 The Bible says in the book of Genesis chapter number one that in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and void. It was in chaos. It was divided, messed up. And darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And then the Bible says in verse three, and God said, let there be light. And there was light. Everything that God says out of his mouth we live by. The Bible says we live by the preceding word of God. Because when God speaks it, whatever isn't will come to pass because God said it. That's the reason why when Jesus stepped up to a leper and those of religious Pharisees and Sadducees tried to tell him that he was breaking the law, the problem is they had no witness because the leper was made whole by the power of the word. John gives us a little bit different take in John chapter number one verse one. He says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. And the same was in the beginning with God and all things that were made by him were made and without him was not anything made that was made in him. We're talking about a personality now. We've shifted from the logos and Ramah to the pronoun of a personage in him was life and the life was the light of men and the darkness and the light shined in darkness and the darkness comprehended it. Not it could not. It could not receive it. It was impossible until the light was turned on for things to come into order. It was impossible until the illumination of God's word came upon this earth in the flesh. Verse 14 says and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. The spirit moved and then the word spoke the spirit and the word work together to bring about a change and call things into order that are in chaos. The word of God is essential for the book of acts church and it is essential for this church right here. In Psalm 138 verse 2 the Bible says thou has magnified thy word above thy name. Why did he do that? Why did the Psalmist make that statement? Because God was putting priority on the integrity his word over his reputation, his name. God was placing a higher priority on the word above his name because why? Because your name is only as good as your word. If you don't keep your word, your name is no good. That's the reason why I believe the word of God and I don't just believe it, but I trust it from Genesis all the way to the maps. Because this is not just some book, this is the book that sets people free. And it is the book that needs to be lifted up the word of God above all other books. This is the only book that you can read where you can have deliverance take place in your life in a moment. Now why is it that we don't have the deliverance because people are not reading the book? How do I know that's true? I use this as an example here today because it struck me so hard. This past Wednesday night, as Pastor T and Ms. Lauren were leading the Ignite student ministries in a new discipleship program, they discovered in those 64 students that were gathered up there this past Wednesday night that when they handed out the Bibles and said to turn to John, chapter number whatever that it was, they discovered that many of those students had never had an opportunity apparently in their life to crack the Bible open to even know what to do with it. I asked my mentor yesterday as we were traveling doing a funeral together. We talked a little bit about what's going on and the fact is I asked him this question, who's to blame then in that situation? The student or the previous generation? And we both agreed the previous generation because it is up to us to teach our sons and daughters how to appropriately handle the Word of God because I'm going to tell you, they can get an education and a PhD behind their name, they can get all kinds of doctrines and degrees, but if you don't have a master's degree in this book right here, you will fail miserably. Why do I believe the Bible? Because when the Word and the Spirit come together, the Word of God is not just some book but it's a living, breathing book. The Bible is originated in the mind of God, not in the mind of men. How do you know that? How do I know that it's God's Word elevated above every other book, the best-selling book of all time? Because no man would have ever put that kind of restraint upon himself on purpose. When you read the Word of God and it tells you to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me, I don't know any man who would want that. That's how I know it's God's Word. Denial of self. That's not in the nature of man. At no other time in history has the Word of God been more needed and more relevant than right now. Because I'm telling you with everything we're facing and every question you have, the Bible is the answer for all of life's questions. The Bible is the inspired Word of God. It is God breathed according to 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 21, for the prophecy came not of old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The Bible is indestructible. No other writing in history has outlast the attacks and criticism and the unbelief like the Bible. The Bible has been mocked and recently even more in the days that are ahead, you'll find the pressure to try to change the book like they've been trying to do, even in taking out the gender of God our Father to make it God our mother. I want you to know the book says, all you got to do is read the last line. He said, if you take anything away from this book or you add anything to it, you will have the plagues added to your life. I got news for you. I respect the Word of God. I don't lay it under the table. It's the highest book on the table. The enemies of God have tried to destroy it and rid the earth of the Word of God. Even King Jehoakim tried to burn it when Jeremiah sent the scroll of the written Word of God to him, but the Bible said when King Jehoakim threw it into the fire and it was burned up, God told Jeremiah, just go ahead and write another scroll of the same words and send it right back to him. What do you say? And I'm telling you that your answer should be and always should be what thus saith the Lord. Quit getting into arguments of opinions and personalities and politics and quote the Word of God. I admonish this congregation this past. I feel my help coming in the room. This past Wednesday night to stop arguing with people on social media and just print the Word of God out there. Just print the Word of God. I got news for you. The Word has got the answer for everything. Proverbs 15.3, God's eyes are roaming the