Acts Series Chapter 14 Part 2. Paul and Barnabas seemed to be gods to those at Lystra. When Paul heard of it he became upset and would have none of it. True ministry will never allow themselves to be exalted.
Acts Series Chapter 14 Part 2 Audio
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Scriptures used in this lesson:
Continuing our study in the Acts study, we’re back on chapter 14. I want to quickly review what we did last week, not dive into it, but refresh your minds on what we touched on.
Every city the apostle Paul went to, there was upheaval. People were faced with the decision between tradition and the kingdom of God, and what God was doing in their time. So is it today. People will either remain in the system of tradition or get involved in what God is doing in their day.
Acts 13:41
41 Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.
Matthew 13:33
33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
They would take the word of the kingdom and place it in the city. It would then work all by itself. Leaven is yeast, and when it is added to flour, the entire mixture becomes yeasted.
I am planting the word of the kingdom in you. You are finding that you cannot listen to just any word anymore. Your entire life is becoming leavened. I no longer need to work on it. The kingdom of God is come into your life, amen.
I told you that you were pregnant, and that something had already been seeded and planted in you. Then, last week, on Monday, you ladies went to a meeting, and they told you to get pregnant. You are four months or five months ahead of that, so we can bring birth five months before anybody else around here does. The seed is planted. You can bring it forth, Christ in you, the kingdom of God in you.
The purpose of the woman is not just to be the bride to the man; the purpose of the woman is to bring forth a child, a man-child, a ministry, and that’s what we’re doing. We’re not just going to be a bride. We’re going to be the man-child ministry. The purpose of the woman is to be the bride. What is the purpose of the woman? Go back to Genesis chapter three. What does it say? From the woman will come what? A seed. And what will that seed do? Crush, bruise the head of the serpent. So being the woman just isn’t enough. We’ve got to be the seed from the woman. That’s the picture from Revelation 12.
I want to go through this quickly. You have got to learn to walk into the synagogue of the Jews. You’ve got to learn to walk into the lives of religious people. Learn to get in there and plant some leaven, plant a seed. You walk into their lives. That’s their synagogue. Walk into it, and you present the kingdom of God to the Jew, i.e., religious. When they get ill with you and mad with you, leave them.
We discussed the great multitudes, both the Jews and the Greeks believed. The Jews are what? Religious people. Jews are religious people. We break down religious people into two groups, Pharisees and Sadducees. Pharisees are what? Legalist, Pentecostal legalist. Look right, do right, act right, talk right. They have to do it this way. Can’t do it that way.
Next week, we’ll get to Acts 15. We will be on a very touchy issue, legalism. But the Pharisees are the legalistic ones. They’re the ones who expanded the garments and put the borders there and dressed them just so-so. They pray the long prayers, and they’re the ones who fast. Legalistic people who paid their tithes to the penny. They’re the ones who strain at gnats and swallow camels. Legalistic people hunger for the evangelistic thrust. However, Jesus said that even though you go all over the place trying to get people saved and proselytizing them, all you’re doing is making them twice the children of hell that you are.
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Now, you’re looking at me funny now. I knew you would when I said it. We’ll jump over there real quick. Matthew. Let’s go to the book of Matthew. Chapter 23. I’ll get on this, I hope, pretty good next week. I really want to open up to you the Pharisee, the legalist. Verse 15, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him what? Twofold more the child of hell than you yourself.” So you see, all this evangelistic work that’s going on out there is not exactly for the kingdom of God, because Jesus, did he say go out and save souls or did he say go out and make disciples?
All right. Let’s get back to Acts, that’s what happened last week, I couldn’t stay in Acts. So the Jew then becomes the Pharisee, and the Sadducee becomes your liberalist. Now, they’re the ones that can do anything and they’re okay. So your Jew is broke down into two parts, your Pharisee, your Sadducee, then your Greek is your educated person.
We saw that, didn’t we, from 1 Corinthians, where it says that the Jew seeks after a sign and the Greek seeks after knowledge. So Paul would preach to the Jew, because they wanted a Christ, you know, that was anointed and that was king, but what Paul preached to him was the crucifixion of Christ, their king crucified, and the Greek wanted knowledge, they wanted to know all about it. So what Paul preached to them was tongues and interpretations and foolish things, and that’s the way Paul did it. So to the Greek, then the Greek becomes the educated, you guys are looking at me straight, the Greek becomes the educated person.
Now then we go on down to the Gentiles, and the Gentiles is who the latter-day rain is really going to come out on. That will be the harvest of the end of the time, because from the Gentiles we’ll see the nations or the denominations coming forth. Shem, Ham, and Japheth was where we were at, and Shem, Ham, and Japheth they branched out and they formed the nations. So we look around us now and we see all the denominations and the Gentiles as we begin to walk into their synagogues and into their life and present to them the word of the kingdom, they’re going to come out. And as they come out, they will form the body of Christ, the man that I talked about last night, the perfect man, the man that I’ll teach you about Sunday, the perfect man.
