 With that said, I'll begin reading here in Acts chapter 9, at verse 23. I'll read to verse 30 and pick up the first study. Like I said, I'm going to be doing three different kinds of studies, actually same, but three different topics, if you will. So beginning at verse 23, reading to verse 30. Now, after many days were passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot was known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket. And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him and did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him in and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road and that he had spoken to him and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out. And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord and disputed against the Hellenists. But they attempted to kill him. When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus. So let me give you some information that'll help us to understand what's taking place. And again, as I've stated, I'm going to take you to three portions of Scripture and touch on each one of those portions because they deal with different things. Now we know that Saul has come to know Jesus Christ as his Messiah, as his Savior. Jesus had actually intercepted him while he was on the way to Damascus, Syria. He was there, he was on his way there to persecute Christians. But Jesus had called him to salvation. And the experience he had gone through was traumatic. It left him blind and it left him very humble. He was then taken to Damascus. He had spent three days and as he was there, he was praying and he was fasting. Now as this is all taking place, God had moved a man by the name of Ananias to minister to him. And he did. And when he came and spoke to him and ministered to him, Saul received his sight as well as received in the power of the Holy Spirit. He then went on to be baptized and that symbolized his genuine conversion to faith in Jesus Christ. Now there were Christians there, many of whom would have fled to Damascus from him. Ananias was a strong believer, so he vouched for Saul. And based on his recommendation and Saul's baptism, they received him into fellowship. The change in Saul was immediate. It was very, very obvious. His hatred for believers had been changed into love for them and it showed. Now in 1 John chapter 3 verse 14, the apostle John had said, We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Well, Saul fell in love with believers and they began to fall in love with him. So he spent many days with the disciples. And commentators will point out that those days had stretched into months. Notice with me in verse 20 how it tells us that he immediately preached Christ in the synagogues. Now this is one of the things that commentators discuss at length. And we're not going to go into an in-depth approach to this at all. But it tells us that we're told that Saul immediately was preaching Jesus. Saul from there went into the wilderness of Arabia for a season. I'll be referring to that in a moment. But verse 21 tells us that those who heard this were amazed. And they were beginning to speak amongst themselves. Isn't this the one who destroyed those who called on his name in Jerusalem? People were confused. But Saul wasn't. He was convinced. And he went to the synagogues and he was preaching Jesus to them. Now remember Paul was well known. Not only as the persecutor of the Christians, but he was well known because of his scholarship. He was advancing. He was moving upward in the ranks of the rabbis. And he was known to be very zealous for the Jewish religion. He spoke of that in the book of Galatians in chapter 1 verse 14 where he said of himself, I advance in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. So he was well known as being an excellent scholar and very devoted and very zealous of the things he believed. He was well respected and was well known as a Pharisee. Well what he did is he took all of his credibility in his rabbinic learning and began to share how Jesus Christ is actually Messiah. So verse 22 tells us that Saul increased all the more in strength. And he confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus proving that this Jesus is the Christ. And so he began to confound them. That word confound I mentioned to you means to disturb, to stir up or bewilder. He began to disturb them as he was speaking to them but he was proving or causing a person to come to the same conclusion or opinion as he had. He was proving that Christ is Messiah. He was powerfully showing them Jesus is the Christ. So his teaching and his preaching was clearly communicating the truth of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Old Testament scriptures. And he explained the message of the cross and he did so as it was going to their synagogues. And so this is what's taking place now. So in verse 23 it says now after many days were passed the Jews plotted to kill him. Now we're told later on in Galatians chapter 1 verses 17 and 18 that the many days spoken of here are around three years. Because Paul said I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus after three years. I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him 15 days. So the reaction to his preaching was anger. They desired to silence him. Now Jesus had told Ananias Saul will suffer many things. And this was one of those things that he would suffer. They're wanting to put him to death. So on his way to Damascus remember he had been breathing out threats and murder. Now this is happening to him. And so verse 24 says their plot became known to Saul and they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night. Let him down to the wall in a large basket. And so we don't know how the plot was made known to him. It's not stated. It just says that he came to know this. And later on when he was writing to a church in