earth right now. He sees all that's going on, both good and evil. The Bible said in 1 Timothy chapter number two that we're to pray for our leaders. Well, he's not going to be this and he's not going to be that. I don't care what it is, the Bible said you pray for your leaders that you may live peaceable and quiet lives. The answer is in the book. It's indestructible. It's indeniable. It is the Holy Word of God. And if we're going to live and survive, the Bible must be the book of all books that we guide ourself by. The Bible says the grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of the Lord stands forever. When the book says stands forever, that's literally translated rises to stand. The Bible has traveled more roads, spoke more languages, knocked on more doors, delivered more freedom to people than any other book. Some say it's historically inaccurate, scientifically unproven, and archeologically unfound, but it is still here, present, active, and alive wherever people will believe it. I feel like preaching this morning. The Bible is influential. That is to say, not other books have had the impact that the Word of God has. In fact, the Word of God has formed governments just like America. Right out of the Word of God, the Constitution is written. That's the reason why it's so hard to deny what our Constitution Bill of Rights and other documents say, because they were not the concoctions of men. One Supreme Court just said several years ago when the Arab Spring was happening in Egypt that we should take our Constitution and send it to them and let it be their model. It won't work in Egypt because they did not start in the Judeo-Christian heritage. They did not start it by writing it out of the Word of God. They started it from the gods of the Egyptians thousands of years ago. And John Adams said that our Constitution is wholly inadequate for any other government except those that will take it up and believe the Word of God. Its influences are in every area of our life, from healing to science to archaeological finds. I got news for you. There's not a day that goes by. There's not a day that goes by that God does not blow his holy nose, knock some dirt off of something, and then we find out that there's a coin that has verified where Hezekiah lives, or there's a tunnel that's taking us into a new location. I want you to know this is not just some book here today. This is a book to live for, and it is a book to die for. Come on, somebody. It influences every area of our life. It's changed lives by the millions. Look at your neighbor and tell him it's changed your life. Delivered the drug addict and the alcoholic, the abuser. It has set the bound free and opened up blinded eyes. It's rolled back the sea and made away where there seemed to be no way. When the spoken word is delivered into the atmosphere, mountains move and valleys rise up. It's calming the stormy seas. It melts the heart of man and makes the tax collector leave his trade and follow after Jesus. It opens up graves and breathes life into the lungs of the infant and causes the dead to live again. It is the indestructible, undisputable, inescapable word of God. The Bible can't be ignored, so I want to say to everybody who's trying to ride it out of society or wants to ignore the word of God, it must be accepted or rejected. There is no middle ground, preach pastor. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. You can run from that, but you can't hide. I came to tell you the word will find you whether you're in the crack house or the drug house. He'll find you whether you're hiding on a bar stool or hiding in a Pentecostal church. If you let the word of God be spoken, he'll search you out, find you out, dig you out, rise you up again and tell you how to live. I thank God for the word of God. It is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path. When I can't find my way, I can open up the word of God and it'll show me where to go and how to live. And for those of you that think I get a little excited about it, I want you to know when the word got up out of the three day dead, it was the word walking. And I came to tell you he's walking here right now in the presence of God's people. Wow, I feel something in this house. I'm talking about a revival spirit. When you talk about the word, you can expect the word to work. If you'll work the word, it's inescapable. I don't want to escape the word of God. It's gonna be the word of God. Come back and get me, snatch me off this earth. I just want to declare to you today and for everybody who wants to be a revisionist, the Bible is inerrant. There are no errors in the word of God. There are no contradictions in the word of God. People talking about there's contradictions. The devil is a liar and so are you. How do you know that? Because the Bible tells us very clearly when you take yourself up with vain philosophies and the imaginations of men, it will confuse you like a termite and a yo-yo. But if you'll pick up this word and read it, well, pastor, I can't understand it. Well, just try it a little bit. First of all, don't start in the book of Leviticus. Ain't nobody can be able to pronounce all those names. Anyway, get yourself over there into first John and into John and Mark and Matthew and the book of Ephesus, the book of Ephesians. And I can tell you, you'll get a clarity of who you are, why you're here and what you're supposed to do. The Bible is inerrant. The battles that have been fought over the truth of God's word. People say, well, all these battles that are going on, they're religious, they certainly are. Let me make this declaration to you. It is about God. Wonder what this is all about in the political world? It is about God. Oh, what about Russia? It is about God. What about Korea? It is about God. What about the division in America? It is about God. The Bible is inerrant. And that he tells us very, very clearly that John 17 in 17 says, Jesus makes this statement, thy word is truth. Say that with me. Thy word is truth. Some say it contradicts itself. Should be changed to meet the times. He was here in the beginning. It's history, his story. He's already written in it. Close the book and seal the book. If it's God's word, it's inerrant. It's worthy of reverence and demands unquestioned obedience. And all I can say is this, it's been a true lamp to my feet and a true light to my path. And it's never led me wrong. The Bible, let me say it like this, the Bible is right and somebody's wrong. In the book of Acts, prayer set the tone. In