All right, let's look in the truth a little bit. It could be anywhere, anything anybody have that you want to give away, something that just, I mean, it just whets your whistle. You just like talking about it. Chapter nine. Chapter nine, so you're talking about Acts chapter nine, about what verse? Well, it's about the resurrection of Tammoth. Uh-huh. Dorcas. Dorcas. Tabitha. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I may have it right in my head, I may have it wrong, but. We're talking about verse 36. Yeah, actually, what I want us to talk about is, it starts in 36. Yeah, yeah. But in 39, as Peter goes in, all the women show, raise up the garments that she had made. Yeah, yeah. And to me, remember when Jesus came in and they got the palm leaves out and laid them out before. Prophetically, yeah. Before Jesus. This has reminded, this reminds me of that, is that they're laying this, holding this up, before Peter to honor her. And they're not, I don't believe that they even thought that he would raise her from the dead. I think they were just, you know, seeing how, they wanted him to know what an honorable woman that she was. Yeah, they were saying that she's been a servant. Yeah. And she served people, she's been considerate, she's been thoughtful. And to have new clothes in that day was a big deal. I mean, that wasn't... I mean, like a t-shirt, this is big, but anyway, that thought about honoring somebody that's in such a massive way, I mean, it was not just one person, it was a bunch of people, anyway. Yeah, yeah, it would be a picture of us walking into something and we talking about saying, look at what somebody built or what somebody did. And what they did was for the kingdom. What they did was to honor the Lord and to bless his people. And look in verse 36, we'll start there where it begins. Now remember, this is where Peter's gonna be when God's gonna issue his call to him. to go to Cornelius's house. They're in a little town called Joppa that sat along the Mediterranean Sea. It says at Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds, which she did. She was known for what she did, just like Noah was known for what he preached. Jesus was known for what he taught in the life that he lived. John the Baptist is called John the Baptist because he is known for what he did. What did he do? He baptized. That's how he gets this name. Verse 37, but it happened in those days that she became sick and died. Sick and died. which in many times people would tell you people that are doing the work of the Lord don't have to worry about becoming sick, don't have to worry about those types of things, but we just don't find that biblically nor scripturally that people that trust Jesus still get sick. That's right. It happens. That's just part of it. We're all going to die. We're all on a crash course with death and to meet our maker for sure. But it happened in those days that she became sick and died. When they had washed her, hadn't buried her yet, but they got her body ready for burial, they laid her in an upper room and since Lyda was near Joppa and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, They sent two men to him imploring him not to delay in coming to them. Then Peter arose and went with them. When he had come, they brought him to the upper room and all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and the garments that Dorcas had made while she was with them. But Peter put them all out. Now you gotta keep in mind, Peter walked with Jesus and it was very similar when Jesus would walk in a home that there was somebody sick or there was lamenting going on, he would clear the house. He'd tell them all to get out. That's right, that's right. Had to get them out. They were all lamenting, they were the wailers and all that. Well, Peter put them all out. Peter knelt down and prayed and turning to the body he said, Tabitha arise and she opened her eyes and when she saw Peter she sat up. Now we know Peter wasn't acting independent of the leadership of the Lord. So when he said, Tabitha, arise, that is indicating, as with Jesus, that the Spirit had led him, God had led him to say, and therefore he act in faith. Remember, faith only comes, that is, faith that has redemptive qualities to it only comes from what? Hearing, and hearing a word from God. You gotta hear from God to operate in faith. There is no such thing in God's kingdom called blind faith. Brother Shannon, you don't walk out on a limb unless God leads you out on the limb. He told you to go out on the limb. That's why Jesus illustrated it in such extravagant ways when he said, look, if you had faith the size of a mustard seed, and remember, mustard seed, it and the smallest seeds is talking about The quantity of seeds because a mustard tree turns into what? A great big tree. So you don't plant a thousand of them in a garden. You only plant a couple of them in a garden because they're going to overtake the garden if you do. That's what he's referring to. But he says it only takes a small amount of faith for you to say, to that mulberry tree be plucked up and planted in the sea." That's not saying you operate or we operate on our own speaking into that. That