 Chapter 9, beginning at verse 20, reading to verse 22, and then we'll move into our study. Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of God. Then all who heard were amazed and said, is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem and has come here for that purpose so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests? But Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus proving that this Jesus is the Christ. So we've seen how Saul of Tarsus came to know Jesus Christ as his Lord and as his Savior. And as we've been going through chapter nine, we noted how that Jesus had intercepted him while he was on his way to Damascus and he was going to Damascus in order to persecute Christians. After meeting the Lord, he went on to Damascus and he spent three days there and he was praying and he was fasting. As this is taking place, God had spoken to one named Ananias and said, go and minister to Saul and he did so. It says to us in verse 19, when he had received food, he was strengthened and Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus. And so his one time venom for believers had been converted to love for them. Again, in first John in chapter three, verse 14, Bible says this, we know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. That's an important thing for us Christians today, especially, you know, one of the things, and this isn't in my notes, I just say it quickly and then move on. One of the things I was speaking to somebody about just this week is it seems to me that many who profess to know Christ, many who are confessing Christians have forgotten to love one another. There seems to be so much criticism today amongst the brethren. There seems to be so much attacking of one another. I see it all the time on Facebook. I mean, you'll see people will say, okay, some of you are gonna get mad at this and they write it anyway. And then they whine later on about how they were attacked. But the bottom line is, some of us can be mean. And we need to remember to love one another because love is the mark of a believer. Loving one another is the mark of a believer. That's what Jesus said, by this I'll mention, you'll know that you are my disciples if you have loved one to another. And so it's very important for us to remember and that's what was taking place here. You see, he had venom, he hated, he breathed out threatenings against believers and this venom that he once had has now been transformed into a love and a concern for those who follow Jesus. The Bible tells us that he spent some days with the disciples. And one of my commentators that I use as I prepare Bible studies pointed out that this may have stretched into some months, not just days, but really a lengthy time. And so as this is taking place in verse 20, he preached the Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of God. So that is very common for those who have been transformed by the grace of God. They immediately begin to share what God has done. When you got saved, I don't know what you were like when you got saved. But when I got saved, it was just, it wasn't so much easy because I don't know that it is or isn't easy. It was natural for me to share about the Lord. It just became a natural thing to do. I began to talk to people about the Lord and who would I speak to, those that I was around. So I spoke to my friends, I spoke to my family. That was the most common thing to do then, it's the common thing to do now is you get saved and you begin to speak to those that don't know the Lord. In the case of Paul, he began to speak to other religious people. So he'd go to the synagogues where the Jews would congregate and began to share with them concerning Jesus Christ. In Psalm 119, verse 46, it simply says, I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame. So he wasn't ashamed at all. He was actually liberated. He had been saved. God had done something in his life and he was telling people about it. This one who had been a persecutor was now somebody who was a proclamer because Jesus Christ had touched his life. You wanna know how to become someone who proclaims simply allow the Lord to continue touching your life. You'll have plenty to talk about because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will always speak. And when you're spending time with the Lord you can't help but speak about that and that's what he was doing. He was sharing with the people who was most closely related to. Sharing with fellow Jews actually became his pattern for many years. He says in the book of Romans he actually writes to the Romans in chapter two, verse 10 and he says to the Jew first and also to the Greek. And that became a pattern of much of his ministry when we go through Acts, you'll see this. You'll see that in Acts 13. He's in Antioch, a Pesidia and he goes into the synagogue. In Acts 14 he's in the city of Iconium goes to the synagogue. In Acts 17 he goes to the synagogue in Thessalonica then Berea and then in Athens. In Acts chapter 18 goes first to the synagogue in Corinth goes again to Ephesus and then in Acts 19 he goes to Ephesus once again. And so what he does is he goes to the