 Amen. So here we are in Acts chapter 3. So we got through the story in Acts chapter 2 over the last couple of weeks We took a couple weeks to get through Acts chapter 2 So we saw in Acts chapter 2 with this great miracle the day of Pentecost where they spoke in different languages So they could preach the gospel to people from all over the world from different nations and we saw that that miracle had a great purpose of getting The gospel out to all all different types of people from different nationalities that we're going to go back to Their homes so we saw that that was just a great miracle and a great purpose to that miracle now Let's look at Acts chapter 3. We see a story in Acts chapter 3 of Peter and John So Peter and John go into they're in Jerusalem They're going to go into the temple and it's at the ninth hour six o'clock In the afternoon they began at the ninth hour and then verse number two It says a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple Which is called beautiful to ask him alms of them that entered into the temple now the gate beautiful is just is just what it says It was just the name of the gate. It was a gate to a public place in the temple There was a lot of people there and there was a man there that would ask for Donations alms. He was he was lame though. He was he was What's the politically correct term that you would say today? I don't think you can say handicapped anymore But he was disabled of some kind on in his legs. So here we see Peter and John they see this man and Peter in verse number 4 fastened his eyes upon him and John with John and said look on us And he gave heat unto them expecting to receive Something of them. He thought that they were going to give him Alms or money and then Peter said silver and gold have I none? But such as I have give I have I give thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth Rise up and walk and he took him by the right hand and he lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received Strength and he leaped up and stood and walked and entered with them into the temple walking and leaping and praising God so that's a great story there of this miracle That the Peter and John just did to this man. Now. This is actually a pretty decent picture of salvation right here This this miracle by itself here this man, you know, he couldn't walk He was he was lame and of course what does Peter say? He says in the name of Jesus Christ, of course How are we saved we're saved in the name of Jesus Christ he took him by the right hand He lift him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So how are we saved? You know, are we saved over this process of time? Are we healed through time for our salvation? No, we have everlasting life as soon as we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ This is a nice picture of salvation then verse number eight and he leaping up stood and he walked and entered With them into the temple walking and leaping and praising God. This kind of could picture our life after Salvation after we're healed immediately. We get up and we start walking Towards God talk start walking the way God and wants us to walk But look at go turn to Luke chapter 9 the main thing that happens here though is back to Acts chapter 3 Go to Luke chapter 9 is here. You see Peter and John they do a miracle, you know They do a miracle just like Jesus did miracles here like what in the world these guys just healed this man and they can heal People but actually they've been doing this for some time if you remember the Gospels They've been healing people for some time Jesus himself gave the Apostles this power or the 12 disciples this specific Gift turn to Luke chapter 9 and look down at verse number one of Luke chapter 9 Then he called this is Jesus He called his 12 disciples together and gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases So that means they were they had they had the power to cast out demons and they had the power to actually Heal people and he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and again to heal the sick And he sent to them take nothing for your journey neither staves nor script neither bread neither money Neither have two coats a piece and whatsoever house you enter into their abide and then depart and whose ever will not receive you When you go out of that city shake the very dust from your feet for a testimony Against them so we see and even in Luke chapter 9 back You know at the beginning when the apostles are starting or the disciples were starting to preach Jesus Christ or Jesus was sending them out. He gave them this power to heal He gave the specific power of healing to the 12 disciples go back to Acts chapter 3 So we're gonna get into why he gave that to them and do we have that same power today? We'll talk about that towards the end of the sermon But let's continue in Acts chapter 3 and just cover a few more things and then we'll come back to this main question Tonight about you know the healing power of the disciples and is that is that power on us today? Look at Acts chapter 3 and verse number 9 and all the people saw him walking and praising God So first of all we see here again just like in Acts chapter 2 We see in Acts chapter 3 that this miracle and I'm kind of answering the question to the end I'm starting to answer it already, but it had a specific purpose It wasn't it wasn't just to do miracles for the sake of doing miracles You know it wasn't just to go and blabber a bunch of things to you know that meant nothing to be to just you know be weird It was to preach the gospel in Acts chapter 2 They were preaching the gospel in other languages just like in Acts chapter 3 look at the next few verses And all the people saw him walking and praising God this man was a testimony of what just happened to him He was healed, but he wasn't one of these that were healed and just went away This guy got healed and he jumped up and he was praising God and they that knew it They knew that it was he which sat for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple and they were filled with wonder and look They knew who this guy was They knew this was that it was a proof of God's power is what this was at which and which had happened unto him And as the lame man, which was healed held Peter and John all the people ran together unto them unto