
She was in the Temperance movement. She marched with other
Christians who were not abnous for the sake of alcohol
prohibition and the like, and she wrote alongside of others
in the book A Solemn Appeal who called the conscience
of the country on the issue of abortion. She stood
with them in those publications. Sister White was highly engaged
(15:41):
in causes that would make a difference, but she kept
her eyes on Jesus. What is known for, primarily in
our time, is that little lady who always spoke of Jesus,
who wrote of Jesus, who brought the prophecies to bear.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
To lift up Jesus.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
My father was converted by her writings of Jesus. I
was converted by reading the book Steps to Christ, which
pointed me to Jesus.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Now.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
And so they locked the apostles up in prison because
they were enamored with Jesus. The early Church began with
persecutional in that way, if you aren't willing to put
up with persecution, in the end, you'll give into the
mark of the beast. So in spite of these extreme measures,
the early Church was growing fast. And because of this fact,
(16:29):
the religious leaders dragged Peter and John before their religious
tribunal to shut them down. Look it acts four verse four.
And many of those who heard the word what does
it say in your Bible?
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Believed?
Speaker 2 (16:43):
And the number of the men came to about how
many five thousand. On the morrow their rulers and elders
and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annis the
high Priest, and Caiaphas, and John and Alexander, and all
who were of the high priestly family, and when they
had set them in the midst they inquired, by what
power or by what name did you do this? I
(17:06):
mean they're at it now. They're focused on these obstinate
preachers and teachers of God's word. These were the very
men who had crucified Jesus a few months before.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Think of this.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Peter was standing before Jesus murders now on trial for
the gospel of Jesus death is buried in his resurrection,
on trial for Christ, standing before a high priest didn't
even believe in the resurrection, and yet he was proclaiming
the resurrection. Caiaphas's name in Hebrew means basket man.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Did you know that? Well? It does and I in.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Abraham dash Publications, one of the best word study sites
I think in the world. It carried the sense of cryptographer.
It was a it was a person in cryptography. My
brother used to work at the NSA and he was
into that. He was into signal analysis. Another thing doesn't
tell them anything other than that one thing. Caiaphas was
(18:03):
the modern equivalent of a politician who wields power by
obscuring the truth, by using code language, working with covert
agents and virtue signaling and.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Corruption to get his way.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
He was the cryptographer, the basket man, the man who
was only concerned with power. Got to the heart of
his concern with a forthright question to these men, Peter
and John. He says, by what power mean an authority,
or by what name meaning approval?
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Did you do this?
Speaker 2 (18:34):
This unseemly deed for Caiaphas was the act of healing
that lame man at the gate beautiful Imagine that being
a crime. They healed the man in the name of
Jesus of Nazareth, and now they were on trial for
what had happened at the beautiful gate.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Who gave you the right to heal this man?
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Whose power did you steal to do it before the people?
What right do you have to make a difference in
this man's life without our approval, without coming to us
our control over you. He's implying that they work this
miracle illegitimately. Therefore the miracle should be ignored and they're
in trouble. Any church can act that way, any group
(19:12):
of church leaders can act that way. When God's Holy
Spirit is moving the church, we don't need to shut
it down. We need to encourage it. Peter's answer is
forthright and certain. Look at verse eight, asked four. Then Peter,
filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of
the people and elders.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
I wish I just a fly on the wall.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
When he said this, if we are being examined today,
he's acting like a lawyer concerning a good deed done
to a cripple, by what means this man has been healed?
Now he's quoting Jesus. Jesus said, for which good deed
do you now crucify? Do you now stone me? Remember
that in John So he learned how to respond to
the mob and respond in a quasi legal setting. He says,
(19:55):
all right, what's the good deed that we did and
healing this cripple that has brought us before?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Now look at verse ten.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Be it known to you all and to all the
people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the
dead by him, this man is standing before you. Well,
now this is the man who had denied Jesus a
few months before, and now he's confessing Jesus. And they
may very well kill him, and he is proclaiming the
(20:23):
name of Jesus Christ. Can God change a man or
woman in a few short days? Yes?
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Or no?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Can He redirect their life so they're dynamically engaged making
the difference?
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Caiaphus had ripped his garments when Jesus answered his question
whether or not he was the Messiah. The trial, Caiaphus
had asked Christ forthrightly who he was. He said, are
you the Messiah, the Christ, the son of the Living God?