synagogue and he shares there openly concerning what God's word says of Messiah. That's what he did, he would go in. Now as he did this, notice with me, this was shocking. It was shocking both to the Christians as well as to Jews because his incredible conversion was unbelievable. People could not believe that this man who had been breathing out threatening, this man who was witnessing against people and to the point of witnessing for their death is now preaching this message he tried to destroy. When he was writing to the Galatians in chapter one he said to them in verse 13, you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism how intensely I persecuted the church and tried to destroy it. He was well known for this. He was known as an opposer of the faith. He hated Christians and he was opposed to Jesus Christ and his hatred that he had for Christ that drove him to persecution was transformed in his salvation to a passionate love for him. He said to the Corinthians in second Corinthians 514 the love of Christ compels us. You wanna become someone who witnesses for Christ? Let him fill you with his love. Awaken to the love of Jesus Christ. I was speaking to somebody about that just this week. Just this week we're having a conversation and I was sharing with them things that you already know. I've shared this with you before and I'm certain you've learned this on your own. But I said, you know, there are two ways to look at it. One is to think that you're in love with God and thus you're gonna prove how much you love him. Or two, you just receive the love of God and your life demonstrates the great love he has for you and the love he has for you is going to be poured out on other people. It's like a cup that overflows. When you're that empty cup and the love of God begins to pour in you, just overflows, it just overflows. And that's what happens, you just walk with the Lord, enjoy him and watch what happens in your life. His hatred for Jesus became a passionate love. And so what does he do? Well, it says to us again in verse 21, they were amazed. They said, is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem and has come here for that purpose so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests? Verse 22, Saul increased all the more in strength, confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus proving that this Jesus is the Christ. So it says, notice in verse 22 that Paul confounded the Jews. The word confound simply means to disturb the mind of somebody. It speaks of stirring up or bewildering. He was bewildering them, disturbing them. And it also says proving. That word proving means to cause a person to come to the same conclusion or opinion. And so he was persuading people and he was confounding them. He clearly and it was powerfully showing them that Jesus is the Christ. His teaching and his preaching were intended to clearly communicate truth. And he clearly explained the message of the cross and he gave what we would today call an apologetic for it. That is part of preaching the gospel is giving reasons for your faith. It says in Acts 19 verse eight that he went into the synagogue, spoke boldly for the space of three months disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. In chapter 28 verse 23 it says that Paul expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets from morning till evening. So he knew the word and he would persuade, he would present to them the facts with an encouragement for them to make a decision to follow Jesus Christ. And that's what he did and it was confounding them. Well, verse 23 says after many days were passed the Jews loved him so much, no, the Jews plotted to kill him. The disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket. And so the Jews wanted to kill him. The religious Jews who were opponents of the gospel wanted to kill him. In other words, he wore out his welcome mat. Now the many days that were spoken of here are actually three years. In Galatians 1, 17 and 18 he said, I went immediately into Arabia, later returned to Damascus, then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him 15 days. So he was there for many, many days. Well, they're wanting to kill him. And so it says in verse 24 their plot became known to Saul they watched the gate day and night to kill him. And so the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket. He spoke of this, by the way, when he was sharing with the Corinthians and he was sharing concerning what he had gone through as a believer. In 2 Corinthians 11, 32 and 33 he said in Damascus, the governor under Eritus the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison designed to arrest me but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands. So this is something that he refers to later on in his ministry. And so he's going through some hardship already. Verse 26, when Saul had come to Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples. They were afraid of him and did not believe that he was a disciple. I remember Raul was sharing, Raul Rees was sharing his testimony, how that he was at home. He had his rifle out. He was going to kill his wife and