STUDIES IN ACTS

�� One of the oldest festival days in history is the Festival of Pentecost. It was one of the favorites of the Jews for centuries before Christ, and it has been a significant day in the church for two thousand years.� It became the third great Christian feast after Christmas and Easter.� It marks the anniversary of the coming of the Holy Spirit.� Liturgical churches call it Whitsunday because of the early custom of wearing white clothes on this day to symbolize the illumination which the Holy Spirit brought.

Welcome, white day, a thousand suns,

�� Though seen at once, were black to thee;

For after their light, darkness comes,

�� But thine shines to eternity.�

�� In spite of the importance of this day it has been greatly neglected by many Christians.� Most of us would not even know it was Pentecost Sunday, which means 50 days after the resurrection of Christ.� The early church celebrated this day long before they did Christmas.� If we are unaware of this day it is due to the lack of understanding of the place of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church.� Dr. Norman Maclean was teaching the Apostle�s Creed to some students, and he had them stand in a row and each repeat a line.� One morning they began and the first student said, �I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.�� The next said, �I believe in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord.�� This went on through all the doctrines, and then there was silence.� The boy who was next in line said, �Please sir, the boy who believes in the Holy Ghost is absent today.�� Dr. Maclean remarked, �Lots of folks are absent when it comes to that clause.��

�� E. Stanley Jones referring to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit said, �It is the undiscovered country of Christianity, the dark continent of the Christian life.� The land where our spiritual resources lie but undeveloped.�� The great need of the church, and of each individual Christian, is the power of the Holy Spirit.� It is the power to do the task for which we exist, and so we want to look at this first Pentecostal experience of the disciples in the light of their reception of power.�

I.� THE SECRET OF THEIR RECEPTION OF POWER.� v. 1

�� Jesus had commissioned His disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, but He told them that they must first tarry in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high.� For 10 days after Jesus ascended they waited in obedience to His command.� Peter had finally learned to wait on the Lord.� He had finally learned to take orders and obey them with perfect confidence that Jesus knew what He was doing.� Ordinarily Peter�s nature would have caused him to say, �Wait! What do you mean wait!� We know Christ is alive now, for we have seen Him with our own eyes.� Why wait?� Let�s go tell the world right now.�� He would have gone out and instead of turning the world upside down, would have become an utter failure trying to do a supernatural work in his own natural powers.� But Peter knew better now.� He had tried his own power and discovered it was weakness.� He learned that you can have natural powers around you and behind you, but without supernatural power from above you, you can do nothing.� Like his Lord, he learned obedience by the things which he suffered.�

�� This was the secret of their reception of power.� They were all with one accord in one place.� There was unity in obedience to Christ.� No longer were the 12 anxious about who was going to set where in the kingdom.� All they knew was that Jesus had promised them power, and so in perfect harmony and in complete confidence they waited.� They were on the launching pad of preparation waiting for God�s countdown to reach the zero hour and send them soaring out into all the world with the Gospel.� After 10 days you would think that some division would arise.� It would have been easy for some to get impatient and begin to doubt the promise.� It is not easy to wait.

�� Themistocles, the famous Athenian general, once kept his men waiting during a navel battle.� At sunrise they were all ready to advance, but the order did not come.� As the hours passed the men became impatient.� Talk spread that he was not going to fight because he was afraid.� Themistocles knew what he was doing.� He knew there was a wind that came up in that region at a certain time of the day.� He waited for it to give the command so that he did not need as many men at the oars, but could have them in arms to fight.� He was waiting for greater power.� This is what the church was doing on that first Christian Pentecost.� They did so without questioning the wisdom of their Lord.� They obeyed because they had learned to take Him at His word with complete trust.� They made themselves available to receive the promised power.

�� Someone has said that it is not only your ability, but your availability that Jesus needs if He is to use you with power, and here we see them being available for the Master�s use.� If the church is to have power in any age, it must have these characteristics.� It must be united in allegiance to Jesus, and completely confident that He is able to do all things, and they must be available to be used as He sees fit. This means every local church must ask itself constantly, why do we exist?� What does God want us to do, and are we making ourselves available to be used?� A proper response to these questions will lead us, like the first believers, to the discovery of the secret of receiving power from on high.

II.� THE SIGNS OF THEIR RECEPTION OF POWER.� v. 2-3

�� God always gives signs when He performs a mighty act in history on behalf of men.� He appeals to the ears and eyes that men might know the work is of a divine and supernatural nature.� When God gave the law to Moses there was a loud voice of thunder and the terror of consuming fire.� When Jesus comes again there will be the blast of the trumpet, the great shout of the archangel, and the terrible fire that will melt the elements with fervent heat.� Sound and sight play a role in these great events, and so also in the Pentecostal event.� Pay careful attention to the language here.� The sound of the wind and the sight of the fire were real but not actual.� They were signs of the reality of the power they had received.� In verse 2 came a sound as of a rushing mighty wind.� In verse 3 appeared tongues like as fire.� There was no actual wind or fire, but the sound and the sight were real, and they symbolized the presence of God in power.

�� What could be a better symbol of the Holy Spirit than wind?� What else in the material world is present with such power, and yet it is invisible?� Jesus used wind as an illustration of the Spirit when He was talking to Nicodemus.� He said that you hear the sound of it but you cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes, and so it is with everyone born of the Spirit.� If God had not given this sign of the sound of wind, the Holy Spirit could have entered the believers in silence, and there would not have been this great outward evidence.� It was given here that the church might always trace its source of power to the Holy Spirit, and not to some psychological emotion within.� The wind symbolizes a power beyond man.� When God spoke to Job He spoke out of a whirlwind, and when God gave life to the dry bones in Ezekiel He did it with a wind.� Now at Pentecost He fills the house with the sound of a rushing mighty wind, but the filling of the house with sound is only a sign of the greater fact that He filled their hearts with the Spirit.� Now that the Spirit has come to abide with the church there can be the filling without the sign.

�� Fire is also a common sign of the presence of God.� He appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and He led Israel at night by a pillar of fire.� To the believer God is a cleansing fire, and to the unbeliever God is a consuming fire.� Fire is also a sign of God�s glory.� Why do the heaven�s declare the glory of God?� It is because of fire.� If the stars were cold masses of stone, and if the sun was but a flickering candle that kept us in perpetual gloom, where would be the glory?� It is the power of the blazing blinding brilliance of those fires in the sky that bring wonder into hearts and awe into our minds.� They kindle the flame of praise on our tongues.� It is when we see God�s power throughout the universe in the marvelous fires in the heavens that we sing My God How Great Thou Art.

�� Fire ought to characterize the church in the sense that it is filled with enthusiasm.� When we say a man is on fire, we mean that he is excited and enthused about what he is doing.� That is the picture of the church at Pentecost, and that is a sign of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.� When the Spirit is present the church is on fire.� There is a story about two men watching a church burn.� The one who was a member says to the other, �I have never seen you at church before.�� The other man replies, �I never saw this church on fire before.�� When the church is on fire spiritually� it attracts people just as it does if it is physically on fire.� Enthusiasm is essential for attraction.� If believers are not excited about what they believe, why should anyone else be?�

�� Emerson once said, �Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.�� The very word comes from the Greek which means God within.� When God is within we are enthused.� This is a sign of a Spirit filled church and believers.� Put the two signs of wind and fire together and you get a picture of the early church spreading like wildfire.� Someone wrote a history of the early church and called it The Spreading Flame.� The church that is enthused about its message is a church with power, and so our prayer ought to be,

Grant us thy truth to make us free,

�� And kindling hearts that burn for thee,

Till all thy living altars claim

�� One holy light, one heavenly flame.

III.� THE SUCCESS OF THEIR RECEPTION OF POWER.

�� When Jesus gave the promise that they would receive power in Acts 1:8, He made it clear that the power was for the specific purpose of being witnesses of Him.� The power was given not to glorify the Spirit, or the believer, but to glorify Jesus Christ and make Him known to all peoples.� The test of whether or not a church is successful in receiving the power of God is whether or not it accomplishes the task for which the power is given.� If this group at Pentecost would have ran out and sold all they had, and bought material to build a large church in Jerusalem, that would have been a display of dedication, but Pentecost would have been a failure.� So it is with the church today.� No matter how impressive a church is, if it does not accomplish the task of the church, which is to be a witness for Jesus, then all of its show of power is in vain.� It is only natural power, and the supernatural is missing.

�� The church on Pentecost did not fail.� It had tremendous success, for it was noised aboard that something unusual had happened.� The Jews visiting Jerusalem out of every nation gathered where the disciples were.� People were amazed for they heard them speaking of the wonderful works of God in their own language.� For 3 years the disciples had listened to Jesus proclaim the wonderful works of God, but now they are carrying on in His place by the power which He sent to indwell His new body the church.� No longer were they afraid to take a public stand for Jesus.� Peter, who a month before did not have the courage to admit he knew Jesus, now without a tinge of fear stands in this great crowd and proclaims Jesus as Lord.�

�� The success of Pentecost was due to the fact that the disciples were now under new management.� They were not self-centered and worried about power, possessions and position, but they were Christ-centered, and His will alone is all that mattered.� For 10 days they had patiently waited with their focus on Jesus, and now they could be trusted with power because they were aimed right.� If they had followed their own wills for their own ends, God could not have given the power, for this would be like pushing on the gas pedal when the car is aimed toward the ditch.� Success came because they were on the right path of obedience and submission to the will of God.� They were ready to come under the Spirit�s control.� With such an attitude they overcame all fear.

�� Diognetius was brought before a heathen king, and the tyrant said, �Do you know what I can do for you?�� The saints said, �You cannot harm me my life is hid with Christ in God.�� The king said, �I will strip you of all your possessions.� The saint replied, �You cannot reach them, my treasure is in heaven.�� The king said, �I will exile you to a barren island.�� The saint replied, �Nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus my Lord.�� The king said, �Then I will kill you.�� The saint responded, �You will but send me to be with Christ which is far better.�� With such a faith as this there is no room for fear.

�� It was with this kind of fearlessness that the early church witnessed and had such success.� Peter preached a sermon that day that exalted Jesus and bore more fruit than all the sermons that Jesus himself had preached.� Jesus said they would do greater things than he, and here at Pentecost that saying was fulfilled.� The power of the Holy Spirit was successfully applied because Jesus was made central.� Three thousand souls found him as their Savior, and that was the purpose for which the power was given.

�� A Welsh miner who was converted in the 1959 revival said, �When I was a boy we dug coal out with chisels.� After that came dynamite, and with this we could mine a much bigger quantity of coal.� Till this week I have seen nothing but chisel work in religion, but now here is God�s dynamite at work.�� The Gospel is the dynamite of God said Paul.� Why should we try to reach the world on the chisel level when the promise of the Pentecostal power is available to all believers?� If we make the task of being witnesses to Jesus the primary goal of our lives, as did these first believers, we too could make a great impact by the power of the Spirit.�

2.�� THE THRONE OF DAVID�� Based on Act 2:22-36

�� A. M. Fairbairn said, �The task of reason is to make impossible all religion save the best.�� This was the attitude of Peter and Paul the great evangelists of the early church.� They were determined to use all the reason and logic at their disposal to persuade men to see that Jesus Christ was the only hope.� We do not find them using force or any subtle tricks to win people.� They use the Scripture and contemporary historical facts to cause men to see the truth.� Just to give you a picture of how consistently Paul persuaded men, let me read several passages.�

�� In Acts 13:43 we read, �Now when the congregation was broken up many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.�� In Acts 18:4 we read, �And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and Greeks.�� In Acts 19:8, �And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.�� In the last reference we see that Paul sought to persuade men to his dying day.� In Acts 28:23 we read, �...there came many to him unto his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning til evening.�

�� Try and visualize what this means.� Paul was constantly going over the Old Testament and showing how it was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.� Hours and hours he spent with the Jews who knew the Old Testament.� It was for 3 months in one place.� Imagine how they covered every conceivable Messianic passage.� The Jews would seek to show how they were not yet fulfilled, and Paul would show them how Jesus did fulfill them, just as Peter is doing at Pentecost.� Now to make the picture perfect let me read to you the words of Jesus as He rebuked the two on the road to Emmaus.� In Luke 24:25-27 we read, �..O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?� And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.��

�� Nothing is more clearly taught in the New Testament than the fact that Jesus was the focus point of all the Old Testament prophecies, and that the New Testament church used fulfilled prophecy as the greatest method of persuading Jews to receive Jesus as their Messiah.� The tragedy is that this method of evangelism was laid aside in favor of force, and the result was that the church became the biggest wall between Jews and Jesus.� The church began to force Jews to be baptized.� The Inquisition in Spain had a demonic scheme whereby they could eliminate Jews.� They were forced to be baptized and become Christians, and then they were tried for being heretical Christians, and the penalty was death.� Then all the property of heretics went to the church.

�� Jacob Jocz in The Jewish People And Jesus Christ records the whole shocking history of this abuse of power right up to modern times.� He writes, �The compulsory hearing of sermons by Jews in Christian churches was already practiced in the 13th century.� Two centuries later it became a general custom, especially in Italy.� Abrahams records the comic situation that the ears of the Jews use to be examined on entering the churches for they were suspected of stopping them with cotton.� Overseers were appointed to ensure that the Jews remained awake during the 2 hour sermon delivered to them...the Bull of Benedict XIII of 1415 decreed that 3 public sermons were to be preached to the Jews annually and that all above 12 years of age should be compelled to attend to hear these sermons.�

�� It was not until the 18th century that the church got back to the New Testament method of persuasion, and Jews again began to receive Jesus as their Messiah.� History demonstrates that Peter was led of the Holy Spirit in his sermon at Pentecost, for the only way devout Jews could be won would be by a persuasive demonstration that Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled the messianic prophecies.

�� Peter had made it clear that as Jews they were guilty for the death of Jesus, whom they admitted who was a worker of miracles and a man of God.� Now in verse 24 he states that God raised him up.� God did not accept the judgment of the Jews.� Their court gave Him up to death, but the supreme court, which was God himself, raised Him up to life.� He was loosed from death, for it was impossible for Jesus to remain bound by its cords.� It had no power over Him in the first place, but He submitted to it for our sakes.� He knew it could not hold Him, and to say that of Jesus is to say that He was God.� George Matheson says, �There is no miracle in the resurrection of Christ.� There would have been a miracle if He had not risen.�� It was just not possible for Him to remain in the grip of death, and so the resurrection was natural from God�s point of view.� His body was transformed, however, and this made it a miracle.�

�� In verse 25 to 28 Peter supports his statement that it was not possible for Jesus to be held by death by appealing to the words of David in Psa. 16:8-11.� Peter says that it applies to Jesus, for He was confident in going to the cross, and He died voluntarily because He was assured of God�s presence and promise that He would not forsake His body or soul but would be preserved through death.� In verse 29 He says men and brethern let me speak frankly.� That is, do not be offended by what I say, for I reverence David also, but let�s face the facts.� David is dead and buried, and his tomb is with us yet today.� David could not have been speaking of himself, for just the opposite happened to him.� His body did see corruption, and so David spoke of another, or else his hope was false.�

�� In verse 30 we see David was writing about one whom he knew would come because God had promised that a Messiah would set on his throne.� This promise can be read in II Sam. 7:11-16, where it is clear that Solomon was the literal fulfillment, but where the emphasis on the kingdom being forever implies a future fulfillment.� The emphasis on the sworn oath of God in this promise is found in Psa. 89:3-4 where read, �...I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant: I will establish your descendants forever, and build your throne for all generations.�� Then in verse 36 we read, �His line shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me.��

�� In verse 31 Peter says that David saw ahead and knew this promise was to be fulfilled by Christ in the resurrection.�� David was a Christian before Christ, for he believed in the resurrection and confessed Christ as Lord.� He foresaw that Messiah must die and conquer death, for he was to be an immortal king who would take the throne of David and never again depart.� The Jews did not see this in Old Testament prophecy.� They apparently never thought deeply enough about how Messiah could live forever without first conquering death, and the sin that causes death.� David knew Messiah must be raised from death, and Peter goes on in verse 32 to say that this Jesus of whom we have been speaking was raised by God just as David said would happen to Messiah, and we are witnesses to this fact.� There was no reason to doubt these 120 respectable Jewish citizens.