He asked Jesus boldly, and Jesus said, after saying nothing
at his trial, he spoke up, I Am, meaning I
(20:57):
am God, I am the Massiae. The ancient Jews knew
the Son of God was equal to God because he
was God.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
That was understood in Judaism.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
And Jesus told Caiaphas that he would see him once
again in the future, sitting at the right hand of
Power and coming in the clouds of glory. Caiaphas and
the others asked the apostles by what power and in
whose name this miracle had been wrought, and they answered
in clear and unambiguous terms, for the man whose name
means cryptography, the basket man, you know you hide things
(21:30):
in a basket. Peter said, in the name of Jesus Christ,
whom you crucified. Is that boldness, yes or no? That's
boldness full of the Holy Spirit. I mean, the Holy
Spirit does not inspire us to not share our faith.
The Holy Spirit does not inspire us to just do nothing.
The Holy Spirit inspires us to engage for the cause
(21:51):
of Christ. Peter accused the accusers of Christ. Peter brought
those who judged Jesus before the judgment bar of Jesus Jesus,
and then Peter spoke right there. He indicted the indicters.
He had spoke those words that struck fear into the
heart of Caiaphas. He said, that God, that God raised
(22:13):
Jesus from the dead, and is by this living man
that you killed the resurrection that you deny in your theology.
That God has made alive this living man, who is Lord,
who healed this man that you arrested with me, It
is because of Jesus this has happened. I guarantee you
(22:35):
had struck fear in the spines of those religious leaders.
They had arrested the lame man also because he was
standing there. His crime was the crime of being healed
and walking and leaping and praising God. Evil church leaders
who work to destroy others rather than heal people are
the same in every age. It was that way in
Nazi Germany. It was that way in communist countries as well.
(23:00):
They are threatened when God's works makes a difference in
the world for Jesus. They are challenged and nervous when
the miracle working power of the Holy Spirit gets out
of control and changes the landscape of religion and faith
in ways they don't plan. What will bring the mark
of the Beast to this country will be an engaged
Christianity that proclaims the truth of the Three Angels messages,
(23:23):
the Everlasting Gospel. Bablin has fallen in the Third Angel's message,
the warning of the mark of the Beast, which is
a call to obedience to keep the commandments of God
and the faith of Jesus.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
That is what brings the mark of the Beast.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Many religious leaders in many churches oppressed their own people
in Hitler's day. Will happen in America when you make
a pragmatic choice to survive under the rule of an
evil oppressor rather than accept the rule of Jesus. Christ
in your life so that you will share the truth
under any circumstance. Don't be surprised if evil sets in
(23:57):
and you become just like the regime you have rendered to.
Caiaphas and Annis and the rest of the priests were
no different than the emperor, Tiberius, Caesar and Ponscious Pilot,
who were dictators. I mean, it doesn't matter if you're
a dictator in the left, a dictator on the right,
if you're following dictators because it just makes you feel
good as a Christian, you've aligned with the wrong leader
(24:18):
in your life. They also murdered these dictators to get
their way, and they will stand together on the last
day facing Jesus, the judge of all the earth. At
this point, Peter appeals to them. Does God love dictators?
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Yes or no?
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Someone said no, Okay, well, all right, that's pallid. I
ask for honest responses, not unhonest responses. I'm not going
to go after you because you said that. But it's
a good question to ask, would you say, it's a
good question to ask, does God care about the EDII
means the.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Well, you know who he is.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
He's an old dictator. Saddam Hussein. He's another old dictator,
but we get I'm not going to name modern dictators
because you may like him.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Well, it's true.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
But here Peter appeals to Jesus murderers Caiaphas and Annis
and all the rest except Jesus and be saved. Isn't
that beautiful God? In Christ prayed at the cross, Father,
forgive them.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
They know not what they do.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
And those men right there that had Peter and John
in front of them had heard that prayer. And now
Peter is appealing again for these men to be saved.
And through Peter, who had denied Jesus, but then who
had been restored by Jesus, Jesus here offers his murder.
Is the offer of salvation of being restored, even though
they had murdered him. Does God love his enemies absolutely?
