Acts 4

If you don't heal me, where else will I go? If you don't save me, where else will I go? If you don't correct me, where else will I go? So Lord God, we are here asking for help. We are asking for help. We are asking for help. Sing a new song unto the Lord. Let him hear the melody of your hearts. Let him hear the fruits of your lips. The words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord. May I say only what you want to hear. May I please you? Can we worship him? Can we give him what he deserves? Our blessing and honor and glory and power. He is worthy. He is worthy. He is worthy. He is worthy of the breath in my lungs. He is worthy of the, the words in my heart. He is worthy of my time. He is worthy of my energy. He is worthy of my resources. He is worthy of my attention. Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of my faith. I fix my eyes on him. I behold his glory. What we have touched, what we have seen, what we have heard, what we have handled, what we're doing is tangible. The weight of his glory, the weight of who you are. No words can carry. Who is like you, O Lord? Who is like you? Who is like you, O Lord? Who is like you? The weight of who you are No words can carry. Who is like you, O Lord? Who is like you? Who is like you, O Lord? Who is like thee? Who is like you, O Lord? Who is like thee? The weight of who you are, no one else can carry. Who is like you, O Lord? Who is like thee? Who is like unto thee? O Lord, who is like unto thee? O Lord of my gods, who is like thee, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, always doing wonders. Hallelujah! Who is like unto thee, O Lord? Who is like unto thee? O Lord, amongst the gods, who is like thee? You are glorious in holiness, you are fearful in praises. Always do— For your glory, we would do anything. Lord God, we bless you. We bless you. For you are holy. You are worthy. You are magnificent. You are all we can ever need, ask, imagine, request. Lord, you are enough. I may feel inadequate sometimes. But I know he's enough. I may feel insecure sometimes, but I know he's enough. I may feel insufficient sometimes, but I know he's enough. So I rest in this truth. That your grace is sufficient. Lord God, we bless you, we worship you, we honor you, we thank you. For in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Um, like I said, we're going to be in Acts 4. And I just feel, I just feel worship bubbling up. Um, so I just want to do a couple songs of worship. Um, Brother Eric, if you don't mind leading us in worship for one or two songs, just to, just to express this gratitude, this appreciation that I know is in the room right now. And then we'll get into the word. So the goodness that I recall of God and say, is your worthy of it all? Is your worthy of it all? Say, Lord, from you are all things, is unto you all things, is you deserve the glory. Say, you're worthy of it all, is you're worthy of it all. Is for from you are all things, and to you are all things, is yours the glory. And all the saints and angels, they bow before your throne. and all the elders bowed their crowns before the God of Zion. Yes, you're worthy of it all. Yes, you're worthy of it all. Yes, Lord, from you are all things and to you are all things. Yes, you deserve the glory. Yes, you do, God. Yes, you're worthy of it all. Yes, you're worthy of it all. Lord, from you are all things and to you are all things. You deserve the glory. It's day and night, night and day, let worship arise. It's day and night, Night and day their worship arises, yes, day and night, night and day their worship arises, it's day and night, night and day they worship God worthy as we are— It's you're worthy of it all! For by you I will be, and to you I will be. You deserve the glory. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. And worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. How worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Jesus, you deserve my praise. Worthy is your name. Wow, Lord God, you are worthy. You are so worthy. There's none more worthy. There's none more worthy of our attention, worthy of our time, worthy of our focus, worthy of our giving, worthy of glory, honor, and power. So Lord, we give it all to you. Thank you, Heavenly Father. For in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You're officially my favorite person. That right there is— that's worth the whole gathering, if I'm being so honest. Um, so we're in Acts 4. We just finished Acts 1 to 3, so this is week 4. Um, we've been moving pretty quickly through this, this Acts account, and, um, I just want to remind us while we are in Acts We've been trying to ask this question. If we went into the wilderness and we never been to a church ever in our life— we've never been to an Orthodox church, never been to a Protestant church, never been to a Catholic church, never been to a single church— we take our Bible, we go into the wilderness, we read it, and then we start a church. Would that church look like the church that we attend to? Now, the delta between those churches is what we need to reconcile, and I believe that reconciliation comes from us just understanding the genesis of the church. So now we started in Acts 1, Acts 1, and Luke. Jesus has given instructions to the disciples, telling them something's about to happen, you need to prepare yourself. So they spent about 10 days in the upper room praying, waiting. Then the promise came. Acts chapter 2, we see what that promise looks like, and we know what that promise is, is because it was prophesied of it all throughout the old scripture. Particularly in Joel chapter 2. Now there's something else that I want to introduce real quick. When Joel chapter 2 says that your sons will dream dreams and your daughters will prophesy, um, the way that I understand scripture— and I'm always welcome to be wrong— is prophecy and tongues go hand in hand. Prophecy is tongues revealed, and tongues is prophecy concealed. So when you are speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, you're speaking his words. That's prophecy. When the Holy Spirit is also speaking and you don't understand those words, that's what we call tongues. Now I'm gonna spend a quarter of a second on this topic real quick. 'Cause there's a lot of contention around it. And I'm not gonna go into all the contentions. I think people are able to be convicted about what they wanna be convicted about. Now, when you think about The gift of tongues. One of the contentions is that tongues requires interpretation. And let me first introduce that by saying, when the gift was first introduced in Acts chapter 2, was there an interpreter? There was not. Why not? What was that? So when they— what was that? It wasn't required. When they started speaking in tongues in Acts chapter 2, scripture says everybody around understood in their own tongue. Right, which helps us to understand that this gift that was released at that point had people speaking in a particular tongue, unbeknownst to them, but people were able to understand. So this context was a known language, right? Everybody was able to understand this. This was the reconciliation of the tongues that were scattered at the Power of Babel. And now God is bringing all of this back together. Known language. Now, when you take that outside of that context and you bring into a church setting and you are using an unknown language to preach to people and they're not able to be edified by that, remember what Paul says: anybody that speaks in the tongue edifies himself Anybody who prophesies edifies the church. The point of us gathering is everybody here is to be edified. That's what we want to do. So when you come to a setting and you are directly speaking to somebody in the language they don't understand, and you are doing this in an entire service, Paul is saying that it edifies no one. So in that context, what they will do is they will bring somebody who has an understanding of that language and then begin to interpret. Amen. When you are speaking in tongues by yourself, do you need somebody to come and interpret? You guys get what I'm saying now? So it's easy to muddy the waters here because now somebody will say, I can't speak in tongues because nobody's going to interpret it for me. But the context of that is You are not speaking to men, you are speaking to God. You don't need a third person in your prayer life. And I just want to make that very, very clear. Otherwise, we will confuse this and not believe that if we're trying to edify ourselves, we can't do it because there isn't a person there that's supposed to interpret. Now, the same gift that gives you the ability to speak is the same gift that gives you the ability to understand. So when we're trying to understand what interpretation means, we need to make sure there's a difference between interpretation and translation. Many people are confusing the two and saying that, okay, if we need an interpreter— do you speak a different language? What language?