is saying if you heard from God and God told you to tell that tree to be plucked up and planted in the sea, that tree would obey you. It would do exactly what you told it to do. But the key is you've heard from the Father. You've been led by the Spirit and you've spoken exactly what He gave you. You believed Him enough to communicate it, to confess it, and then speak it to whatever you just spoke to. Just like in the valley of dry bones, that prophet Ezekiel wasn't permitted to speak that into the people until God said, speak to the bones. Speak To them, we have to hear from the Lord. And when we hear from the Lord, just like when Jesus, what did he do to that tree that didn't have any figs on it? He cursed it. Well, the disciples, when they recognized the tree was withered up and dead, they said, wow, you see that tree? And the first thing Jesus turned and said to them, have faith in God. Have faith in God. What does that mean? Believe him. The Father told me to speak death to that tree, and I spoke death to that tree, and that tree had to obey what I said because an eternal message overruled the natural world. Here's the natural world at work, death. But because God told him to speak life into that which was dead, and God is the only one that can overcome the natural, in a supernatural way, that's what happened. So when Peter says that to her, it's because he's hearing, he's hearing, and he's communicating what he heard. and there was life that was transferred, not from Peter, but from God, that gave life back to Tabitha's body. And then the scripture says that, verse 41, then he gave her his hand, and he lifted her up, and when he called the saints and widows, he presented her alive. The saints and widows and it became known throughout all Joppa and many what? believed on the Lord. See, there is the ultimate aim of all this work, this raising up of Tabitha, this issuing a call to Peter to come down to Joppa from Lydah, to come down there was God stirred those men to go get him when they heard he was there. God put it in his heart to go down there. God put a word in his mouth to raise her from the dead. Why? Because Jesus came to seek and save that which is lost." When the word went out that this lady was alive, many believed on the Lord. Verse 43, so it was that Peter stayed many days in Joppa with Simon a tanner. A tanner, the tanners lived near the sea coast because they would use the salts from the Mediterranean Sea. They would use those salts to help them with their tanning process. So he stays there, and he stays, the scripture says, for many days. Now while Peter was there, of course, that's what gets us into chapter number 10. And it starts with Cornelius. And the Bible describes Cornelius as devout. And I mentioned that word devout Sunday in relation to those that buried the body of Stephen. And I said that word devout has the idea of somebody who is, they take their accountability and responsibility serious. They don't wait for other people to do things that they can do themselves. They are a responsible people, and that's the idea of him being a devout man. He was known as a leader. He was known as a responsible man. He was devout. well-respected just like those well-respected responsible men that took Stephen's body and Buried him this man right here. He does believe he believes the light that he has but he's still not a believer in Jesus as of yet because he never heard of Jesus yet And but for him to come into the kingdom, he must have a witness bring him the message. And that message is gonna introduce him unto the Lord and God's gonna do a supernatural work in this Gentile's life. And there's so many dynamics that we see in what everything we do, even today, is that we see a divine providential work of God getting Peter to where he was at. having Peter where he was located, Cornelius where he's located, that is like a, when you think about it, knowing the story, because I'm not gonna read it all, this man had a vision, an angel came to him and told him what he must do, and he sent these three messengers to go find this guy Peter, or Simon, who's at Simon the Tanner's house. He sends him from Caesarea, which is another seacoast town, all the way down to Joppa. If you took that journey by foot, for which they did, and that was in between 12 and a 13 hour walk. You're looking at right at 40 miles. 40 mile journey down the sea coast of the Mediterranean Sea. So when you're thinking about that anticipation of this act of faith, he acted on faith and sent those messengers down there. Then he had Wait on the man of God that was going to come to him. Is he going to respond to the message? Well, God done told him he would right that I'm sending you I'm sending you a messenger who's going to tell you what you need to do and God chose this guy. This was an introduction from the Jew to the Gentile remember Jews hated Gentiles and most Gentiles hated Jews unless they can make money off of them They just hated one another. The Jews hated not only the Samaritans, which we've already seen the barriers broken at with Peter going up there and Philip being up there. Now the barriers are being broken down with the Gentiles. See, you and