who? Onto them unto Peter and John in the porch that is called Solomon's greatly wondering So they did this great miracle just to be awesome No, they did this great miracle and what happened what happened? They did this miracle and all of a sudden all the people run to Peter and John Wouldn't you like to be out soul winning and just be walking down like walking by a park? I mean you're gonna you're gonna chuckle when I say this But how would you like to just walk by a park and just have all the people just run to you? Just sprint towards you and just gather around you. This is what's happening here They did this great miracle and all the people just immediately just are drawn to them. Look at verse number 12 Again, these miracles had a purpose and the purpose was to further The gospel itself look at Acts chapter 3 in verse number 12 and Peter saw it and he answered unto the people You men of Israel why marvel you at this or why he looks at you so earnestly on us as though by our own power or holiness We made this man to walk. So first of all all the people run to them. They did this great miracle all the people run to them There's a reason God gave them this power. It's to further the gospel itself But notice the very first thing that Peter does. This is a side note Notice the very first thing Peter does was the first Peter just did a great thing He just healed this man He just did something that none of the physicians of that time could do nobody could have done what he did It was an absolute miracle right in front of people What is the first thing that he does? He before he starts preaching the gospel before he starts doing anything. He gives credit to the Lord right away Right away in our lives. No matter what happens to us anything good that happens to us Anything that we come up with it's great anything that an answered prayer that we have you need to be checking all Good prayers we all we throw a lot of prayers up and I think we forget sometimes To remember that the you know a lot of our problems just go away a lot of our prayers are answered So make sure in your life when anything good happens when anything is going on with you that you give praise to God You give credit to the Lord right away. You have some huge success at work You give credit to the Lord right away You just give credit to the Lord Peter gives credit right away before he gets to the business that he's about to that He's there for he gives credit to God Verse 13 says the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob the God of our fathers have glorified his son Jesus whom He delivered up. He just gets right into it He said who he's he's glorified his son Jesus whom ye delivered up and denied him in the presence of pilot When he was determined to let him go but ye denied the holy one here He I mean he just points out right away just right away at the beginning. He's like you killed God He says the holy one he's speaking to the Jews here in their language so many times Maybe dozens of times in the Old Testament in Isaiah Psalms especially that the words the holy one of Israel are used He's using language that is specific to you know prick the hearts of the Jews in this temple He says he denied the holy one in the just And desired a murderer to be granted unto you. He's directly referencing Jesus being God saying you killed Your Messiah look at verse 15 and killed the Prince of life whom God has raised from the dead where we are witnesses and his name through faith in his and and his name through Faith in his name have made this man strong. He's saying this is who this is the name Through whom this man was healed whom you see and know Ye the faith which is by him have given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all and now brethren I want that through the ignorance. He did it also did also your rulers. He's like, you know, hopefully you did it through ignorance He's talking to this crowd and he's like, you know, you know, you must not have known That he was the Messiah so he's gonna preach it to them and try to get them to change their minds about this But those things which God before has showed by the mouth of the prophets that Christ should suffer He has so fulfilled. He's like he fulfilled all of the prophecies of the prophets and then he says in verse 19 He says repent therefore repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times are Refreshing refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. So he preaches Jesus to them He preaches Jesus to them and he says he was the Messiah He was God you you must hopefully there's people here that were ignorant of this and now I'm telling you the truth Even though the prophets talked about it even though every prophecy was fulfilled by this man He's telling them what they've done. You murdered him. You killed him. He's like, you know, he's saying now repent He says repent. What does he mean by that? he says Repent and then it says be converted. He's saying change your mind Change from being ignorant as he said a couple verses earlier to now knowing what you've done Change your mind. He doesn't say repent of your sins. He doesn't say turn from your sins He doesn't say he doesn't say change your lives Stop drinking Stop being hypocrites. No, he's saying he's saying look up at verse number 17 He says through ignorance. You did it. He's saying stop being dumb realize what you've done and Convert he says in verse number 19. That is what repent Means look this idea of repent of your sins. You know the dictionary. You know the dictionary definition of repent has actually even been changed even if you look up definite the definition of repent in the dictionary it says it says You know turn from sin That's not what Peter is talking about Peter is not talking about turning from any sin. He is talking about he is trying to convince them that they killed the Messiah That is simply what he's trying to say. He's saying repent. Believe me change your mind be converted and then Your sins will be blotted out After you've what believed on the Lord Jesus Christ look Repent of your sins is not in the Bible that phrase is not in the Bible the closest you could find to repent of your sins It's first John 1 9 and it doesn't say repent of your sins turn to turn to first John 1 9. It says if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness I've