“When that which is perfect is come, 1 Corinthians 13:10 says, then that which is in part shall be done away, the perfect man.” So we’ll see that perfect man coming out of the denominations coming together to form the perfect man. And that are our present-day charismatics.
Unbelieving Jews, point C on page 91, just trying to get through this quickly. Unbelieving Jews, now the Jews and religious people are always stirring something up. They’re always messing with people’s minds. They’re always stirring people up. Religious people are just that way. Let’s read that whole section there.
The word stirred is 1892 in the Strongs and it means to rouse upon, in effect to excite against. Minds there is psyche. Remember that spirit is fuma, mind psyche, and body is soma. This is psyche, the mind, which is the mind, the will, the emotions, and the attitudes, which is your soul, right? And everybody wants your soul. The battle is over the soul, the woman, and you.
Now the evil effect, 2559, the evil affected, okay, which means to injure, to exasperate. The lexicon helps us to harm or do evil to anyone, to ill-treat, plague, injure, to put one in a bad mood against anyone.
In Acts 13:45, the Jews saw the multitudes and were filled with envy. So they spoke against Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women. Here the Jews stirred up the Gentiles. Jewish people are always stirring up something. The evil of unbelief always works that way. The serpent beguiled Eve through her mind, 2 Corinthians 11:3. The true battle is in your mind. Everyone wants your mind, which is your soul. Now there’s your battle.
Page 92, point D, granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. We looked at that and we saw that the ministry was given testimony to by the Lord through signs and wonders. Present day ministry, New Testament ministry, will be followed with signs and wonders. Mark 16 tells us that these signs shall follow them that believe. How can you tell then believers from unbelievers? The signs following.
So we looked at that, flipped that thing over. If there are no signs, if there is no New Testament ministry, we’re looking at on Sundays and on Tuesday nights, we’re looking at the gifts of the Spirit. We’re looking at the gifts, the nine gifts in comparison with the five natural senses. Here smell, taste, touch and see the nine spiritual senses of the body of Christ are in concordance with that. These contact the world around you. The natural senses contact the world around you and then also protect you from it. I will get into it all that deep. The nine spiritual senses do the same thing. They contact us to the spiritual world and also protect us from it.
If your five natural senses are not functioning in your body, what are you? A vegetable. If the nine spiritual senses are not functioning in the body of Christ, what is it? A vegetable. Because there are no signs and wonders. New Testament ministry throughout the book of Acts, throughout the whole New Testament was written to churches that produce signs and wonders and everywhere Paul went there were signs and wonders following. I want my ministry to be followed with signs and wonders. I want the Lord to testify to it.
Now maybe we need to read that. Let’s look at that verse of scripture. Verse three, in your Bibles, chapter 14, “A long time therefore both they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.” How did he testify? Signs and wonders.
And you can go to Hebrews 2:3, and 4, Mark 16:15, Romans 15 and 19, and you can see all of that, signs and wonders. We don’t have time to do it tonight. We did it last week, I think. Then we got into point E in green, life.
We saw that there was a dividing in the city. Verse four. Can you believe that’s as far as I got last week? Verse four, there was a dividing. Dividing comes in three-folds.
First, there’ll be a dividing in your life. Is that right? You’re going through that right now. You’re pregnant. There’s a dividing going on in you. Something’s happening. You’re going to give birth. There’s a dividing happening in your very life right now. I can’t do it. Boy, do I want to go to Armageddon, but I better not.
The dividing in your life is taking place, of course, in your mind, in your soul realm, in your soul realm. And let me see if I can just throw this out real quick. I don’t want to really linger here too long.
The mind is the woman because it is a womb. The mind is feminine. The spirit, it’s, yes, are masculine. They are in love with the woman. I’m going to get a little deep tonight.
If you go over to the book of Genesis, chapters one, two, and three, you’ll find, in chapter three, three individuals, four when God comes into the scene. But there’s Adam, and there’s Eve, and there’s a serpent, okay, spirit of man, spirit of the enemy, and the woman. Was there a spiritual adultery? Did the serpent plant a seed in the mind of the woman? Sure did. The only way you can commit adultery is to give seed or receive seed. And if your mind is receiving the wrong seed, you’re committing spiritual adultery. Is that too deep?
You need to be careful of the seed that you’re receiving, and do like the sister told the ladies Monday night, there are some things that are birthed in us that we need to abort. And I believe that God will go along with that kind of abortion. Abort the serpent seed. Get it out. Bring forth the seed of God. Bring it forth.