Corinth, the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians, he refers to this in chapter 11 verses 32 and 33. It says in Damascus the governor under Areta the king was guarding the city of the Damocene with a garrison desiring to arrest me. But I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands. So we see that that he was a basket case and that's what he's saying there. Very deep spiritual truth. So anyway, so what's going on? He escapes verse 26 when Saul had come to Jerusalem. He tried to join the disciples but they were all afraid of him and did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road and that he had spoken to him and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus so he was with him at Jerusalem coming in and going out. Well, they didn't want to have a relationship with him. They were afraid of this guy. They couldn't believe that this man who had been breathing out threatenings who had actually persecuted people to the death, they couldn't believe that this kind of transformation had taken place. They couldn't believe that this man had been turned around as completely as he was and as I was thinking about that, that's so common to a lot of us in this room. When you got saved, some of you were radical, some of you were monsters and your family knew it. Some of your friends knew you were a dangerous person. They knew that you were argumentative and angry. They knew that you wouldn't put up certain things. Well, that's how Saul was looked at by these people. They thought, how in the world can this guy have changed so radically? How could he be such a different person? And they said, it can't be. He's putting it on. He's trying to get close to us in order that he might somehow be able to infiltrate and then have us all arrested and taken away. They didn't want to be with this man. Again, his radical transformation was so amazing they just couldn't do it. But he wants to be with them. He's trying to join them, the Scripture says. Notice verse 26, he tried to join the disciples out. We're joined there is a strong Greek word. It literally speaks of being glued. He wanted to glue himself to them as what he's saying. He wanted to stick with them. He was attempting to enter into full fellowship and communion with them. That's what it means to join. It wasn't something like you just, I kind of joined this club or that club. I can't meet any of the meetings and I don't want to pay the dues, but I joined that club. That's not the way it was. What he did is he said, I want to be glued to you. I want to be part of you. I want to be a part of this communion that you all have. This word join is the same word that a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. It speaks of cementing it. It speaks of becoming one of having complete communion. And that's what he wanted. I want to have fellowship with you. Saul was not the kind of person who said, I want to be glued with you for a while, but then I'm going to be glued over here for a while. Then I'm going to be glued over here for a while. He wasn't that. What he was saying is, I want to be in communion with you. I want you to know who I am and I definitely want to know who you are. Well, they didn't want to believe this. They didn't believe this. Why? Well, because they'd heard reports. He says in Galatians 1.23, they only heard the report. The man who formally persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy. And so he's speaking to them, joining with them, wanting to join with them. So what happens in verse 27? Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road and that he had spoken to him and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. And so what happens is he has a man. We've already seen Barnabas. So those of you who've been with us through the study here, we've seen him before already in chapter 4 verses 36 and 37. Barnabas was mentioned in that passage there. He is mentioned as somebody who had sold some land and given the proceeds to be used for the aid of the poor. So Barnabas is reintroduced to us here. And his name, for those who take notes, Barnabas means son of encouragement. And you see him to be that because he comes alongside of Saul as an encouragement to him. And he's vouching for him to the apostles. He's saying, this guy's a good guy. This guy is somebody who's genuine. This is a person who really knows the Lord. This is somebody that we should receive. And so he was introduced to. Galatians once again speaks of this in verses 18 through 24. And it tells us that he met Peter and James, the Lord's brother. Now, this was not to be instructed by the way by them, but to introduce himself to them. He had already been ministering for three years and the Lord has already been revealing great things to him. Now, as an aside, Paul and Barnabas became very close ministry friends. They even traveled often together. You see them in the book of Acts from chapter 11 to chapter 15. They were friends and ministry companions for many years. And so Barnabas is once again shown to be the son of encouragement because Barnabas had credibility. He was well known and well respected. And so he had to take Saul and bring him in and say, this guy's all right. And so they accepted him. And it says in verse 28. So he was with them at Jerusalem coming in and going out. And so he had fellowship with them. In verse 29, he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists that they attempted to kill him. And when the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus. So he was there in Jerusalem according to Galatians 118 for 15 days. And the Hellenists, the Greek speaking Greek culturally Jews attempted to kill him. And we're going to see that persecution for Jesus' sake becomes a regular occurrence. So what do they do? Well, it says here they send him to a place called Caesarea. Now, if you were in the city of Jerusalem, Caesarea is to the north and