children. He was angry because sharing was gone and he hit the TV set with his, with the gun butt. And the TV set went on and there was Pastor Chuck Smith sharing and Raul was really angry. He didn't want to hear the gospel but he says he sat down and he listened. And as he listened to the gospel as it was being presented by Pastor Chuck, he broke, began to weep and asked God, please forgive me. And now he's born again. I mean, it was an instant kind of thing with him and he's waiting for Sharon to come home. And when Sharon came home he said, I'm born again. She didn't want anything to do with him because he was crazy. He is murderous. Well, that's how Paul was. When these people, that's so funny because we say, oh, Jesus can change anyone, not Paul. He can change, but Paul, they were afraid. I mean, we talk about the miracle of the resurrection, the power of the Holy Spirit to transform lives. And that's what we're preaching. And then Saul says, hey, I'm one of you. No, you're not. No, no, no, no, no. It reminds me of Ananias when the Lord says I want you to go and pray for him. And let me inform you. I know you've been busy running the universe and all and perhaps Saul has escaped your notice, but he's very dangerous, right? Well, that hadn't changed. There were still people who could not embrace the reality of his transformation. And by the way, when you get saved, sometimes it takes a while for people to believe you've been changed too. Isn't that true? Isn't that true? It is. They watch you. They watch you. You say, oh, and I've been born again. Yeah. Sure you have. No, really, I have. Sure you have. My brother, when I began to share with him the gospel, my brother, I still remember what he said. He said to me, I've seen you go through so many fads. This is just another one. Soon you'll change and you'll go back to what you were, David. Because they watch and they do watch you and they will see whether or not this is a long-term transformation. They will watch you. And sometimes they'll watch you for weeks. Sometimes they'll watch you for months. And sometimes they'll watch you for years. And they do. And they wait. And sometimes they want you to fall. Sometimes they expect you to and they want you to. And when you don't, it's an amazing thing to them that you actually sincerely and really became a Christian. And so this is taking place in the life of Saul. It says, he came to Jerusalem and tried to join the disciples. He showed up for fellowship. Hey guys, praise the Lord. No, no, no, no. No, we don't want anything to do with you. And so what happens? Well, as this is taking place, notice 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 he did is he had someone who vouched for him, this man by the name of Barnabas. You may find this interesting. We already saw this in chapter four, verse 36. We were introduced to Barnabas in that scripture. Barnabas means son of encouragement. That's what his name means. And you'll see him as an encouraging kind of man. He put his arm around Saul. And in front of everybody, he said he's the real deal. And his endorsement went far because he said, I've seen what God has done in this man's life. It's good to have somebody who can testify on your behalf who can say, I know what he was and you're right. But what he is now, I have seen. I have eyewitnessed. I have seen what he has done for the Lord and how he has ministered. And that's what Barnabas does. As we go through Acts, we're gonna see that Paul and Barnabas became very close as ministry friends as well as traveling companions. You're gonna see them together. Often you'll see them together in chapters 11, all the way to chapter 15. They were friends. They were fellow ministers for many years. And so that's what shows us, that's one of the things that shows us that in how that Barnabas took his side. So in verse 28, he was with them at Jerusalem coming in, going out. He spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, disputed against the Hellenists. They attempted to kill him. When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea. Sent him out to Tarsus. So these Hellenists, these Greek-speaking Jews wanna kill him. And persecution is already breaking out. Remember in chapter nine, verse 16, the Lord had said, I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake? Persecution is breaking out against him. And so this is taking place. He had to be sent away to Caesarea. Caesarea, if you were looking at a map of Israel and you were to locate the city of Jerusalem, Caesarea is on the coast, 60 miles to the north and to the west. Every, excuse me, every time we go to Israel, every time we go to Israel, we will begin our first days by going into this place, Caesarea. And that's where he was, up to the north and west from Jerusalem. As this is taking place here, it says in verse 31, the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied. And so things begin to quiet down with Paul gone. And during this time, God continues to move among the people and many are being saved. You know, when you begin to look at the movement of God in the early days of the church, and I'll just say this again