�� In verse 33 he goes on to say that Jesus is by the right hand of God and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit, He is the author of what you now see and hear. In verse 34 he says that it is not David on the throne in heaven fulfilling his own words, for he said, �The Lord said unto my Lord set thou on my right hand.�� It was Jehovah saying this to Christ.� David calls Jesus his Lord.� Jesus used this passage to confuse the Pharisees in Matt. 22:41-46.� He asked them how Messiah could be the son of David when David calls Him Lord?� It was a contradiction they could not answer.� How could the Christ be the son of David and also the Lord of David?� The only way would be by being both God and man.� He would have to be born of a woman and yet be deity.� This is precisely how Jesus fulfilled both concepts, and how He ascended to the throne of David as the seed of David in the flesh.� He was both the son of David and the Son of God.

�� In verse 36 Peter concludes that all the house of Israel should know for sure that God has made that same Jesus whom you crucified to be both Lord and Christ.� He is on David�s throne and will be so forever.� But what about the postponed kingdom that prophecy experts are always talking about?� Didn�t the Jews reject Jesus and cause Him to postpone taking the throne?� I don�t read anything about such a postponement.� All that is clear is that Christ took the throne and nothing was postponed.� All the prophecies of Moses and the prophets were fulfilled in Him.� The New Testament is consistent and insistent on the fact that Jesus now reigns as Lord supreme with all power in heaven and on earth.�

�� When Gabriel announced the birth of Jesus to the virgin Mary he said in Luke 1:32-33, �He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give Him the throne of His father David, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.�� When was this fulfilled?� Peter and all the New Testament writers say it was fulfilled at the ascension of Christ to the right hand of the Father.� No prophecies could be more completely fulfilled than those concerning Jesus ascending to the throne of David.��

��

3.�� PROPHECY FULFILLED� �Based on Acts 2:22f

�� In no area of biblical studies have Christians been more often deceived then in the area of prophecy.� The early church fathers got caught up in wild spiritualizing of the Old Testament.� They found profound revelations where there were none.� It became so subjective that you could make Scripture mean anything you wanted it to mean, and this abuse led to reaction which went to the other extreme of literalism.� This led to just as foolish conclusions as the other extreme.� A cult in East Africa, for example, says you must have 2, 4, 6 or 8 wives because the Bible says, �Do not be unequally yoked together.��

�� This an extreme example, but it is not isolated.� When a freshman at Bethel, I and my roommate ran on to a book by a well known evangelical that found predictions in the prophets of all kinds of modern inventions such as cars, planes and bombs.� We were excited and thought this was proof of the Bible�s inspiration, and many Christians think the same way today because they think the Bible foretells everything that is going on in the world.� This is a totally erroneous view of Revelation that ignores the basic truth that the Bible is a revelation of God�s redemptive plan, and not to be used to satisfy the curiosity of people by seeming to predict modern inventions.� This degrades the Bible and puts it in the same category with those who pretend to predict the future today.�

�� Prophecy is also perverted in every generation by those who feel it was all written for just their day. There is a whole graveyard full of old prophecy books that died along with the people who are suppose to be the anti-Christ.� Many Popes, kings, and rulers, like Napoleon, and more recently Hitler and Mussolini, were all thought to be the fulfillment of prophecy.� Men who can pinpoint God�s plan, and even name names, always draw good crowds, but so far they have never been right.� Those who name him when the real anti-Christ appears are bound to at last be right, but then no one will need a book to tell them, for it will be obvious.�

�� Meanwhile the dangers of self-appointed prophets are great.� They often cause division and get Christian people to be lopsided in their view of God�s plan.� They try and make you think that figuring out which ten rulers or nations are the ten heads of the beasts is the real goal of Bible study.� Andrew Murray once led a group of people who would not come to hear him preach because the notes in their Bible said the ten heads of the beasts were kings of Europe, one of which was the king of England, and since Murray was a salaried servant of the British Empire he was considered to be a servant of anti-Christ.� Murray said he hardly knew whether to weep or smile at some of their explanations of the prophecies.

�� In every age the cults major on prophecy.� The Jehovah Witnesses have volume after volume on prophecy, and they do an amazing amount of research in this area.� I have read some and find it is usually no more wild in its speculations than are those of evangelicals who consider themselves to be authorities in this area.� It seems that no one can tolerate a mystery, and so everyone must have definite answers no matter how subjective they may be.� Louis H. Evans in his book Life�s Hidden Power writes, �Some people have placed too much emphasis on prophecy; their minds have run rampant on the subject, and they have given themselves over to an unregenerate form of �guessing� to weird predictions and prophetic fantasies.� Taking advantage of a natural desire to look around the corner of the day after tomorrow, many �prophets� have become profiteers.� This abuse of prophecy has arisen out of a disuse of prophecy; so many teachers and preachers have shied away from the subject that they have left their poor congregations without any standards of interpretation that are either sane, scholarly or scriptural, and their people have become easy prey to those wild cults of prophecy which have spawned in a vacuum existing only because the church has not been willing to deal with the problem in a sensible and scholarly fashion.�

�� Before we look then at Peter�s interpretation of prophecy let me share with you 3 basic rules of interpretation, which if followed will keep you from many perversions of God�s Word.

1.� The New Testament interprets the Old Testament.� Then New Testament fulfills, modifies and eliminates much of the Old Testament.� Nothing in the Old Testament is now applicable that contradicts the New Testament, or is incompatible with God�s final revelation in Christ.�

2.� Systematic passages interpret the incidental.� It is by neglecting this principle that the Pharisees perverted God�s Word.� They exaggerated the incidental and ignored the essential.� They were preoccupied with triviality.� God�s Word deals with great themes, and so it is poor stewardship of time and thought to major on minors.�

3.� Didactic passages interpret the symbolic.� When an author is teaching and following a line of reasoning to bring you to a definite conclusion, that kind of passage is always superior to one where the symbolism may be mysterious, and where the author is conveying and impression by poetic language and verbal picture drawing.� This principle is basic in Peter�s sermon, for he is using prophecy to show a very specific teaching.� He is following a logical pattern, and what he is saying is so clear that his conclusions must be followed in the interpretation of any other passage where the same theme is covered.�

�� All of the passages about the Messiah setting on the throne of David are to be seen in the light of Peter�s sermon.� If Peter is right and the prophecies were literally fulfilled in Christ�s ascension, they it follows that we do not look for this in the future, for Jesus has already taken the throne and reigns now.� If we argue that there is to be a second fulfillment then we minimize the central theme of the Gospel.� We then minor on a theme that none of the New Testament writers say anything about.� Peter�s appeal to Jews was that Christ is on the throne now, and that He is Lord and Messiah.� He never spoke of any future taking of the throne, for that would negate his whole argument that all was now fulfilled.� In other words, to appeal to a Jew with the hope that some day Jesus will reign in Jerusalem is to ignore the greater fact that He reigns now, and that they need to bow to Him now or not be a part of the messianic kingdom.� Let�s follow Peter�s argument to this conclusion.

�� In verse 22 Peter addresses the men of Israel with respect, and he does not begin by asserting his conclusion as he would have before Pentecost. The Holy Spirit has given Peter wisdom, and so now he knows that devout Jews can only be won by clear and well founded explanations of Scripture. Lets remember this group to whom Peter spoke was not a group of pagans and skeptics, but devout men out of every nations who accepted the Old Testament as the Word of God. They were already believers, but had just not yet accepted Jesus as their Messiah. Peter�s task was to show them that He was indeed the Messiah, and if he could convince them they would certainly believe.� Peter knew now that in fishing for men the net of the Word was essential and must be used not to coerce and compel, but to convince. He starts, therefore, on a level where all can agree, which is one of the basic principles of persuasion.�

�� Peter refers to Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you.� He does not start by declaring Him to be the Son of God from glory, but that man from Nazareth, which they all knew had done marvelous miracles.� Being devout men they were likely of the same opinion as Nicodemus who came to Jesus and said, �Rabbi, we know you are a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that you do except God be with him.�� These men at Pentecost were also believers in Christ�s miracles, for it was impossible to deny them, and Peter says that it was God doing these miracles through him, as you yourselves know.

�� In verse 23, having brought them to an awareness of just how obvious it was that this man Jesus was a man of God, he goes on to shock them concerning their treatment of him.� He declares before hand, however, that God�s plan was not ruined by their folly.� On the contrary, it was all a part of God�s plan.� Nothing is lost, for God used their evil to accomplish His goal, but that does not in any way justify their evil, and they are still guilty.� Peter says everything took place by the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.� It was no accident or after-thought in God�s plan.� Gordon in his Quiet Talks On Jesus says that if the Jews would have accepted Jesus as the Messiah the cross would not have been necessary.� This is rather meaningless, for it is like saying if the world was flat it wouldn�t be round.� God foresaw the cross from the beginning, and it is less than useless to speculate on what would be if what was, was not.� Jesus came to die, for God foresaw that the false expectations of the Jews would lead to His crucifixion.� Jesus knew also, and He submitted to their folly knowing that by this means He could redeem all who would otherwise be lost.

�� God�s foreknowledge is the key to understanding everything.� If you could know exactly what move your opponent was going to make on a checkerboard you could so plan your strategy so that all of his moves would be to your advantage.� You could also force him at gunpoint to make the moves that would be to your advantage, but this would be meaningless to win that way.� God does not use the method of force and compel men to do evil, and then damn them for doing so.� He foresees the evil and then acts so as to use it for His plan.� Men are still held accountable for their evil, for they did it voluntarily and not by force. God knew that Judas was going to betray His Son, but God did not force him to do so. It was his own evil motive that made him do it, and he was held responsible, even though it accomplished what God wanted to accomplish. In Luke 22:22 we read, �And truly the Son of man goes as it was determined, but woe unto that man by who he is betrayed.� God can use the evil of men for His ends, but they are still guilty of evil, for they were not forced to do it, but chose to do it freely.

�� These devout men that Peter spoke to did not kill Jesus directly, but their leaders used the Romans to do their dirty work.� The Romans were not under the law, and in this sense they are called lawless men.� The Romans drove the actual nails that killed Christ, but Peter says they were only used by the Jews.� Modern Jewish writers often try to put most of the blame on the Romans, but the facts of the New Testament are clear, and the burden of guilt falls on Israel.� God goes to the cause.� If you bribe a man to do a crime for you, the law holds you as guilty as the one you bribed.� God sees that the Roman soldiers never would have crucified Jesus if they were not compelled by the mob of Jews who pressured Pilate.�

�� None of this justifies any anti-Semitism, since these Jews accepted Christ as Messiah and were forgiven.� This is the message of the church to the Jews.� It is not bad news that you are condemned because of the cross, but it is good news that prophecy has been fulfilled and that Christ is the Messiah.� No Jew is held accountable today for the death of Jesus.� All people are equally guilty, but also, all are equally free to receive the forgiveness of sin which He purchased on the cross. �

4.�� PENTECOSTAL RESULTS�� Based on Acts 2:37f

�A pastor was telling his visiting grandchildren a fascinating bedtime story.� They listened to him breathlessly, but when he was finished one of them took a deep breath and said, �Grandpa, was that a true story, or were you just preaching?�� This attitude could be learned by a child in contemporary Christianity because preaching has been degraded as being powerless today.� Many churches have played down the preaching ministry and have increased the role of liturgy.� The intelligent unbeliever finds this hard to distinguish from paganism, and so they dismiss the organized church as irrelevant in our society.� It is hard to argue with them, for they are right.� If the church does not have anything to offer but form, it will never change lives.� God has ordained that the power of the church would come through proclamation of truth and not performance of rights.

�� Right from the first we see that the Word of God was the center of attraction, and it was through the foolishness of preaching that the church multiplied and spread.� Peter at Pentecost preached a persuasive sermon on how Jesus had fulfilled Old Testament prophecy, and of how He now reigned on the throne of David as Lord and Christ.� The logic and eyewitness testimony of the 120 was more evidence than any Jew could ignore, and so when Peter finished they responded in great number with belief.�

�� Several weeks earlier Peter wielded a metal sword and succeeded in cutting off a man�s ear, but now by the Sword of the Spirit he had penetrated thousands of ears and caused them to respond to God.� Here is the power of truth over the power of force.� Our primary task is to persuade men by the power of truth.� The situation at Pentecost was unique and the opportunity it presented.� We can see why God planned for the Holy Spirit to come upon them in power just at this time.� The cross was fresh in everyone�s mind.� The news of the resurrection would have spread everywhere.� Jews would have many questions as to the meaning of recent history.� When Peter explained the meaning of it all, they were stricken in their conscience.� They stood self-condemned as guilty of high treason against God.

�� Peter didn�t even give an invitation.� There does not appear to be an invitation given anywhere in the early church.� People were so moved by the Holy Spirit that they cried out for conversion.�� When men saw the power of God, as did the Philippian jailer, they cried out, �What must I do to be saved?�� So it was at Pentecost, and there was no need for singing 5 stanzas of a hymn as they were being urged to come.� They believed and stood guilty for killing their own Messiah.� We cannot imagine the mixed emotions that must have gone through the crowd that day.� They had fear at what they had done, and yet great joy because of the offer of forgiveness in Christ.�

�� In verse 38 Peter did not say that you cannot do anything, but that it is all by faith.� Just by faith never implies an inactive part played by the justified.� Man does need to respond to God in obedience.� Action is essential, and so Peter gives them instructions.� First they were to repent.� This means that repentance is an act of the will.� It is not just the emotion of feeling sorry.� A Sunday School teacher asked what repent meant, and a little boy said, �Feeling sorry for your sins.�� A little girl responded, �No, its being sorry enough to quit.�� She was right, for repentance can never be fulfilled by an emotion alone.� There must be an act of the will by which one turns from course of action or attitude to another, which they recognize to be God�s will.� The action Peter urges them to take is to be baptized.� Some of these may have already been baptized by John the Baptist, but here it is to be in the name of Jesus Christ.� In other words, prove your belief in Jesus as Lord and Messiah by a public baptism in His name.�

�� In this unique historical situation the repentance and act of baptism was really necessary for the forgiveness of their sins.� They could only be released from the guilt of killing their Messiah by a commitment of their lives to Him.� Baptism was the required method of making that commitment, and breaking with the Jewish official position which rejected Jesus as Messiah.� We can see how the act of baptism was essential to forgiveness, for to refuse would be to doubt that He was the Messiah.� It would be an unwillingness to identify yourself as His servant.� The symbol and the reality were so close here as to be inseparable.� One could not really repent and accept Christ and yet refuse to be baptized, for baptism was a sign of the sincerity of your faith.� It was a definite mark of distinction between the believing and unbelieving Jews.