to the west. It's on the coast. We go to Caesarea. It's one of the first sites that we see when we go to Israel. We go into Caesarea. And so he was taken into that area there up into Caesarea, which is about 70 miles or so from the city of Jerusalem to the northwest. But from there, they're sending him back to Tarsus. Now, just for the geographic note, that's around 305 miles north to Turkey. And so this is covering the first few years of his history. So what happens? I want to develop this with you. In verse 31, I want to spend a moment speaking about that. Develop it for just a few minutes or less. I want you to see that the churches have peace, but also it is pointing out in verse 31 that they were multiplied. There are people coming to salvation. The gospel is being preached. They're having an impact. What has contributed to the effective preaching of the gospel? I want you to see it. It says they were walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Now, when it says they were walking in the fear of the Lord, that speaks that their lives were filled with reverential awe of God. They were known among the people that they're ministering to as a godly group of people. If you want to be effective in your ministry, walk in the fear of the Lord. We know this. I'm just saying this because it probably at this moment we should be reminded of it. The gospel is a powerful message, but it has an impact I think that is made more practical or capable when the person giving the gospel is known for walking in the fear of the Lord. If I'm busy living in the world, living as a way of life, and I've been doing that for some time since my conversion, and I come to somebody and I share with them about Christ and the power of God to transform lives, but they know me and they know that I don't do what I say. We used to say I don't practice what I preach. Even though the gospel is true, I'm denying it by the way I live. Sometimes people say I don't know why I'm not impacting people. Well, sometimes the reason is is because we're denying the gospel's power to transform by living a life that's no different than anybody else's. I don't have any appearance in any way, and I'm not talking about the way I dress or comb my hair or whatever. I don't have any character that's any different than others. I read something disturbing a while back now. Atheists, according to this one survey, atheists apparently, at least again, according to this one survey, had less divorce amongst them than evangelical Christians. In other words, Christians, professing Christians, get divorced faster than atheists. And when you have a world that says, now wait a minute, a person who doesn't believe in God has a better chance of having a successful marriage than you who claim to believe in him, that gives the world the reason to doubt the message that we preach. That's just a fact. If I don't live out what I'm giving out, then I undermine what the power of the Spirit is saying he can do in somebody's life. See? One, do you want to be used by the Lord? No, some could care less right now. You don't see what's going on. You don't feel it, it doesn't bother you. But many of you do. Do you want to be used by the Lord? Walk in the fear of God. Walk in the fear of God. Walk in a way that you actually evidence by the way you live, that you actually do believe that there is a God, a holy God that you serve. So not only were they walking in the fear of the Lord, they were also walking in the comfort of the Spirit. The word comfort is an important word to look at because when it says the comfort of the Holy Spirit, we can sometimes think in terms of how the Holy Spirit will comfort a restless soul. The word comfort here is really speaking of exhortation. The comfort of the Holy Spirit is the exhortation of the Holy Spirit and this comfort, this exhortation, is coming through the teachings of the word of God. And so the fear of God, that was combined with the exhortation of God's word, was producing a people that had amongst the unsaved a reputation that caused the world, though maybe not in agreement with the believer, it caused the world to respect them, to say at least they are consistent with what they believe. I heard a well-known atheist speaking recently who said, I don't believe the message, but I don't respect a person who claims there's a heaven and a hell. I don't respect a person like that who will not tell me because if he really cared about me, why wouldn't he share that with me? But there are an awful lot of Christians who say, well, I don't want to be somebody's judge just this last Thursday. I went and spoke at Calvary Chapel in Wildwood and it was a men's thing. And so at the end, a young man approaches me and he says, do you think I should be sharing when something is wrong? Should I point that out? My dad, who is a Christian, has said that I shouldn't be a judge of people. And I looked at him and he said, who are you judging? I said, you're telling the truth. When you tell the truth, you're actually helping them to be set free from bondage. I don't understand, and he didn't put down his dad, but I don't understand why you wouldn't tell the truth because that's what God said to go into the world and preach the gospel. And when you preach the gospel and you give the whole counsel, listen, some of the pet sins of people will be exposed. They don't like it. They get angry. So the first thing they do is point the finger at you and say, you're judging me, but Jesus said we're to judge righteous judgment. He didn't say that we shouldn't have the ability to discern evil from good. He didn't say that we shouldn't proclaim what truth is. He didn't say be a silent person. He said, speak forth. Tell these things. Speak about, but live the things that you're giving to people because in doing so, you have credibility. In doing so, someone will listen to you perhaps and from the value that