briefly, but I want this to be something we're anchored on. The other day I was sharing out of Matthew and Jesus was speaking to the Sadducees. The Sadducees, a religious sect of the Jews denied the resurrection. And remember they come to Christ there in Matthew 22 with a question concerning resurrection. And as they bring this question to Jesus, Jesus says something to them, we need to remember. He said, you do therefore greatly err, neither knowing scripture nor the power of God. You don't know the word of God and you don't know the power of God. And one of the things we need to understand in these last days, and I'm seeing this take place, we're living in a moment in history where the teaching of the word of God, the embracing of the word of God, the actual instruction of God's word, there are many who are professing Christians who have no appetite for it. They don't have a hunger for it. They like cotton candy. My granddaughter, one of them in particular, when she was little, loved cotton candy. Loved it, you know, and she could just, she wanted to devour it. Well, that's how a lot of people are. They want cotton candy. They don't want the meat of the word. They don't want to know what the Bible says. They want the cotton candy. And unfortunately, cotton candy isn't good for you. It may be tasty as a dessert, a small portion. I don't need it, it's too much sugar. I get all hyper. I don't need that. But what will really satisfy you is the meat of the word because that satisfies your spiritual hunger. And the one thing that is part of my tradition as a believer is when I got saved, I was instructed at the very beginning from when I got saved, spend time in the word of God. It's the first thing that the follow-up counselor told me. Spend time in the word of God, and I did. I didn't know, it's not that I didn't read, I just didn't read often. And so I got a King James Bible and tried to read it. And it might as well have been in Latin. I didn't have a clue what it was saying. And so the King James that I had, I picked up something called, something living translation for good news for modern men. And I got what you call the layman's parallel Bible. It had four translations. It had King James, good news, and two others. And I began to read the Bible the way I had been taught to. I started by reading the King James. And as I was reading the King James, I would get to the words I couldn't understand. So I would look over and I would see what it says in the other versions, the other translations. And then I started becoming a little more conversant in that language. You see, because I didn't read very often, again, not that I couldn't, I just didn't. My vocabulary was stultified because I just never read anything. And so when I went in the army and I had the layman's parallel and I had the King James and all of that, I also started reading different authors. I began to cut my spiritual teeth on different authors, especially C.S. Lewis. So I started reading things by C.S. Lewis in other books by Christian authors. But again, the language, sometimes their words were so large that I didn't understand them. So I got into the habit of reading with a dictionary next to me. And so I'd get to a word I didn't understand and I would go to the dictionary and I would look what the translation for that word was and that's how I increased my vocabulary. And I discovered that the way for you to grow is through the discipline of working at it because it doesn't happen just overnight. My son David was in high school and David was like 15 years old and he comes to me and he says, dad, I want you to pray for me. And of course, son, I do all the time, what for now? Pray that I receive the gift of tongues and I'm looking at him. And he had never shown me that much interest in the gifts of the spirit. So I said, you want me to pray that you receive the gift of tongues? And he said, yes, Spanish. And I said, Spanish. Yeah. Well, it turns out he was taking Spanish in school and wasn't doing good. So he thought God would give him a language of Spanish so he could ace his tests. So I said, you want to speak Spanish, son? You want me to pray that you'll be able to? And he said, yes, dad, will you? I said, son, I can guarantee you 100% that that prayer will be answered. Oh, he was excited. I said, all you need to do is study. That's all you need to do is study. Study to show thyself approved unto God. Workmen that needed not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. Be disciplined and diligent in God's word. Divide it correctly, understand it and present it as a workman would. You see, these kinds of things require discipline and time. And that's what was taking place in the life of Paul. He was learning the things of the Lord and presenting those things to other people. And so that continues on in his ministry for some time. Now, verse 32, we're going to shift attention. It came to pass as Peter went through all the parts of the country that he also came down to the saints who dwelt in Lidda. There he found a certain man named Anias who had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed. Peter said to him, Anias, Jesus