said that verse 8 80,000 times in my life because it's one of the things that you chant every morning in a Lutheran Church service to keep yourself from going to hell But the Bible here is saying confess your sins Even the idea of repenting from your sins meaning turning from your sins. Look, that's a good thing to do do it That's a good thing to do turn from your sins You know confess your sins to the Lord first John 1 9 says confess your sins to the Lord and he'll forgive you We're talking about having a relationship with God. We're talking about keeping up a relationship with your heavenly father Just like you would keep up a relationship with your parents kids or your your children parents I mean, I want my kids if they do something wrong. I want them to confess it Want them to tell me dad? I did this This was my fault. Look nothing infuriates me more as a parent than when your kid does something and he won't own up to it I mean not I mean that just makes me like I Mean that that's what first John 1 9 is talking about it's talking about having an honest relationship With our heavenly father, okay? This idea of repenting of your sins. It's it's made up It's not in the Bible Peter here is talking about Repenting and being converted he's talking about changing your mind from your ignorance to the fact that Jesus was the Messiah Believing on his name and being converted and guess what your sins will be blotted out if you do that you know, I mean people today the funny thing is you go out soul winning today and People today they don't even they don't even have the same they don't even have the same definition in their own mind of What repent means they think they have to repent of their sins to be saved But they don't even know what that means some people think you have to stop sinning So I mean those are the you know, those are the real serious ones, you know You have to stop sinning to what degree they have no idea because most people you will find people that think that they Can become perfect You would go soul winning long enough and you will find those people that's that's a fun door to be at But the point is is that some people think that repenting means you have to just stop sinning or turn from your sins Whatever that even means because how many how many of my sins do I need to turn from most people would agree You can't turn from all of them. So where's the list? Where's the list of how many sins and which sins I have to turn from and how many times I can do each sin and How many times I ask that out have to ask for forgiveness. It's a really complicated Equation when you think about it, but a lot of people think you have to turn from your sins That's what repent of your sins means other people think that repent of your sins means. Oh, you just have to be sorry for your sins You just have to like feel sorry and that means you've repented of your sins They're kind of using confess and repent as Synonymous words there, but the point is not only does the Bible say nothing about repenting of your sins for salvation It doesn't say repent of your sins at all But people don't even know what that means People are taught that today, and they don't even know what it means look if people would just follow logical conclusions of their beliefs To to just fill in the gaps They would end up at the gospel because it's the only thing that makes any sense if the Bible says you can know you're saved and You know turning from my sins. I know I can't turn from all of them But there's no list of which ones I have to turn from how could I ever know I'm saved? It makes no sense It makes no sense, but anyway go back to Acts chapter 3. He's talking about be converted. He says repent change your mind I'm talking to you about Jesus the Messiah God the Holy One change your mind, and you'll have your sins blotted out What he's talking about is go to Romans chapter 3. He's talking about after conversion He's not talking about confessing your sins every day that wouldn't make any sense He's talking about after conversions after conversion your sins are blotted out Your sins are blotted out as far as your salvation goes look at Romans chapter 3 and verse number 22 We talk about Romans chapter 3 verse number 22 or verse number 23 all the time I always like to every now and then you go out and you repeat the same verses out soul winning I always like to go back and read the chapters every now and then go back and read the chapters read five verses before Five verses after you know gives you some good context on these verses that that sometimes we say them so many times You know it's nice to get the whole context of you know these passages look at Romans chapter 3 and verse 22 It says even the righteousness of God Which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all upon them that believed for there is no difference He's talking about he says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God verse number 22 is a very interesting verse He's saying even that first of all how are your sins blotted out your sins are blotted out Because when God looks at you he sees he doesn't see your righteousness because you have none He doesn't see your righteousness. He sees what he sees the righteousness of God Guess what the holy one. That's the righteousness that he sees Which is by what by working by repenting of your sins by faith of Jesus Christ Unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference. You know what that means You know what that means it means no matter what it's like It doesn't matter how bad you are. It doesn't matter. How good you are You all need the righteousness of God Everyone needs the righteousness of God because even the best person on the planet needs the righteousness of God or they're gonna go to hell He's like there's no difference There's no difference why for all have sinned See that's a great verse to just refresh yourself on Before you know every now and then yes, we read for all sin and come short of the glory of God. There's no difference That's the set look that's the sense in which look all sin is not equal and You know this idea that all sin is equal that that's false all sin is not equal But it is true that one sin is enough to get you to hell That's what he's talking about if there's no difference between man in the sense that every man needs the righteousness