I, we're Gentiles and we're grateful for this, amen? Because this is the first picture of this Gentile world being made one man in Christ, one fold, You know, other sheep that Jesus said he had, this Cornelius was supernaturally, out of all the Gentiles that could have been chosen, he's the man God chose. He's the man that God prepared. He's the man that God was bringing this message of Jesus to. So God chose him, the receiver of the word. He chose him. He does the same thing today. He chooses those who receive the word and those who take the light that they have been given and seek more light and God preparing the heart of a man for the message that God's gonna send to him. But not only did he choose the receiver, but he also chose the revealer. That would be Peter, the messenger. Now, did he have to prepare Cornelius for it? Yes, he did. Did he have to prepare Peter for it? Yes, he did. But you see, there was a divine work going on for all this to be fulfilled. God was at work in every facet of it. He was at work in preparing Cornelius. He was at work in preparing Peter. And this was such a work that Peter had to be have a vision as well. And that's where you see the vision of the picture of the sheep coming down three times. Because like I said, the Gentile foresaw, excuse me, the Jew foresaw the Gentile as defiled, unclean. If they even went into a Gentile land, they would do everything they could to get the dirt and the dust off their shoes before they walked back into Israel. If a Gentile made bread, they wasn't supposed to eat it. If a Gentile made instruments, it had to be sanctified and cleansed by a process, even by fire before they could use it, because anything a Gentile touched was contaminated. And that's the way the Jews looked at it. And so that's why this picture of this common or unclean thing and these clean things. that God showed Peter, and Peter said, I have never touched an unclean thing, I haven't done that, Lord. Not intentionally, not willfully going against what you teach, and he says, look, what God has called clean, who do we have the right to call unclean or common? And therefore, he broke those barriers down, and as he was seeing all this and hearing from the Lord, he gets a knock on the door. And here's these messengers. who came to the right place, found the right man, and then told him the story. Then Peter, by faith, had to what? Act in that, and walk in it, and go down there and tell the man. Well, we've read the whole story there, but all that goes along with things we talked about many days in the past, like Jeremiah 16, 19 through 21. That's what God does. He says, there's gonna be a space of time that I open the door to the Gentiles, and the Gentiles are gonna respond to my message. I'm gonna show myself to them. I've chosen to reveal myself to the receiver and I've also chosen the revealers who's gonna be the ones who tell them. And that's in Jeremiah 16, 19 through 21. Same way with John 3, 16 through 21. Anybody that has the truth or practice the truth in them, God says, I'm gonna reveal to them that truth that's in them has been produced by me. I did this. and I'm gonna make it clear to them. Look in John 3. When you hear people talk about John 3, 16, you rarely ever hear them refer to the rest of that chapter in context, either before or after, and it's just very important for us to realize this is all the divine work of God. Look in John 3. Look in... Because John 3 tells us that every man that is to enter in the kingdom of God must be born again. Right? Is this what was going to happen to Cornelius? Cornelius had to be what? Born again. He had to be born again. No man enters the kingdom without being born again. No man can see the kingdom unless they've been born from above, born again. This is where the Spirit is at work in doing this in people's life. Now the Savior laid his life down to make it possible, but the Spirit is the one revealing to men what the Savior did. Revealing the unbelief, and revealing righteousness, and revealing judgment. But the condition of man, without this, man just loves his way. And man's way is what? Darkness, right? Look at what verse number 16 says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And all God's people say, praise the Lord. Verse 17, for God, he did not send his son into the world to condemn the world. Why did he not send his son in the world to condemn the world? It was already condemned. That's right. It needed no more condemnation. It was already condemned. He sent him in to what? Save the world from that condemnation. But then he's gonna say, but that the world through him might be saved. Look at verse 18 says, he who believes in him is not condemned. See the condemnation goes away in who? in Jesus, but he who does not believe is condemned already because he's not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. So Jesus is the one who either frees men from condemnation or men have no hope without Jesus in the condemnation that they're in. Then he says in verse 19, and this is the condemnation that they gotta be freed from. What is it? That the light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. That's the condition of