Amen. Glad to know that when I'm broken, he can pick up those pieces and put it back together again. I'm so glad to know that I serve a God like that. And Bonnie, we appreciate you and all that you do. Today's Bonnie's birthday. Everybody tell Bonnie happy birthday. Hey, piano players are coming hard to find these days. And I don't know, we're blessed to have Bonnie here comes and gives her time to play the piano. And I want you to know we appreciate you as a church. I can speak on behalf of me and Josh both. We appreciate you. We love you. And Al both. We care about you all greatly. And happy birthday. I will go over and play happy birthday on the piano, but you don't want to hear that. All right. We'll be in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 this evening. and Acts chapter 3 and 4. I was trying to talk myself and stay away from Acts because that's where Josh is at, and I don't want to step on his message. I don't know, but I don't know if he's going into 3 and 4. I know he's in chapter 2, but hey, just Josh, you can preach it better than I can next week. So, but in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, I was studying today and looking through God's Word, and I'll just be honest with you, I was set on Acts chapter 3 and 4 of the message, and April was asking me if it all came together on the way here, and I was also looking at 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 26 and 27. I done ruled that out of the message. That ain't what I was going to preach. But then I started talking to April about the message and what was going to be preached tonight. And I was like, Hey, that really does go with what I want to preach. So now we're in first Corinthians chapter one, verse 26. I mean, I was really passing Clinton highway on the interstate where the Clinton highway exit is. And I, I got a got a burning in my heart thinking, hey, this is where, this is why I was looking at this, and this is, you know, it's just, I know that you probably don't need to hear all that, but I just, it amazes me how God works sometimes, you know? Because I really, I thought to myself, this is not what I'm preaching. I'm not preaching 1 Corinthians chapter one. And then, when it finally hits you, like, 30 minutes before you're supposed to stand, that, hey, these two actually do go together. And there's a reason why God had me looking at both of those today, because they really do go together. But you'll, hopefully, hopefully it all comes, hopefully it all comes out together. And you all will see what I'm talking about. But in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26, it says, for ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men, after the flesh, Not many mighty, not many noble are called. Just notice that not many wise men after the flesh. Now, that's not talking about those wise Christians in the world. That's those wise men that are of the world. You can see the wise men of the world, and you can see the difference between a wise man in the world and a wise man in the church, or a wise Christian. This is talking about those wise men in the world. and not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty and not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise." That word, confound, means to perplex or amaze the wise. He'll take those... You're witnessing tonight exactly what the Scripture is saying. You're looking at someone who's not wise. I am the, we'll continue on here, I am the foolish things that confound the wise, so to speak, but I am those foolish things. But God can use anybody. is the point that this is making. It doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter your education, it doesn't matter your background, it doesn't matter where you're from or what you've been through, God can use you. And that's what he's saying here, that the world may think someone's wise and brilliant and smart, but he takes these foolish things to confound or amaze or perplex those people. So he says, the foolish things of the world, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen Yea, and things which are not to bring to naught things that are so he's saying hey look God just Don't understand. You know, how many of you have ever said I just don't understand what God's doing You know what I'm saying? This is this is really This is really I've thought of this tons of times in the past 19 years that I've been preaching. It's like, I don't know what God's doing using me. You know what I'm saying? But God, we don't understand what God's doing a lot of times, but what he's doing is using the base things. He's using those, he's using people that were willing to be used. He's using those people that aren't too smart for their own good. He's using those people that he can actually take and who will actually listen to him and will actually trust in him and follow him because, listen, I'm just going to be honest, I would not depend on my intelligence to stand here and preach the word to you. I'm not going to. I can't. I don't, I mean, I'm not saying I'm the dumbest person in the world, but I ain't the smartest person in the world either. And I would not rely on my smarts or my intelligence to stand and preach God's Word. So I think that is why God maybe chose me to preach His Word, because He knows that I'm going to have to depend on Him. because I cannot do it on my own. And I know a lot of you, I hope a lot of you feel the same way, that if God's using you, that that's the reason why, because you're willing to be used of God. You're willing to trust in Him. You're willing to depend on Him for the leadership and guidance and the intelligence behind it all, because without Him, we are nothing, right? It says in the base thing, well, let's see, that no flesh, listen, Verse 29, that no flesh should glory in his presence. So there is no glory. There's no glory in me. It's all glory is given to him. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth Let him glory in the Lord. So those people, you think about, I think about the brilliant people that the world so-called, say they're brilliant people, and they're gonna take the credit for themselves. It's all about what I've done. Look what I've done. I think about the billionaires and the Bill Gateses and the Elon Musks and all those that, they think that they've done something. Because it's all about them and it's all about what they know. But God chooses people that knows that it ain't what I can do, it's what God did. It's because where the glory doesn't go, I don't stand here to preach. I don't stand here to preach so that you all will glorify me. I stand here to preach because God's called me to do that. And I'm standing here to preach wanting all glory to go to God. And I'm very adamant when somebody says, hey, that was a good message. You've done a good job preaching. Well, then the Lord was in it, if it was good. I say if it's bad, it's all me. Some of you all probably heard me say that before. If I fall flat on my face, it's because I was trying to depend on me, and my knowledge, and my wisdom. But when it's good, and it's fruitful, and it's meaningful, and you're getting something from it, it's all because God's speaking to you through me. That's my prayer, is that God would just use me as the mouthpiece to His Word. That I'm nothing but a mouthpiece. I'm nothing but a voice that He uses. But in Acts chapter 3, We'll see. A couple of men that were mentioned this morning in the sermon. Peter and John. In chapter 3, verse 1, it says, Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man, lame from his mother's womb, was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple. who's seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked in alms. So this man's crippled. He is having to be carried to the gate. And he goes up there every time that they're gathering at the church. He's outside the gates of the church. It's wanting help, wanting people to help him, asking for money, asking for help. He's there, and he knows, you know, it's funny, it's just like he knows that the church people will help him, right? If there's anybody in the world that's gonna help him, surely it's gonna be the church people, right? So he's up there at the gate of the church, waiting on people to come in, asking for money, asking for help, asking for alms, as it calls it, as this was referred to. But Peter and John, going up to the temple together at the hour of prayer. They see this man laying at the gate. He says, who's seeing Peter and John, he asked them, I asked Peter and John, and Peter and John's like most good Baptists out there, they ain't got no money. He says this, and Peter, fashioning his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none. See, but such as I have, I give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Rise up and walk. God is using Peter and John. God is using him right here, using the base things. Now I'll say, you say base things, where do you get that? Turn to chapter four. Now chapter 4, after he did all this, after he healed this lame man, this lame man, he gets up and starts leaping a little bit, and praising God a little bit, and going into the church, and he's all happy, and all those people that walk by him, all those people that know this man, and know that he's crippled, they're seeing the miracle right before their eyes. They're seeing what's going on. And all these people of Israel, in chapter 3 verse 12, come to Peter now, And they're coming upon him, and Peter sees them coming, and he starts preaching the Word of God to them. Now, of course, that's going to upset some people, because now Peter's preaching them Jesus, whom they denied. I want you to see this just for just a second. Maybe I went too fast to get to chapter 4. But back to chapter 3, it says in verse 12, And Peter saw it, He answered unto the people, You men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man walk? Then he gets to the meat of the problem. He gets to the root of of what is causing this, why they're able to do these things. He says, The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One, and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses, and his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know, yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all." So Israel, you think about these Jewish people here in Israel, they're denying Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. He boldly, they're boldly, Peter's boldly