�� Under a similar setting today the same pattern ought to be followed, but usually it is not.� On the mission field people are often instructed for a year or two before they are baptized.� We also have a brief waiting period for training.� Is this a departure from the New Testament pattern?� Not at all, for we just do not have the same setting.� The Jews that Peter spoke to were devout Jews who believed the Bible to be the Word of God.� They were trained and prepared to live a godly life.� They already loved the Word, and they had an established life of prayer and worship.� It was logical and natural for them to be baptized and accepted as members of the church in the very hour that they believed in Christ and accepted Him as Lord.

�� No one can be so blind as to suppose the same thing makes sense when dealing with those who know nothing of the Word of God, and who have lived in sin and corruption.� To baptize them on the spot just as these devout Jews were would be to forsake reason.� If a person comes to me and reveals he has a mature faith and wants to take a stand for Christ, I do not hesitate to baptize them.� But if they come out of a background with no knowledge and no experience of living a godly life, they need instruction before they are baptized.� To apply all that happened in the New Testament today with no regard to the changes in circumstances leads to unreasonable practices.� These people were already committed to the one true God and living in obedience to His revelation. �That is just not the case with many who come to Christ in our day, and so our practice must fit the new situation.

�� Peter concludes this verse about them receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit.� This is what was lacking to them as devout people of God.� By receiving Christ as their Messiah, and by being baptized in His name, they would enter into the new covenant of God, which was not just external law, but internal, and written on the heart.� There is no greater illustration anywhere in the Bible of how old Israel became the New Israel.� Call it spiritualizing, or whatever you will, here we have God�s children of the Old Testament becoming His children of the New Testament.� To make this doubly clear let us keep in mind that these devout Jews were already saved people.� They were not hell bound sinners storing up the wrath of God for the day of judgment.� They were the cream of the crop of God�s faithful children gathered on Pentecost in obedience to God, and to worship God.�

�� If you assume that all of these devout Jews were lost people, then you are denying that God had a plan of salvation for the Old Testament saints.� Friends and relatives of these very people had been dying as devout Jews all through the life of Jesus.� Are we to suppose that they all died and were lost, or are we to suppose that, like all the faithful of the past, they were saved by God�s grace?� I do not doubt for a minute that they were saved.� Joseph died before the cross, and we cannot doubt that he was saved.� Many devout Jews may had� never heard of the cross and the resurrection, but they would be saved as God�s children under the Old Testament covenant.� The reason I stress this is so that we might see clearly that these first converts to the church were already God�s people of Israel.� It was the faithful of the old covenant becoming, along with the 120 Christian Jews, the children of the New Covenant.� If anyone can look at this and deny that the church is the New Israel by calling it spiritualizing, then no amount of evidence would convince them.

�� If the church is not New Israel, then what did these Jews do by accepting Christ?� Since they were already children of Israel, and they were already God�s covenant people, did they forsake that distinction, and cease to be Israel?� God�s chosen were receiving His final and ultimate revelation to Israel.� They became the rejuvenated Israel with Christ as their Messiah king on the throne of David.� They fulfilled God�s intention for Israel all along, and they became the people through whom He would bring good news to all the world.� The Great Commission was given to Jews, and it was carried out by the Jews of the early church.� This view is rejected by some in order to maintain a system which separates Jews and Gentiles, and has two distinct goals for them in God�s plan.� I see three thousand children of Israel becoming three thousand Christians, and by receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit they became the New Israel under the New Covenant.

�� In verse 39 Peter says the promise was for them and their children.� What could be more obvious?� They were God�s people receiving God�s promise.� The promise of God to make a New Covenant with Israel is fulfilled.� Peter is addressing Jews and is thinking of Jews, for he has not yet been persuaded himself that Gentiles are equally included as heirs of this promise.� God had to teach him this, and so we can assume that Peter is here referring to Israel.� Peter did not doubt that Gentiles could be saved, for that was true even in the Old Testament, but he doubted if they could be saved without first becoming Jews.�

�� In verse 40 we see that Peter�s sermon was not over, but he was already getting a response.� He had much more to say.� Here was a layman and a fisherman instructing devout Jews, some of whom had been far better students of the Word than he had been.� We see how the Holy Spirit had given him enlightenment.� Peter is persuading them to come apart from Judaism, which had become corrupted.� The Old Israel was about to collapse, and they are to get out before they go down with it.�

�� In verse 41 we see that those who received were baptized.� This implies that some did not, and they would continue to trust in the Old Covenant.� There is much debate over this baptism.� Was it immersion, sprinkling or pouring?� Many scholars argue that there was not enough water in Jerusalem to immerse 3000 people in one day.� I just assume they were immersed, but there is no evidence of it except the meaning of the Greek word.� I see no reason to question it, for those who doubt it have no evidence in their favor either.� We do not know how it was done that day.� In one day Peter persuaded more Jews to believe in Jesus as the Messiah than Jesus himself convinced in 3 years of preaching.� Jesus said His disciples would do greater things than He did, and here is the fulfillment of that.� The results of Pentecost were amazing, and it had lasting effects for the rest of history.� That was a unique and unrepeatable event of history.� We cannot duplicate it, but we do need the same power of the Holy Spirit to work effectively in our new circumstances to produce the same Pentecostal results.�

5.�� LAYMAN AND EVANGELISM�� Based on Acts 8:1‑13

Sirhan Sirhan, the convicted slayer of senator Robert Kennedy, had

considerable opportunity to be saved.� From the time when he was 12 years old he went to Protestant, fundamental, evangelical Baptist Sunday Schools and churches in Pasadena.� He was not impressed with the Gospel, however, but was impressed rather with the indifference of Christians.� They were thoughtless, careless, irreverent, and clearly did not take their Christianity seriously.� So this Jordanian boy said to himself, "It can't be very important," and so he dropped out.� History is filled with notorious criminals, dictators, and kings of evil who once were youth in the church where they could have been redeemed and molded for the glory of God.� Some examples of this are Marx, Hitler, and Mussolini.�

�� In a very literal sense the church can be a curse to mankind by failing to do its task.� When the church is careless and indifferent to the task of evangelism, which includes bringing people, not just to a decision for Christ, but to discipleship and loyalty to His church, it can do more harm than good.�� Arthur C. Archibald in his book New Testament Evangelism writes, "In America, when 5 thousand Southern Baptist churches, 4 thousand Southern Methodist churches, 3 thousand Northern Methodist churches, 2 thousand Northern Baptist churches, 3 thousand Presbyterian churches, report that in a whole year they did not have a single convert, is it not time for all leaders of Christiandom to arouse and search for the cause of sterility?"�

�� There is a problem, not just in the world, but in the church.� All of the changes in the world would not hinder the church if it was responding in obedience to Christ.� Jesus is not so inadequate that He cannot cope with the world's developments.� The problem is that His people are not open to receiving His wisdom and power.� Some years back the Archbishop of Canterbury sent a letter to his clergy suggesting that they meet him for a quiet day in London.� One of them replied, "Your grace, in my church we do not need a quiet day, but an earthquake."�

�� Sometimes it takes an earthquake to get Christians broken loose from their rigid rut of non‑involvement.� This is what happened to the early church.� Chapter 8 of Acts begins with an earthquake of persecution.� It proved to be an example of, "Blessed are the persecuted," however.� For as verse 4 says, "They who were scattered went preaching the Word."� The detail that is of great interest here is that verse 1 says they were all scattered except the Apostles.� Why they could stay and not have to flee I am not sure, but the value of this was that the lay Christians had to be witnesses.� It was a matter of sink or swim, and they began to swim and spread the good news wherever they went.�

�� It is one of the most agreed upon factors in the world today among Christian leaders that layman must get into the act of evangelism for the show to go on.� The church dies whenever it fails to stimulate an adequate birth rate through evangelism.� Whenever the church gets leadership centered it tends to become a mechanical institution rather than a vital living organism.� The church is the body of Christ, and not the machine of Christ.� To put it plainly, a clergy centered church tends to lose its evangelistic nature.� In the early church every Christian was a witness, and they considered it a duty to win others to Christ.� The sheep gave birth to sheep, and no one expected the shepherds to give birth to all the sheep.� Men who have been successful in evangelism have had one common factor, and that is a group of layman who were soul‑winners.�

�� Protestants are plagued with the idea which has carried over from the Catholic church where all authority centers in one man, and all worship centers around the man at the altar.� Salvation, forgiveness, etc., all come from the ministry of the one man.� The Reformation helped men to recover the Priesthood of all believers, but most Protestants do not take it seriously.� They still feel that the professional pastor or evangelist is the key to evangelism.� To be effective we must decentralize our concept of the church and go back to the democratic view in which every member is of equal standing before God, and has equal responsibility to be a soul‑winner.�

�� Leighton Ford, vice president and associate evangelist of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, has written one of the best books on evangelism called The Christian Persuader.� In it he confirms what we have been saying, and he backs it up with facts.� Here is one of his paragraphs:� "The Latin American Mission made a study of the fastest‑growing movements in their field and found them to be three:� The Communists, the Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Pentecostal Churches.� Then they analyzed these movements to find their common denominator.� Was it their message?� Obviously not.....Finally they came up with this proposition:� The growth of any movement is in direct proportion to its ability to mobilize its entire membership for continuous evangelistic action."�

�� No movement, Christian or non‑Christian, can endure and make progress with professionals only.� Layman must be scattered everywhere sharing the Gospel as was the case in the early church.� Harnack, the historian, says, "When the church won its greatest victories in the early days in the Roman Empire, it did so not by teachers or preachers or Apostles, but by informal missionaries."� This is the only way the church can ever fulfill the Great Commission.� Leighton Ford has figured out that just to stay even at the rate the world population is growing we must win 57 thousand to Christ everyday.� That is about 2,400 every hour, or 40 every minute.� This means that if every professional were doing even fair in soul winning we would be losing.� The hope of the world is Christ, but whether or not the world hears of this hope depends to a large extent upon the witnessing of the average Christian.

�� Notice in verse 5 the message of evangelism.� Philip proclaimed to them Christ.� Later in verse 35 when talking to the Ethiopian we read that he preached unto him Jesus.� The unique message of Christian evangelism is the good news of Jesus Christ.� If we know of His coming, His life, His death for man's sin, His resurrection, and His coming again, we have all the good news that all the greatest preachers in history have had.� This is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe.� It is our responsibility to see that people become aware of what God has done in Christ, and that He offers them forgiveness and pardon for their sin.�� Some poet has put it‑

Pardon‑from an offended God!

Pardon‑for sins of deepest dye!

Pardon‑bestowed through Jesus's blood!

Pardon‑that brings the rebel nigh!

�� It is no wonder that such good news would be heeded by the Samaritans, as we read in verse 6.� The wonder is why it is not heeded by so many today.� If this is the power of God unto salvation, we can only conclude that if you are being saved, it is because so few are coming under its power.� The vast majority of Gospel preaching goes into the ears of those who already know Jesus.� The vast majority of Gospel literature is read by Christians.� For those who do hear it, it is often not seen as good news, but as nonsense.� Even as a Christian I hear the Gospel presented in such a distasteful way that it makes me glad there is more than one conception of what it is to be a Christian.� It no doubt makes some glad they are not Christians at all.�

�� Many youth leave the church because the Gospel is not good news to them, but a burden and a kill‑joy.� Many find the Bible dull, boring, and irrelevant.� The problem is not with the Gospel and the Bible, for both are exciting and as relevant to life as oxygen is to fire.� The problem is that Christians today do not have the kind of authority that Philip had.� Philip could command attention when he preached the Gospel.� He had power, and he demonstrated it in love, compassion, and healing.� The authority he had was obvious.� It was visible and practical.� That is what it takes to reach people in any age.

�� We live in a day when all authority is suspect.� People have heard so much propaganda that unbelief is a part of everyone's makeup.� There are so many gospels that I disbelieve.� The fantastic claims of what certain products will do for your life, hair, clothes, or carpet are so unrealistic, and everyone knows it.� The result is a general skepticism about all claims to something really great.� There are a multitude of miracle products available, and so many spectacular events that supernatural claims of the Gospel hardly even stand out anymore.� When the non‑Christian does hear the claims of the Gospel he is already hardened because he has had a half dozen miracle products fail to do the job they claim they can do.� It is not good news, but questionable news.�� He will have to see the Gospel in life before he will consider it as authentic.� This means the Christian witness is under more pressure than ever to be truly Christ‑like.� We are epistles read of all men, and if we read poorly we will be as ineffective as a bald man trying to sell miracles hair growing tonic.

�� To be effective witnesses we must go deeper ourselves into the experience of the grace of God.� We are uncomfortable when confronted with our duty to be evangelists.� It is because it calls for spirituality, and nothing is harder for people than the effort to be truly spiritual.� Henry Drummond in his book The New Evangelism wrote, "All formal religions are efforts to escape spirituality.�� It matters not what the form is‑ritual, idols or doctrines, the essence of all is the same‑they are devices to escape spiritual worship."� He gave the example of the moods we get in where we would rather walk 20 miles than have family worship.� It is so hard to really be spiritual.� It calls for such dedication and nearness to Christ that the average Christian just doesn't feel he can do it.� They look for another and easier way, but they don't work.

�� Verse 9 tells of Philip's contact with Simon the Sorcerer who was very impressed with the power of Philip, and that of Peter and John.� He wanted this power also and he offered money for it, but was sharply rebuked.� We need to be rebuked also if we think we can be powerful witnesses by means of some mechanical shortcut.� It will cost us much to be soul‑winners, but the return is a hundred fold more precious.� Let us, therefore, be determined that whatever other do we will pay the price it cost to be personally prepared to witness to someone for Christ.�

�� As a young person Charles Darwin believed in the authority of the Bible, but he was never brought to a personal commitment to Christ.� In later life he said, "Disbelief crept over me at a very slow rate, but was at last complete."� The result was that a whole branch of science developed in opposition to the biblical revelation.� Carl Marx went to a Christian school for 5 years.� At age 17 he wrote, "The history of the nation teaches us the necessity of union with Christ."� He was never brought to experience this union for himself, however, and was slowly led into atheism.� The result was that half the world came under the godless system of Communism.� The failure of the church is the curse of the world.