every heart that has not been freed from the condemnation that only Jesus can free them from. And all God's people said. Verse 20, for everyone who is practicing evil hates what? The light. So you got to be delivered from evil to love the light. That's got to be a work of God, right? A man can't get himself out of this. That's why Jesus came. So everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear his deeds should be exposed. He loves his deeds, his deeds are evil, that's the condemnation and the light only exposes the deeds so they stay away from it. That's why Jesus would say in John 7, men do not hate you, talking about his physical brothers, why do they not hate you? Because you didn't come to reveal their iniquities, their sins. I did. That's what he come to do. In revealing them, he redeems us from them. Verse 21, here's the answer. But he who does the truth, just put Cornelius there, comes to the light that his deeds may be clearly seen that they have, that is his deeds, his truth, what he has, what he's practicing, has been done what? Or rout by who? It's a God thing. Cornelius is a product of God. And therefore, this chosen vessel, as he talked about Paul, remember when Paul was on that road to Damascus, to persecute the church, to put them to death, or put them in jail, when he told Ananias to go to him, and Ananias was a little cautious, because he knew that he had been breathing threats, and he was a murderer, and anybody that called on the name of the Lord, he tried to put in jail, and God says, he is a chosen vessel of mine. He's a chosen vessel. Cornelius was a chosen vessel. and what he did in the fear of the Lord in his arms and what he did, the reason he was willing to come to the light is because God was exposing that he was a product of God. He was a product of God, not a product of himself, not a product of Israel, not a product of Rome, But God was at work in the man. And now the man, who was operating in the light that he had, needed to hear the full revelation of his son. So he sends him a messenger, amen? This is the chosen work that God reveals. He chooses the receivers, he chooses the revealers, and he chooses the plan and the process of how it all comes about. That's why it says, you send messengers, and I will send the messenger to you. Who's doing the sending? Who's the one instructing and guiding? Now, men are acting in faith on what God gives them, but remember, they come to the light that their works may be manifest that they were out in God. God was in this. So when you teach the whole of the picture of John 3, 16, those that believe, who come to the truth, who escape the condemnation that they once operated in, you can't help but give praise to God and not to man for coming to the light. Are you with me? Because man wouldn't come to the light unless God done something in the man. And so we just give God the glory. So 321 helps us so much in understanding this work. And that's where Jeremiah 16, 19 through 21 tells us that God is the one gets involved in it. He shows them his arm and that men look and say, why in the world have I been serving everything else? I've been serving nothing but idols and worthlessness. Now I see you and they yield to you. Because God is the one as John 6 would say no man comes to the father unless they've been taught by the father Got to be drawn by him and taught by him to come to Jesus. So praise God. Amen And that's why the Jews didn't understand these men. That's why Paul didn't understand them And there was a word Paul continued to use, and it's used just like the word Christian is used in the scriptures. It's only used a couple times, just like the word Christian's only used three times. And Christians, when it's used, it's always in a relationship to how the world views the disciples, and therefore they come against them and will persecute them. Paul used the phrase that he was persecuting those who were in the way. Y'all remember seeing that? Look in chapter nine, go back to Acts nine. Look at nine, he makes reference to that in verse number one and two, the way, the way. Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against who? Against who? The disciples of the Lord. The disciples of the Lord. And a disciple was a what? A follower, a learner. Somebody who committed their life to learn and follow the teachings of another person. So these are people who gave evidence that they were a disciple. He went to the high priest and he asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus so that if he found anyone who were of what? This way or of the way, where with men or women he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Anytime that concept of the way is brought to light, that Luke brings out on several occasions, It's always in relationship to the unbeliever. looking at the disciple and how they live, and all they wanna do is silence them, put them to death, put them in prison, shut it down. So the way was always in relationship to how the unbelieving world looked at the disciples of Jesus, that they walked the way of Jesus, they lived the way of Jesus, they stood on the way of Jesus, they suffered for the way of Jesus, They called on the name