Now let me get off of this. But the mind is the woman. If you can hold onto that fact, it’ll open up a whole lot of scriptures to you as you’re going through it, and you read the woman, the woman, the woman, that’s your mind. Spirits are masculine, and they’re in love with the woman, that the battle’s over the woman, over the soul, over the mind. They want her, both of them.
Does that open something up to you? Does that help you a little bit? Well, it will. But your first dividing is going to be in that realm. It’s going to be a dividing in your mind, in your soul realm. It’s going to be a dividing going on in you. Kingdom of light, kingdom of darkness, if you want to look at it that way. There’s clashing, Armageddon in you right now, dividing, all the time, all the time.
And your life’s right now. You’re going through some Armageddon’s. You know what’s right, you know what’s wrong. Which seed are you going to receive? Can you hear that? You’ll see the wrong seed. If you receive the wrong seed, you’re going to bring forth the wrong fruit. You receive the right seed, you bring forth the right fruit. And Jesus says you’ll know them by their, very good.
Then there’ll be a dividing in our families, there’ll be a dividing in our city. We looked at that from Luke chapter 12, started at verse 49, went on through verse 57. We saw that baby Jesus, that we read about in Luke chapter 2, brought peace on earth and goodwill towards men. But the Jesus that we read about in Luke chapter 12, what did he come to bring? Division. And is he doing it? He’s dividing. He came to bring division and with his baptism the earth will be burnt up.
You can wait for revelations if you want to, but the way I see the scriptures is that the baptism that Jesus brought will burn the earth up. That’s in Luke chapter 12.
Then there’s going to be a dividing in this city or every hamlet or every community or every place that the kingdom of God has taught and preached and the seed is birthed, the leaven is placed. There’s going to be a dividing going on. There’s going to be a dividing in your home, father against father, and there’s going to be a dividing in the church world. There’s going to be a dividing in the cities. There’s going to be three dividings. And would Revelation 16 tell us how many divisions was Babylon divided into? Three.
So there you are. Now let’s go on. Let’s do something new. I’ve already talked about all of that.
Page 93, point E, assault, verses five through seven. The word assault is number 3730 in the strongest coordinates, and it means a violent impulse. Have you ever had a violent impulse? Some of you won’t admit it. Somebody got so next to you, somebody got under your skin so badly, somebody got so to you that you just had a violent impulse, and if there had been a rock there, you’d have picked it up and threw it at them. Have you ever had a violent impulse?
What was the absolute best thing for that person to do at that point in time? Leave. Well, that’s exactly what Paul and Barnabas done. When they found out that these people were going to have a violent impulse and that they were going to attack them, they were going to throw rocks at them, they left.
But now the thing to do is don’t stop talking, just go someplace else and talk, because that’s what he did. Paul and Barnabas, they left Iconium. They went to Lystra. They should have never done that, but they went to Lystra and started talking.
So when you get close to somebody so badly that you sense that they’re having a violent impulse, leave them, because all they’re going to do is follow you to Lystra and get you there. Now they’re going to pick that rock up and hit you with it, but make them follow you to Lystra. Leave them at Iconium.
Do you believe me when I tell you that the rocks are coming? All right. They’re coming. And I don’t know whether we’re in Antioch of Pisidia or if we’re in Iconium or if we’ve already got to Lystra, but I feel some violent impulses coming.
Roman numeral two, page 93, ministry at Lystra, verses six through 20, the miracle at Lystra. Let’s read it, verses eight through verse 10.
“And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent, in his feet being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked. The same heard Paul speak, who steadfastly beholding him and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet, and he leaped and walked.”
Now we’re studying on Sunday mornings the gifts of the Spirit. How many gifts of the Spirit do you see functioning right here by the Apostle Paul? One? How many? How many gifts of the Spirit did it take to manifest this healing, to exhibit this healing? You counted five? Okay.
I counted at least four. I counted at least four. First of all, there came a word of knowledge. Then there came a word of wisdom, which should always come with a word of knowledge. The word perceiving there means knowledge. Then you get a word of wisdom as to what to do with the knowledge that you’ve got. He perceived that this man had faith to be healed. Now how could he get that? Did that man tell him, I’ve got faith to be healed? Uh-uh. He had the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom functioning.
The word of knowledge came that the man had faith to be healed, and the word of wisdom came as to what to do with that knowledge. Word of knowledge and word of wisdom should always work together. If you have knowledge without wisdom, you can cause a whole lot of trouble.
Word of knowledge, word of wisdom, all right. Then there was the gift of faith, not just the gift of faith that this man had. That’s not the gift of faith. The gift of faith was the gift that manifested that healing. Paul manifested the gift of faith, then there was the gift of healing. So there was at least four manifestations of the senses of the body of Christ, or the gifts of the Spirit at that point. Do you see that? And the man was raised up, and ministry was acclaimed, and many people came to the Lord, and we’re going to get into that in just a second.