the Christ heals you, arise, make your bed. Then he arose immediately. So all who dwelt at Lidda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. So once again, we're reintroduced to the apostle Peter. When you look at this, notice in verse 32 how it says it came to pass. Peter went through the parts of the country. He went to a place called Lidda. Again, if you're looking at a map, Lidda was located. If you're looking at Jerusalem, 25 miles to the Northwest. And when it says Sharon there, that's really what is called the Sharon Plain. Again, you'll go, when you go to Israel, you'll be driving. You'll actually go through the Plain of Sharon. And so what had happened, apparently as pilgrims who were returning from Jerusalem at Pentecost had been sharing the gospel. Also persecution was driving Christians to Lidda who are now living there. And so while he's there in verse 33, he finds this man Anias. Notice with me in verse 33, he'd been bedridden for eight years. So a couple of things here to give you some insight. One, Luke refers to Anias as a certain man, not a certain believer, and he doesn't refer to him as a disciple. Now, it would suggest that he might not be a believer, but then again, that isn't certain. It's just interesting to note that he doesn't call him a believer or a disciple. But as Peter is speaking to him, notice verse 34, he says to him, Anias, Jesus Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed. Now, when he says arise, literally arise this moment. This moment, Jesus is healing you. In other words, you are being instantly healed. There was a movement that's still around. Some of you perhaps heard of it and all, I'm not gonna go into great detail about it, but they would speak concerning the fact that if you claimed your healing, you were healed. If you retained any evidence that you hadn't been healed, they would call that lying symptoms. And so these lying symptoms, you had to deal with in faith because you were healed and you had to claim your healing and all of that. Well, healing here is an immediate thing. This occurred in an immediate ways. It says in verse 34, he arose immediately. The healing was instantaneous. And Peter is performing a work in the name of Jesus. Now, remember with me that Jesus had given him this as he commissioned the apostles because in Mark 16, 18, it had said, they will lay their hands on sick people. They will get well. And so in verse 34, Peter says to him, Jesus, the Christ heals you. Here's a principle for you in ministry. Very basic, but very important. Very basic, but very important. Make sure that if you wanna be used, that you're seeking to exalt Jesus and not yourself. Make sure if you wanna be used, that you wanna exalt Jesus and not yourself. I used to, it's a brand new Christian. I would go and I would enjoy the worship services at Calvary Costa Mesa. And there were some amazing groups that were birthed out of the Jesus movement. One of those groups was Love Song, which became a well-known worship group in the early years of my walk with Christ. And I used to go and I'd listen to them because they played quite often. They were like the house band at Calvary Costa Mesa. It was kind of an amazing time. And I have to tell you for that era, their music was amazing. Their vocals were amazing. I've never seen anybody, any group, any group harmonize the way that Love Song did to this day. I've never seen or heard any group that could harmonize with the beauty that they had in their harmonies. And so I used to say, I'd like to do that. I'd like to go up and sing. Well, two things. One, please don't. And two, why? And I came to realize early on is because I like the attention that they got. Make sure that if you wanna be used by God, that you die to that. Because I've shared many times with pastors and those who have upfront ministry that one of the things that you have to be very careful about is the attention of the people. You have to be careful. Some people can have a secret ambition to be seen and heard and known that they themselves don't even realize or they may know that they have an ambition but they're so good at hiding it that those with no discernment aren't able to pick up on it. I think of a man by the name of Absalom that you find in the Old Testament, a son of King David. And Absalom used to sit at the place of judgment at the gate, city gate. And people would come and speak to Absalom. And one, Absalom was an extremely handsome man, very handsome man. The Bible tells us that King David was a very handsome, handsome man himself. Well, his son was absolutely, probably the most handsome man in the nation of Israel. And he was also regarded by many people and they thought he was a humble man and they thought he was a wise person and the people would come and they would speak to this man, Absalom and they would say to him whatever was on their mind. And he'd say, oh, if I were a judge here because he wasn't, if I were a judge, I would certainly side with you. And he was so charming and so handsome and so winsome in so many ways, so apparently humble that the people began to love him and their hearts were stolen by