they see in the life that has been transformed, especially if they knew you and they can say, you aren't the same person I used to know. Something happened to you that gives to you credibility and ability to encourage people. So how did they walk in the comfort of the Spirit? They were in the word of God. We already looked back in chapter 2, and in chapter 2 it said that they remained steadfast in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship. They were well taught. And what happens is the church has taken what the word of God says and actually applying it. And in doing so, people see a transformed life and they're walking in God's comfort in God's exhortation that's coming to the teachings, putting them into practice, and God is using them for His good to reach people. And multitudes are becoming believers. It says in verse 31 again, the churches throughout Al-Jadiyah, Galilee and Samaria, which is in the southern portion of Israel, had peace and were edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied. There was growth taking place. So we move to the second. We're going to be looking in the second portion here in verses 32 through 35 and then picking up beyond that. We're going to be looking at the ministry of Peter, the Apostle. And it says it came to pass in verse 32. As Peter went throughout all parts of the country, that he also came down to the saints who dwelled in Littah. There he found a certain man named Aeneas who had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, Aeneas, Jesus, the Christ heals you. Arise, make your bed. Then he arose immediately. So all who dwelt at Littah and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. Once again, you're seeing people turning to the Lord. Verse 31 said they were multiplied and here it says they saw him and turned to the Lord. This is the second kind of study that we're going to look at. We're looking at the Apostle Peter's ministry. Now Paul is in Tarsus. So Luke shifts his attention to the Apostle Peter. The last time we saw Peter was in chapter 8. He was ministering in a region called Samaria. Now he's ministering in all parts of the country. So that gives us insight into the continued expansion of the church. Remember in Acts 1-8 that we were told, you shall receive power. After that the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. So the church is expanding now. It's going from this one location and it's beginning to expand. It says in chapter 8 that persecution had driven many from the city of Jerusalem except for the apostles. In Acts 8-4 it says, those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. So as the word spread, the Apostle Peter began going outside of Jerusalem in order that he might minister. Acts 8-14 says he went to Samaria and he ministered to new believers. Well in this passage he's continuing his ministry journey. He comes to a city which is a day's journey northwest of Jerusalem and it's called Littah. Pilgrims returning from Jerusalem at Pentecost had shared the gospel and persecution had driven Christians to this place and they're now living there. So Peter's on the move. He's not just sitting in an office in Jerusalem. So let me share something briefly here. Those actively serving are often the ones God grants the most opportunities to. Peter was not about to just remain, we'll say, in an office. Peter wanted to be out, taking the word of God. We don't come to church services, we're not intended to at least, just to receive a lecture and make a judgment as to whether or not we enjoyed the lecture. We gather together as believers so that we might be equipped to do the works of ministry. Every member of the body of Christ is a minister and each member has received spiritual gifts and what we do is we use those gifts to edify everybody. So some people are called to certain ways of life in terms of their pastoring or teaching or whatever but everybody has gifts. Now if I just keep those gifts to myself and never use them, one, I'm not benefiting anybody because the gifts of the Spirit are for the edification of the body. 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that. So if I am not utilizing those gifts and keeping them to myself, then what I'm doing is quenching the Holy Spirit. That's why Paul would tell Timothy, stir up the gift of God which is in you through the lane on of my hands. Don't allow it to go out, don't allow it to be dormant. You need to be active. You need to be taken what God gave you. If you want to grow, what you do is you put into practice the things that you know and in doing so Jesus said, if you obey my commands, I will and my Father will manifest myself to you. John 14-21. You want to have an experience with God. It's not just an ideological one. It's not just a philosophic one. It's an experiential one. It's taking God's word and putting it into practice. You say, God hasn't used me lately? Make yourself available. Here I am, Lord. Send me. Here I am, Lord. Use me. Sometimes we think, well, you're getting old. Get out of the way somebody else wants to be used. But I would rather burn out than rust out. And as an older man, God knows I am. I'm not about to sit on the bench. I've never been that guy. I don't know how many of you were involved in athletics in your lifetime, but if you were, I was for a long time. If you were happy sitting on the bench because you'd get a snow cone after the game, you know, I was a young man and some of you young men and women for that matter. I was the guy who wanted to get my uniform dirty. I didn't want to just sit there and then go home. I wanted to slide. I wanted to be dirty. I wanted to get in the game. I didn't want to just sit there chewing on the edge of my glove. I played sports for a long time. I don't talk about it, but it's true. For many years, in the military, I played on a softball team for my company out of the military. When Marie and I were