So I want to get to this word impotent. That word impotent means unable, in effect weak, and impossible. And what I see there is impotent humanity. I see a weak humanity, I see an unable humanity, and I see an impossible humanity. I see me. I see me how I once was. I see this talking about me.
One time I was impotent, not in my feet, but in my thinking. And the way that I thought I was impotent, I was unable, I was weak, and I was impossible. But then Paul, ministry, came into my life. He gave me a word, and he raised me out of that impotent place, and now I’m raising impotence.
But I see more there than just that impotent. I see an impotent humanity. I see a humanity that is crippled from their mother’s womb. And I see a people just waiting, just sitting, just sitting there waiting for Paul, for real ministry to come along and give him a word and raise him up so they can go running and leaping. And it was the same way in Acts chapter 3, the very same way. Peter walked up to the gate called Beautiful, there he sat, the impotent man. And he reached out with the right hand and lifted the man up, and he went running and leaping and praising God.
And it’s the same way today. We’ve got to start lifting up some impotent people, showing them that they’re unable, they’re weak, and they’re impossible in the state that they’re in. They’ve been deceived, they’ve been lied to.
Do you know that the word’s already out, that I’m teaching false doctrines? That’s right. Do you know in Acts chapter, turn over to Acts 15 real quick. If you don’t have to turn, I don’t have to turn. It’s right there on the same page.
In verse 1 and 2, let’s read it. The Jews are saying right today that I’m teaching false doctrines. Now look, “And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren.” Where’d they come from? Judea. What city was in Judea? Jerusalem, Jews.
Certain men came down from Judea, taught the brethren, and said, except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. Unless you teach my doctrine, unless you teach my ways, unless you teach it the way I teach it, you’re lost. What Paul did. In other words, what they were saying is, Paul, you’re wrong. You’re teaching wrong.
“When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them,” what do you think that means? They determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles, unto headquarters, and elders about this question. Oh my goodness.
Were they saying, Paul, you’re teaching false doctrine here? Paul, you’re not teaching it like I want it taught? Was Paul teaching false doctrine? All right. Just let you see some things.
Is this thing as fresh as your newspaper? I’m telling you the truth. It is amazing. I just get beside myself sometimes.
Now, where was I? Impotent. There’s an impotent humanity. That impotent humanity was me. That impotent humanity was you. Ministry will change you. Ministry will get you to a place where you can run and leap and praise God. Amen.
Phase 94. When Paul done this to this impotent man, they thought he was a God. And they called him and Barnabas Jupiter and Mercurius. And they began to acclaim them as gods. And there is a human reaction to the anointing. When an individual comes forth with a true anointing, there is a human reaction to that individual that lifts him up on a pinnacle and acclaims him as some sort of a god.
There are a lot of people, television evangelists, that are lifted up today into that plateau. Anointed men. And they are. But they’re not gods. There’s a human reaction always to the anointing.
I’ve got time to do it. Let’s go to Luke chapter 4. Jesus was tempted in this realm before he was allowed to minister. Before he was allowed to say, I am anointed of the Lord, he had to go through this temptation. Now, we’ve gone through this, but in Luke chapter 4, Mark in chapter 1 of his gospel says that Jesus was driven, or “the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness.” But here in Luke 4 verse 1, “And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.” And these are the sons of God, they that are led by the Spirit. So where’s the Spirit going to lead you? Into the wilderness. And if you don’t want to be led, he’ll drive you. But you’re going through a wilderness.
And what happened to Jesus in that wilderness? He was tempted and he was tested. In all three areas of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And all of these were testing his anointing. What did he come out and say?
Look at verse 18, chapter 4 of Luke. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, he hath what? Anointed me. Now you’re really not with the full anointing until you get fully tested. And the first thing, he was tested of the lust of the flesh—make these rocks bread. Then he was tested of the lust of the eyes, and then finally the pride of life, which is the human reaction to the anointing, and that’s what we’re looking at right here.
Let’s look at it real quick, verse 9. And he brought him to Jerusalem. Now I’ve got you the chapters and the verses here, and you can look it up. But Jerusalem is the church. Galatians chapter 4 tells you that Jerusalem is a type of the church. There’s a natural Jerusalem and there’s a spiritual Jerusalem, and it’s the mother of us all. Do I need to turn over there real quick? Most of you should know that. There’s a spiritual Jerusalem in Galatians chapter 4, and it says that it is the mother of us all.
Then in Hebrews 12, let’s go to Hebrews 12, because just hold your finger there. You just need to see this. Hebrews 12, verse 22. But you are come unto Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You see that? The heavenly Jerusalem. And to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly, and what? Church. So you see all of those things are the same thing as the church. Heavenly Jerusalem is the same thing as the church of the firstborn which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and the spirits of the just men made perfect. So the heavenly Jerusalem in your scriptures becomes the church.