�� When a ship that had been in the moth balls for 15 years was being cut up for scrap, to the surprise of many, and to the embarrassment of many, workmen found in the hull 522 mail bags containing thousands of undelivered letters.� No doubt, many contained messages of value, words of love and comfort, and messages that could have changed the course of many lives.� But all these years they remained undelivered.� How many of God's messages to a needy world get locked up in the church.� There are messages that brings hope, love, health and wealth to a desperate and dying world, and yet the church often becomes a dead letter office filled with undelivered mail.�

�� How can we be more effective in witnessing?� We must first of all be honest and face up to the fact that the excuses we give are not valid.� We say that we have not been trained.� Most people have never been trained to testify in court either, but if they see a crime or accident they become a witness.�� A witness is not a trained person, but one who is qualified on the basis of their personal experience.� As John said, "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you."� If Jesus has forgiven us and given us assurance of salvation, then let us bare witness to the fact.� "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so."�

�� All the training and knowledge you can get is an asset in persuading people, but the essence of Christian witnessing is telling others what Christ has done for you.� Paul did this three times in the book of Acts.� His own experience was his primary witnessing tool.� No one can refute it.� It gives the stamp of reality and validity to your concern for the person you confront.� No one can train you to use your best tool, for only you can share your own experience.� Because the average Christian seldom does share their own testimony, they seldom see anyone else touched for Christ.�

�� We share everything else in life without training.� Most women have not been trained to share recipes, but they get the job done quite effectively.� Few are trained to give reports on travel or hunting adventures, but they can be quite effective in sharing their own experiences.� We share many things that we find to be interesting.� Our problem is not lack of training, but lack of faith that what we share can be effective.� What we need is boldness and courage to share what we know and have experienced.�

�� We need to realize that the layman has an advantage over a pastor when it comes to witnessing.� The average layman has far more contact with the unsaved than does the average pastor.� The pastors primary task is working with believers.� Preaching is not the best means of evangelism, for most of the people in the church are already believers, and their need is for edification.� The average layman just needs the boldness to begin.

�� Winston Churchill wrote an article on the happiness he found late in life through painting.� He said that when he had gathered his brushes and paints around him for the first time he was afraid.� He was positively afraid of the canvas.� The thought of making the first splash of color upon the clean face of the canvas appalled him.� While he was hesitating a friend came to visit and seeing his plight said, "What are you hesitating about?� Let me have the big brush."� He took it and splashed into the paint and made several strokes on the canvas, and this broke the spell.� The fear of the canvas was gone.� The world is a canvas, and we are the painters with a message of beauty to spread over that canvas.� We need to break that spell that keeps us in a state where we do not act.�

We need to take the plunge and make that stroke that frees us from the bondage of fear.� May God help each of you to make that stroke by sharing your faith with someone in the very near future.��

6.�� AN ACT OF OBEDIENCE�� Based on Acts 8:26‑40

�� Some of the best things in life can be so bad.� It is somewhat shocking, but Lewis B. Smedes in his book Caring and Commitment points out that even commitment can be a bad thing.� The purpose of the book is to get Christians more committed, but he points out the negative side of this very positive virtue.� Albert Speer in his memoirs, Inside The Third Reich, tells of how he made a commitment to Hitler and spent most of his life devoting his brilliant talents to the building of his evil empire.� It was blind commitment, and he never repented until it fell and he was forced to face his folly.

�� Just being committed is not itself good, for evil people are often totally committed to their awful goals.� Nebuchadnezzar was tricked into committing himself to throw Daniel in the lion's den.� He kept that commitment even when he realized it was folly.� Herod did the same thing when he was forced to cut off the head of John the Baptist.� He regretted his commitment, but he went ahead and did it anyway.� Here were men who were committed to their commitments, and they would not alter their path even though it was costly and agonizing for them.� This should be noble, but it was not.� It was stupid.� They did evil and violated their own conscience because they could not see that doing what is right and good and God's will is more important than keeping commitments.

�� If you take a fork in the road and discover 5 miles later that you made a mistake, you do not say, "I have made a commitment to this way, and I'll stay on it wherever it goes."� This is what the followers of Jim Jones did, and they followed him in drinking poison and the mass suicide.�� That was commitment alright, but it was also stupid.� The wise person says, "When I make a commitment to the wrong way, and I see it as wrong, I go back and find the right way and forget my commitment."� Commitments made in ignorance are not more important than truth.� Commitments to what is bad are not more important than what is good.�

�� Commitment is a conditional virtue.� It is only good when the goal one is committed too is good.� If the goal is bad, then the commitment to it is also bad, and it is a vice.� The world is filled with committed people who are all the more evil because of their commitment.� They are committed to that which is out of the will of God.� We want to focus our attention on one of the most committed people in the Bible whom God honored in a very special way because he was so committed to what was good, right, and the will of God.� He made commitment a virtue that God was so pleased with that God by special providence saw to it that he was brought into the kingdom of God by faith in Jesus Christ.� God is committed to seek and to save those who are committed to finding the Way.

�� The Ethiopian Eunuch was a long way from home because he was committed to finding out about the God of Israel.� We don't know who told him about the God of the Jews, but he had come all the way across Africa and the vast desert wasteland in order to get t Jerusalem to hear and see for himself, and to worship this God of Israel.� He had also invested a sizable chunk of cash in purchasing a copy of the book of Isaiah.� There were no printing presses, and so copies were made by hand, and the cost a great deal of money to purchase.� This man had a hunger to know the will of God, and so he bought this expensive portion of the Word of God.� There was so much he did not know, but he was committed to learn all he could about God.�

�� God was so impressed with this man's commitment that he called Philip a way from a great revival in Samaria to take the Gospel to this one man crossing the desert.� Philip was seeing great crowds come to Christ, and so great was the fruit of his labor that the Apostles in Jerusalem sent their two big guns‑Peter and John‑to check it out.� It was amazing what was happening there and it was all happening through the labor of one who was not even an Apostle.� Philip was not even ordained as a Pastor.� He was a layman who had been chosen as one of the first deacons of the church.� He had the gift of preaching, however, and so when the problem with the widows being cared for had been solved, he took off preaching the Gospel, and God blest his ministry.�

�� Then all of the sudden God called him out of the city to head for the barren desert.� It does not make sense to the eye of man.� Why leaves a thriving ministry to go to the wilderness?� Philip was also a committed man, and so he did not question God.� His goal was to obey God whether he could make sense of it or not, and so he just went.� He had to act fast and obey immediately, for if he was not at the right place at the right time he would not ever meet this Ethiopian in his chariot.� The whole thing called for precise timing, and it could never have happened without a committed layman like Philip who was committed to be where God wanted him to be, even if it looked more logical and important to be somewhere else.�

�� The whole account is based on two people who are committed to knowing and doing the will of God above all else.� God can use such people to change lives and history.� This passage is an ideal hunting ground for seeking New Testament insight into the significance of baptism.� What do these two committed men teach us about baptism?� First of all they teach us that it is an individual decision.� The Ethiopian had obviously been told by Philip that after one receives Jesus as Savior they are to obey his command to be baptized.�� As soon as he saw water he said, "Why shouldn't I be baptized right here and now?"� Philip could have said, "Because I am only one deacon.� We have to get all the deacons together for a vote, or the Apostles must approve of it, or the church has to okay it.� You can't just up and get baptized on the spur of the moment.� There is a procedure that has to be followed.� We have to wait to see if you are a sincere convert or not.� We have to wait and see if your walk is as good as your talk."

�� Philip said none of these things.� He simple went down into the water and baptized the man who had just been converted.� Philip had no idea what kind of a life style this rich and powerful man had.� He never asked if he had any plans to witness of his faith, or to send a tithe back to the church in Jerusalem.� He just baptized him because the man wanted to obey Jesus.�� This is the New Testament pattern.� Everybody in the New Testament who is baptized is baptized� because they as individuals say that they want to obey Jesus as Lord.� This is not a church decision, a deacon decision, or a board decision.� It is a individual decision.�� It is a matter of freedom of choice.

�� Baptism is an act of obedience to Jesus who said to go into all the world and baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.� It was an act of obedience on Philip's part to baptize the Ethiopian and act of obedience on his part to be baptized.� Because it is an individual choice there is no need for witnesses.� When you get married you need witnesses, for it is not only a personal choice, but it has social implications and so society demands two witnesses.� Baptism is between a man or woman and God.� God alone is the witness, and so this Ethiopian was not asked to drive his chariot back to the nearest town where they could get a couple of witnesses.� He never even got a baptism certificate.� He got nothing but the personal satisfaction of obeying the final words of Jesus to his church before he ascended to heaven.�

�� The next thing we see is that baptism is an informal experience.� There was no special music, and no group gathered to put a stamp of approval on it.� There was no special water heated to fit the bodies comfort.� There was no special robe or any certificate to record the event.� All of this has changed, and we have come along way from this day, but the fact remains that the Bible is our supreme authority for faith and practice.� What we see in the book of Acts is to be our guide and not all of the traditions that we have attached to baptism.� Every New Testament scene of baptism is one of informality.� John the Baptist had people lined up by the hundreds as he dunked them in the Jordan.� The Apostles and layman baptized 3000 on the day of Pentecost.� It was on the spur of the moment as they responded to the Gospel.� There was no preparation, but the people just entered the water as they were to be baptized.

�� Paul's conversion takes up many verses in Acts, but his baptism is only one line in Acts 9:18.� It simply says that, "He got up and was baptized."� There was no formal service called.� It was just an act of obedience in an informal setting.� There was no big deal made of it.� It was his decision and it was a private matter that nobody else was asked to vote on.� In Acts 10 Cornelius and his relatives and friends were baptized when Peter came to them.� It was a spur of the moment act of obedience.� When Lydia accepted Christ on the river bank she and her family were baptized right there.� The Philippian jailer and his family were baptized in the middle of the night by Paul and Silas right after his conversion.� All the baptism we see were informal.� They were not services, but just individual events where people made a choice to obey Jesus.� There was never any official action or planning� by any local church.� It was all individual and informal.

�� The New Testament picture is like someone today visiting a family having fun in their backyard pool.� The Gospel is shared and they say what hinders us from being baptized right now?� According to the New Testament you should baptize them on the spot if that is what they choose to do.� You don't have to be ordained to baptize another person.� If you are a Christian you are under the orders of Jesus to go into all the world and baptize.� It was not just the 12 who were to do this.� This is the great commission to all Christians.� The reason you never hear of lay people baptizing is because we have departed from the New Testament and have made baptism a church decision and a formal experience of conformity to the will of an organization.� In the New Testament it could be done by anyone, anywhere, at any time, if that was their choice to obey Jesus.

�� I don't know how many hundreds of people I have baptized in my ministry, but I do know that only 4 of them were private and informal.� They were individual choices carried out in very informal settings just like those of the New Testament.� I am convinced that there would be many more people baptized if this was the rule and the exception.� People would feel more free, and feel like it was an act of obedience to Christ.� When it becomes a formal act of conformity to a church's policy, it is more like obedience to man rather than God.� If people felt free, like the Ethiopian, just to say to any Christian they knew, "I feel like I ought to be baptized and obey Christ.� Let's go to the river or lake, or to my pool in the back yard."� And if Christian lay people felt more free to obey Christ and honor that request, we would very likely see more people obeying Christ.

�� I doubt if it can ever be changed back to New Testament days, for it is now so institutionalized. �It would take a revolution to alter what is now tradition.� It is not that tradition is all bad, or that the way we do it is in any way wrong.� It is just not the way it was in the New Testament, and something has been lost of the individuality and the informality.� Roger Williams founded the first Baptist church in America in Providence, Rhode Island in 1639.� How did he become a Baptist in a land where there were no Baptist churches?� He asked a Christian layman to baptize him.� Then he baptized 10 others, and this began the Baptist church in America.� The individuality and informality of the New Testament was still alive then.�

�� By not following the biblical record the church has made a number of errors in their view of baptism.� There was hardly any church that is fully biblical in their practice.� Those who baptized babies neglect the fact that all the New Testament baptism were of people who made the choice to be baptized.� It was an act of obedience, and not an act forced on them by others.� A baby cannot make this choice, and so it has to be an act done for them by other wills then their own.� This is not found in the Bible, but it is a tradition of men.

�� On the other hand, there were children baptized in the New Testament.� You have the family of Cornelius, the family of Lydia, and the family of the Philippian jailer.� We do not know how old any of them were, but they were old enough to say yes to Jesus and follow their parents in this act of obedience.� Those who refused to let children be baptized for lack of maturity are not doing so with Scripture authority.� All of these kids were baptized the very day they heard of Jesus.� They had no class and no time to demonstrate their faith.� All they had was belief, and on that basis alone they were baptized.�

�� The church in the early centuries developed the idea that baptism was for only the very virtuous, and there was to be no sin in one's life after baptism.� This led even famous Christians like Constantine to wait and be baptized on his death bed.� It was fairly safe then that he could die without sinning.� This foolish idea led to some tragic delays for youth.� Augustine of Hippo begged to be baptized as boy, but his mother would not consent, for she felt he was immature and could certainly sin a great deal more in his life.� She right, of course, and he became an awful sinner, for he reasoned that one should sin furiously in youth and get it out of the system, and then be baptized when he had his full.� The church actually encouraged living a sinful youth by this false view of baptism.� Augustine bitterly resented this when he became older and a committed Christian.�

�� When I was a deacon in a Baptist church, we had a 4 year old girl come to us asking for baptism.� She knew the Lord as her Savior, and she knew the Bible better than most.� It was debated, but we did finally say okay.� I am grateful we did, for the New Testament teaching makes this a principle:� If a person is old enough to ask to be baptized, they are old enough to be baptized.� It is not our job to figure out if they will be good Christians or not.� In the New Testament we see people baptized who did not turn out to be good Christians.� But that could not be the criteria for their being baptized or not.� In this very chapter of our text we read of how Simon the Sorcerer was baptized in verse 13, and he followed Philip everywhere.� Philip did not say follow me for a year, and if you are a good Christian I will baptize you.� He baptized him on the basis of his profession of belief in Jesus with no other questions asked.

�� In the following verses we learn that he was a rotten Christian.� He tried to buy the Holy Spirit with money, and Peter said to him, to the devil with you and your money."� The English translation tones it down, but that is what Peter said in the Greek.� In verse 21 Peter said to him, "You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God."� In verse 23 he says, "You are full of bitterness and captive to sin."� Why would Philip ever baptize a jerk like this?� He was just using Christianity for what he could get out of it.� He was wicked conniving man, and yet he was baptized.� It was because he chose to be, and it was not anybody's right to say no to him and deny him baptism.� It was not something that was evaluated and voted on.� It was an individual choice, and if someone said they believe and want to be baptized, it was honored.

�� Obviously Simon was not benefitted by his choice.� He had a lot of repenting and changing to do.� But my point is, the New Testament does not reveal people being chosen for baptism.� People chose it, for it is their individual decision.� Once you depart from this principle you are out of New Testament territory and into man made tradition.� You say it is harmless to have traditions, but the Christian church has often become a source of great evil by exalting their traditions over the Word of God.� If you want to know why it is so hard to win Jews to Christ, just read the history of how the church forced hundreds of thousands of Jews to be baptized against their will.� Gentiles by the millions have also been forced to be baptized against their will.� One of the reasons Baptists came to America was because in Sweden they were forced to have their babies baptized by the state church.

�� Traditions have led to terrible abuses of baptism.� It has been used by the church through history to control and manipulate people.� In the Bible we see none of this.� It is an individual choice, and an informal experience.� This Ethiopian had no church to go to, and so it had nothing to do with church membership.� He just got out of the water and headed home with no commitment to any church, but only to Christ as his Savior.� His baptism was an end in itself as an act of obedience.� It was not a means to some other end such as becoming a member of the church.� He went on his way rejoicing, for he had obeyed his new found Lord.� It was an end in itself with no other goal but that of being obedient to Christ.� That is what baptism is.� It is an act of obedience to Christ.