Absalom, stolen from David. Because when you look at the life of David, he was the beloved king in Israel and they loved him, they sang songs concerning him. The songs that they sang concerning him were of such nature that even King Saul, the first king of Israel, was jealous of David because they would say that Saul has slain his thousands, but David is 10,000. Well, now David has a son who's got the same kind of spiritual attitude that Saul had, a desire for power, a desire to be known, a desire to control, a desire to be great. And so you see the story of Saul and you see the story of David and you see the story of Absalom and you see that in the midst of Absalom trying to steal the kingdom from his own father, that David says, well, perhaps the Lord has taken it from me, he's gonna give it to him. And the humility that you see in David shows you that he was a called man and the ambition that you see in Absalom reveals that he's not. And if you want to be used by the Lord in whatever capacity, learn to put him first because the Lord wants to remind us that no flesh is the glory in his sight. God doesn't need my talents, God wants my heart. And when he has my heart, then my talents will bring glory to him. And I have to tell you in ministry, there are quite a number of guys who are extremely eloquent, very handsome. And very filled with personality, vision and drive and an awful lot of ambition. And the people don't have the discernment to see that this is someone who's operating in the flesh, creating ideas and manipulating people to following them when in fact they're not truly following the spirit at all, they're actually promoting themselves. One of the things that is very important is if you want to be used by the Lord, and I hope those of you who have ears to hear that you're hearing make sure that you keep Jesus a center. He is to be the center of all things. Peter's humility stands in contrast to some who seek their own fame. Remember Isaiah 42, 8, I am the Lord, that is my name, I will not give my glory to another or my praise to graven images. And so what does he say? Verses 34 and 35, he says, Arise, make your bed. Now, my mom used to say that to me when I was growing up, but I think it was a different context here. So when he has had to respond, notice that, he had to respond to what Peter said that Jesus was doing. He says, Arise, make your bed. And so again, I pointed out this already, this healing by Jesus is total and it's instant. And he's getting up and doing what he was told is evidence that complete recovery has occurred. So as this happens, verse 35, all who dwelt at Lidda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. The result was a great number turning to the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, as we go through the book of Acts, you're gonna see that miracles accompany about half of the instances of effective preaching. And signs were part of the credentials of Messiah. And we saw that in chapter two, verse 22, when we read, Men of Israel, listen to this, Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. And so the miracles drew the attention, the proclamation brought them salvation. In verse 36, at Joppa, which is also Jaffa today, there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcus. We used to call guys something similar to that. 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. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. Since Lidda 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 windows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and garments, which Dorcus had made while she was with them. But Peter put them all out, knelt down and prayed. Turning to the body, he said, Tabitha, arise. She opened her eyes. When she saw Peter, she sat up. Then he gave her his hand, lifted her up. And when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive. It became known throughout all Joppa, many believed on the Lord. So it was that he stayed many days in Joppa with Simon, a tanner. All right, tragedy has hit a nearby church. A wonderful believer, part of the fellowship there has died. Notice her description, and ladies, this is a good place for you as ladies to apply scripture to you, not that we men shouldn't be doing the same. This is a lady. We can look at it from that perspective though. And notice her description. She was full of good works and charitable deeds, which she did. So that reveals to us her character, as well as a reputation that she held amongst believers. And so we can look at this woman, Tabitha, as a shining example of what a woman of God is to be. In other words, she's a great model for Christian women to imitate. When you look in the book of Proverbs, and you see the portion of scripture in chapter 31 that speaks of the virtuous woman, it says at verse 20 that she opens her arms to the poor, she extends her hands to the needy. And so that charitable heart and her ministry, the ministry of Tabitha was that of a virtuous woman. In Colossians 1-10, it says we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God. So she was an example of what a woman of God is to be like, filled with good works, charitable