dating, I was on three different teams during the week. I was active for a long time playing sports. That was my life. I wanted to be a coach. If I had not gotten saved, I would have been an athletic coach. I loved athletics. That was my life. And I wasn't the one who could take losing easily. I didn't like to lose. I wanted to win. That was me, and God took that fire and put it in a pulpit. What we need to do is have this act of heart where we want to be used by God. Why should I want somebody else being used when I could be used? And so I say, here are my Lord, send me. Use me. I want to do something for you. You ought to have that heart yourself. You ought to have that heart yourself. Instead of saying, there he is, Lord. Send him. Say, here am I, Lord? Send me. I want to be used by you. I want to do something for your glory. And the Lord will say, I will use you. I will. Sitting on a bench is no fun. We used to call it collecting splinters. It's no fun. You just want to be active. And Simon Peter was not just in an office. I've allowed myself to get more involved again. I took a while where I stopped going out, and now I'm going out more. Next, God willing, in a couple, two, three weeks, I'll be going out to Mexico to minister to Northern Mexican pastors. A couple of weeks after that, I'll be teaching pastors at the International Calvary Chapel Pastors Conference. I want to be busy. I want to be used by the Lord. I want to be active. I want people to know Jesus Christ. I want them to know they can have freedom. They can be forgiven from their sins. That they can have eternal life. That they can have a life of peace, joy, and love. They can have those things because of Christ. And that's what Peter was like. He wasn't sitting in some office in Jerusalem. He's out there in the field, and he's doing work, and he's bringing the gospel, and God is using him in a mighty way. I mean, you ought to be asking the Lord to do the same for you, to use you in this way. Now, notice it says in verse 33, he found a certain man named Anais who had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed. Now, when he asked, there's a Greek name. He may have been a Hellenistic Jew, but it says he's bedridden. When it says he was bedridden, that word, bedridden, speaks of him being on a mat. And that indicates to us that this man Anais was poor, and he'd been on that mat for eight miserable years. And so, in verse 34, Peter said to him, Anais, Jesus, the Christ heals you. Arise, make your bed, and he arose immediately. The moment he's saying, at this moment, Jesus Christ is healing you. And he was instantly, instantly healed. It reminds us of when Jesus had healed the man at the pool of Bethesda. This man had been paralyzed for 38 years. And the Scripture tells us that he was there by the pool waiting for the stirring of the water because there was a tradition that an angel would come and stir up the water and the first one to enter in would be healed of his infirmity. Well, he was lying near this pool, but he couldn't be the first to enter in and so, John 5, 6-9 says, when Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, Do you want to get well? Sir, the invalid replied, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water stirred. Well, I'm trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me. And Jesus said to him, Get up, pick up your mat and walk. And at once the man was cured, he picked up his mat and he walked. This reminds me of that story, that incident of what had taken place. Remember, after the day of Pentecost, the apostles performed miracles. Acts 2 verse 43 says, Many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Acts 3 records the healing of that crippled man at the beautiful gate. Well, here, Peter performs a miraculous work in the name of Jesus. And Jesus had given him this gift in command when he commissioned them. Mark 16, 18 says, that they will lay their hands on sick people and they'll get well. So verse 34, Peter says to Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you, arise. So, if you want to be used, make sure that you seek to exalt Jesus. He didn't say, I heal you. He said, Jesus the Christ heals you. Make sure that you seek to exalt Jesus Christ, and not yourself. You see, Peter's humility stands in contrast to some who seek their own fame, even in our day. Peter said that we should do all things to bring glory to Jesus. In 1 Peter 4, 11, he said it like this. He said, if anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaks in the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides. So that in all things, God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Jesus the Christ heals you. Arise, make your bed, and he arose immediately. For eight years, you've been taking care of, and this has become your way of life. Aeneas, now you're made whole, and you can take care of yourself. Put away the old way of life. Walk in newness of life. That's once again what the Lord has done when he saved you and saved me. Put away the old way of life and walk in newness of life. Put away the old habits of the flesh, the old things that polluted you. Put them away. Rise to your feet. Begin to walk with the Lord and watch what God will do as he brings into your life opportunities to be blessing others. Well, Aeneas had to respond in faith to what Peter had said that Jesus was doing. He told him to rise and make your bed, and he did so. He responded, and in doing so, the evidence that he was completely healed was demonstrated. Well, in verse 35 says, all who dwelt at Lidda and Sharon saw this turned to the Lord. So once again, a miracle has drawn people's attention to Jesus, and they've placed faith in him, and the result is great numbers are turning to the Lord. A miraculous healing drew people. In Acts 5-12, we saw it where it says, through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were done among the people. And in Acts 5-14 it went on to say, believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men, and women. So God is moving, and the gospel is still going forth, and the power of the Lord is still being evidenced, and finally we get to the third portion, verse 36. At Joppa, there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which has translated Dorcas, the word Tabitha as well as Dorcas means gazelle. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds, which she did. But it happened in those days that she became sick and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room, and since little 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. Peter arose and went with them. When he had come, they brought him to the upper room, and all the widow stood by him, weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. But Peter put them all out, sat down and prayed, and turning to the body, he said, Tabitha, arise. She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up. Then he gave her his hand and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive. It became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. So it was that he stayed many days in Joppa with Simon, a tanner. Let me touch on a few things that we're about to close. Dorcas, also known as Tabitha. When you look at her just briefly, she exercised various spiritual gifts. One of the gifts that you see in her is the gift of helps. Romans 12, 7, as well as 1 Corinthians 12, 28 speaks to this particular gift. It's a gift that revealed her love to meet people's needs, and that's her gift. There are some who have said, I don't know what my gift is. If you're one of those who has a desire and gives you an inner joy to help people, you have more than likely the gift of helps. That's a spiritual gift. Obviously all Christians are to be sensitive to meet the needs of others. In Galatians 6, 10, it says, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are the household of faith. But in the case of Tabitha, that's the gift of help. She also had the gift of giving spoken again in Romans 12, verse 8. Her love for Jesus and her love for others touched many lives. Tragedy, as we look at this, has hit the church. A believer who is wonderful has died. Her description is simple. She was filled with good works and charitable deeds. That reveals to us this woman who is much loved by the believers. She's a shining example of what a woman of God is to be. In 1 Timothy 2, verse 10, it speaks of a woman of God who is adorned with good deeds appropriate for women who profess to worship God. She's also described in a similar way to the Proverbs 31 woman where it says in Proverbs 31-20 that she opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy. So, Tabitha is caring. She's faithful. She's devout and she shows practical ways of loving other people. She didn't just talk about love. A lot of Christians can do that. We even write songs about it but she demonstrated it. In 1 John 3, 18, beloved, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and truth. This is a woman who was loved by many because she was so loving to them. Well, verse 37 says she had become sick and she died. Think for just a moment. Even sincerely faithful believers do fall ill and die. Her sickness and death has nothing to do with her faith. And so she had died, verse 37 says that they washed her and they laid her in an upper room. So they followed the customs in preparation. They washed her to prepare for her internment but they didn't bury her immediately. Well, verse 38, Lidda was near Joppa. It was known as Joppa. So it was 11 miles northwest of Lidda on the coast. And so they called for Peter because they knew he was there and some believed that they called the apostle because they needed comfort from him. They're going through pain. His presence will strengthen them but on the other hand, they may have heard of the healing of Aeneas. He had been crippled for eight years yet he was made to walk. That could have triggered their faith but it was really impossible. Perhaps God will do this miracle for them. Now up until this point in Acts there have been no no one raised from the dead. As Christians though, they were aware of how Jesus could raise the dead and perhaps Tabitha could be raised. And so they sent a couple men and they said, please come. Don't delay in coming. Internment was done immediately. They didn't do anything to preserve the bodies. They weren't embalmed. So they would intern. So they're saying you have to come quickly because she's about to be interred. And so Peter arose. The scripture says in verse 39 and went with them. They brought him in and as he walks in there are these widows and they're sharing with him what a wonderful woman this was who had died. She had made inner and outer coats for them. Because widows were vulnerable if they didn't have a family member to care for them. And the law said that you to care for the widow in Exodus 22, 22 and 23. It says you shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them and they cry out to me I will surely hear their cry. James 1 27 says religion that is pure and undefiled before God the father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction. Keep oneself unstained from the world. So what does Peter do? Verse 40 says he put them all out and he knelt down and he prayed. Reminds us of what Jesus did in the case of Jerry's daughter in Mark 5 40 through 42. He had said that the sickness is not unto death and all and they ridiculed him. But when he had put them all outside he took the father and the mother of the child and those who were with him and entered where the child was lying on the hand and said to her Talita Kumi which is translated little girl I say unto you arise. Immediately the girl arose and walked where she was 12 years of age. They were overcome with great amazement. So what does he do? It's