(25:45):
Let's look at verse eleven of XKED four. Peter said,
this is the stone which was rejected by you builders,
by which has become the head of a corner. And
then verse twelve is the awesome part. And there is
salvation and no one else, For there is no other
name under Heaven given among men by which we must
(26:05):
be saved. The Holy Spirit pushed these words through Peter's
mouth holy boldness. If you want salvation in your life
and you're trying to get it through any person or
means or politician other than Jesus Christ, you will not
be saved by them or it. The world religions are
not valid roads of truth that lead to salvation.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
I'm sorry. The Bible does not teach that.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Philosophy will not save you with its intricate ideas, So
don't try to look smart.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
To be saved.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
The Church can't and won't save you either. That's the
latest sea and problem thinks the Church is somehow.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Going to save us.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Doing good to be noticed by God or others will
not save you. So virtue signaling is out as a
Christian trying to appease God by proving yourself will not
save you or anyone else either. Friend, the name of
Jesus Christ means his character. God's name is this character.
Christ's name is this holy character. Jesus' name means in
(27:04):
Hebrew Yahweh saves.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
The Lord saves. So what will save us? The Lord
not us.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
And when you call on the God of Love to
forgive you, who has a character of love that is
good and kind?
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Even to his enemies and well able to save you.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Don't disbelieve his name, don't reject his character. Believe that
God's love was poured out for you. And I guarantee
you that God in Jesus Christ, will answer your sincere
prayer on your knees in brokenness to be saved, and
you will be saved. We come home to God when
we call on the character the name of Jesus Christ
(27:43):
to save us, because his name and his character is
the greatest name in the universe. What did these murders
of Jesus' notice in Peter and John when they engage
them in this way? Look at verse thirteen. Now, when
they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceive
that they were uneducated common men, they wondered, and they
(28:04):
recognized that they had been with Jesus. It was evident
to the religious leaders that Peter and John were not
educated men. They didn't quote the rabbi theologians, the school
of Helale and the school of Shamad.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Or any other school of rabbinical thought.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
They didn't rattle off some pat answer the Church provides
for questions that are hard to answer. They didn't appeal
to their religious pedigree. To make a point, I got
this degree here, there, and so on. They were common men,
the text says, in my translation enamored with Jesus. The
Greek word for common here used with men is idiot
tastes in the Greek. What does that sound like the
(28:44):
English word? It's the word for idiot. They were idiot men,
common men. Idiot means in ancient Greek coin a Greek
a layman or a non specialist.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
She was describe an unskilled or untrained person.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yet the religious leaders marveled at these idiot men because
they were speaking like Jesus would if he were there,
and it was not idiotic stuff coming out of their mouth.
They had a mastery of the scriptures at their disposal.
They could reason with boldness on the spot. They could
quote Jesus and integrate it into their defense. That is
why these religious politicians could discern the character of Jesus
(29:22):
in these common men. Friend, education is helpful, but only
if you have been with Jesus. Jesus is the greatest
teacher this world has ever known. If you have never
had the opportunity of attending university, if you have no
advanced degree, and I have a master's degree at the seminary.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
And I value that degree.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
But I tell you most of what I have learned
that I preach and teaching the pulpit has come from
my devotional time in the Bible and the spirit of prophecy.
You can keep all the nonsense ideas the philosopher, king,
theologian types, self appointed healers to yourself. As for me,
just give me Jesus in my life so I can
(30:04):
grow in the knowledge of God and share it with others.
Spending time with Jesus is what qualifies us to serve God.
The religious leaders couldn't answer Peter and John, so they
sent them out of the council to allow themselves to
confer with each other. And a committee is if that
would help them do the right thing. Inside the council
(30:24):
with the apostles on the outside, the lame man who
had been healed on the outside now a leaping and
walking and praising God men, they asked themselves, what can
we do with these men? Think about that, they just
hurt the gospel. They just had another appeal of mercy
and grace from God come into their lives. And what
are they concerned with?
Speaker 1 (30:44):
These guys? Causing trouble, not the truth, not Jesus. The people.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
These common idiot men obviously performed a miracle. They could
figure that, and all of Jerusalem knows they did, and
they've admitted it because they couldn't deny it. Paradoxically, they
show no interest in letting Jesus into their lives to
work the miracle of saving them or healing them. They
didn't feel they needed Jesus saving them. They had set
(31:11):
themselves up to save the people from Jesus. When you
resist Jesus long enough in life, hear me, it's possible
for anyone in the church to act just like these
religious leaders did. Thus, they decided in a committee to
command them to no longer speak in Jesus' name. Look
(31:33):
at Acts four eighteen. So they called them and charged
them not to speak or teach at all in the
name of Jesus, Holy spirit filled men and women. Don't
obey this kind of command, am I right? There should
be a lot more amens to that. Look at verse nineteen.