deeds, loved by many. Well, it says in verse 37, it happened in those days, she had become sick and she died. And so what they do is they follow the customs in preparation of a dead body, they washed her. They didn't bury her immediately. Well, perhaps they had something else in mind because they were gonna ask God for a miracle. You see, in verse 38, it says Litta was near Joppa and the disciples heard that Peter was there. So they were only 11 miles apart, so that's not too long at all for him to come down. And they may have heard of the healing of Anais. It may have provoked their faith to ask the impossible. Perhaps God will do something similar for us. God has a way of doing that, you know? And so Peter comes and it says in verse 39, Peter arose and went with them. So the widows began to share with them what a wonderful woman this is who has just died. And so they're showing the things that she's done. Notice the tunics and the garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. If you take notes, 1 Timothy chapter two, verses nine and 10 is very good scripture to apply to this. It says, I also want women to dress modestly with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds appropriate for women who profess to worship God. What he's saying is not that women should not wear jewelry, et cetera, that's not what he's saying. What he's saying that if you wanna have clothing that is presentable as a character trait of a godly woman, then those are the kinds of things you ought to have, good deeds, because good deeds are appropriate for a woman who professes faith in God. And so this is how she was known. So what happens? We see in verses 40 and 41 that the apostle Peter puts them all out, then he kneels down and he prays. And as he kneels and prays, it reminds us of something that had already been prayed before we saw it in chapter four, verse 30, where they had prayed, stretch out your hand to heal that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. And so as he's on his knees and he's praying, asking God to do a work, Peter is revealing dependence on God. And as he prays, he spoke to tap with his dead body and perhaps with a faith-filled voice and God raised her from the dead. I don't know how I'd respond to that. I like to pretend that I'd say, oh, praise the Lord, I'd freak, I know I would. My grandmother, my grandmother went to a funeral, went to as a little girl and that was in a small village and they didn't embalm the dead body. They just placed the dead body in a casket. They used to have it in the house. So my grandma was there, it's a little girl and everybody's mourning at the death of a relative when rigor mortis set in and the dead body sat up and my grandma never forgot. You know those cartoons where you just see the doors closed but you see the form of the person going through it? That would have been me. I have to take a moment to think of how amazing this really is. You know, when we read our Bibles, we can just go right past that. But if you put yourself in that place where you've been mourning, where you're concerned, where you're talking, this is all taking time. Send for Peter, he's 11 miles away. It takes a while for them to get there and then a while for him to come back. All of this is taking place. He finally arrives, he comes in, they start saying, look at what she's done for us. She's made this clothing for us. She's a great woman, we love her. You know, perhaps God can do something and then the apostle Peter says, leave and then he falls on his knees before the Lord and prays and he turns to this dead body in verse 40 and he speaks and says, tap with our eyes. She opened her eyes and when she saw Peter, she sat up. He gives her his hand and then he brings her out to the saints and the widows. Can you imagine that? Really? Can you imagine that? I can't. Yeah, oh me of little faith. I can't imagine what that would have been like to be in the room when the apostle comes out with her and says, what's up? No, when he brings her out, that's in the Greek. You know, one of the things the Lord has been trying to remind me of is don't make the extraordinary ordinary. This is extraordinary. Don't say, well, that's great 2000 years ago and that's cool and maybe he did, maybe he didn't. No, this was such a remarkable work, especially at the birth of the church, the power of the spirit, the trust in God, the movement of the Lord, that when they brought her out like that, not only the people in the room were amazed, but notice what it says, in verse 42 it became known throughout all Joppa and many believed on the Lord. It was a work, not just to be something fantastic, it was a work that was intended to draw people to faith in Jesus Christ. And that's what happened. People came to faith in the Lord. Many believed on the Lord. And finally, verse 43, and so it was, he stayed many days in Joppa with Simon, a tanner. We'll close with that with just a couple of thoughts. I'm gonna give you a brief introduction to chapter 10. You'll hear this again when we're together again in chapter 10, but I want you to note something because you probably, unless you've studied this before, won't know this. I want you to see verse 43 when it says Simon a tanner. There's a reason that I'm pointing that out and I'll point it out again when we get together and that is this. God is stretching Simon Peter right now, stretching him. We'll look at this in chapter 10 in more detail. But let me give you a couple of thoughts. You need to remember Jewish taboos. Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. Remember that? Had no dealings with Samaritans. John 4 clearly presents that. When the Assyrians had come into Israel 722 or so before Christ right in that area, when the Assyrians had come in, they brought in several other people groups that were not Jewish and populated the Samaria area, the central area of Jerusalem. And these people brought in with them their idolatry. So the Jews had no dealings with Samaritans because the Samaritans were trying to mix their idolatry with Jewish faith. They even had their own little mountain garzim where they did their worship and all of that and it was a competing religious system in the heart of Israel. Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. And Jesus was teaching his disciples go into all the world and preach the gospel. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, unto the uttermost parts of the earth, but there was still a taboo in the mind of these people and there goes Peter and there goes John into Samaria because Philip had been preaching the gospel to the Samaritans. So God is already stretching the apostle Peter. He's already stretching him. But now he has him go and stay with a man named Simon who is a tanner. Now, why am I pointing this out to you? Because it was a taboo for a Jewish man who was clean, ritually clean, if you will, to have any dealings with those who were involved, touching dead bodies. In Leviticus 1131 it says of all those that move along the ground, these are unclean for you. And he goes on to say whoever touches them when they are dead will be unclean. For the apostle Peter to dwell with Simon a tanner, it's another breaking in his religious beliefs and even his prejudicial sensitivities. God has already broken him a bit with the Samaritans. Now he's breaking him with those who touch unclean things, dead animals. And so that's very significant. Here he is, dwelling with Simon a tanner. And in dwelling with him, he's stretching and he's becoming a man who can minister. He's learning what true freedom in Jesus really is. Listen, one of the things that they said concerning Jesus is this man can't truly be from God because he hangs around with sinners and publicans. They called Jesus a wine bibber and a glutton. They didn't like him because he broke their taboos. Jesus actually cleansed lepers and he touched dead bodies and they were raised to life. And that caused the religious people of his day, the legalistic religious Jewish people of his day, great problems because the taboos of the culture were so huge and the liturgical law so clear that the idea of actually being in the home of a man who was ritually unclean is a significant change for Simon Peter. Be careful that you don't get to the point where you think that you're better than somebody else because you don't do what that somebody else does. It's only a small step to becoming a Pharisee, small step. I don't drink, I don't chew tobacco. I don't go to movies, I don't do this, I don't do that and before you know it, it's not based on the love we have for people, love of Christ, the freedom that he's given to me anymore, it's based on the things I don't do. And then I begin to compare other people. I'm not like that one, like that Pharisee who is praying thus with himself, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men, I fast, I tithe, I'm not even like this man here, this publican, and then Jesus says, and the publican won't even lift his eyes up but continues beating his chest saying, God, be merciful to me, I'm a sinner. And he said, I tell you that that sinful man went away justified before that other man did because when we get caught up saying, I'm good because I don't do certain things, we're in danger because not only are we in bondage to our self-imposed regulations and legalism, but we judge other people who do not keep the same strict religious discipline that we ourselves do. One of the things I've discovered about God is he hates sin so much he gave his son Jesus to deliver us from its power. He doesn't give me permission through grace to continue in sin but by God's grace I am free from its bondage. But at the same time he also teaches me to love those who are entangled and to encourage them to the freedom that comes through him. And you do that through loving God, loving his word, walking in the power of his spirit and caring about people. And he will take you to places and you'll have you do things that will stretch you and will awaken you to your own weakness and his great power. And then you wake up one day and you say, look at what God has done. I'm amazed and it's really Lord who should be amazed that he was able to even use us because we're not prizes. We're not prizes. What we are is just saved by grace.