of Jesus. And you'll see what I'm talking about. I got a couple of passages written down. Look in chapter 19, look in chapter 19. So we see it once there, we'll try to count these up. Chapter 19 is brought to light again, and we'll see how it's done and who's talking. Remember Luke is narrating this, he's giving us a narrative. So he's telling us what Paul's heart was and doing what he did. Look in verse number nine, verse number nine. But when some were hardened and did not believe but spoke evil of what? The way, before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew who? The disciples. You see, the disciples are always connected with the way. But the way is how the unbelieving world described them. Are you following me? See how Luke's doing this. They called them the people of the way. But all these people that were of the way, who were they? The Bible describes them as what? Disciples. You wouldn't be classified as being part of the way if you wasn't a disciple. There was no need to even put you in that company of people if you bared no marks of being a disciple. But an unbelieving world who was persecuting them referred to them as the way. Look in verse 23. So that's how many there too? Okay, verse 20, 23, and about that time there arose a great commotion about what? The way. Can you tell? We've looked at three passages. Paul, Saul, before he was a believer, did everything he could to destroy those that were of the way. Now we see in chapter 19, a commotion take place, and it's all in relation to the unbelieving world trying to persecute the people of the way. And who were they? They're the disciples, right? You're not gonna get away from it. Anytime you see the unbelieving world, speaking of the way, they're always talking about the disciples. All right, look over in chapter 22. So that's what, three? That's three, look in 22. Look in verse number four, that's right. Verse number four. Now this is Paul. bearing testimony, and notice what he said in relation to it. Verse number three, let's start there. Paul said, I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our father's law, and I was zealous toward God, and as you all are today, Now he's gonna relate to them who are against these people. He says, I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering in the prison, both men and women. Now, who was he binding and put in prison? The disciples. But Paul refers to them as what? The way, when he was going after them, and now when he's telling his testimony, he's only relating to them as they call these people the way. So it's still in the what? A negative sense. That's how they went against them. So that's number four, right? All right, look in chapter number 24. 24. We're gonna see something very similar in verse 14. Paul's standing before Felix, the governor, and he has a council of Jews who are accusing him. Verse 13 says, nor can they prove these things of which they now accuse me. But this Paul says, I confess to you that according to what? The way which they call a what? a heresy, a sect, in some translation. What's yours say, Janet? A sect, a heresy, a cult would be. So I worship the God of my fathers, believe in all things which are written in the law and the prophets. So what is Paul doing? In testimony, he's saying that I'm being persecuted because they see me part as this sect or the way. So you see, even when Paul uses it as a believer in sharing his testimony, he's still using it how the unbelieving world describes the disciples as a cult, as a heresy who belong to the way. And then again, look in verse number 22 of chapter 24. It's used, and that was what, number five? So this would be number six. But when Felix heard these things, having more accurate knowledge of that way or the way of what Paul's been testifying to, he adjourned the proceedings and said, when Lysas, the commander comes down, I will make a decision of your case. So it's still from a what? He had an unbeliever who had more accurate knowledge of the way. And that's the six times that it's used and used by Luke in the book of Acts, that those who are part of the way that were looked down upon by an unbelieving world, who were they? They were all, they were the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not one mention of them being Christians, but what? Disciples, the brethren, saints, those that call upon the Lord. Now Christian is first introduced to us in chapter 11 at Antioch, but that was from an unbelieving world who looked at the works and the acts and the ways of the disciples and started calling them Christians. And then we're gonna see it again with King Agrippa and he says, you almost persuaded me to become a Christian. From a negative perspective, from an outside world, so you connect the way they use the word Christian and the way they use the word way, it was an antagonistic way to describe who. the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? So just looking at that, that helps us. That's an unbelieving world that were anti the way. And they looked at that as a sect or a heresy. And one thing before we go, we'll close it out. with this. Go back to chapter number nine. I just wanted to pull these things together for us and just who are these then, the way? They're disciples. What do they do? Chapter nine is gonna give us all these things that they do. Look in verse number 14 of nine. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who what? Call on thy name. Call on the name of the Lord who are the disciples. They're the ones who were what? Part of the way. Then verse 15, but the Lord God said to him, go for he is a chosen vessel of mine. What is he to do? To bear my name before Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. So those who are disciples call on the name of the Lord and also what? Bear the name of the Lord to those in the world that they live in. And then we see verse 16, for I will show him how many things he must, what? Suffer for my namesake. So what else do they do? They suffer for the name of Jesus. So you see that brother Shannon, the disciples call on the name of Jesus. bear the name of Jesus and suffer for the name of Jesus. And that is the people of the way that the world don't want anything to do with and therefore they stay totally away them. Look in verse number 21, then all who heard were amazed and said, is this not he who destroyed those that what? called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, that he might bring them bound to the chief priest." That was a common thing for the disciples. They called on the name of Jesus, they bore the name of Jesus, and they suffered for the name of Jesus. and praise God, amen? So when you don't see people calling on the name of Jesus, bearing the name of Jesus, and suffering for the name of Jesus, you ain't got you a disciple there, are you with me? It's just that simple. Verse 31, one thing, one last thing in this same chapter, after Paul was doing what he was doing in Tarsus, verse 31 says, then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had what, Brother Shannon? Well, they had what before they did that? What does it say? They had rest. We're talking about that rest. We're talking about peace. They had peaced and were edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were what? Multiplied. So everything that we teach, we see it right here. They were gathering together. Who were they? They called out assembly. That's the churches, the brides. They came together to serve one another. They were yoked to Jesus. That's where that rest in peace is gonna come for, for the labor and the work. They building up one another, that is edifying and equipping the brethren and they walking in the life giving place of giving place to Jesus, and therefore they walked in the fear of the Lord. They are comforted and guided by, as a way of life, the Holy Spirit, who was calling them near and guiding them in the steps they to take, and they were fishing for men. And God multiplied them from there. That's what, everything we say, what's the mission of the church? Reach, teach, equip, mobilize. You gotta gather and go to do that, amen? And that 931 sums up the essence of what we do in gathering, in laboring, in yoking with Jesus, in what? Edifying and building one another up, walking as a way of life. by faith in the fear of the Lord and being guided by the Holy Spirit and fishing for men. And man, that's reaching, teaching, equipping, and mobilizing the brethren for the work that God's called us to do. Amen? Amen. The world didn't like them, did they? No. What did they call them? People of? the way, but what really were they? They were simple. They were disciples, weren't they? Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Man, we live in a world that needs to know this. That needs to know this. They have such a muddied view of what a disciple or what a Christian is. They're just clueless to it. And you don't see that What you see today, you don't see as you're reading through the book of Acts. As a whole, what I'm saying is, across the board, everything across the board, if you associate it with a church, it's Christian. But there's no evidence of being a disciple of the Lord Jesus. And they just blanket those out. That's why you don't hardly ever hear me use that phrase, because it's so misunderstood, I avoid it, unless I can teach on it, of the way that it is. And I always use the idea of what disciples, the brethren, the believers, the chosen, the elect. those who are called, those who bear the name, those who suffer for the name of Jesus. That's the people of God. That's the sheep of the shepherd that we get to serve. Amen? To him be the glory. Anybody have anything before we go? Ain't he good, Carolyn? He sure is. Thank you, Lord. We bless you tonight. We praise you. We ask you to help us with these things. We know you have providential moments for people that you are already at work in to receive the message that you've given us to reveal. And we just want to be part of that work, in that flow, guided and led and comforted by your Spirit. working among the brethren, because you tell us that if there's any glory given to you, it's through Jesus, through his church today. So we praise you for that and ask you to use us in a mighty way. In Jesus' name, amen. Love y'all. Y'all have a good night. Looking forward to this weekend already.