of God Right there Look, that is the mechanics of salvation right there you look at you know you think okay salvation the gospel It's simple, but I'm always kind of like this right well. How does it work? Well, how's that thing work? You know a couple of the guys in the church are like that too Yeah, but how's it work? It works because God looks at us. He looks at me You know, I'm gonna I'm gonna stand in front of Jesus one day and and guys gonna look at me and But thank God he's gonna see the righteousness of Jesus not me You know, we're covered in the blood. He's gonna see the blood on the doorposts Is what he's gonna see because we put on the Bible says we put on You know, it's put you on Romans 13 says put you on the Lord Jesus Christ because I'm gonna have Jesus on me He's covering me. He's blotting out so God doesn't see What was really done in this body? That's the mechanics of salvation folks. It's a it's a beautiful thing. I love how it works Yeah, I love how God designed it and I love how it works. Look at Acts chapter 3 in verse number 20 Acts chapter 3 in verse number 20, and he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you Come the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things look Until the end times until he comes back again Which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began he's talking about, you know Here's the end times prophecy, but guess what one thing that's nice to look at there is look at verse number 21 He says he must until the times of what he doesn't say until the end times He says the time of but what's gonna happen in the end times. This is a kind of a nice little Synonym of the end times right here. He's gonna say he's saying you know what the end times will be The end times will be the restitution of all things Remember the sermon series the two-part series Why good things happen to bad people and then the sermon after that was why? You know bad things happen to good people or maybe it was the other way around I can't remember which one I preach first, but the point is you know, we don't have to worry About why good things happen to bad people. That's a real question for a lot of people out there We got it today somebody at the door said you know some somebody at the door said you could tell You know, I don't think it that it said he was irritated with Garrett I think he was irritated with this idea of Christianity He's like you know that oh somebody thinks this guy said he was a Buddhist and he said you know, but you know I I'm gonna live the best life and all this and I'm sure he was a very nice man But then he says he's like you could tell he had you had kind of a he had kind of a burn his saddle over Christian He's like because this isn't fair This is what he said and I'll get into fair here in a few minutes, but he but he's saying to Garrett He's like, you know, you think you could And then He's all doing this and he's all putting on a show and he's like and then he gets to go to heaven. He's like I think so But You know, I mean there's a little bit more to it than that and I wish you know if the guy wasn't so excited I wish we could have talked to him for a few minutes, but you know, it didn't really work out that way But the point is, you know, why good things happen to bad people. Look, it's all gonna be made right It's all gonna be fair and that's what Peter is saying in verse number 21 He said because guess what when Jesus comes back in those end times Yeah, there's gonna be some rough times leading up to that and even the saints themselves are gonna be saying how long oh Lord People are gonna be begging God in heaven Saying how long until you make it all right, but guess what? He's gonna make it all right He's gonna and there will be the restitution of all things all things will be made right all things we may write both good and Bad it will be fair It will be fair So that's something just to think about when you read on verses like that the end times Yeah, there's gonna be some rough times coming through the end times and we're gonna go through those end times You know, maybe not us or whatever, but the point is Everything will be made right in the end and that's what we can always have Peace in look at verse number 22 for Moses truly said unto the fathers a Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up among your brethren like unto me him shall you hear in all things? Who's whatsoever? He shall say to you and it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from Longest people yeah, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after as many have spoken have likewise Fortold these days it's like you guys like God has been sending prophet after prophet after prophet to you I mean think he's talking to the Jews here think of his crowd Okay, look he's he's talking to us and everybody, but he's speaking to the Jews in the temple He's saying look you've had prophet after prophet after prophet and this man Jesus Christ was the holy one that fulfilled everything that every single one of them said Look at verse 25. You're the children of the prophets turn to Galatians 3 16 You're the children of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers Saying unto Abraham and in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth Be blessed saying oh man That's talking about like how the Jews are gonna bless every nation and it's like they're just gonna be a huge blessing To everyone. No, that's not what he's talking about look at Galatians chapter 3 and verse number 16 He's saying unto Abraham and thy seed Thy seed shall all the nations all the kindreds of the earth be blessed look at Galatians chapter 3 in verse number 16 He's referring to the same thing that Paul is referring to here in Galatians chapter 3 verse number 16 He says now to Abraham and his seed where the promise is made and he saith not into seeds as of many But as of one and to thy seed which is Christ that seed of Abraham That will be a blessing to all nations and all kindreds is Jesus Christ That is what he is talking about. He is talking about. I mean every single I mean If you have any doubts about that, what is Peter preaching in Acts chapter 3? He is preaching Jesus Christ He is healing by Jesus Christ the whole point of everything that he is saying is Jesus Christ He is talking about the seed of Jesus Christ will