�� Everything can become a tradition, and I don't know if we can ever get back to the biblical experience where people are saved and obey Christ in an informal setting.� The woman of Samaria was saved by the well.� The penitent thief was saved on the cross.�� Lydia was saved by the river bank.� The Philippian jailer was saved in a jail.� Paul was saved on the dusty road to Damascus, and this Ethiopian was saved in a chariot in the desert.� People came to Christ in informal settings and they obeyed Christ in baptism in informal settings.� Maybe we can never get back to New Testament practices completely, but we must always maintain the New Testament ideal which makes baptism a personal act of obedience.�

7.�� DORCUS THE DOER Based on Acts 9:36‑43

�� Grace Synder was born in 1885 and grew up on a lonely prairie in Nebraska.� She lived in a sod house that cost about twelve dollars to build.� Water was scarce, and so they used their Saturday night bath water to water the flowers.� There was not much to do, and so Grace took up quilting.� She started with a quilt for her doll.� As a teenager she accepted Christ, and was baptized in a pond where the ice had been cleared away.� She went on to become a teacher, and marry a cowboy, but she was always quilting.� In fact, she became the Queen of the Quilters in her state, and one of the most skilled in all the world.� Her quilts are featured in leading quilt magazines, and are flown to quilt fairs all over the country.� A museum in Lincoln, Nebraska has a Grace Synder room where her handiwork is on display.� She was a godly woman who became famous by means of her creative skill.

�� When it comes t winning prizes for creativity with thread and needle, women have it sewed up, and we want to focus our attention on a woman who sewed herself right into the fabric of biblical history.� Dorcas is her name, and her needle was her fame.� Here is a biblical woman who is so unusual because there is nothing unusual about her.� Most of the women of the Bible got into its sacred pages because they were married to famous men, or because they had famous sons, or because they did some great an unusual deed.� Dorcas is one of the few women who became famous for simply doing a womanly thing, which was sewing.� She is also famous for being the only adult woman in the Bible who was raised from the dead, but this never would have happened had she not been so faithful in using her needle to meet the basic human need for clothing.�

�� She was not a multi‑talented female.� She was just a simple loving woman who used the gift she had to be a blessing to others.� There are three things that stand out in our text that I want to focus on.� The first is‑

I. THE GOOD WORKS OF HER LIFE.

�� She is not portrayed as a brilliant and learned woman who could speak before groups, and lead the women's Bible study.� She is portrayed simply as one who is always doing good and helping the poor.� "I was naked and you clothed me," is the testimony of the poor about Dorcas.� Those who otherwise would have been cold were kept warm because of her labor and generosity.� The poor got a taste of God's grace through her, for none had any claim on her.� She freely gave of her time and talent to meet their need for clothing.� God was the first to provide clothing for sinners in the Garden of Eden.� Dorcas was carrying on this ministry of grace.

�� Because of her example Dorcas societies are now world wide, and women by the thousands have provided clothing for the needy.� Only in eternity will we ever begin to know the full impact of this one woman's good works.� She is an outstanding example to both men and women of the importance of good works in the Christian life.� For millions of Christians this is the only way they can make their lives count for the kingdom of God.

�� Everyone who knows the Gospel knows that we are saved, not by our own works, but by the work of Christ on the cross.� Salvation comes by faith in His finished work for us.� Good works are not a means for our salvation, but they are an expression of our salvation.� If we truly trust in Christ, and love Him as Lord, then we will obey His command to love our neighbor as our self.� This can only be obeyed in a meaningful way by good works.� That is why Paul writes in Titus 3:8, "Affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works."� Paul implies that it is easy for Christians to forget the importance of good works.� We need to be constantly reminded not to become weary in well doing.�

�� Arthur W. Pink, the famous Bible expositor, said, "This expression 'good works' is found in the New Testament in the singular or plural number no less than 30 times; yet from the rarity with which many preachers use, emphasize, and enlarge upon them, many of the hearers would conclude that these words occur but once or twice in all the Bible."� The reason for this neglect is that they don't want people to think they can be saved by doing good.� To avoid this the church has produced millions of Christians who feel they can be good Christians and not a thing.� The poet rightly questions this emphasis.�

If a man would be a soldier

He'd expect of course to fight;

And he couldn't be an author

If he didn't try to write.

So it isn't common logic,‑

Doesn't have the right true ring‑

That a man, to be a Christian,

Doesn't have to do a thing.

�� The lack of emphasis on good works is what leads Christianity to become a spectator religion.� Jesus meant for all believers to be involved in the ministry of meeting human need.� The good news about good works is that everybody can do them.� Those who feel ungifted can still do many works of kindness.� Vance Havner, the great American evangelist, wrote, "We ought not to belittle the do‑gooders.� Our Lord went about doing good.� Good works are not enough, but any faith that is without good works is not enough either.� Some of our ultra‑conservative Bible students could mix in a little do‑gooding to great profit.� A cup of cold water in His name sometimes means more than a gallon of theology."

�� A college student who is late for class said, "I am sorry I am late, but my watch was wrong.� I guess I should not have faith in this watch."� The professor replied, "What you need in that watch is not faith, but good works."� That is what we need in the Christian life as well.� Someone said that faith without works is about as powerful as a butterfly's hiccup.� James went even further and said, "Faith without works is dead."� It is true that we must warn the self‑righteous who hope to pull themselves into heaven by their own works, that salvation is in trusting, and not in trying.� But let's not keep telling this to those who are already saved by trusting, for to them good works and trying are the key to the growing Christian life and eternal reward.�

�� The choice is not to either trust or to try, but rather, there is the third choice which is the uniting of the other two, and both trust and try.� Depending on God to guide and the Holy Spirit to produce fruit, you'd give your life to deeds and actions that are beneficial to others.� As Meg Woodson says in her attempt to get Christians back to the stream of good works, "Paul did not say I can't, but Christ can.� He said, I can through Christ.� I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."�

�� She warns Christians to get away from the defeatism of constantly teaching Christians they can't do anything.� This leaves them with the excuse when nothing is done that Christ must not have willed it.� This is a cop out of our responsibility.� Good works happen because we choose to obey Christ.� They don't happen because we choose to wait and see if Christ will do them without our efforts.� All we will learn is that He won't.�

�� We are always in danger of taking the exception and making it the rule.� In the Old Testament the Jews fought many battles.� In one against Moab God said in II Chron. 20:17, "You will not need to fight in this battle; take your position, stand still, and see the victory of the Lord on your behalf."� God won that battle for them.� Had they taken this as the pattern for all their battles, and just came to watch, they would have been destroyed.� God in His sovereignty does much without us, but His basic pattern never changes.� He expects us to put forth energy, and use all our gifts and talents to be channels of His grace in the world.

�� Without women who did good works the world would be without so much that has been the salt of the earth.� Examples are near endless of widows who have devoted their lives to Christian service.� Henrietta Feller lost her husband and child to death.� She decided to leave Switzerland and go to Canada to be a missionary.� She was robbed and persecuted, and suffered greatly, but she persisted in love.� She started a school in 1836.� A Baptist pastor in Montreal helped her raise funds for a building.� It grew to over 300 people, and its graduates have gone into all the world as missionaries.� Thank God for the Dorcas's of history who have been doers, and by their good works have made it a world with much good news to balance out the bad.� Next let's consider‑

II. THE GRIM WASTE OF HER DEATH.

�� We are obviously in early church history here, for no one on the scene, and not ever Peter, came up with the� modern thought that the Lord must have taken her because her work was done.� This is a popular idea based on human feelings and speculation, and not on the revelation of God.� The work of Darcas is never done, and even when she died the second time and entered the eternal world for good, her work was not done.� The work of doing good and helping the poor is a never ending task.�

�� When Dorcas got so sick death came as an enemy, and not a friend.� She still had so much potential for service.� This is what makes death an enemy.� It robs us of life and the potential to do good.� You cannot help but feel that it is such a waste when a young person, who is full of life and enthusiasm, is suddenly removed by death.� It is a terrible waste, and the lost of Dorcas was just such an event.� Her life was such a blessing to others, and now she is gone and the blessing of her hand will cease.� Not everyone leaves a gap when they die.� Some are ready to die, and their work really is done.� They have given all they can give, and they are ready to depart and be with Christ.� If this was the only role of death in life, to remove us when we are through with our tasks, then death would be a friend and servant, and not a negative thing at all.� But death does not limit its role to those who are ready.� It is constantly touching the unready as well, and taking those who have only begun to serve.

�� I knew a young 33 year old pilot for Mission Aviation Fellowship who died along with two other missionaries in a plane crash in Indonesia.� He was a very talented and dedicated young man.� He had many years of service for the kingdom in him yet, but he crashed and died.� I thought of what a waste it was.� Some might say the Lord called him home because his work was done, but this is superficial to me, for now they need another pilot to do what he was doing.� There was nothing finished about his work at all.� This type of thing has happened to many missionaries, and those in other kinds of Christian service.�

�� Dorcas is dead, but she was not done with her task.� Joppa was a seaport from which many sailors left never to return.� Their ships would go down in storms, or be dashed to pieces on the rocks.� The result was a city with many widows and children without support.� Dorcas loved to serve them, and the need for this was endless.� You don't hear Peter coming on the scene and saying her work was done.� Instead, he does what he has never done before, and will never do again, as far as we have any record.� He will pray that Dorcas be allowed to live again and continue her unfinished work.� Peter must have said what a waste as he listened to the widows sharing how much Dorcas meant to them as they wept and showed him the garments she had made for them and their children.� Peter was moved by this, like Jesus was moved by the scene at the tomb of Lazarus, and he vowed in his heart he would seek with all his might to reverse this tragic waste.

�� The lesson for us is not to pray for the dead to be raised.� As we noted, that prayer has only been answered for a couple of deaths in all of biblical history.� To call it a long shot is an understatement.� The value I see in being honest about the wastefulness of death is that it makes us take the battles of good and evil more serious.� Christians have a tendency to try and incorporate death into the family of God's servants.� They try to pretend it is really no robber, but only a mysterious friend.� This kind of thinking makes the enemies of the kingdom to be children of light.� Those who killed James and Stephen were really doing the will of God then, for their work was supposedly over, and God was calling them home.� If this was so, then there is no such thing as evil, for everything then is of God, and is good.�

�� Such thinking as this makes the Christian very superficial and unrealistic about life, and about the real battle of good and evil.�� It is far better to face reality and recognize that death is an enemy, and that it is an enemy that sometimes wins a battle even if it cannot win the war. Christians are cut down before they have finished their work, and it is a tragic waste.� Had Dorcas not been selected to be the one woman of history to illustrate the resurrection power of Jesus, there would have been blessings lost that never would have been.� But the good news is that though her work for Christ was not finished, the work of Christ for her was finished.�

�� She was ready to die anytime, however, untimely and wasteful it may seem from the human perspective.� She would walk with Christ in a beautiful white garment provided by His finished work on the cross.� She would not lose by her untimely death, but the world would.� That is why the Christians were weeping.� It was not for her, but for themselves, for they lost one so precious and helpful to them.� Peter does not rebuke their tears, nor is there any hint that they are out of line, for the fact is, the death of one whose life is a blessing to others is a waste of what is good and valuable, and we have a right to mourn such loss.� The consolation is in the fact that the dead in Christ are with Christ, and as Paul says, that is far better.�

�� Every Christian needs to be like Dorcas, and regardless of there is to do, and all of the unfinished service to perform, we must be ever ready to depart and be with Christ.� You can only be ready by trusting in Christ as Savior.� Dorcas was a woman of faith that worked.� That must be our faith as well.� We must ask Christ to come into our lives and be our Savior, and then be doers of His will to be ready for death.� Then the worst that death can do is waste time, for eternity is safe in the Savior.� Next let's consider‑

III. THE GLORIOUS WITNESS OF HER RESURRECTION

�� Dorcas belongs to that very exclusive group of people that God has permitted to come back from the dead.� There are only 7 of them besides Christ in all of the Bible.� Some think there are possibly 8.� The majority of them were young people.� Elijah and Elisha each raised up a young boy in the Old Testament. Jesus raised up the 12 year old daughter of Jairus, and the young man who was the only son of the widow of Nain.� Paul raised up the young man Eutychus who fell from the window.� That makes 5 out of the 7 as teenagers or less.� That means Lazarus and Dorcas were the only two adults in all of Bible history to be raised from the dead.� One man and one woman, and both of them noted for one thing, and that was their loving relationship to others.�

�� The fact that there is only one adult of each sex to have been raised speaks loud and clear that nobody has any basis to expect such an experience.� All of the great men and women of biblical history died and were not brought back to life.� Just before Dorcas died James and Stephen, who were outstanding leaders of the church, were martyred, and nobody even prayed for their resurrection.� Death was accepted as the end of earthly service.� My point is, Dorcas like Lazarus, was a very unique individual.� God used these two people to bear a special witness to the world.� He both cases there were many who believed in Christ because of their resurrection.� Great fruit came into the kingdom because of their unique experience.

�� People were deeply impressed by the fact that God would give Dorcas new life.� It was a confirmation of the Gospel.� It not only showed that Christ can conquer death, but also that God does love people.� What could be greater proof than the restoring to life one who could go on ministering to those who so desperately needed her help.� The skeptics and the doubters were overwhelmed.� They said, the God who gives back a Dorcas is indeed a God of love, and they submitted to the Lord whom she loved and served. It was the witness of her life before she died that made the witness of her resurrection so powerful. Had she not been a loving person who reached out to touch the lives of those around her, her resurrection would just be a spectacular event like magic. People would talk about it, but it would have made no difference to anyone's life.

�� There is no escaping the conclusion. The miracle of resurrection only had the power to move people to Christ because� the good works of Dorcus had already pointed them in His direction. Good works evangelism is a biblical reality, and many people come to Christ because of the good works of believers.� Believers found joy, and unbelievers found Jesus because Dorcus the Doer was alive and well again. The sickness that killed her was healed, and she was back to work meeting the needs of people. The witness of her resurrection goes on to this day, and every May 25th there is a festive celebration of the anniversary of Dorcus by the Christians in that part of the world.

�� Dorcus was her Greek name, and it, like Tabitha her Aramaic name, means gazelle‑a beautiful animal. Joppa, the city she lived in, means beautiful in the Hebrew. God chose a beautiful place to do a beautiful miracle for a beautiful woman who had devoted her life to doing beautiful deeds. This tells us something about what God loves, and about what true beauty� really is.� Edgar Guest portrays for us in poetry the message of the life of Dorcus.

The beauty of a lily and the beauty of a face

Make bright a gloomy corner and exalt the common place;

But there's nothing shines so brightly in this world of human need,

As the beauty and glory of a kind and thoughtful deed.

There are lovely things to look at‑there's the blue shy and the sun�� And the hilltops in the distance, and the works that men have done

And the best of God's creations, in this world of joy and smart,

And the helping hand of service and the big and generous heart.

There is beauty in a lily, and there's beauty in the hills,

There is beauty in the blossoms wet with dew the morning spills;

But the richer, lasting beauty which this world forever needs,

Through its days of tribulation, is the beauty of our deeds.

�� Dorcus was single, and we do not know if she ever was married. Her only family was the family she formed for herself by her labors of love. No single person ever needs to feel secondary in God's plan, for the job of doing good works is open to all equally. History would be emptied of so much of its joy without single women like Dorcus, Jane Addams, Fransis Willard, Florence Nightingale, and numerous others that we may not recognize, but who are known to God, and to the millions of individuals who have been richly blessed by their good works.� May God motivate all of us to meet needs by good deeds like Dorcus the Doer.