very similar to what Jesus did. He put them out of the room so he could have undisturbed time and prayer. Earlier in chapter 4 verse 30 they had prayed stretch out your hand to heal that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus. It's interesting how he said Tabatha Tabatha Kumi that reminds us of Talita Kumi so he said arise I say unto you arise. Verse 41 says he gave her his hand and lifted her up. Earlier a crippled man had been raised from a mat but she was raised from the dead and the result again is believers are overwhelmed with joy. Verse 42 says it became known throughout all Japa and many believed on the Lord. Again God's purpose is clear he's drawing people to Christ and this confirms that the fact of the gospel is true many are being saved then finally verse 43 I'll touch this and then give you a couple of thoughts and we'll close. It was that he stayed many days in Japa. Now notice with Simon a Tanner Simon a Tanner a couple of things this is not simply informing us of where Peter stayed it's much more there was a taboo for a Jewish man to lodge with a Tanner. Why? Because Tanners were ritually defined because they worked with dead animals and because they worked with dead bodies they risked ritual defilement in the Jewish law you were not to contact dead bodies if you did you had to go through some purifying rights you know. So it would not be common for someone like the apostle Peter to stay in the house of Simon a Tanner because Simon could be ritually filed and so we're seeing something here what we're seeing is God is stretching him the apostle Peter is being stretched God is breaking down taboos that he had lived with for his lifetime we've already seen a little bit of that when he went into Samaria because as I shared with you when we saw him there ministering that Jews have no dealings with Samaritans they would have nothing to do with them because they were a group of people that were considered pagan they had their own temple they had their own priesthood they had their own rituals they had their own scriptures they were looked at as being unclean pagans because they were actually a mixture of various peoples who had been taken into Israel by Assyria and so the Jews had no dealings with Samaritans and yet God had moved upon the heart of the apostle Peter who had gone into Samaria and had continued ministering to Samaritans and so that's a huge thing he's breaking taboos now he's dwelling with Simon a Tanner and in dwelling with him he's growing and he's becoming a man who can minister he's learning what true freedom in Jesus is and how to give it to somebody else when I first got saved and I'll close with this when I first got saved if you're not old you won't understand this it's just true long hair was not just this light in some places it was violently rejected dressing without shoes wearing shoes going barefoot it was terrible especially if you would take it upon yourself to go into a church barefooted you could fully expect to be taken out as for tattoos only drunken sailors had tattoos they were looked at as being the sign of someone who'd done time piercings are you kidding me putting something through your nose or your ears your eyebrows you're sick those that's true all of those things and yet somebody like Pastor Chuck and others like him opened the church doors to these people why because how are we going to reach the lost if we don't let care I've had people in this church years ago now but I've had them complain to me because they saw someone working for the church with tattoos I didn't take off my shirt because they had a left I don't have that sense because the Bible doesn't teach that a lot of people want to clean the fish before they catch it a lot of Americans say the United States like it was in the 50s and it was a great time by the way in the 50s it was but I heard a minister say once there were more people who went to hell in the 50s at any other time why because they thought they were good without Christ and that's a fact that's true so the goodness of the society I grew up in was not based on relationship with Jesus but the traditions that they had absorbed by the common culture so you have to reach into people's hearts you don't control them just by the outside with the laws you have to reach the heart that causes them to act out certain behaviors based on something deeper than a law that says thou shalt not they need to know that they should do and what is it that they should do they should love one another even as Christ is loved down and so how can you be an able minister if you're not capable of coming to the people that are so different from you how can you so you have to be willing to talk to anybody and that's just a fact you know I could go on with this I won't I'll just close by saying as a minister of the gospel I don't want to close the door to anybody from coming to faith in Jesus Christ I don't want to do that I will not do that I want every person who hears the gospel to be transformed by the loving grace of God and God can change lives he did it in mine he did it in yours he can do it in others and we need to understand that and Peter had to understand that you have ministered to Samaritans you are now dwelling with Simon a tanner I'm going to show you that God is not a respecter of persons that God's in his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for all humanity so that all might come to faith in him that's why he came we need to understand that it's not enough to to elect people we agree with we ought to and I think is important to but that doesn't bring revival what brings revival is the gospel of Jesus Christ transforming a person's life who reaches out and touches others for the sake of Jesus Christ that's what transforms nations and that's what we need to do that's what we need to do and we'll look at this in some detail next week father we bless you