Acts chapter four, verse 31, we studied last week and we brought to you the message, the acts of prayer. You don't do prayer and then do something else. Prayer is a continual, it's unceasing. When he says pray without ceasing, the word ceasing there means to pray like you have a hacking cough. You know what I'm talking about? You ever had a hacking cough that you just couldn't get rid of? That's right, prayer is supposed to be that same thing. And he said, when they had prayed, the place was shaken where there was cymbal and they all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the word of God with boldness. Today it's not politically correct for me to be able to preach what I'm preaching right here and to call sin, sin. And I can assure you it's not gonna get any easier for you to be in the marketplace to be able to declare it. But I say by the t-shirt, wear the cross around your neck, preach the word of God wherever you are. I promise you, people are waiting to hear from somebody's mouth, not your opinion, but what the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about. Prayer was made of the church in the book of Acts and then followed the moving of the spirit and then the boldness of the word of God spoken. The word and the spirit and the book of Acts are presented as the primary agents of the Lord in forming and growing the church, His church. Let's be reminded, it is His church, not my church or your church. So our agenda doesn't matter. I'm looking at some of you right now, you're just about to toss over in your seat. You might wanna punch your neighbor right now and tell them, wake up, you need this word more than I do, come on, just tell them right now. The word and the spirit are working together. They're reaching new people groups in the book of Acts and breaking through the culture and religious barriers to grow a church. I want you to know the book, the Bible crosses all barriers. It's not a white man's book and it's not a black man's book. It's not a red man's book or a yellow man's book. It's everybody's book and it crosses all barriers and brings everybody together. That's the first event that took place after Pentecost. Some 18 different nations stood there and heard the power of God preached as Peter stood up without knowing what a sermon was or having to get up some hermeneutics or homiletics. He stood up and boldly preached the word of God and said, it was you who crucified the Lamb of Glory but he came and was resurrected on the third day and the Bible said when they heard the word of God they didn't ask him, where are we gonna go eat? They said, what shall we do with this man? I got news for you. It's time that that kind of power comes back in the mouth of every person who claims to believe Jesus as savior and the book may be in your heart but it needs to come out of your mouth. The word and the spirit working together always is reaching for the next level. The book of Acts is the record of the progress of the word of God propelled by the power of the Holy Spirit. He said, you disciples go and tarry in Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high and when you get this power, when you get the promise of my father then I want you to break out and carry this gospel through Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. Now that would have been wonderful and that was the mandate and that was the mission and it's still that today. And it would have been wonderful if they got together and said, okay, you're going to Samaria, you're going to Judah, you're going over here and you're going to the uttermost parts of the earth but they all stayed in Jerusalem until the pressure and the persecution got so hot that they had to get out of the town but that was God's plan because God said I need to move this thing from Jerusalem to Samaria and to Judea and to the uttermost parts of the earth. Hello, uttermost parts of the earth. The only reason why you're sitting in this building is because somebody heard the word of the Lord and that word said go. And I want to say to you, you owe this world the gospel through the power of the word. If you've been born again, this is not just about time to fold your hands and act like that you're going to suck in the word of God. I don't care about COVID. God has put his name and his word above COVID and it's time you come up out of the closet with a Bible in one hand and the spirit of God on fire. And just so Jeremiah said, if I'd listened to the world, I would just settle down and never preach again. But he said this word is like fire. It's like fire. Shut up in my bowls and Jeremiah said, I can't hold my peace. I want you to know something. If you can talk about everything else out there, you better open your mouth and let the fire come out and talk about Jesus. Talk about the word. Post the word. Tell them about the word. Wear the t-shirt with the word. Whatever you do, get the word out there. Our opinions don't matter because Isaiah 55 and 11 says, so shall the word of God be that goes out of my mouth. God said, it shall not return unto me void but shall accomplish that which its purpose and shall succeed in the thing where to I sent it. Did you hear that? Pastor, what are we going to do with this? So what are we going to do with that? Can I just tell you? The word of God is going to march right through the mess and the word is still going to be operating just like the Bible said. God said, when I send my word, it's not coming back to me without accomplishing what it needs to be. Hebrews 4 and 12 says, for the word of God is living, it's active, it's sharper than any two edges sword, piercing a sunder and dividing the soul and the spirit under the joints and the moral and discerning the thoughts and the intents of the heart. Perhaps that's the reason why we don't want to read the book. Come on, say amen for somebody sitting next to you. Maybe that's the reason why we'd rather read everything else than everybody's opinion and whether or not we get depressed because somebody didn't like our Facebook posts. But can I tell you something, my friend? If you'll let the word of God, you read the word of God and then the word of God's going to turn around and read you. You can't do things in the secret because when the light comes on, it'll show every dark place that's in our soul and you want to thank God for that. I don't know about you but I thank God that the Holy Ghost still deals with me. When I read that book, he turns the light on and says, Rogers, you got to deal with this right