And Jesus was taken back in Luke 4 to Jerusalem. Now was he really taken to Jerusalem? Did the devil take Jesus to Jerusalem—I mean the real natural Jerusalem? No. Verse 9, and he brought him to Jerusalem. Then what did he bring him to? Okay. Talk to me now, don’t be afraid. If you’re wrong, we’re just wrong, but we’ll get it. He brought him to the church. And a lot of ministers today have been brought to the church, and they’re going to be put upon a pinnacle. And they’re going to be tested. Let’s see. And he brought him to Jerusalem and set him on a pinnacle of the temple.
Who’s the temple? You are. And you’re in the church. Did you see what I’m trying to get you to see? There’s an anointing, a test of the anointing that brings an individual and puts him on a pinnacle in the church. And set him on a pinnacle of the temple and said to him, If thou be the son of God, cast thyself down from hence. And just look at Jesus’ response. There’s nobody reading all the way through it. Well, I’m going to have to because I… Verse 12. And Jesus answered, said unto him, It is said, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
It is a temptation, folks. I’ve had a little of it. I mean, I know how it feels when people come to you and say, oh, Brother Young, that was so good. Nobody’s ever taught like that before. And you just get lifting up on that pinnacle. Do you understand what I’m trying to say to you? And it is a test. And if you don’t pass this test, you will fall and you’ll fall. I’ve seen so many fall. Most of them don’t get this far. Most of them are taken by either the lust of the flesh, which gets the majority, or the pride of life, which is a lust of things. Few ever get to this place, to this test. But when they do get to it, it is tough.
I love for you to come to me and say, Brother Young, that was good. Now, let’s go back. Let’s go back over here to verse chapter 14. Verse 11. And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lyconia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. Now, how many times when a minister really comes to people and really ministers the word and there’s a real true anointing of the Lord upon his life, we have a reaction to that anointing and we put him on a pinnacle. Don’t we do that? Yes, we do that. And most ministers allow it to happen. And it’s sad when I see it because Paul did the very opposite.
And Paul shows us here what to do, what we should do when people say a man in the likeness of a god. The first thing that he says to do and you got it on page 94 under point C, number one. The first thing he done in verse 14 was they rent their clothes. In other words, there was an outward disapproval. And when you began to do me that way, if you ever do it, I’m kidding, you do it already sometimes. I am supposed to give you an outward disapproval. I don’t allow it to continue to happen. I’m kind of dumb for teaching you this, aren’t I? Ministry does not allow this to go on. There is an outward disapproval right off the top.
Then secondly, in verse 15, he told them, he says, we are men with like passions. That’s the same like passions that Elijah said that he had or that James said that Elijah had over there in James 5:17. And it means that we’re human. We have human weaknesses. Do you realize that I have human weaknesses? I do. If Paul can say it, I can say it. I have human weaknesses. Let’s read down to point two. Passions, it’s number 3663 in the Strongs, means similar, affected. It’s the same word used in James 5:17, speaking about Elijah. Paul let them know they have passions, that ministry has passions that affected them also.
This is where so many get their eyes on people, ministry in particular. Never think ministry is God. We are instructed, is what I’m trying to say here, that we are supposed to be looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, Hebrews 12:2, but ministry has passions also. Now this is what you need to know. In Hebrews 13:7, ministry is remembered. In 1 Thessalonians 5:13, ministry is esteemed very highly. In Acts 5:13, ministry is magnified, but ministry is never worshiped and thought of as gods and likenesses of men.
And if I don’t have that kind of reaction, when you see somebody exalting me, right, watch me, because if I see somebody exalting one of you, and you don’t have this kind of a reaction, I’m coming to you. And if you see ministry anyplace, in any city, in any church, you may not be under my ministry forever. Here’s a key for you. They’re not worshiped. They’re magnified. They’re esteemed very highly and they’re remembered.
Now then number three, what he done in verse 18 was restrained the people. That word restrained means to settle down. And they were going to offer sacrifices to Jupiter and to the Mercurius. And Paul stopped them. Now, the sacrifice there means to rush, breathe hard, blow smoke, in effect to sacrifice, emulate, slaughter for any purpose. Now, what they were going to do was sacrifice to Paul and to Barnabas. Now, the sacrifice, Romans 12:1 and 2, says that we are to present our bodies as a living what? Sacrifice, holy, acceptable, unto God, which is our reasonable service. We present it to who? Unto God, which is our reasonable service.