�

8.�� RACISM�� Based on Acts 10:28

�� George W. Gradleck, a German psychiatrist, said that it is truer that our lives live us than that we live our lives.� What he meant was that repression, early loyalties and prejudices can get such a grip on one�s life that they compel one to be what he is.� Once the attitude of racism, for example, gets into a person�s mind it takes an act of God to cleanse a person and set them free from its clutches.� Benjamin E. Mays in his book Seeking To Be Christian In Race Relations wrote, �It is probably easier to be Christian in any other area of life than it is in the area of race.� Here the practice of the Christian religion seems to break down most completely.��

�� Since the killing of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I have witnessed the power of prejudice in the Christian life.� I have seen Christian people openly acknowledge that hate rather than love is the strongest factor in determining their racial attitudes.� If I was a black Christian listening to some of the conversations of white Christians within the church, I would conclude that these people fail to bear witness to the power of Christ to change human hearts.� This judgment would be true in part, but on the other hand the Bible makes it clear that even born again people are far from the ideal of all things becoming new.� The old clings to us and will not dissolve apart from the direct action of the Holy Spirit.� This is what we see in our text.�

�� Peter had a wall of prejudice built up in him over the years of his training in Judaism.� The Gentiles were unclean, and to associate with them intimately was to defile yourself.� Peter was a leader of the church.� He had spent 3 years with Jesus, and yet he still had a narrow racist attitude.� It took a direct revelation from God to get Peter to change the pattern of racism in his life.� This is recorded for the benefit of all ages to deal with believers who have a problem with prejudice.� God made it clear to Peter that he was not to call any man common or unclean.� The Gospel was a universal Gospel. �It was to go to all people, which means that all people are equal before God.� They are all equally sinners, and they are all equally free to become saints by faith in Christ, whose blood atoned for all people equally.�

�� Peter said it was unlawful and against his conscience to enter into fellowship with Gentiles, but God broke through the barriers of both law and conscience to show him that all men were to be accepted as equals in the church.� Revelation is superior to tradition, law or conscience.� The Christian is to obey God�s Word even if it means to break with all that you have been taught by your parents, church or society.� This is what Peter did when he entered the home of Cornelius.� God not only approved, but He demanded that Peter break with the traditions of Judaism.� Christianity was to be inclusive of all peoples.� In Christ there was to be no segregation, discrimination or class. Paul says that the citizens of the kingdom were to be treated as equals without distinction between Greek of Jew, circumcision or un-circumcision, barbarian , Sythian, bond or free, but all were to be one in equality.

�� This was the ideal within the kingdom that was to determine the attitude of Christians toward all lost peoples.� The Gospel was to go to all people regardless of race or color.� Fhillip was led of the Holy Spirit to reach the Ethiopian Eunuch of the Negroid race as one of the first fruits of missions.� Apparently the Holy Spirit considered them to be worthy of the Gospel just as he did the Jews.� Unfortunately, not all Christians have agreed with the Holy Spirit.� This was not the case in the early church or through the Middle Ages.� Economic factors in the modern world have also led to problems of racism.� By racism I mean what Webster�s Dictionary defines as, �Assumption of inerrant racial superiority or the purity and superiority of certain races, and consequent discrimination against other races...��

�� The Christian cannot be a racist, for God�s Word is clear that all men are sinners that fall short of the glory of God.� One can be proud of one�s race and its achievements, which may be superior to those of other races without being a racist.� A racist is one who assumes that his superiority gives him the right to oppress or discriminate against another.� This is where the evil comes in.� This attitude developed in the white race toward the black race out of economic exploitation.� Whenever men choose mammon rather than God, great evil arises.� Sugar planting in the West Indies required many slaves, and Europe exploited Africa to get them. Some of the leaders in Africa were glad to sell their own people into slavery for personal advantage.� Every race has its Judases.� On the other hand, there were others who wanted to stop the slave trading.� When Manni ruled the Congo in 1526 he appealed to the West to send missionaries, but instead they sent slave traders.� It has happened time and time again that when the door is open for evangelism the church holds back and exploiters move in.

�� There is no telling what Africa might be today if Christianity would have been prepared to fulfill the Great Commission.� This happened during the time of the Reformation when the Catholic church was corrupt and the Protestants were too busy to get involved in missions.� While the church did nothing the secular world busied itself in cashing in on the black gold of Africa.� Slavery became big business, and out of it grew racism.� Racism is a form of rationalization.� Men had to promote race prejudice, and make the black out to be inferior in order to justify the cruelty of slavery.� Racism became essential for good business.

�� In the 1660's the planter class in America drafted and passed laws that made blacks servants for life, and intermarriage was outlawed.� Racism developed with the decision to ground the economic system on slavery.� This was the beginning of one of the longest wars in history, which was the war between the blacks and the whites in America.� It has been going on for over 400 years, and there has been great violence involved.� Every period of peace was only a time for the volcano of hate to build up pressure for the next eruption. The blacks would put on their mask and pretend to accept the system, but only until another leader would come along fight for their freedom. Paul Dunbar has expressed how they felt in his poetry. He wrote,

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries

To Thee from tortured souls arise.

We sing but oh the clay is vile

Beneath our feet, and long the mile;

But let the world dream otherwise,

We wear the mask.

�� The very first response of the Negro to white power was black power.� The direct violent resistence is not a technique that needs to be developed, for it is the natural response.� The Negro began with sit-downs and hunger strikes on the slaves ships.� They were shackled together and guards walked the decks with cutlasses.� The blacks didn�t stand a chance, but there were repeated uprisings.� There are 55 documented mutinies between 1699 and 1845, and there are fragmentary references to 200 more.� Many of revolts took place on land, and in some places the blacks encouraged Indians to rebel.� The black man was always the loser, however, and it is estimated that in this 400 year battle 100 million blacks have perished, and 20 million have been scattered over the Western Hemisphere.�

�� The Negro battle for freedom has been extremely frustrating up until modern times.� When Dr. King had the inscription put on his grave: �Thank God I�m free at last,� he was following a tradition.� An old Negro spiritual goes,

Oh freedom; oh, freedom

Oh, Lord, freedom over me,

And before I�d be a slave

I�d be buried in my grave

An� go home to my Lord and be free.

� ��Death was the only escape from bondage for centuries.� The American slave was the absolute possession of his master, and he had no rights that white men were bound to respect.� The old South was a totalitarian system dominated by the planter party.� Human slavery was the party line and no deviation was permitted in the church, school or legislature.� Everything bad you can say about the persecution of Christians you say about how the white Americans treated blacks.� Freedom was against the law.� It was un-American to even hint that all men were equal, or that they had rights.� You can easily understand then why the majority of blacks were anti-Christian.� Even those who were Christians were very negative toward the whites.

�� One of the ironies of the whole thing is that the Negro was made a slave because of his superiority.� The planters tried to enslave the American Indians, but they tended to sicken and die laboring in the fields.� The poor white slaves were more durable, but it was too easy for them to flee and get lost in the general population.� It was the Negro alone that could hold up under the burden of enforced labor, and his color made it impossible for him to hide. Once it was determined that they were the best for slaves the rationalization for racism developed rapidly.� Their fitness for slavery was considered to be providential to the slave holder.� They considered it the law of God that the blacks be slaves to the whites.� Theology and science were both used to support racism.� The Christian church was in bondage to the economic system, and it ignored the revelation of God to Peter about calling no man common.� They went right back to pre-New Testament days where Jews and Gentiles had a wall between them.� Now it was white and black but the wall was there.�� With this background we can better understand why racism is still a problem in our day.

9.�� BARNABAS THE ENCOURAGER� Based on Acts 11:19‑30

�Words are powerful tools of influence.� All of us can speak words and so all of us have the power to encourage or discourage others.� The life of Victor Sirebianca is a radical illustration of the power of words.� His teacher said to him, "You are a dummy.� You will never graduate.� You will always be a dummy.� Go get a vocation and stop wasting your time and everybody else's."� Victor figured she should know what she was talking about, and so he dropped out of school.� For the next 16 years he just bummed around the country working at different jobs.

�� He was 32 years old and going nowhere as a dummy.� Then an acquaintance said to him, "You should go and get tested to see just what you potential is.� You could amount to something."� With this encouragement Victor went and got tested.� He discovered that he had an IQ of 160.� He was a genius.� He decided to act like a genius and he began to invent things and get patents on them.� Then he wrote a best seller book.� He became the International Chairman of the Amenza Society where you have to have an IQ of 140 to be a member.� Because somebody encouraged him to be what he could be he stopped being a dummy and became the genius he was.� He was always a genius, of course, but the fact is, he was also a dummy for believing the words of discouragement.�

�� We believe what we tell ourselves about ourselves, and if we are influenced by negative people, we will have a negative self‑image.� If we believe the encourager we will have a positive self‑image.� That is why every person is truly blest if they have a Barnabas in their lives, for Barnabas was an encourager.� He always saw the good side of people.� He saw past their failures to their potential for good.� It is amazing we do not know Barnabas better, for he is one� of the most influential men in the New Testament.� He played a major role in the early history of the church, and a major role in the lives of the men who wrote the New Testament.� Yet he seems like an obscure person because we do not know much about him compared to Matthew, Mark, Luke and Paul.� He was a man behind the scenes who encouraged great men like them to be all they could be.

�� The first man he greatly encouraged was Paul.� When Paul was first converted Christians were afraid of him.� He had been a brutal enemy of the Christian faith.� He had arrested many and had even aided in their deaths.� The Christians in Jerusalem were fearful when he came.� Acts 9:26 says, "When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple."� This was a very strange situation for Paul.� He wanted to be their friend, but they were suspicious.� The next verse provided the solution.� Verse 27 says, "But Barnabas took him and brought him to the Apostles."� Barnabas took him right to the top and made it clear that Paul was truly converted and was a great messenger of the Gospel.� After this Paul could move about freely and speak boldly in the name of Jesus.� Barnabas was the friend that helped Paul overcome his bad image and become an accepted spokesman of the faith.�

�� Barnabas went on to play a major role in the history of Paul.� In Acts 11 we see the church at Jerusalem sending Barnabas to Antioch where many were coming to Christ.� Verse 23 says that when he saw the great work he was glad and encouraged them to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.� Verse 24 describes Barnabas:� "He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith.."� People were coming to Christ under his ministry.� He could have had all the glory of this great work, but verse 25 says that he went to Tarsus to look for Paul.� He brought him back to Antioch, and for a year they taught the faith to great numbers of people.�

�� It was there in Antioch that disciples were first called Christians.� Paul never would have been there for that great experience had Barnabas not gone to get him.�� Barnabas was the great encourager of Paul.� He was back in his hometown of Tarsus when Barnabas came to him.� Who know what was going on in his mind at that time?� Was he fading out of the picture?� Was he going to settle down in his hometown and become a professor?� We don't know what his plans were.� All we know is that Barnabas went and got him and took him into active ministry that changed his life and the rest of history.� Barnabas never wrote one word of the New Testament, but he was the encourager of the man who wrote nearly half of the New Testament.

�� In Acts 13 the Holy Spirit told the church to send Barnabas and Paul on the first missionary journey. We don't have time to follow them, but these two men started churches all over the world. In Acts 14 we have the account of their healing of a lame man in Lystra, and the people were so amazed that they began to worship Barnabas as Zeus and Paul as Hermes his chief messenger.� Not too many men in history have been mistaken for gods, but these two were, and Barnabas was thought to be the chief god‑Zeus.� The implication is that he was a big man who was impressive in his presence.� Barnabas could have been a powerful man building up his own following, but he didn't do it.� He was an encourager of others, but had no ambition to be a big shot himself.�

�� Barnabas had the gift of encouragement and he used it.� It even cost him his place in the New Testament that he might have had, but he was so set on encouraging one who needed it that it cost him much of his own reputation.�� When he and Paul were heading out to visit all the churches again, Barnabas said, "Let's take Mark with us again."� Paul said that Mark had let them down the last time and he was not going to take a quitter with them.� This led these two best friends, who had changed the course of history together, to go their separate ways.� Barnabas took Mark anyway, and Paul went with Silas.� Dr. Luke followed Paul and so the rest of the book of Acts is about him and Silas.� It could have been about Paul and Barnabas, but Barnabas refused to dump his cousin Mark.

�� He paid a heavy price for Mark.� He gave up a place in history for his sake, but he saved Mark for the kingdom of God by his act of encouragement.� This young man went on to be a worthy servant of Christ, and even Paul later acknowledged this.� He wrote in II Tim. 4:11, "Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry."� This young man he did not want to give a second chance ends up as his faithful helper because of the encouragement of Barnabas.� Mark went on to write the first Gospel that was written.� Matthew and Luke copied a great deal from his Gospel.� The man behind the scenes,� who never wrote a word of the New Testament, was a key factor in much of the New Testament writings because of his encouragement.

�� Ivan Hagedorn in Biblical Messengers Of Encouragement writes, "No one comes any closer to reflecting the true spirit of the Gospel in the entire New Testament than does Barnabas."� He was like Jesus in many ways.� Jesus wrote none of the New Testament either, but he was the one who inspired it.� Barnabas wrote none, but he was the encourager of those who did.� You can be great for the kingdom of God, not just by what you do, but by what you encourage others to do.

�� Barnabas made people feel big when they were feeling small, and he made them feel hopeful when they had failed.� He kept people going who otherwise might have given up.� To be an encourager is a great honor in God's book, for he cared more about the fame and success of others than his own.� The result was that most of his key friends are better known than he is.� But the whole family of God is richer because of it.�

�� We need to face this reality:� Not everyone has this kind of personality.� We can all strive to be like Barnabas, but we may not ever be just like him, for he was by his nature an encourager.� Barnabas was not even his real name.� His name was Joseph from Cyprus.� But in Acts 4:36 we are told that the Apostles called him Barnabas because it means Son of Encouragement.� This was his nick name and not the name on his birth certificate.� This is not what his mother called him, but this is the name he got from the leaders of the Christian faith because of the kind of guy he was.� He was an habitual encourager.

�� Every time you see him he is encouraging someone.� He sold some of his property and brought it to the Apostles to encourage them in their work of building the church.� He was generous and he gave to encourage.� That is a great motive for giving.�� You give money, time, labor, hospitality, or words‑whatever meets the needs of others because it encourages them.� He did not give to get recognition, but did all he did to encourage others.� He was the friend of everyone he met because his goal was to encourage everyone he met.� He was fun to be with because he accepted you, warts and all, and he loved you when others would let you down.� He was a people person.� Not all Christians can be this way completely, but he represents a goal toward which we are to be moving.

�� Paul was not like Barnabas all the time.� He could not defend Mark and be as compassionate as Barnabas.� Paul was more hard nosed, but that too was a needed characteristic in the church, for there were con‑men galore deceiving Christians.� Barnabas was the type that would be taken in, for he was too open to give everyone a chance.� The church needed people like Paul to protect the church, and so we see that all kinds of personalities are needed for balance.� But we can thank God for those who are like Barnabas, for encouragement is a universal need.� Many feel that it was the character of Barnabas that led the Christians at Antioch to be first called Christians.� It could very well be that we owe the very name Christian to this Christ‑like man.�

�� Gary Smalley in his book The Blessing tells of how one teacher gave him the encouragement he needed to change his life.� When he was in grade school he could not get math, and it was still a problem for him in college.� He had to repeat geometry in his senior year and it looked like he was going to fail again.� The teacher reinforced the sense of failure by putting the failing students along the back wall.� One Monday he dragged himself into the class room to be seated with all the other failures in the back row.� Then his life was suddenly changed, for there was a substitute teacher.� The regular teacher had been assigned to a different district.� It is hard to believe that a teacher can make so much difference, but listen to the testimony in Smalley's own words, and you will feel the power of a Barnabas in action.�

�� "Something that teacher said that morning literally changed my life.