telling them, this is the one that you had crucified. This is the one that you denied. This is the one that went before Pilate and you all said, crucify him, crucify him. You're the ones that, this is the guy that you said, give us Barabbas, give us the murderer. We want him to be set free, not Jesus. Don't set Jesus free. Kill Jesus and give us the murderer. Now Peter's just boldly telling them that you were wrong. And this is who we're doing this through. We're doing it through the power of Jesus Christ. It's only by Him. It's only through Him that we're doing this. I'm telling you that anybody in here, if you just get a hold of the power of God, God can do mighty works in your life. And mighty works through you. He can help you. He can make you one of the greatest witnesses of this world. He can make you one of the great soul winners of this generation. He can do mighty things if we can just grab a hold of the power of God. Just like what Peter and John are doing here. Peter and John now, there's no doubt, we see that he's ruffling feathers now. They're coming up against him now. So in chapter 4, the Sanhedrin, now they're brought before the Sanhedrin. I want you to see something interesting too. In chapter 4, in verse 4, after he preached this message, it says, Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed. and the number of the men was about 5,000. He fed 5,000 this morning. Now he's feeding 5,000 spiritually here using Peter and John. But now they're standing before the Sanhedrin. Now they're being brought before the rulers, and it says, and it came to pass on the morrow, verse five, and it came to pass on the morrow that their rulers, and elders, and scribes, and Annas, the high priest in Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest were gathered together at Jerusalem. And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, by what power, or by what name have you done this? Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, that's good, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to this impotent man, by what means he is made whole, be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which is set at nought of the builders, which is become the head of the corner. This is that stone that you rejected. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. The only reason why Peter and John was able to heal the impotent man was through the power of Jesus Christ. The only way that we could ever lead someone to salvation is through the power of Jesus Christ. The only way we'll be successful in our ministry, whatever your ministry may be, I'm not talking about not everyone here is called to be a preacher, but you have a ministry. You have those that you come in contact with, that you witness to. And that's the only way we'll be successful in that witnessing is through and by the power of Jesus Christ. But now look at verse 13, and here's where we get back to 1 Corinthians. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, right? Unlearned and ignorant. I'll, you can call me unlearned and ignorant as long as I'm following Jesus Christ, I don't care. I think I've made the smartest decision of my life. I think I've made the smartest decision that anybody could ever make in following Jesus Christ. But now they, but this is why I say, this is why we go back to the, he takes the foolish things to confound the wise. Now you think about all these people of Israel. I believe that when that crippled man gets up and he starts, hey, he done a little Brenda there. He got a little happy and holy. Hey, no, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not at all. But that's what that man was feeling. That man was feeling the Holy Spirit. He was feeling the healing that God had given him. Oh, it says he got up and he leaped a little bit. He probably went through the whole house of God over there at the temple. He's probably praising the Lord. I'm telling you, he's letting it all out because God's done an amazing thing in his life. And God has used Peter and John, the foolish and the unwise. He's used the base things, Lord. He's used the foolish things to confound the wise. Now they're all standing there amazed at this impotent man that's been healed of all this. I mean, he'd been laying at the gate for who knows how many years. He comes up to the gate. Every time they go up to the hour of prayer, this lame man laying there at the gate, then they'd walk by him every day. Some of them would probably give him money. But now they see him running up and down the aisles of the temple there. I'm telling you, they're confounded, right? They're perplexed. They're amazed at what's going on. Because God uses the foolish things. Because they marveled. Because Peter and John was unlearned and ignorant men. They were unlearned. and ignorant men. But they had perplexed them. They have confounded them. They don't understand how this happened. They don't understand what's going on. They don't understand the Jesus of the Bible. They don't understand the Jesus that they crucified. They don't understand how this Jesus could have the power to do such a thing. And they're confounded. They're perplexed. You know that there are millions of people in the world today that are perplexed