Now, when you sacrifice your body, it’s a type of death. That’s what he’s really talking about there. Did they sacrifice live animals or dead ones? It might have started live, but how did it end up? It ended up dead. And the sacrifice died. And that’s what it’s really talking about. And they were going to, as it is, die to Jupiter and to Mercurius, Paul and Barnabas. You don’t die to ministry. You die to the Lord Jesus. You are crucified with him. And your life is dead and it’s hid with Christ in God.
What I’m trying to say here is never, ever, never begin to worship a ministry into the effect that you’re dying because the ministry wants you to die. You die as a sacrifice unto him. I’m having trouble getting this out like I want to say it. You die, but not to me. You die to him. Now that may sound far-fetched, but I’ve seen, probably shouldn’t even say this one, who was I accused of being the brother of? Did those people die to him or did they die to the Lord Jesus? You see? So I’m online here. I really am. I may sound far-fetched. But I’m trying to give you some principles. You don’t worship ministry and you sacrifice to him. You don’t pay tithes because I teach you to pay tithes. You pay tithes because it’s to him.
You don’t come to church because I expect you to come to church. You come to church to learn of him. You come to church and you don’t praise the Lord because I want you to praise the Lord. You come to church and praise the Lord to him. Now that’s what it’s all about. Not for Mercury or Jupiter or Mercurius, but for Jesus.
Now, got that out of the way. Let’s read that last, wait a second, where I start off on the number three. Ministry will restrain you. Ministry will restrain you. Excitement is good. But if it’s directed at a man, it is not good. Now, there is a lot of that today. Such and such is ministry and such and such is ministry and such and such is this. And in that realm, there’s a lot of excitement that’s going on and it’s putting that individual up on a pinnacle. And ministry will not allow that to happen.
Do you hear what I’m trying to tell you? There’s a lot of that going on today. Ministry will settle down that type of excitement. They were going to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas. The sacrifice is a type of dying to self, Romans 12:1. They were going to die, sacrifice for Paul and Barnabas. Paul let them know that it was Jesus they had to die for. It is not ministry you die for, but you die so Christ can live through you. You do not die for ministry.
And I wish that I’ve added there, you don’t praise for ministry. You don’t tithe for ministry. You don’t do any of it for ministry. You do it for the Lord Jesus. All those things are sacrifices. Every one of them. And you do it for him. But Christ, you do not die for ministry, but for Christ Jesus the Lord.
It is true that ministry must live a life—hold me—come jumping across the median. So did she. We got out of the car. It’s the first thing she told me. She said, well, you told me to follow you. She did. It is true that ministry must live a life that is an example. And Paul said, be followers of me, First Corinthians 4:16. That means be imitators of him, but does not mean to worship him as a god. Now I got that across pretty good, didn’t it?
All right. Now I’m going to flip it over. First page 95. Turn to Psalms. I got a little time. Turn to Psalms 82:6. Try to open something up to you. Doing good tonight. Psalms 82. I want verse 6. And then we’re going to jump on John 10:34–35. So if you’ve already got Psalms 82:6, go ahead and hold your finger and turn to John Chapter 10.
All right. Psalms 82 verse 6. God speaking. God says, I have said you are God’s. I’m making this thing complicated. This is God says you are God’s. Now that’s the Hebrew word Elohim means creator gods. How many fathers do I have? No, how many fathers do I have in the room? Okay. All your daddies raise your hand. Okay. You are a creator. A seed came from you that created something in your likeness and in your image. And you’re creating things male and female. Are you? Are you Elohim? And that realm you are, aren’t you?
Now go over to John. I’ll show you Jesus just backed this statement up from the Psalms. John 10 verse 34. And Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law? I said, You are God’s. If he called them gods and to whom the word of God came and the scripture cannot be broken and so forth and so on. But Jesus backed that verse up. You are God’s.
So now I got to balance this thing. I got to get to let you know that we’re not gods to be exalted and put up on the pinnacle. But we are gods in another realm. Now this word God in the Greek is Theos. Most churches move in a realm of democracy. You should move in a realm of theocracy. Not democracy, but theocracy which is divine government.
Now, this is this type of a God. Now it’s always plural and this is the point. This—you are God’s—is plural. Now do you remember what I taught you last night? We choose deniters. The perfect man. And as this many-membered man comes together, what’s it going to form? One body perfect and whose body is it? Body of Christ. You are God’s. And as the Christ in me joins together with the Christ in you, we form the perfect man. And in pluralities as we come together, many-membered men coming together, the Christ being united, coming together, you are God’s. So in that realm you see we are God’s.
And if I clarified it, the day of Pentecost. They were in the—where I go to Acts anyway. So just go on to Acts and stop at verse 2 chapter 2. The day of Pentecost you know what happens, 120 in the upper room. And a mighty rushing wind they hear. And a big ball of fire blows into that room. Verse 3. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues as of fire. And it sat upon each of them. And that word cloven, it means to divide apart. And what it’s picturing is the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God which is the Holy Ghost. John 14:23. It pictures that blowing into that room and dividing and setting upon each of them. Is that right? So everybody got the Christ. So as we put our Christ back together, we form your God’s.