be a blessing to all nations That is how look that is the seed that seed is how Dave the Davidic You know promise is fulfilled is through Jesus Christ. What other king could take David's Rain into eternity other than Jesus Christ other than God himself look at verse 26 Unto you first God having raised up his son Jesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his Iniquities, so now I want to talk about this idea this idea of The healing powers that Peter and John had you know Turn back to Acts chapter 2 if you would for just a few minutes just turn back to Acts chapter 2 Let's let's explore this idea of These healing powers because you hear a lot of people today Talk about you know that they have these same powers that the apostles have look at Acts chapter 2 and look at verse number 22 look at verse number 22 of Acts chapter 2 ye men of Israel Hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a man approved of God among you Okay, so he was saying that this guy Jesus of Nazareth He was approved among you among you by miracles and wonders and signs Okay, so he was a man approved of God, but he's not saying he was approved of God He's saying he was approved of God among you So what Peter is saying here in Acts chapter 2 is he's saying that Jesus showed himself He showed himself amongst you that he was approved of God How by doing miracles and signs and wonders they had a purpose I mean, they're not just out there just doing magic tricks to you know to glorify Themselves it was to show people that Jesus Christ was approved of God It was to be a proof. I mean That's I like that word. It was to be a proof a testimony a witness that the miracles were a sign of his approval from God which God did by him in the midst of you as You yourselves know The miracles that Jesus did were to validate himself amongst the people and The miracles that the apostles did were for the same reason To validate the truth of what they were saying and look at the example in Acts chapter 3 and the results that that Produced he showed Peter showed that he was approved of God He showed by that miracle that it gave him credibility to bring those people to him and to preach the name of Jesus Christ These miracles had a purpose They had a purpose and it was to build the church right after Jesus was gone turn to Acts chapter 5 turn to Acts chapter 5 Acts chapter 5 look at verse number 12 of Acts chapter 5 Acts chapter 5 verse number 12 and the hands of the apostles and by the hands of the apostle Sorry were many signs and wonders wrought among the people and they were all with here It is again one accord in Solomon's porch and the rest there's no man joined himself to them Then no one dared, but the people magnified them and believers were more added to the Lord. You see that? Multitudes of both men and women It's so much that they brought the fourth the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and couches that at least the shadow of Peter Passing by might overshadow some of them Look, they were making quite a stir here The purpose was to add to disciples the purpose was to add to the church so Can I mean many people take advantage of this today? Can we heal today? Can I walk by and have my shadow heal somebody today? You know many people claim this today Yeah, I mean look is God less great today Is God less powerful today? This is what the Pentecostals will say today Well, it's God less powerful than he was back then turn to mark chapter 16 Unfortunately these stories from Acts and these powers given to the 12 12 Apostles Specifically especially has been taken advantage of by many charlatans today many people that don't even have the right gospel Today so you can't look if somebody has the right gospel or it doesn't have the right gospel You can't listen to anything that they say Okay, I mean I'm talking about people like Benny Hinn You know who's still around by the way I mean this guy has been going for years and years and years. He's been proven a fraud by Like I can't I can't tell you how many times he's been proven You know, he's the guy that people come up and and you know They they're they're in a wheelchair and he puts their hand on their their forehead and they explode and fly backwards and You know and they they're slayed in the spirit and all this stuff It's a huge fraud like dateline and things like this have done reports on this guy just exposed him as a fraud They've exposed him, you know in his financial dealings. He's just I mean it's just can complete I mean they literally like and it's sad because he's taking advantage of we can sick people But what will happen is we can sick people will go to his big Convention and then they will go to the convention and like they will be kept away From you know ever reaching this stage. I mean this has been proven. They've been undercover investigations They kept them away, and they only let the people up there that are kind of they're in on it, right? They're in on it and they're they know what to do and in the whole thing It's pretty crazy if you've ever seen it. Here's another one though. Look at mark chapter 16 verse number 14 afterward so the question is can we do Miracles today can I just go to you know the children's hospital and just you know I'm a man of God and just heal everyone there You know can I do that? You know if I can why why would I even be here? Okay, I'd just be going all over the country just healing every kid in America is what I would be doing But I don't want to give away the answer look at mark chapter 16 and verse number 14 The point is people take advantage of this today. They they're taking advantage You know Benny Hinn will say send me a thousand dollars, and you will be rich And then people just send them all this money Look, it's good for business. It's good for you know growing big auditoriums of people But it's not the truth look at mark chapter 16 verse 14 afterward he appeared unto them to the 11 as they sat at meat and up braided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart Because they believe not them which had seen him after he was risen and he said it to them This is the great commission right here. He says him go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature He that believe within his baptized shall be saved, but he had believed with not shall be damned and These signs shall