In fact, it motivated me so much that I ended up minoring in mathematics

in college!� While I didn't realize it at the time, he actually blessed me

and other students in the class.� He did this by providing us with a clear

picture of an active commitment‑.....

�� Standing before the class that morning, our new teacher told us, "If

anyone fails this class, then I have failed."� He made a commitment that

morning to do whatever it took to see that we all pass the course.� He

pledged himself to see that we learn and enjoyed the subject to the best

of our abilities.� Whether that meant his staying after school to tutor us

or even coming in for a special session on the weekend, he dedicated

himself to seeing that each of us made it through the course."�

�� Smalley goes on to say that the whole attitude of the class was changed, and at the end of the year everyone passed.� He even received his first A in math.� We have no idea how many lives this teacher encouraged.� He was one of those behind the scenes people who never got his own name up in lights, but he encouraged others to go on and do their best so that they became famous and helpful to many others.� We tend to scold and criticize the weaknesses of children, but the approach of encouragement motivates children to go beyond their weakness and be over comers.�

�� The best people in care giving professions are those who see the opportunities to be a Barnabas.� Barnabas went out of his way to encourage people.� He put himself through great inconvenience and sacrificed what would have been best for him.� The surprising thing is that it is possible to be a Barnabas often by just saying words of encouragement.� It sometimes cost far less in stress and tension to be an encourager than to be a discourager.� Sherman Rogers, the industrialist writer, tells of the day he was made foreman of a logging camp in Idaho.� He was planning on firing a spiteful worker named Tony whose job it was to sand hill number two so the giant sleds would not run down men and horses working that area.� The owner of the camp came to him before he took any action and said, "Whatever you do don't bother Tony.� He's cantankerous and a holy terror sometimes, but I've never had a better sander.� Not a man or horse has ever been lost on his hill."�

�� Roger's later that morning met Tony by the fire where he was warming sand to throw on the icy hill.� He said, "Good morning.� I'm the new foreman.� The boss told me what a good man you are."� Then he told Tony what the owner had said.� Tony had tears running down his face.� He said, "Why didn't he tell me that before?� Thank you, thank you!" he said as he shook Rogers's hand.�� That night Tony was the talk of the teamsters. The next day he threw enough sand to cover a dozen hills, and he joked and smiled all day. He went on to become the superintendent of one of the biggest logging camps in the West. He said to Mr. Rogers many years later, "That one minute you talked to me back in Idaho changed my whole life."� Barnabas strikes again.

�� Mr. Rogers only passed on an encouraging message. It cost him nothing, but the owner could have done it, but did not do it. He was not necessarily a mean man, but he just was not a Barnabas, for he did not realize what a difference it could make to a man to have some encouraging words. Masses of people could be encouragers, but they just never think about it, and never realize the power they have to encourage by simple acts of kindness and words of encouragement.

�� Barnabas never held a man's past against him. So what if you were a bloody tyrant in the past, and you hurt and killed innocent people? Such was Paul, but Barnabas took him in as a friend and encouraged him to a better future. So what if you were a coward and betrayed your friends in the past? Such was Mark, but Barnabas accepted him for what he could become and not for what he was, and he became great.� Others looked to the past and said how awful, but Barnabas looked to the future and said how awesome. May God help us all to be more like this encourager.

��

10.�� JAMES THE MARTYR� Based on Acts 12:1‑3

�� A number of years ago the great tenor in Enrico Caruso was driving through New Jersey when his car broke down.� While a mechanic in a small town was repairing it Caruso struck up a conversation with the owner of the garage.� He happened to mention that his name was Caruso.� "Hey," said the owner, "Your not that guy who is so famous are you?"� The tenor modestly admitted that he was rather well known.� Excitedly the owner stepped to the door where his living quarters were, and he shouted, "Ma' guess who stopped at the station?� That explorer fellow Robinson Caruso."� Cruso and Caruso are very close, and apparently the man had a taste for adventure more than for music so Caruso was over shadowed by Cruso in his mind.

�� Men only gained fame by doing things which capture the interests of other men.�� Fame, therefore, is not a measure of a man's greatness, for many men do great things but never get fame.� It is because that what they do is not recorded.� This is true also of the 12 Apostles.� Being well known and loved by Jesus does not mean one will become well known among men.� James was one of the 3 in the inner circle of the 12, and yet he is not very prominent in the minds of most Christians.� The other two in the inner circles became the 2 most famous of the 12, and they are Peter and John.� James did not gain such fame.� Everything he did was in connection with the 3, or with his brother John.� We never see him as an individual.� There is only one place where we see James alone and that is in Acts 12:2 where he is alone in death as the first of the 12 to be martyred.� This is the only distinctive fact that we have about James.

�� Out of that inner circle came the first martyr, and in contrast to this, out of it also came the last of the Apostles to die, and that was his brother John.� They wanted the right and the left hand positions in the kingdom of Christ, but what they got was the first and last positions as far as the order of entrance into the presence of Christ through death.� John Henry Newman wrote of these 2:

Two brothers freely cast their lot

With David's royal Son;

The cost of conquest counting not,

They deem the battle won.

Brothers in heart, they hoped to gain

And undivided joy;

That man may one with man remain,

As boy was one with boy.

Christ heard, and will'd that James should fall,

First prey of Satan's rage;

John lingers out his fellows all

And die in bloodless age.

Now they joined hands once more above,

Before the Conqueror's Throne.

Thus God grants prayer, but in His love

Makes time times and ways his own.

�� All 12 Apostles died as martyrs according to tradition, but James is the only one whose death is recorded in Scripture, excluding Judas.� Of course, he was no martyr.� There is no elaboration, but just a simple statement of fact that he was killed by Herod with a sword.� Anyone today would get a more detailed obituary than that, but here is all that is said of the martyrdom of a great Christian leader.� James was one of those of whom Lowell wrote:

The bravely dumb who did their deed,

And scorned to blot it with a name;

Men of the plain heroic breed,

Who loved heaven's silence more than fame.

�� There could be no doubt that the death of James at an early stage in the history of the church is what caused him not to become as famous as Peter and John.� He did not live long enough to leave a lasting mark.� His brother John wrote a sixth of the New Testament, and all of it he wrote late in life long after James had been killed.� James wrote nothing, and so there is no letter or book to remind us of him and to reveal his character and teaching.� The book of James in the New Testament was written by James the brother of Christ, and not by James the Apostle.

�� All through Christian history we see the same pattern.� Those who live long and become mature in the faith produce Christian literature, which gives them an important place in the history of the church.� Those who are killed and die before they express themselves in writing are seldom remembered, even if they were great in the eyes of their contemporaries.� James beat his brother in gaining a vision of heaven, but John got all the fame for he wrote it down in the book of Revelation for all to read.� John knew nothing that James didn't know, but John was able to communicate it.� Martyrdom has its rewards, but so does a long life of service for Christ.� Most of us would prefer to be a John than a James, but lets not sell him short because he lacks fame.�

�� The question naturally arises as to why Herod would kill James and not one of the other Apostles.�� The answer is quite obvious for one reason in particular.� James was probably the oldest of the 12, and his age, plus his being one of the inner 3 led him to a place of prominent leadership in the early church.� the Christians and the Jews were at war, and the Christians being a minority would motivate Herod to try and please the Jews who were the majority.� James was the most likely victim, for he was the spokesman for the Christians.� When this succeeded he went after Peter next.� The clear implication is that James and Peter were the two key leaders of the church.� John was too young at this stage to be a leader.

�� The text seems to indicate, or at least leave open the possibility, that Herod killed James for some other reason, and then he learned that it pleased the Jews that he did so.� This has lead to speculation that James was a man who took after his first master John the Baptist.� John the Baptist pulled no punches in denouncing sin in high places, and especially in the house of Herod.� James may have been boldly doing the same thing, and as a result he ended the same way.� It is likely that death by the sword means that he was decapitated like John the Baptist. Whatever the case, the fact that the Jews were pleased tells us that James was a man of zeal, and that he was one they were glad to see gone.� They would not be so pleased unless James was an enthusiastic and effective opponent.� One less Christian would be nothing to rejoice about, but one less zealous leader would be.

�� Martin Luther once told an allegory in which Satan was listening to reports of his workers.� One told of how he let wild beasts loose on a caravan of Christians, and he left their bones bleaching in the sun.� Another told of sinking a ship of Christians and they all drowned.� Satan listens but is bored and unimpressed, for he said, "What of it all, their souls were not harmed."� Then one said that for 10 years he attempted to destroy the zeal of a disciple and at last he had succeeded.� Then all hell rang with the triumphant shouting of the sons of darkness.� James lost his life and his head, but he never gave hell cause for cheer, for he never lost his zeal for Christ.�

�� James and his brother John made a solid commitment to Jesus.� When he asked them in Mark 10:38 if they could drink of the cup that he drank of, and be baptized with his baptism, they said that they could.� Whether they fully understood it or not they were saying they would follow Christ in persecution and in death, and that is what they did.� Someone wrote,

Of the cup that I sup are ye able to take,

Desolation and anguish and bitter heartache?

Will ye share my despair and count all but loss

Save the rack and the anguish of Calvary's Cross.

In the fight for the right are ye willing to share

And the brunt of the battle full able to bear?

Will ye come to drum at the word of command

And the rush of enemy bravely withstand?

�� James was the first to demonstrate the depth of his commitment to Christ.� This is just about the only positive statement we can say on his behalf, for all of the other references to James are in connection with his brother John, and they are mostly negative.� Those that are not are merely neutral and simply indicate that he was among the inner circle invited to come with Jesus on special occasions.� He never took a stand different from his brother.� When his brother got angry at the Samaritans James also blew his stack and felt those small town hicks deserved to die.� He felt his indignation was righteous, but Jesus rebuked him and made it clear that he did not have the spirit he ought to have.� Some poet put it,

My son, art thou above thy Lord?

A greater one than He?

When called I for fire or sword?

Thou hast not learnt of Me:

Make truth thy sword, and love thy flame,

Then battle in thy Master's name.

�� There is every reason to believe that James did learn the lesson Jesus wanted him to learn.� We have no biblical text to support this, but only tradition.� Eusebius the historian of the early church quotes from a lost book of Clemens Alexandrimus, which tells us the only thing on record about the death of James.� A man informed Herod against James and this led to his arrest.� This informer, however, was so deeply moved by the Apostle's noble behavior at his trial that he became a Christian.� He asked James to baptize him before he was killed and he was received into the church.� This was treason to Herod, and so that man was sentenced to die with James.� The informer begged James to forgive him as they were led to the place of execution.� James kissed him and said, "Peace be unto thee."� The son of thunder was more like the Prince of Peace before he was martyred.�

�� From the point of this martyrdom on James is connected with Spain.� Legend says that his body was put in a ship by his friends, and the next morning the ship was off the coast of Spain.� His body was kept there and he became the patron saint of Spain.� Spanish tradition says that James was the founder of the church in Spain.� It seems unlikely, but it is not impossible.� Someone went there early in Apostolic days, for Paul desired to go there as if he had some reports from Spain.� Christian art pictures James with a copy of the Gospels in one hand and a Pilgrims staff in the other.� This shows that he was a traveling evangelist.

�� The story in Spain is that some hermits saw an exceeding bright star in the sky.� It continued night after night, and they heard marvelous singing coming from the star.� The bishop was informed and an investigation led the discovery of a cave under the star.� In it was found a beautiful tomb and a letter in good Spanish.� It read, "Hear lies Santiago, sun of Zebedee and Slaome, brother of St. John, whom Herod beheaded in Jerusalem."� The date of that discovery was July 25, 813, and it has been the feast day of St. James.

�� The King Alfonso II gave 3 miles of land in each direction for a shrine, and later it was increased to 6 miles.� People from all over Spain have come to see it.� It was called Santiago, which means St. James de Campostelo‑field of stars.� It rivaled Rome and Jerusalem in attracting pilgrims.� They came from England, France, and all of Western Europe.� Commerce and trade were greatly stimulated.� The Christians felt that St. James gave them victories over the Moslems.� 1492 is the date that the Americans think of as the discovery of our land, but in Spain this was the year of liberation from Moslem control.� Ferdinand and Isabella celebrated their victory by ordering a thank offering to the shine of St. James.� St. James is to Spain what George Washington is to the people of the United States.� James� became famous after all in at least one part of the world, and this may have never been had he not been the first Apostolic martyr.�

11.�� GUARDIAN ANGELS Bases on Acts 12:1‑11

�There are few stories more exciting than escape stories. One of my favorite kinds of movie when I was a kid was prison escape movies. They are so full of suspense, and the obstacles to overcome are enormous. There is a great need to be clever, and best of all, they are not fiction, but are based on fact, for history is packed with true prison escape stories.� Sometimes the key is simplicity.� Leon Daudet walked out of a French prison in 1927.� It was thought to be escape proof.� He had a friend telephone the warden and tell him that Daudet had been pardoned.� The warden believed it, and without double checking he released him.�

�� Sometimes the key is love.� In Charles Reade's book The Cloister And The Hearth he tells of how his hero Gerard was imprisoned in a tower.� All at once and arrow came whistling through the tiny window high up in the cell.� His first response was fear that someone sought to assassinate him.� But when no other arrow came he crawled about in the dark to find the mysterious arrow.� When he found it he was puzzled because of a silk cord attached.� What good was a silk cord to him?� Then it flashed in his mind that the hand of Margaret his sweetheart was behind this arrow.� He lowered the silk cord from his window, and when he felt a tug he pulled it up, and at the end was a thicker cord.� As he continued to pull a heavy rope was attached, and by means of that heavy rope he was able to escape.

�� The stories of escape are near endless, and the Bible is a great resource for escape stories.�

1. There is Lot's escape from Sodom.�

2. There is Isaac's escape from death on the altar.

3. There is Joseph's escape from the pit and Potipher's wife.

4. There is Israel's escape from Egypt.

5. There is Moses's escape from Pharaoh.

6. There is Elijah's escape from Jezebel.

7. There is David's escape from Saul.

8. There is Jonah's escape from the whale.

9. There is Jeremiah's escape from the dungeon.

10. There is Daniel's escape from the lions den.

11. There is Paul's escape from assassins, prison, and shipwreck.

12. There is Peter's escape from prison.

�� All of these escape stories have something in common.� They are stories of successful escapes do to outside help.� There are times in life when you just cannot do what needs to be done to escape bondage and be free.� You need someone else to be there on the outside who can lend you a hand.� Sometimes we need to depend on a friend, lover, or family member, and sometimes we need to depend on resources that go beyond what any man or woman can supply.� We need to depend on the� supernatural means that God alone can supply.�

�� In Peter's case it was a guardian angel.� As we face another year with all of its potential for conflict and victory, bondage and freedom, I thought is would be of value for us to explore what the Bible says about these unique beings that can be our allies in the battle of life.� Hardly anyone ever preaches on this special class of beings called guardian angels.� They have been around a long time, and the Jews developed the idea that everyone has a guardian angel.� The early Christian leaders like Origen and Chrysostom also believed that every Christian has such a guardian.