here. First Peter chapter one, verse 23 says, since you've been born again, ask your neighbor, have you been born again? Come on, ask them out loud. Don't be afraid, they're not gonna eat you ear off. Don't worry, you don't even social distance in now. Just go ahead. Since you've been born again, not a perishable or corruptible seed but of incorruptible seed, through the living, how does that happen? Through the living and abiding word of God. Bible says the word of God is perfect converting the soul. So it is in the book of Acts, it is so essential for the working of the spirit and the word because when that takes place, transformation happens. Within the first few hours of the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Ghost and people begin to speak with other tongues, there was such a transformation that 3000 people came to Christ over one message. Are you hearing me? 3000 people, by the time you get to the book of Acts 8, 9, you'll find there's 5000, 8000 and it continued. That's what the journey is. I wanna take you on briefly here this morning. If you got your Bible, you should open them up to three critical places. I wanna show you in the word of God, Acts 6, Acts 12 and Acts 19. You need to mark this down because this is what's gonna happen into the future, ladies and gentlemen. This is what's gonna happen no matter what's written down, no matter what man says, God's word is everlasting and forever settled in heaven. Look at Acts 6. Drop your finger down to verse number seven and let me give you the setup. What's happening in chapter six? Everything was going great in chapter number five. The church was doing what it was supposed to do. We just read in chapter number four where there were praying and all of a sudden the spirit of God filled them and they begin to speak the word of God with boldness but it wasn't long that there was a conflict in the early church. Now for everybody that thinks that the church is so sanitized that it never has any conflict, you're living in a dream world. Pastor S. Reed, why don't go to church? Well, do you still go to Walmart? Sure you do. Well, there's conflict down there too. I don't care where you go, there's conflict and if you don't know how to deal with conflict, then you need to go to the book, ladies and gentlemen, because the Bible can settle it among friends and people that are desiring to be able to have one mind and one accord. This is what was going on. Watch this, for those that don't think that the word of God is relevant in the time we're living, understand this fact that the church was in conflict and part of this growing congregation. See, growth has its problem, success has its problems. Just go ahead and fail and there'll be plenty of people around you that will say, oh, I'm so sorry, you didn't make it. But if you fool around and get successful, those same folks that were patting you on the back will be your haters tomorrow morning. How do you know that's true? Because the same group that welcomed Jesus on the donkey and throwed down their cloaks and said, Hosanna, Hosanna was the same crowd the next day that was crying out crucify him. That's the reason why I don't come together over your opinion or my opinion. If we're gonna get together, we gotta get together over the word. So what took place here? There's conflicts going on because there was a whole group of Greek widow women in the church that had just come into the church. They had not a lot of forms and structure going on here and an ethnic conflict took place between the Jews and the Greeks and had divided the church right down the middle. Now how many of you know God's not about division? You're gonna see it in a moment. So what did they do? They got together, the apostles got together and said the best thing we could do is give ourself to prayer and the word of God and get some other people to serve the table. What we need, they said, they got together and probably Peter said, you know what we need to have guys? We need to have a team Sunday. We need to have a team Sunday and we'll get them all together. We'll sign up some folks who wanna be able to serve the kingdom of God and so they got together and they got six or seven of the Greek people that were leaders in that congregation to serve the tables and to take care of the widows and guess what, the Bible says they got together, they had no disagreement, everybody was being served, nobody felt left out and the Bible says that that Greek leadership came to serve in the agreement that took place and look what chapter six verse seven says, the first word, and, so might shout and. The word and is a connection from the same function and this is what it says and the word of God completed or continued to increase, somebody shout increase and the word of God continued to increase and the connecting word and other words that there was no interruption in it, they just settled the argument by the power of the word and they loved one another enough whether they were Jew or Greek that they got together in an agreement, settled the issue and went right on doing what God had called them to do. I wanna hear, are you hearing what I'm saying? Stop arguing over things and listen, sacrifice yourself and say let's find the common ground, let's be able to work this thing out because that's what Jesus wants us to do. So they settled it and, and the Bible says, the word of God continued to increase. Well, isn't that what the church is supposed to be doing? And the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. Hear this, nothing hindered by division stopped the word of God from increasing. Every device that was trying to divide that infant church in the book of Acts they settled it amongst themselves. They didn't have to call in the arbitrators. They didn't have to call in somebody from the political world. They sat down, prayed about it, came up with a solution, healed the wound inside of the church and went right on and the word of God increased and the disciples multiplied. How much did the disciples multiply? It is said that there was some 20,000 priests who were serving in the function of the priesthood in the Jewish culture and they converted instantly at that moment because the church got together and did not allow division to divide that congregation. Are you here in what I'm saying? Go to Acts chapter 12. This gets even more interesting. First of all, God continued to increase. Acts chapter 12, verse one says this, now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the church and he killed