follow them. They believe in my name. Shall they cast out devils? They shall speak with new tongues They shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover Look, he's saying like he's he's prophesying like the day of Pentecost right here in In verse number 17 he's saying they should speak with new tongues and many other places in the book of Acts where they just spoke with Different languages they'll lay hands on the sick. They shall recover even talks about serpents with by the way happened to Paul He's talking about getting bit by serpents. You'll have Pentecostal pastors today that bring snakes to church The matter of fact is a couple of years ago one died He brought a rattlesnake to church and he's like look, you know, I'm taking up serpents and it's like he died Because they're claiming and they're like, oh, you know, God's just as powerful today. Look, it's all scams and it's all frauds. I Mean the man died of a snake bite, but here's here is the thing though. God can still do whatever he wants Even though, you know, he still does and can and will Perform miracles today God will do that. But why not the same powers turn to Ephesians chapter 2? Let me explain that to you Why don't we in the men of this church and the in the ladies of this church? Why don't we have these same, you know, everybody, you know, we're way over the top with superheroes by the way in this country It's way out of control. I mean, I don't know what the obsession is with superheroes and superheroes in the media. It's everywhere But the point is is everybody wants powers today Everybody wants, you know powers and they read this and you know, it's it's there's scams There's frauds that take advantage of this, but we do not have the same, you know The same gifts granted to us in first Corinthians chapter 12 the Bible talks about, you know, we all have different gifts Okay, and we all don't have the same gifts granted to us We'll get Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 19 Ephesians chapter 2 look at verse 19 says now they're therefore You're no more strangers and foreigners But fellow citizens with the saints and the household of God and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief Cornerstone see what was happening in the book of Acts with what we're studying now is God was building the foundation of his church God was laying the foundation with the apostles and the prophets He was laying the foundation of you know building the early church and the real answer. So look we are Standing on that foundation We are built upon that foundation it says we're built upon the foundation of the apostles So they're the foundation and this is how God chose to build that foundation But really the answer lies to this in Luke chapter 16 Luke chapter 16 turn that so we know that we're built upon the foundation of What so what we are? What are we reading about in Acts? What are we studying about in Acts? We're studying about the foundation that we stand upon today We're you know when Peter's up here and he's preaching the gospel to the Jews and the temple and you know Thousands of people are getting saved and thousands of people are being added to the church This is the foundation that we stand on today Now look at Luke chapter 16 Luke chapter 16 the context here is it's a story About a man that went to heaven Excuse me and about a man that went to hell and the man in hell is begging to get out He wants out. I mean who wouldn't ever look I can tell you one thing everybody that's in hell right now They want out and this is an example. It's a picture. It's a slice. It's a snapshot of What hell is like? So God gives us this story in Luke chapter 16 He gives us the story so we can see what it's like so we can see how the hardest heart is going to be when he's in Hell or when she's in hell now look at verse 26 It says now Abraham is telling him you like we can't you can't come out It says beside all this between us and you there's a great golf fix He's like there's there's that they that would pass from hence to you cannot we can't go to you Neither can they pass to us that would come from this So he said you can't get out. It's like we can't come help you We can't give you any water. You can't come here and Then he says this he's like okay plan B He's like plan B. He says I pray you there for father that thou would it's send him to my father's house He's talking about Lazarus. He's like I have five brother. He's like I got five brothers. I mean The guy's got you know, he's in hell. He's got some character You know this kind of shows you right here that you know the people in hell They're not just gonna be there's gonna be a lot of nice guys in hell. I don't want to tell you There's gonna be a lot of nice people in hell This guy's this guy. He's not just thinking about himself after he realizes he's doomed. He says go to my brothers Go to my family Then he may testify into them unless all they also come into this place of torment He's like they're gonna come here too because they don't believe they didn't believe they believe like me Abraham saith unto him they have Moses in the prophets let them hear them. He said no He's like no, it's not gonna work He's like name father Abraham, but if one went under them from the dead they were repent And he said it to them if they hear not Moses in the prophets Neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead. You know what he's saying? He's saying He's saying They have the Bible. He said they have Moses in the prophet. They have the law I mean what advantage have the Jew they had the oracles of God It's like they had it they had it already and guess what here's why here's our miracle Here's our miracle. We have the whole thing We have the look Peter didn't have this Peter didn't have this John didn't have this especially at the time that They were doing this miracle in Acts chapter 3 they didn't have what we have. This is our miracle. This is our power Right here. You're like, why don't we have our whoa? This is our power The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword Look, this is our power. This is why when we go out soul-witting. We just don't explain things This is why when you go out and somebody says I want to hear the gospel. I want to know I'm like, well, it's kind of like this. No, that's not what I say. I say I'll show