and don't understand why, how this Jesus could do such amazing things. There's a lot of people that don't understand why, why do we meet on Sunday morning? Why do we meet on Sunday night? Why do you go to church all the time? Right? You ever heard that? Why do you go to church all the time for? I'm telling you. Because of Jesus Christ. It's all because of Him. I don't... I want to come hear about Him. I want to come learn about Him. I want to come worship Him. I want to come praise Him. Give me the opportunity so I can come and do it. Yeah, I'll go to church all the time. That's where I want to be. I want to be with His people. I want to be with Him. I want to be in His presence. I want to know that He can use an unlearned and ignorant man. to preach his word, and that's what I am. But I like this though, that verse did not stop there. It says, they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men. They marveled, and they took knowledge of them. Now, they've taken notice, they've taken knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. If there's anything that I want people to be able to say about me is, That man right there has been with Jesus. This should be evident in our lives. Doesn't matter. I've heard a lot of people use the excuse, well, I just don't have a lot of smarts. I'm just not knowledgeable. I'm not intelligent enough. I'm telling you right now, unlearned, ignorant men, they marvel because they've been with Jesus. The common denominator, I think that's what Josh said a few weeks ago, the common denominator in all this is Jesus. Jesus could take the unlearned, ignorant man and make him a marvel to the wise people of the world. The wise people will be perplexed. They'll be amazed at what Jesus can do in somebody's life. How many of you, I mean really, just honestly, are amazed at what Jesus has done in your life? Really. It's worthy to share, ain't it? It should be shared because Jesus is everything to me. Right? I want people to take notice. I want people to take knowledge and notice of me, that I've been with Jesus. Because what else do we have to live for but Him? That should be our top priority. Let's amaze some people. Let's make some people perplexed. Let's confound some people with our knowledge, our lack of knowledge, but our understanding of what Jesus can do in our life. I'm telling you, if there's nothing, I don't have to know rocket science. I don't have to know nuclear engineering. I don't have to know anything like that. I don't have to know all that, but I do have to know Jesus Christ as my savior. I have to know that. I have to know him. You can know all those other things. You can be smart, the smartest person in your field of expertise. But without Jesus, you'll die and go to hell. Without Him, without Him, you're lost and undone. You might be able to build the best vehicle in the world and still be lost and not know how to get to heaven. Because you're too wise for your own good. So I'm telling a group of people at Westside Baptist Church, is anybody in here a genius? I'm just asking, is anybody a genius? Nathan, you a genius? You're my only hope, I guess. I don't know. No, I'm just kidding. But nobody in here is going to claim to be geniuses. That's good. That's fine. Because you can be used of God. You can. Peter and John. We would think, man, the reputation that Peter and John had, look at what Peter and John, look at them, look at the reputation they had. Hey, look at them. They're pretty popular figures in the Bible, but they were unlearned and ignorant men. What could we do as a church? What could we do as a congregation of unlearned and ignorant? I'm not trying to call you unlearned and ignorant. What could we do? We're not geniuses, but what could God do in us if we just allow him to do it? What could he do? Sometimes I think we just get in our own way. I think we hold God back by not allowing him to use us. Let him use you. Let him use you. Should we get a song ready tonight? I like this scripture. I like this part of the Bible. I like how they hung out with Jesus. If we're going to do anything, let's hang out with Him. Let's hang out with the Lord. He said they were marveled. They were marveled. They were perplexed. They were confounded. But they took knowledge of them, and they took knowledge of this fact, that they had been with Jesus. Jesus, the common denominator, have you spent time with him? Are you spending time with him? Is he a regular fixture in your life? Is he an important part of your life? Are you depending on him? Are you looking to him? Are you praying to him? Are you reading his word? Are you trying to spend time with Jesus? I say, if you do, God's going to do mighty things in your life. I think he'll change your life, turn your world upside down, make you what you ought to be, right? That song, he's still working on me to make me what I ought to be. You spend time with him, he'll start making you what you ought to be. And let's spend time with Jesus. Let's spend time with him. It doesn't matter who you are, like I said. It doesn't matter what you know. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what you know. All that matters is who you know. And that's Jesus Christ. As we sing, what song should we sing?