James the brother of John with the sword. How many of you know that's not having everybody sign up to go to the Bible class the next day? Verse three, and because he saw it, because Herod was a political government figure and he went by polls and when he saw that the people were pleased that they got rid of one of these gospel preaching preachers, he proceeded to further take Peter out so he had Peter arrested. Peter goes into the jail. He shackled and he has all kinds of guards all around him but the church got together and did the only thing they knew how to do, they started praying. Come on somebody, because the word is locked up over there in Herod's jail and we need to pray until the word is released. My God, I feel like preaching. And so they prayed and they prayed and they expected something to happen but they didn't expect it to happen the way that it happened and the next thing you know an angel comes in there and kicks Peter on the side and says put your shoes on, Pete put on your cloak, we're leaving out of here. Shackles fell off. Now I know that you don't believe that anymore because we haven't seen that kind of operation in some time but I came to tell you, I believe between now and the coming of Jesus Christ that God is gonna open up the visual manifestation of signs, wonders and miracles for a generation that needs to see the video of belief. Yes, capture it on your phone and post it out there because when the dead rise up and the lame walk again and the sick are broken out of COVID and the chains fall off, it's about time to elevate the word of God. Herod said it's a pole, pole, we took a pole, King Herod and you're to go ahead and kill Peter. Said I, all right lock him up and we'll get to him. They prayed, Peter shows up at the door of the church, knocks on the door, said your answer is standing right here at the door, open the door and let me in. Look at Acts 12 verse 21. And upon a set day, Herod, a raid in royal apparel sat upon his throne and made an oration unto them. And the people gave a shout, saying it is the voice of God and not of man. The Bible said in verse 23 and immediately, you may not like what I'm about to say but I wanna tell everybody who wants to position themselves against the word of God and the God of all gods, you better take note from Acts chapter 12 what happens to those who turn their back on God and want the praise for themselves. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory, he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost. For those of you who don't understand gave up the ghost, he was a dead man walking. Five days he suffered in his belly, put that picture up on the wall. When I was in Israel two years ago, our guide took us to Caesarea by the sea. This is Herod's location. I have time to show you the palace and the palatial spread that he had there. But right here it is said that Paul was held in prison right here and he watched the games that were running around this track and the amphitheater that was there and people were watching the games. This is where Paul wrote about that crown around your head at the Bema Seat and the Judgment Seat of Christ but it is in this location and that's a rebuilt stage right there because that is where they said that Herod came out. The government official and leader came down to Caesarea and they said when he climbed up on that platform and all the people were there because this sets right on the Mediterranean and the sun is coming right up. When the sun hit Herod and this glistening outfit that he was wearing, all the people thought that they saw the glory of God all around his life and they jumped up out of those stands and started crying out the voice of God. This guy right here, he's our God. And they pronounced his death in execution right there because God said I will share my glory with no man. I wanna say to all of our political leaders and whoever you are, you better humble yourself before God because God will not share his glory with anybody and I can tell you this that no matter what you try to write down to outlaw the laws of God, the word of God will stand forever unashamedly, unescapable, undeniable. God is gonna have the last word and you better humble yourself before God before it's too late. Herod died of intestinal worms five days later. Now if that would have happened today and the prayer was made, there would be people that would be experts that would get on CNN and all of that and blame the church for praying down the God of worms that comes down and they would explain a way that it must have been some kind of virus or whatever that it was. But I came to tell you, it was God's angel who came down and smote this egotistical arrogant King Herod for positioning himself as a government official above the glory of God. And I came to tell everybody in here that governments are gonna come and governments are gonna go. Presidents are gonna come and presidents are gonna go. People are gonna come and people are gonna go. But the word of Almighty God will stand forever. And what does the Bible say about this? The book of Acts chapter 12 verse 24, please note the first word. But this word but is an indication of the impossibility of anything other than what is being stated. That's Webster's dictionary preaching for you today. So what does that follow? What's following after that word? But the word of God did what? Increased and I want you to know ladies and gentlemen that no matter what's going on in this world when persecution begins to come upon the people of God you can expect for the word to increase and to multiply for a genuine believer who trusts the word of God. Say amen somebody. The word of God could not be stopped and the spirit of God kept right on moving and the word of God increased and got stronger and more powerful and showed the people that Herod is not God. Your favorite Hollywood star is not God. Your sports hero is not God. Your political persuasion is not God. God said there's only one true God and that ladies and gentlemen, I will worship Him alone. Look at Acts 19. Acts 19 the Bible tells me, let me set it up right here for you. Acts 19 down in verse number 20 is the scripture we're gonna find. The Bible says Paul, are you still with me this morning? Paul is in Ephesus and he preaches the word of God when he arrives there and the Bible says special miracles took place. Prayer claws, that's the reason why we hand them around out here. It's not because the cloth is so important we bought it at Walmart. It's not because the oil is