you everything from the Bible Hey, look, I don't just quote them the Bible. I show them the Bible. I Mean, I would just quote them, you know, Roman 323 says this, you know, Roman 310 says this Roman 623 says this. I don't just quote them the Bible. I like I show them the words You say why I mean that is as long as they hear it But look the thing the fact that it is God's word and by the way Nobody could get saved that they didn't believe that the words that they were reading were God's word If they believe that some man in the Middle East wrote this book and they're reading these words There's no way they could get saved They have to believe but guess what? That's not it's in Fresno That's not really that big of an issue. I Actually, I don't know that I could think of too many times where I've been reading the gospel to somebody that wanted to hear the Gospel and they told me and we had to stop because they said yeah, but I don't believe that that's God's word a Lot of people today, especially in this area believe that the Bible is God's words. They just don't know what it says They just don't know What what the gospel is? They've been told so many false things that they just don't know but back to the point That's why we show the Bible out so many because it's God's authority not ours that gives it power And this is our power. This is our miracle today. This is our miracle worker right here the Bible Now look, this is also why by the way This is also why you could never have a successful atheist society ever Say you say why this is what people like Richard Dawkins and you know Sam Harris and all these other You know godless idiots they'll say oh, you don't need the Bible for morality, but here's the thing you have you can have the best ideas You can have the best ideas and guess what? People do come up with some pretty good ideas as far as governing and things like that But any idea that's truly good was hijacked from the Bible first of all any good moral law is in the Bible So they're just hijacking but even the point is even if you had the best I'd let's say I have the best laws I wrote a set of laws and if you run a country by this laws, even if you had the best ideas it would never work because Under whose authority Mine Under my I mean it's you know what it is it would be it would be you think versus what I think That's what it would be. It would never ever work. I mean just some examples. I mean whose land is it? I Mean just that one question right there Nobody would ever agree. What it here's here's one for you. Here's one for you. What is fair? No one would ever agree What is fair? This is why I mean fair and what fair and everything No one would ever agree What is fair? Just about this this silly example. This is why I always say at work You should never you should never ask what anyone that you work with makes you should never ask somebody's salary At work or their wage or whatever you should never ask your boss You should never ask your co-worker. You should never ask somebody that works for you Why because it'll never end. Well Because let's say you two are the best friends and you work together And you work together and you just like one day you just tell each other how much you make Then you know then it's like oh he makes more than me Guys a loser. I'm way better at my job than him Or maybe you're just like I work like way harder than him. That's not what that's not fair Or that guy's like he finds out that you make more than him and he's just like You know, well, you know, it's like, you know, nobody would ever think it's fair is the point Because there's no I mean they would just think they deserve more or that you're getting I mean They would think that you're getting too much or that they deserve more it one of those two things See rules laws Morals they must have authority behind them and Atheist society could never work or guess what they're just another idea They're just another idea, but you know some ideas work better is What Sam Harris will tell you or what Richard Dawkins will tell you but here's the thing here's actually the reality of it We're not even good at good ideas as as people You know communism killed, you know less than 75 years ago Communism killed over a hundred million people and we're wanting to go back to that Like we're not smart We don't have any good ideas in this country. We're just talking about today in this country. We can't even get murder right We can't even decide as a country if murder is wrong Are you joking? Somebody showed me a video today of a congressman asking this lady is like, well, can you murder a ten-year-old child and she's like well I mean it took her a couple seconds. She's like No, how about a two-year-old child? Oh One gold No, how about a day old? No, and then she's like he's like well, how about how about like, you know five minutes before they were born? Eight inches away as if some miracle of life happens When a child is like born in that few seconds It's ridiculous these murdering Godless evil people don't believe in miracles anyway But the point is we can't even get murder right. We don't have any good ideas It would never work without God's authority We think we can work it with our own authority. We can't even get murdering We can't even get we can't even get like the natural attraction between a man and a woman, right? I mean are you joking? probably the most natural physical Attraction that a woman goes with a man. We can't even get that right and People that don't even have that unnatural problem. They're like, oh, yeah That's okay There could never be a society without God give me a break It would destroy itself in the first year It would be ridiculous. The only thing keeping us together In this country is the the threads that people still hang on to from the Bible. That's it But it's because God's word has power. That's why back to the point It's because God's word has now I'm not talking about like, you know, just Some like it up theory. I'm talking about actual power Spiritual power You know physical power the power to change minds the power to change Hearts the power to change actual lives I mean that's the Bible has real the Bible is a miracle that has power that we hold today That is our power today. So yeah, does this God? I mean Jesus was laying a foundation in Acts chapter 2 acts chapter 3 He's