But Peter, and by the way, in the Reformation they
had a doctrine called the teaching or doctrine of the
(31:53):
Lesser Magistrate. It was derived directly from Acts four in
other parts of Scripture that when a high our magistrate's
tyrannical and they order you to violate your conscience, it
is the duty of the lesser magistrate to resist them.
In the book Great Controversy, we have the picture of
the protests of the princes where they stood before the Segeesemun,
(32:17):
the Holy Roman Emperor, and they resisted him on the
basis of conscience. And that is our Protestant heritage, as
our Protestant heritage in our church and others Verse nineteen.
But Peter and John answer them, whether it is right
in the side of God to listen to you rather
than to God. You must judge, for we cannot but
(32:39):
speak of what we have seen and heard. They left
no doubt at all as to what they, as followers
of Jesus, were going to do in the future. Peter
and John were compelled to share the good news of Jesus.
I ask you the question, are you of like mine
with Peter and John in your personal life, in your
commitment to Jesus, are you, like them compelled to share
(33:03):
your testimony Christ Scripture as you can with others who
Jesus brings into your life. Are you compelled to share
the goodness of the Lord with those you mean at work,
or in your neighborhood, or in your family, or in
your practice with people who do.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Not know that the Lord is good? You're the only
Jesus they may ever see Verse twenty one.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
And when they had further threatened them, these guys, as
they never give up, do they When they had further
threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to
punish them.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Why because of.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
The people they are politicians For all men praise God
for what had happened. For the man on whom the
sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.
And the evidence and the good will of the people
prevented those religious politicians from getting rid of Peter and
John right there. And furthermore, the walking and leaping and
(34:01):
praising God Man was over forty years old. You couldn't
deny the evidence. How does a man who never walked
do that in a single day at the gate beautiful
without God performing a special sign that is beautiful. Immediately,
Peter and John and I assumed the walking and leaping
and praising God Man, who was no longer the lame
(34:22):
man went to their friends and told them everything that
they had told them.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
That's why it's in our New Testament.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
They told them what the religious leaders had said and
how they had threatened them so they would stop sharing
the Gospel of Jesus. At this point, the apostles chose
to pray, as they invoke the Word of God in
psalms too, and their prayer to God. You see, when
you have overcome a massive challenge, you've prayed through that challenge.
Don't think you need to stop praying. You need to
(34:52):
end the experience by praying and seeking God's will and
thanking God.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
That's what they do.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Look at verse twenty four, and when they heard it,
they lifted their voices together to God and said, so
the apostles are leading the people in prayer, Sovereign Lord,
who DIDs make the heaven and the earth to see
and everything in them. They're quoting the Sabbath, the fourth Commandment.
There verse twenty five, who by the mouth of our Father,
David thy servant, did say, by the Holy Spirit, why
(35:20):
do the gentiles rage? And the people's imagine vain things?
The kings of the earth set themselves in array, and
the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Against his anointed.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
And now they seized on that scripture they're quoting in
their prayer Psalms two one and two.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Psalms two seven, according to Hebrews.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Five five and Acts thirteen, is a direct prophecy of
the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
God has sworn and will not change his mind.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
He says today I've begotten you, since today I've begotten you,
And it's paraphrased again in Hebrews one ten Psalms one ten,
verse four and three. Really, they were enamored with Psalms
two in Psalms one hundred and ten because it was
resurrection imagery. They focus on the fact that these religious
leaders who are opposing the word of God are not
(36:10):
any different than the Romans and ponscious pilot who crucified Jesus.
And they see it right there in their Bible. And
they confess in prayer that these Jewish leaders, their leaders
who crucified Jesus, who persecuted them, had become unbelieving gentiles.
Why because they would not stop conspiring against God's anointing
(36:31):
his messiah, Jesus and those who followed Jesus. In verse
twenty seven, they affirmed that Jerusalem is no longer the
holy city that promotes truth and righteousness as it once did.
Look at verse twenty seven. For truly, in this city
there were gathered together against thy holy Servant, Jesus, whom
thou didst anoint both herod and ponscious pilot, with the
(36:52):
Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever thy
hand in thy plan had predestined to take place. In
this prayer, they're making direct reference to the seventy week
prophecy of Daniel nine that promised the coming of the
Messiah the probationary time for the Holy City of Jerusalem.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
In Dale nine twenty four.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Daniel had prophesied that the people of the Prince who
is to come will destroy the city and the sainctuaries.