on there that's imported from Jerusalem. We bought that at Walmart too. It's your faith to trust God and a point of contact. And so Paul sends handkerchiefs and napkins out from his body and when they arrive at locations people are healed and they see the real power of God. Help the church to see the real power of God in these last days and so there was some professional clergy, some professional exorcists that got together. They're identified as the seven sons of Siva and here they are, they see this demon-possessed boy and they said, you know what? We can do this thing like Paul did, like Jesus did, like everybody did and the Bible said they came up on this demon-possessed boy and said, we adjure you in the name of Jesus that Paul preaches. Let me stop and say this. You better have your own personal experience and relationship with Jesus before you go casting out devils. If you can get a devil in a brown paper bag he ain't a real devil. Come on somebody. Oh, I got him right here. You ain't got nothing. You're putting on a show. I can assure you when these seven sons of Siva got together and they said, let's do this thing. They did not have that same Holy Ghost that Paul and Peter and the rest of them did. I want you to know there's a bunch of fakery and shenanigans and all kinds of mess that's going on right now. False prophets and false teachers and false preachers. You better wake up and have the spirit of discernment about you and you better not lay hands on something too quick. And I'm not talking about COVID. I'm talking about these seven sons of Siva that said we feel like we can do this professional clergy thing too and everybody wants to open up a church and think they've got the power but you better watch out, ladies and gentlemen because the seven sons of Siva show us right now that if you ain't got the power, the devil is gonna rip your clothes off and send you run a naked. Oh, and there'll be last one question last that will come just before you run down the road naked. Hey, Jesus, I know. Don't you ever let, listen, if you even hear this statement coming out of the devil's mouth, you better run right then. Jesus, I know and I know Paul because he's trapped me. He's messed me up. He's tearing up my situation here. Jesus, I know and Paul, I know, but who are you? Who are you? Who do you think you are? I got news for you. When you get the real power of God, you don't have to back up from the devil and you don't have to wrestle, spit and holler. Just step up and speak the word and demons have to flee. Oh, I feel the word of God getting up in this house this morning. The Bible says that whenever Paul, whenever Paul preached the word of God and these seven sons of Siva gave the people a picture of what real power was and fake power. The people found out that the real power of God was with the apostle Paul and you know what happened? They had a revival. I said they had a revival right there in the middle of a riot. I want you to know I don't care what the environment is. When God gets ready to have a revival, ain't no riot, nobody else is gonna stop him. Come on, somebody. They got together, the Bible says, and there was some that were in the town that were making their money out of little Diana dolls. And they said we can't have this because y'all should read this book. This is all in there. You look like I'm making this up. And they got together all their Ouija board books and their horoscope readings and all their favorite preachers books that didn't amount to nothing. And they piled, watch this. They piled them up in the middle of the road and set them up on fire. He said all their curious arts they got together. They traded the study of magic and divination and their books of judicial astrology and fortune telling and raising spirits. Their conscience has got awakened for the very first time to see the power of God over evil. Can I tell you something? I'm expecting God to show up his power in this house until people that don't even know anything about Jesus have got to come in here and say, this must be the Lord in this place. Come on, lift your hands if you're with me this morning. I'm not trying to get a crowd together. I'm trying to let the church know what the church is able to do. The Bible said they piled it all up in the middle of the road and started setting it on fire. Boy, that wouldn't make the news, wouldn't it? Local church sets fire to books. Ain't gonna bother me. I've already been written up in the destined log years ago for trying to censor books out of the library. They sent a barrage of librarians and teachers in there and pushed a big old cart of books into that school board meeting and I adjured all of those on that was school board. I said, how about y'all read this book out loud? Oh no, got too much perversion and stuff in there. Well, then you ain't gonna let my eight grade son read all that stuff, he's coming out. You better hear me. You better not allow anything to stop your children from knowing that the word of God is supreme whether they're in elementary school, middle, high, or in college with some ungodly professor that don't believe this book. I'm telling you, over all the philosophies of men, the word of God rises to stand in this hour. Shout amen to somebody. I found something very interesting I wanted to share with you out of this entire story in Acts 19. Curious arts. I've always read that as being the magic books and all that kind of stuff and it truly is. But when I dug a little deeper into this terminology, curious arts further defined, you won't like me because I speak truth but I'm gonna say it anyway. It's defined here in the Greek as people who scurry about fussing over and meddling in other people's affairs being overwrought with unnecessary care. And I said social media. All up in everybody's mess and you're trying to keep your own self right and righteous and you're loaded down with everybody else's mess. Can I tell you, there are a number of people that are saying it's become a waste of my time and I got to go. Ladies and gentlemen, I posted it out there. I went on Google, I went on their own site and pulled up what was life like before social media. In the 90s, Google comes up with the definition and says life before social media was, family was closer together, we communicated one with another, we were more joyful, we were more happy than we were after social media because all the stuff that was on there is burdened down our life. That's Google's definition. And when I took that and copied it and pasted it