laying the foundation that we're standing on as we hold the whole counsel of God It's not that he just didn't give us power. He gave us a different power a greater power. I would say The greatest power. So does God still do miracles? How about that question? God still do miracles. I have the power of the Bible every single time I go out and preach the gospel and they accept it And they get saved. That's a miracle. Do you know that? Every single time you preach the gospel to somebody and they pass from death to life in front of your face That is the miracle Don't just miss the miracles in your life. You want to see more miracles come out with us more You see miracles every week here. How about like just like miracles of like just just fixing us like oh man Somebody's unhealthy or somebody all the time how through prayer That's how Turn to James chapter 4 Through prayer and look I totally understand Why God I'm gonna explain to you like this is this is my opinion, but I Think I know why I did it this way Because of what he says to us and how we act I can kind of just I kind of assume why God did it this way Look at James chapter 4 in verse number 2 James chapter 4 actually you turn to Luke chapter 11 Sorry, I led you astray turn to Luke chapter 11 in verse number 9 I'm gonna read James 4 verse number 2 to you you go to Luke 11 the Bible says in James 4 Says he lust and have not you kill and desire to have and cannot obtain you fight in war He says yet you have not because he asked not He's saying he's saying you're trying to get these things through the wrong ways, you know We know they're the wrong things. We've studied that verse before but he's basically saying he's like I don't know how many times Jesus has to say in the Bible. He's like, you know, you don't ask You don't ask you don't ask look at Luke chapter 9 Luke chapter 11 verse number 9 He says and I say unto you what ask And it shall be given unto you look what he says here seek And you shall find what should you seek? I don't know how about this How about this? If you seek this, you know what you know, you'll know what to do You'll know What to ask for So in James chapter 4 as James chapter 4 talks about he's saying you have not because he asked not He's like the things that you ask for he's like you ask him this He's like you're asking for all these dumb things He's like you're asking for all these things that are going to hurt you And he says ask but he says seek seek knowledge and seek wisdom I guarantee those are prayers that if you mean them God will answer those prayers And you shall find knock and it shall be open unto you for everyone that asketh receive it Everyone that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be open. He's like hey ask Why don't you ask it'll be given to you And then he gives an example of a son and a father He says a son asked bread of you that is a father. We give him a stone Or if you ask a fish will you give him a fish give him a serpent or you ask for an egg We give him a scorpion If you then being evil Know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more should the heavenly father give the holy spirit to them than ask him So there's a good thing to ask for too to be filled with the spirit Get yourself out of the flesh and pray to be filled with the spirit I mean Jesus just told you right here. He'll give it to you And he says here he says like he's like would you give would any parent give their child like a serpent if they ask for an egg Or you know a rock if they ask for a piece of bread, you're like no never like especially today People just want to give their kids everything today. I'm not gonna give my kid a rock He says but you're evil. I'm good He's like you're evil and you still would give your kids what they wanted He's like just ask me and I will give it to you. Here's there are real problems that we just don't ask We just don't ask we don't seek and we don't not imagine. Here's the thing Here's why I think that God did it this way. This is just you know the pastor's opinion I think That he didn't just give us these powers and we just can walk by and our shadows can just heal people No, that's because you think we had ever talked to God We don't pray the way it is We don't pray the way it is and God's gonna give us all these powers and we're gonna run around He's like he's like you'll never pray Instead he says you know what I'm gonna give you the bible I will give you the full revelation of what I want for you to do in this life He's like and then you need something from me. Just ask me Seek it from my word knock and I'll give it to you knock it. I'll open the door Ask me and I'm telling you if you keep track of the prayer lists and the things that we pray for Man these prayers are being answered Prayers are being answered all the time But we forget We forget that prayers are being answered You know, we forget that God is taking care of us. But here's the thing God. I mean, so why do it this way? Here's why because God wants to talk to you because God God wants a relationship with you God wants a relationship with his adopted children I mean shocking right. I mean how many unsaved people out there are like Oh, you just got to have a relationship with God. They have no idea who God is. He has no idea who they are But God knows you He knows you and he'll never forget you. He wants a relationship with you That's it How what kind of relationship is it? You ever had a friend like this? What kind of relationship? I had a friend like this in high school. It was the most irritating thing in the world Yet like they never call you. It's like you're constantly calling them So you're constantly calling them all the time, you know, they just like I mean they see, you know It's just look you do all the talking you do all the calling You do all the giving this guy was the cheapest guy I've ever met in my life My wife still remembers this guy. He was so cheap. It was ridiculous But the point is it's just it's just a one-way relationship Look, you know what you know what those relationships wane Those relationships Fade because guess what nobody wants a one-sided relationship Neither does God So yes, we have power today. We have power Just like the disciples we have power. We have the sword of God's word Is our power and for other things God will do miracles for you ask him