Now I don’t feel like I’ve done a good job of that. But I want you to understand the scriptures. You’re not gods in the likeness of men in the aspect that ministry will be exalted in Acts 14. But we are gods in the aspect of the many-membered man, the perfect man coming together to display to the earth, to display to the world, to display to this city, Christ. Have I done it?
Let’s therefore—you can read it. Maybe I wrote it better than I can say it. Number three, page 95, maltreatment of Paul. Need to be in Acts 14 in your Bible.
Now those Jews that were from Antioch and Pisidia followed Paul all the way now to Lystra. And you know what they’re going to do to him. They’re going to stone him. Look at verse 19. And there came thither certain Jews. There they are again. What are Jews? And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium. Remember the ones he made mad in Iconium and he left. And Iconium who persuaded the people and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city supposing he had been dead. And they got him. And the stone throwers will follow you. So when you get somebody upset, you can expect them to come and they’re going to throw rocks.
Now there’s some words here that you need to understand. The word drew in verse 19 is the word in John chapter 6 where it talks about that no man can come unto Jesus except the father draw him. And what it really means is drag. You can’t come to the father unless—you can’t come to Jesus unless the father drags you. And if you can picture him grabbing the very heels and feet of Paul and dragging him out of town. I mean they had stoned him, they had—they were dragging him out of town. Was he dead? Look at the word supposing. Look on page 95 of your notes under number three maltreatment of Paul, dropped down to the word supposing. It’s number 3543 in the Strongs and it means to do by law; it’s a legal word. And it literally means that Paul was legally dead.
That means Paul was legally dead. Not many people know that. Paul mentions this incident in 2nd Corinthians 11:25—once I was stoned. A lot of people today can say that, can’t they? Then in Galatians 6:17 he said, I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. In 2nd Timothy 3:11 and 12 tells us of these persecutions. But Paul then tells us something that we really didn’t know and we need to look at it—turns to 2nd Timothy 3:12. Paul was legally dead—2nd Timothy 3:12. He was legally dead. They were all standing around him wondering where they were going to bury him at or if they were going to take him back to Antioch or if they were taking him over to Cilicia or they were going to take him back to Jerusalem. And the guy gets up.
But I want you to see something here in 2nd Timothy chapter 3, verse—I want verse 12. I’m going to back up verse 10. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity and patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. Can you hear Paul saying that—what persecutions I endured.
He was stoned and legally dead. But out of them all, everybody say “all,” all the Lord delivered me. Now this is verse 12. Do you love the promises of God? I got you that. Thanks to give you a promise of God. Yea and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer stoning, persecution. Don’t you love the promises? Well, that’s just as much a promise as where God—where Paul writes over there and he says that my God shall supply all your need. You need this. You don’t like this promise. You need the persecutions as much as you need the blessings because ain’t nothing else going to get the junk out of your life except the persecutions and the fire. And if the persecutions don’t come, you ain’t going in the kingdom.
I like that one. Brother Young, I never heard that before. Go back to 14. You won’t be able to say that in 30 more seconds. Verse 22. Confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in faith and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
Can you get in that thing without persecution and tribulation? Your God shall supply all your need. And we through much persecution. Do you remember in John chapter 3 where he says you must be born again? That’s the same word. We must through much tribulation. And do you know where in John 4 where it says that we must worship him in spirit and in truth—say must—and he’s looking for those who will worship him in spirit and in truth and we must worship him that way. And we must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God.
Kind of a different twist, didn’t it? You won’t hear this on television. Can you imagine how much monetary support I would get if I got on television and taught Acts chapter 14? They’d drag me out of the place. Do you see why they don’t teach this on television? I better leave it alone—through much persecution you enter the kingdom of God.
And Paul says if you live this thing, if you live it, if you teach it, if you walk it, if you allow this word to get inside of you and let the word become flesh in you and walk it out, you will suffer tribulation in this world right down here, where it’s tough, Father. I pray not that thou shalt take them out of the world but thou shalt keep them from the evil. John 14—John 17—John 17:15. Did I quote it right? I pray not that thou shalt take them out of the world but thou shalt keep them from the evil. He says, but be of good cheer, I overcome the world.
See if I can find something else to talk about here. Paul was legally dead. They literally dragged him out either by the hands or by the heels or whatever, but they drug him out of that city. They were standing around him, and it’s literally in miracle statements. He raised up—verse 20. Howbeit as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up and came into the city, and the next day he departed and walked 20 miles to Derby with Barnabas. You know, I get people—he really wasn’t dead, he really wasn’t dead. It don’t matter if it was or not—he still raised up after being stoned to death. That’s a miracle. Then he turned and walked back into the city. If you can walk after being stoned—that’s a miracle. And then the next day take off to Derby with Barnabas and walk 20 miles. That’s a miracle.