out on Facebook, you know where it went? Down the rabbit hole. I checked an hour later and nobody had liked it. Google said that doesn't fit our narrative. Facebook said that doesn't fit our narrative. We want everybody connected so we can divide households and divide people and divide churches. The devil is a liar. If you're gonna post something, get the word of God out and post it, post it, post. Why don't we just have a Holy Ghost word revival on Facebook and fill it up with the word of God? I can't get no help in here now. And the Bible says that whenever all that took place, Acts 19 and 20, the first word, we started out with an, we had a butt that couldn't be removed, and now we got a so. Look at your neighbor and tell him so, uh-huh, so. So, which means in the same manner, they were ready, they're ready now to throw Paul in jail for preaching this and causing a riot in that. They blamed it on him and the Bible said that the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail. This is the only word right here that's used throughout Acts and prevailed mightily. Now watch this, I'm coming in for a landing. In the book of Acts, the word of God is referenced in this. Whenever someone sees or you read the increase or the multiplication or the prevailing of the word of God, throughout the entirety of the book of Acts, it all makes a reference to the fact that Jesus is Lord. So every time you read in here and the word of the Lord was multiplied and the word of the Lord increased, so the word prevailed. It was literally declaring Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord. I want you to know every time you speak the word of God, when somebody says, what's the problem? What do you think will fix this? And you open up and you don't give your opinion, but you speak the word of God. You're literally infusing the air with the fact that Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord. Come on, try it on somebody. Jesus is Lord. Come on, say it again. Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord. The government ain't Lord, Jesus is Lord. Your banker is not Lord, Jesus is Lord. The church is not Lord. Come on, somebody shout, Jesus is Lord. The very title of the book acts implies the fact that God is not going to stop doing what he's always done and the word of God will prevail all the way to the end. Someone will give you three things and I'm out of your way. This is what happened throughout the book of acts because the word worked in the book of acts and people were healed, saved, delivered and set free. And that's my prayer for right here at Pace Assembly because when I don't see somebody getting saved, feel where the Holy Ghost healed, delivered and set free, it makes me itch. It better make you that way because we're not reproducing, we're not practicing the early church book of acts pattern of what we're supposed to do. So while I've taken my wife who is watching online right now down to therapy for her shoulder and I appreciate all your prayers because it's been quite an ordeal. I mean, you know, she's been in pain, all that. We go to therapy and they're moving that shoulder all around. So y'all pray for her and pray for me too. And online she's pulling her ear lobe down to her knees right now. But here's the way it works. You don't have to have a platform somewhere in a microphone. We stepped in there and went to the first therapy session and there's a young millennial in there with her training assistant that's in there. And so if you're gonna work my wife's arm, I'm gonna work you. I don't know, there may be... So we started talking, I said, because I always do this, it's my job. It's supposed to be yours. How many of you want the church to increase and large and multiply and prevail? Come on, that's my church right there. Those of you that wanna see it increase, well, I don't know, I might not be able to be social distant. Well, then spray yourself down with Clorox and come on to church. Oh, that'll get me in trouble, won't it, brother George? Yeah, oh yeah, that'll do it. They'll be writing a letter like that guy last week. He's already told me he is a false prophet. We're gonna, false prophet, he gonna blow up my Facebook. Too late, I blew him up. We deleted, there it is, you gone. Best thing you can do somebody is block them every once in a while. So we're talking to this team and they're working my wife's arm, moving it around. I said, where do you go to church? No, it's for like this. Where are you going to church? They were wearing our mask. Where do you go to church? Well, this is it, you know how people are. My daddy's Methodist, my mom was Presbyterian, I don't know what I am. I was hurt, this, that and the other thing, and I get it. So we kept on talking. First time we dropped a seed. And besides that, I'm paying for this therapy. So you gotta listen to me as much as I listen to you. We're gonna hear for 45 minutes, I'm gonna preach this gospel right here. Second time we come in, how y'all doing? Oh, so nice, good to see you. We already told him, we passed that church. Oh, I drove past and saw y'all's big old faces on that sign out there. And I figured out who you were cause nobody can tell anybody who they are with a mask on. I don't even know my own relatives like that. Said, we saw your sign, oh yeah, yeah, okay, work that arm, we'll see you next time. We had three times this week. Next time I went in, I was on a mission. Cause it's time to illuminate things. I walked in, I said, we're right down here y'all. Going to church, huh, no, but, and they started asking my wife, I wasn't there. And she went off, she said, y'all wanna come on church? Oh yeah, maybe we're thinking about that. What about, yeah, maybe, what do y'all have church on Wednesday night? Yeah, we got church on Wednesday night. You mean y'all are open? Oh yeah, we're open. And whenever you walk into somebody's life like that, it's like turning the light on. Cause now they're saying, you know what? I've been to church over here, been to church over here. Said, come on over here and try us. Now for all of you who want to be able to witness the people, especially those that are not Pentecostal, give them the introductory service of Wednesday night. And even that one's getting a little bit off the chain. Come on somebody. The first thing you've got to do, and this is what happened in the book of Acts, is the illumination. Somebody say illumination. Illumination. Give me some illumination. Illumination. That's the power and the moving of the spirit of God. I'm