Not talking about Jesus primarily here at all, I mean
in a secondary sense. Only could you see it that way.
By rejecting Jesus, both the Jewish leaders and the Romans
united under the Prince, that would destroy the city, the sanctuary,
and the Messiah, who is the true temple of God.
(37:35):
Jesus had destroyed this temple three days, I'll build it
up Jesus said in John fourteen thirty that the ruler
or prince of this world is coming, and he has
no power over me. They were aware of Bible prophecy
in the Early Church. They were engaging their adversaries with
the seventy week prophecy of Daniel nine and Acts two.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
In other places, both the.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
Romans and the Jewish leaders have become agents of Satan.
It was the Prince that had gained control of their
lives and hearts. And at this point they're both gentiles
as followers. The Early Church's concerned. If you're going to
follow the prince of this world, you're a gentile. That's
how they looked at it. Based on Psalms too. What
does that mean for us today? For the implications, Friend,
(38:19):
if we oppose the truth of Jesus in our time,
and we oppose men and women coming to Jesus, the
book Revelation says that such believers become a synagogue of Satan,
and they will receive the mark of the Beast. It
doesn't matter if what day of the week you keep.
If you don't have Jesus, you get the mark of
the Beast. They continued their prayer in verse twenty nine.
(38:43):
And now, Lord, isn't that a great place to come
to grips in your prayer with? And now Lord look
upon their threats and granted thy servants to speak the word.
And what does it say in the Bible? Help me
with this with all boldness? That's right, Katie? Did you
say that boldness? Is Katie bold about her profession of
(39:07):
Jesus Christ in our church?
Speaker 1 (39:08):
Isn't she?
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Amen Verse thirty, While thou stretchest out thy hand to heal,
and signs and wonders are performed through the name of
thy holy servant, Jesus. Sophia Shoul got it right when
she said, I will cling to the rope God has
thrown me in Jesus Christ, even when my numb hand
can no longer feel it. Friend, when our hands are numb,
(39:34):
Jesus Christ is the one who can stretch out his
Holy Spirit hand to heal us and to strengthen us,
to give us courage. Jesus has the power, through the
Holy Spirit hand to perform signs and wonders. Jesus is
not irrelevant in our lives just because evil men and
evil women oppose the work of God in our time.
(39:55):
The apostles prayed for boldness from thy holy servant, Jesus.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
What was the.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
Outcome of holy boldness in that day? The Jesus kind
of holy boldness in this prayer? What was the outcome
of that? You may have a lot of opposition in
your life. I mean, the whole world may be coming
down on you. But if you speak in the name
of Jesus, you get on your knees, you call on
(40:24):
His name to be your sustaining power.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
God will get you through it.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
But He'll get you through it in an attitude of boldness,
of strength, not of weakness. You're not a victim if
you're in the cause of Christ and friend, don't ever
apologize for lifting up the name of Jesus with a humble,
sincere heart to share Jesus with other people. How did
God respond to this humble and sincere prayer for holy
(40:49):
boldness to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ dear heart?
God responded with a second outpouring of the Holy Spirit
as a second blessing of Pentecost that shook the place
to share Jesus boldly. The Holy Spirit shook the place
to affirm that they would go forth with greater Holy
Spirit power in their life Verse thirty one. And when
(41:12):
they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered
together was shaken, and they were filled with the Holy
Spirit and spoke the Word of God with boldness. Dear Father,
help us to get our minds off ourselves as all
that significant. We're not powerful, our ideas are not profound.
(41:34):
Our influence doesn't make a difference unless we are surrendered
to Jesus, unless the Holy Spirit is in our lives,
unless we pray. And so Father, we pray to you
right now as a church family for love and kindness,
for truth telling, to protect the vulnerable, and care and
(42:00):
love the world that's in our sphere, in Laurel, in Lord,
the world. And I pray for every person here.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
Father. They're broken people here.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
They don't need to be broken a long It didn't
take but an act of faith and grace to make
that broken lay man walk.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
May they hold on to Jesus, claim Jesus.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
In their life, not look back, not look back, and
watch you work in their life to take common people
who've come from them horrible places some of us, and
see God do great things that's not of us. And
so the Lord lift up Jesus here. May our young
(42:43):
people lift up Jesus. May the older people lift up Jesus.
And may Jesus dwell here through the Holy Spirit in
Jesus' name, Amen,
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