He really wasn’t dead. You know what you or I would do? We’d start our own denomination—the stoned church, the persecuted few—write our own magazines. Paul took off to Derby. Doesn’t tell us too much about the ministering at Derby. I’m just about through.
Last page 96. But then he turned around after ministering at Derby and doing the work of the ministry there, they turned around and they came back. That’s what got me. They went back to Lystra, they went back to Iconium, and then they went back to Antioch. And these guys that stoned him were from Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. Did Jesus do that—the ones that were going to stone Jesus, did he ever go back into the cities again? Yeah. Let’s turn that thing up a little bit. I’m going to butcher some hogs. He did that and I’ve got those scriptures for you—John 10:31 and John 11:8. Did Paul do that? Yeah.
All right. Now, what about your life? What about—LaRue is sending me body language over there—what about your life? The people who have stoned you, do you ever go back to them? Paul walked back to them and he preached to them words of grace and love and salvation, helped them establish their churches, set up elders. How about you? When somebody really hurts you, stones you good, do you go back? Getting down where we live in it.
Do. Learn to do that and learn to go back and preach to them grace and preach to them love. Help them establish their homes. They need it. They need examples. People today need examples more than anything. They need to see somebody living this thing. They need to see the Christ that we say we are becoming. Are we becoming the Christ—the Christ in us? Is it conforming us to the image of the Lord? People want to see it. They’ve heard about it a long time.
They went back, point C, and they established ministries in verses 22, 23. And what the ministries did, they went back confirming, exhorting, ordaining and commending. Got all that out there for you. In the middle of all of that ministering and teaching and establishing the churches, and setting up church government, Paul tells us that we, through much tribulation—that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. I don’t suppose there was a more—what’s the word I want?—there was not a more able person who could make this statement. He had just been stoned, what, four or five verses, two, three verses ahead of that. And he says that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom.
My goodness. Want to read verse 23? And when they had had a church meeting and voted and established a deacon board, is that what that says? I haven’t found deacon board yet. It’s got to be in here because every church except ours has them. They ordained elders. That means that Paul and Barnabas voted on them, and they decided who they would be, and they were placed. And as I wrote, as I read this and gave much thought to that verse, I just had to stop and weep and thank God for putting me here. There ain’t too many places that could handle me—not just loose me and let me go. And we’ve got some men here, you know, fantastic. We are blessed. I just, I did, I just stopped and I thanked the Lord. In fact, I might have even written something about it. I don’t know. But I just, I just really praised him for putting me right here.
Then Roman numeral five, they returned to Antioch and they told him that the doors had been opened and to the Gentiles. And we look back, remember, in 10 and 11 when the doors were opened by Peter to the Gentiles and we went all through that. But a door has how many sides? Two sides. And on one side of the door will stand those who are going to get into what God is doing today. And on the other side of the door, the Jews are those who are not going to get into what God’s doing today. And it’s so sad to me that it lets in some, but others won’t come in. I just, I weep when I think about that.
Then we read the verse right before conclusion, the little sentence there. So is it today. Some despise and wonder and perish, not seeing what God is doing in their days. But some enter the door and the door is the kingdom of God.
And then the conclusion, learn to go into the synagogues of the Jews. Learn to go into the lives of religious people. But remember, many will not believe you. And because you are touching the thing they love the most, they will stone you. Learn there is a dividing going on in every city, in every church, and in every life where the gospel of the kingdom is being preached. Remember also that the signs and wonders follow them that believe. And at the places—and I should have written that—and at the places that ministry is confirmed by the Lord.
Never worship ministry. It has like passions. Remember it, esteem it very highly, magnify it. But never worship it.
Close with this thought. Paul, when he got to Iconium, was rent out. They were going to stone him, so he went to Lystra. He got to Lystra, he found the impotent man sitting at the gate. He raised that impotent man up by the gifts that God had given him. And then they began to acclaim him as a God among men. Only a few verses later, they stoned him.
As Jesus rode into Jerusalem, Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna, praise be the name of the Lord. And the same crowd that praised Paul and told Paul that he was a God, and the same crowd that Hosanna Jesus, stoned one and crucified the other. Same bunch.
So learn something from that. Those who to your face praise you may tomorrow hang you on a cross and stick a spear in your side. Look in their back pockets and see if they’ve got some nails or some rocks. Because the very same ones who acclaim you as a God and Hosanna to the King will be the very same ones who crucify you and stone you. I’ve seen it and I’ve felt it.
Stand with me.
Acts Series Chapter 14 Part 2 Audio
Acts Series Chapter 14 Part 2 Audio
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