just gonna tell you, I was raised in Pentecost and spoke in tongues at 10 years old on the piano side. And I've been that way all of my life. And I love all my Baptist friends and all my Episcopal friends and all my Catholic friends and all that kind of stuff. But I am way too deep in this thing to back up talking in tongues now. So if you're looking for that kind of illumination, then what we need in church today is not just the word, because the Bible says that the word, the letter killeth, but the spirit gives life. So you gotta have the word and the spirit working together. First the spirit moves and then the word. Why don't we sing songs before the preach word of God? Why don't we pray before all of that? All of that is cultivating and allowing the spirit of God to come in and arrest the minds of people. The illumination of all of it is happening because without the spirit moving, the word can't get in. Come on somebody. The spirit must move. I say, oh God, let us be a people of the spirit at pace assembly. I'm not talking about trying to duplicate something in the back. I'm talking about a fresh feeling of the Holy Spirit upon the lives of people. And you know what I'm finding out? I'm finding out there's a whole lot of people in this area and people watching online that are hungry for the fresh moving of the Holy Ghost. Somebody showed illumination. Hang on, take me along to get this because illumination is very, very important. And what does the illuminator do? The Holy Spirit comes not to turn the light on himself. For John 16 says, Jesus said, how be it when he, the spirit of truth has come? He shall lead you. He will guide you. Come on somebody. Into all truth for he will not speak of himself. The spirit doesn't turn the light on himself. He will not speak of himself. But whatsoever he, the Holy Spirit hears, that shall he speak and show you things to come. And verse 14, and he shall glorify me for he shall receive a mind and shall show it under you. Let me tell you something. I'm all about speaking in tongues and shouting and dancing and running. And I got news for you. For everybody that looks at that like a strange, you better not ever go back to another country rock or a pop star concert because that's exactly what they're doing and they're giving it to the wrong God. But I got news for you. I'm just a little bit excited because when the spirit of the Lord moves within my heart, I will dance like David did. But he's not turning the light on himself. We don't come in here to worship the Holy Spirit. We come in to worship the word. Somebody say, illumination. Here's number two, revelation. You can have all the illumination you want, but if it's not turned on the revelator, you're not walking out with anything. I need the word and the spirit working together. Here's the problem. The Holy Spirit woke me up early this morning and said, stand in front of it. Because this is where the church has been. This is where preachers have been. This is where church people have been. We want, it's all about me. Me, bless me, help me, serve me. Come on, you can't say amen for your neighbor right now, but go ahead and try. They won't throw you out, you're socially distant. The light is on too much on us and not enough on Jesus. Because when you get the illuminator, shining the light on the revelator, the next thing that's gonna happen is illumination, revelation, and somebody shout, manifestation. Now let me tell you what happened in the book of Acts. The Bible said they went through persecution. Herod killed one of their preachers and was looking for another preacher to kill. And I'm fully persuaded that in the days that are ahead, if they can extract the money out of a gymnasium owner right out of his bank account and leave him bankrupt, you better get ready for persecution. I didn't think I was gonna bring this, but I'm gonna say this to you. The Lord woke me up about three o'clock in the morning. And I want you to be troubled by this. I just want you to know that there's a prevailing word that's coming. About three o'clock this morning I saw myself, my wife and a couple other people in a John boat. And I had that motor revved up as hard as I could. And we were coming down the bay and going into kind of a river experience. And there wasn't a place that I could see that there wasn't an alligator somewhere in that water. His heads were bigger than two chairs put together. But none of them even tried or attempted to get to us. I just said, you know what? We're going to our destination. And I revved that motor down. And even as I speak right now, I could feel the propeller running right over the top of those gator skins. But none of them got in the boat and none of them tried to attack. You know what I said? We're heading somewhere. And I'm going to rev this thing up. And no matter what danger may be stand between us and there. I got the word. I got the spirit. And I'm waiting on the manifestation of the power of God. Come on, somebody. So everybody in this building shot illumination. Revelation. Manifestation. And what's going to happen whenever you get into trouble, look for the word of God to increase. Whenever you go through persecution, look for the word of God to increase. Whenever you go through the trial of your life, look for the crea of the word of God to multiply. Whenever you start having to say, God, I don't know where you're at. Turn to the word and let the word prevail. Whatever you do, just keep stacking up the word of God inside of your life because there will be a manifestation of the power of God. Just hold fast to the word. God is not alive. I hope you've enjoyed today's program and that it's bringing faith into your heart and others of your family and friends. I want to pray for you right now. Father, in the name of Jesus, may the presence of God and your peace surround their life. With all that is taking place in our world, you're the God of peace. You're the God of understanding. You're the God of hope. So I pray that you had touched my friend today and bring them that hope, that peace, and that strength today in Jesus' name. Amen. I'm so glad that you've joined us. I want you to check back on our social media on a regular basis. Every Sunday morning, we're live streaming the 10 a.m. service so you can be a part of it around the world. So check us out on all the social media sites, as well as our website at paceassembly.org and our Pace Assembly app. And until the next time we get together around God's Word, remember Jesus Christ is coming soon.