�� Many felt that the guardian was actually a look‑alike of the one he was guarding. �Angels were seen as doubles.� If this theory is true, then it means everybody does have a twin; if not on earth then in heaven.� This theory is based on Peter's experience in verse 15.� Rhoda ran to tell the Christians praying for Peter that he was at the door.� They had some debate and told her she was crazy.� When she insisted she saw Peter, they responded that it must be his angel.� These Christians felt that this person at the door who looked like Peter must be his guardian angel.� In other words, they felt Peter had an angel that looked just like him.� It is a fascinating theory which the early Christians used to give dignity to the individual.� Every age struggles with self‑esteem.� They stress that every person is of such worth to God that He has another one just like them in His presence.� If one just like you is good enough to stand in God's presence and serve Him, then who are you to belittle yourself?�

�� Not all Christians accept this theory, and not all Christians believe that every Christian has a special guardian.� Calvin felt that angels in general are assigned to minister to man, but not specific angels for specific men.� B.B. Warfield felt that the assignments of guardian angels were temporary for a specific time and need, and not a permanent assignment for life.�

�� There is a host of different ideas about these beings, but all Christians have had some conviction about them.� They are not too unlike the creatures today which we call viruses.� Everybody believes in these creatures that we do not see, and there is a host of different ideas about them, even among doctors.� They have a great effect on our lives even though we never see them, and they are really tough to figure out.� They come in so many varieties� that they are hard to nail down and classify.� Science has its mysteries, and it deals with materialism.� So it is not surprising that theology should have its mysteries, for it deals with the spiritual realities of life.� Just as no doctor would presume to stand up and try to tell us he knows everything about viruses, so no theologian will presume to tell you all about guardian angels.� But I can tell you something worth knowing and exploring as we focus on three points.�

I. THE REALITY OF GUARDIAN ANGELS.

�� Our first and highest source of support for the existence of such beings is the Bible, and the most authoritative word is that of Jesus Himself.� Jesus had to know He was opening up a door to endless speculation by saying what He did, but He said it anyway.� In Matt. 18:10 He said, "See that you do not look down on one of these little ones.� For I tell� you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven."� Jesus gives a great deal of dignity to the life of every child by this saying.�

�� This becomes the foundation for the idea that every little child has been assigned a guardian angel.� Jesus goes on to tell the parable of the lost sheep; the one that wanders away from the fold.� The shepherd will leave the 99 and go find that one lost sheep, and be so glad when he does.� Jesus says the Father in heaven is not willing that anyone of the little ones be lost.� The implication is that angels are the heavenly shepherds who watch over the children.�

�� The mind goes wild with questions at this point.� Why then do children die, and why do millions grow up and go astray, and be lost to the kingdom?� At this point we are not addressing the problem, but just addressing the issue of the reality of such beings as guardian angels.� This text simply puts the testimony of Jesus on the side of the evidence that they do exist.

�� Psa. 91:11 opens up this idea to a wider sphere of influence.� It lets us see the possibility of adults also having their guardian.� It says, "For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways."� It is of interest to note that the very next verse is the one Satan used to tempt Jesus.� It says, "They will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against the stone."�

The red light should flash in our minds if Satan's first try to trick Jesus was by a focus on the role of guardian angels.� It means we are dealing with one area of truth in which it is easy to be deceived.� It is possible to make some very presumptuous and dangerous choices based on guardian angels.� Satan thought maybe even Jesus would blow this truth out of proportion and take a chance that would benefit the kingdom of darkness. They are real, but we need to be cautious about what we do with their reality.

�� These beings are very active in the book of Acts, and jail breaks are their specialty. Peter and other Apostles are put in jail in Acts 5, and verse 19 says, "But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out." There is no doubt that a guardian angel is a prisoner's best friend. No phone calls, no waiting for bail, no trial; you just walk out as the door opens, and go free. Strange as it may sound, Paul spent a lot of time in a lot of jails, but he never had this experience that Peter had twice.� Paul had his guardian angel experience in a shipwreck, which Peter never had.� In Acts 27 Paul and 275 other prisoners, guards, and crew are fighting for their life as a storm threatens to destroy the ship. Paul encourages them to hold on for none will be lost, and he says in vv.23‑24, "Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you."

�� For two solid weeks the ship was driven across the Adriatic Sea, and the men were starving and they threw everything overboard to lighten the ship. Finally it went aground and began to break in pieces, but everyone on board was spared just as the angel had promised. You can count on it that Paul believed in the reality of guardian angels.� The evidence seems to suggest that guardian angels are involved in crisis intervention.� They never seem to appear in everyday life when all is going well.� They are usually involved in life and death situations.� Even in the life of Christ we see this.� As a baby his life was in jeopardy when Herod sought to kill him.� That is when we see the guardian angel of the baby Jesus go to work.� He came to Joseph in a dream and told them to escape to Egypt.�

�� I think we are safe in saying that the Bible supports the reality of guardian angels, and if you believe in the Bible, you are committed to belief in them.� Consider next the conviction of Christians through the centuries.

1. St. Ambrose, the great preacher of the 4th century, said, "The angels must be entreated for us, who have been given to guard us."�

2. St. John of Damascus of the 8th century felt that they not only guarded us as individuals, but as nations.�

3. St. Thomas Aquinas, the greatest of the Catholic theologians, felt that angels were to us what we are to animals.� We protect them and preserve them.� The higher looks after the lower, and so angels look after us.�

4. John Calvin said, "The angels are the dispensers and administrators of the divine beneficence toward us.� They regard our safety, undertake our defense, direct our ways, and exercise a constant solicitude that no evil befall us."

5. In the 17th century the church even had a feast of the guardian angels, and they used this prayer poem:

��

�� King of Kings, and Lord most high!

�� This of Thy dear love we pray;

�� May Thy guardian angel nigh

�� Keep us from all sin this day.

�� Here is a new slant on their duties.� They are not just to protect from

�� danger of the body, but of the soul as well.� A more contemporary poet put��

�� it like this:

�� The Lord preserve Thy going out,

�� The Lord preserve Thy coming in;

�� God send His angels round about,

�� To keep Thy soul from every sin.

�� This is a role that makes the angels have a more spiritual goal, but the

�� most popular idea is still the idea of their role in physical deliverance.

�

6. A family camping in Estes Park, Colorado were enjoying the outdoors,

�� and mother was preparing dinner when all of the sudden she stopped.� She

�� heard someone say, "Where is your son?"� She ran frantically to the nearby

�� stream just in time to see the little head of her boy come to the surface.� Not�

�� far down the stream was the yawning mouth of a tunnel.� If she did not get

�� her son out of that stream, it would soon be too late.� She ran along the

�� bank and plunged her hand into the stream.� She caught his arm and

�� pulled him to safety.� Had that voice not spoken just when it did, that child

�� would have been gone.� There was a mother who believed in guardian

�� angels.

7. Ruth Graham, Billy Graham's wife, lived through a dangerous childhood

with her missionary parents in China.� Rats were an ever present menace,

and one night Ruth let out a scream.� Her parents came running to find

rats all over her body, and her right hand covered with blood.� One had

bitten off a part of her finger.� She needed a guardian angel just to survive

the environment.� One day she was playing in the mission garden, and she

found an object in the soil.� She dug it out and was playing with it.� She

finally hung it on a nearby tree.� One of the hospital workers recognized

it, quickly snatched it, and threw it into a bucket of water.� It was a live

grenade.� She could have so easily been killed had she activated it, but

she was protected.�

8. John Hay, who became one of Lincoln's private secretaries, and later

became assistant Secretary of State, wrote of his 4 year old son who

was left in the wagon while he went into the store.� The horses were

spooked, and they took off across the prairie.� Snow began to fall hard,

and a search party was sent out.� They found the horses and wagon tipped

over and covered with a mound of snow.� But there was no sight of the boy.

The search continued until they found a little shed, and inside the boy was

huddled together with some little lambs to keep warm.� Hays wrote a long

poem about the experience, and the concluding lines go like this:

�� How did he git thar?� Angels.

�� He could never have walked in that storm.

�� They jest scooped down and toted him

�� To whar it was safe and warm.

�� And I think that saving a little child,

�� And bringing him to his own,

�� Is a derned sight better business

�� Than loafing around the Throne.

9. History is filled with stories of deliverance and protection that go beyond

any physical explanation.� Elizabeth Elliot tells about her father.� When he

was a boy he climbed up to the upper story of a house that was being built.

He walked to the end of a board not realizing it was not nailed at the other

end.� It began to tip, and he knew he was doomed.� But then it began to go

back down as if someone was standing on the other end.� He saw nothing,

but he always wondered if it had been an angel, for his life was spared by

some unseen force.

10.� The evidence of the Bible and Christian experience is so strong and

�� widespread that it is hard for Protestants to find any basis to object

�� when Pope Pius XII said this to some American pilgrims, "No one is

�� so humble, but he has angels to attend him.� So glorious, so pure, so

�� wonderful they are, and yet they are given to be your fellow‑wayfarers,

�� charged to watch carefully over you, lest you fall away from Christ, their

�� Lord.� Not only they wish to defend you against dangers lurking along the

�� way; they are also active at your side with a word of encouragement to

�� your souls, as you strive to ascend higher and higher to closeness to God

�� through Christ."�

Here are some testimonies of guardian angels experiences:

1. Norma Zimmer, star of the popular Lawrence Welk Show for 18 years, tells of when her son was very ill.� "Suddenly I noticed a brightness behind me.� I looked around.�� Standing near the bed was a lovely young blonde woman with a white blouse and a dark skirt.� I was stunned!� I was not sleeping‑in fact, I was very wide awake.� Transfixed, I watched her for what seemed like 30 seconds.� She just stood there with a radiant smile on her face, looking down at Ron.� Then she faded away.� It was a glorious experience.� I felt no fear‑just awe.� I have always believed that I was permitted to see Ron's guardian angel."

2.�� Evie Tornquist in an interview on the 700 Club told of how she saw

guardian angels around her home one night when she was alone and

frightened.�

3. Pastor Rolland Buck in Boise, Idaho, who pastors a church of a 1000

members,� wrote a book called Angels On Assignment.� In it he describes

a number of encounters with guardian angels who protected him from

attacks by demons.� It stirred up a lot of controversy and brought the issue

of angels back into the spotlight of theology.�

4. Corrie Ten Boom in Marching Orders For The End Battle writes about

her experience in the Congo when there was an uprising.� "When the rebels

advanced on a school where 200 children of missionaries lived, they planned

to kill both children and teachers.� In the school they knew of the danger and

therefore went to prayer.� Their only protection was a fence and a couple of

soldiers, while the enemy, who came closer and closer, amounted to several

hundred.� When the rebels were close by, suddenly something happened:

They turned around and ran away!� The next day the same thing happened

and again on the third day.�

�� One of the rebels was wounded and was brought to the mission hospital.

When the doctor was busy dressing his wounds, he asked him:� 'Why did

you not break into the school as you planned?'

�� 'We could not do it.� We saw hundreds of soldiers in white uniforms and

we became scared.'

�� In Africa soldiers never wear white uniforms, so it must have been angels.

What a wonderful thing that the Lord can open the eyes of the enemy so that

they see angels!� We have faith in the Bible, and by faith we see invisible things."

5. Many have testified of seeing angels on their death bed. The interesting thing

is that males often see female angels, and females see male angels.� It is as if we

are guarded by the opposite sex.� Another note of interest is that most only have

one angelic visit that they see, even though they have many needs for such who

guard and guide them.� Quite often people see two white dressed men.� Many

have seen angels escort the dead into heaven.

6. A. C. Gaebelein in The Angels Of God says, "The great men of God in the

past in every century record miraculous escapes from threatening dangers

which they could not explain in any other way but by the ministry of the angels.

The second point we want to look at is‑

II. THE RESISTENCE TO GUARDIAN ANGELS.

�� In spite of all the evidence in the Bible and history, there is a resistance to

this truth.� It is not that we want to reject the reality of guardian angels, but

we have some serious problems with taking them too serious.� The primary one

is their inconsistency.� You cannot really count on them to be there for a special

delivery just when you most need it.

�� It is true that Jesus was spared as a baby by His guardian angel, but what about

the other boy babies of Bethlehem?� Herod got to them.� If they had guardian

angels, they were either on vacation at the time, or they were very incompetent

because the children did not escape.� It would seem that for every miraculous escape

there are dozens, if not hundreds, of stories when the child did fall and get killed,

and when the child did drown, or did get hit by the car, and did swallow the poison

and die.� Joni Erickson Tada wondered why God could not have spared one

guardian angel to keep her from making that fateful dive that broke her neck.

In her case you could argue that her injury made her a far more powerful

instrument for the glory of God.� But that is not the case with most people

who break their necks.�

�� John the Baptist was announced by the angel Gabriel.� He was a miracle

baby, and he was a special person in God's plan.� Jesus called him the greatest

born of women under the Old Testament system.� If anyone ought to have had

angel protection, you would think it would be John.� Yet the Bible makes it

clear that he was violently killed by his evil enemies with no sign of angelic

struggle to prevent it.� James and Stephen were also martyred by their enemies.

Many other Christians in the early centuries, and many more in the 20th

century have been martyred.�

�� All of this leads the Christian to develop resistance to the idea of guardian

angels.� If you cannot count on them, then you are better off not even taking

them into consideration.� They fall into the same category as a plastic saint

on the dash board, or a lucky rabbit's foot.� It almost seems like a superstition

to have any faith in the protection of guardian angels.� Emerson expressed

the question of thousands of parents who have lost children.�

�� Was there no star that could be sent,

�� No watcher in the firmament,

�� No angel from the countless host

�� That loiter round the crystal coast,

�� Could stoop to heal that only child?

�� We are forced to conclude by the facts of the Bible, history, and experiences,

that there is no basis for the believer to claim any right to be protected from all

accidents, natural disasters, laws of nature, and evil forces.� It is not that such

protection does not happen, for it is a frequent reality, but it is not an automatic

reality that we can depend on.� It is purely a matter of grace.

�� I was surprised to find in the book of illustrations by Clarence Macartney

two illustrations supporting the idea that Christians become guardian angels

when they die.� He tells of Theodosia Burr, the gifted daughter of Aaron Burr

who wrote to her husband who was governor of South Carolina as she was

dying:� "If it is permitted, I will hover around you, and guard you and

intercede for you."� After telling another story of a man who received knowledge

about a distant aunt that died by means of a vision he wrote, "... it is not strange

that such an office‑the guardian angel's ministry‑ should be assigned to our loved

ones who have gone before us."� As a matter of fact, it is strange, for as far as

I have been able to discover he is the only one who has ever dreamed of such an

idea.� There is no support in the Scripture for such an idea.� Even great men

get some strange ideas about beings like guardian angels.� Our third point is‑

III. THE RECONCILIATION OF POINTS ONE AND TWO.

�� There must be some way to deal with the dilemma of a clear obligation

to believe something, and an overwhelming basis for doubt.� How can this

contradictory evidence be true for both?� There must be some way to

reconcile these two categories.� The key is to simply recognize the limitations

�of guardian angels.� God has limited Himself in relation to the gift of

freedom.� He cannot let us be free, and still make us do His will.� If He could, His will would always be done.� If God has limited Himself, then, of course, His servants have this same limitation.