It's the language of Ethiopia.

Can you start speaking it right now? Imagine having a whole service like that. We would be like, can you come and help us benefit from the beautiful tongue she just spoke, right? If you're praying like that by yourself in your closet to God, would anybody need to interpret that for you? Amen. So when you bring that into this setting like this, and you felt that like uncomfortability that you had when she was speaking, and you were like, I have no idea, it's almost risky. It's like, are you talking about my mama? You was not. Amen. Now I have to take her word for it. But the Corinthian church, you know, and when you read the Paul's letter to the Corinthian, they were doing some things that were just out of order. So them having an entire session like this— imagine you had that gift, you could speak that language, you'd probably be flexing with it too. I ain't gonna lie, I'm just like, I'm gonna just start— if I could, if I could speak Arabic right now under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, y'all gonna have to pray for that gift of interpretation because I'm gonna just have to, I'm about to let it loose. But it wasn't edifying the church and it was creating a contention. But the reason why Paul wanted to make sure there was an interpreter is because he also said, do not forbid people from speaking in tongues. So if you're not going to forbid something, you need to create a system that allows it. What we've done as a church now is we've completely forbid it, and we've created no teaching, no education, no wisdom, no understanding to make sure that it's not forbidden. And that's what I want to push back against, right? Again, I edify myself, I pray. The second thing that I want to push back against, sons, when people say that that gift is not supposed to happen in the church, well, I ask, what was Paul telling the people to do it there? Where were they gathering? Everywhere the believers gather is church, right? Is it church? So when they're in the living room, is that church? When they gather in the temple, is that church? When they were outside in Acts 2 all together, was that church? So my understanding is that when the first time that gift was given in the upper room, in that context, I That was a church service. That was the birth of the church. Every spiritual gift that we have, all of them are for the church. Amen. So by the time we get to Acts chapter 3, now Acts chapter 3 is when we hear, um, about John and Peter now healing this, this person. And we spent a great time last week talking about Acts chapter 3. I mean, it was, in my opinion, one of the best studies. So it's on YouTube if you want to go watch it. Um, we, we unpacked a lot. So now we get to Acts 4, and Acts 4 has a lot of things going on. Um, so what I want to do is I want to read the entire chapter of Acts 4. It's pretty lengthy, I know, but, um, it's, it's a Bible study, so we should expect to read the Bible. Um, so we're gonna read Acts chapter 4 all together as a whole, and then we're gonna break it down into a couple of segments. Um, let me get my pen. So as we, as we pray and as we study, you're looking for observations and questions throughout Acts 4 that you may have. The Holy Spirit is going to reveal some things to you that he's not going to reveal to others in this room, and I hope that you have the boldness to, to say it. In fact, you're going to find a prayer for boldness in Acts 4. So by the time you read about that boldness, I pray that you've received what you just read. Amen. Are we all there? I'm reading a New King James.

What was that?

It doesn't matter. I mean, we're all gonna— only God is gonna understand what's being said when we all start reading.

But what was that?

King James? Do you want to read for everybody? I don't care. Let's all read it out loud together and then we'll piece it apart. We are there. Ready? 1, 2, 3, go. Now, as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being greatly disturbed that they taught people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. However, many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about 5,000. And it came to pass on the next day that their rulers, elders, and scribes, as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest were gathered together at Jerusalem. And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, by what power or by what name? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known It is known to you all that the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man stands here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men, which we must be saved. Now then, they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men. They marveled. Standing with them, they could say nothing against it. Go outside of the council they conferred among themselves, saying, what shall we do to these men? For indeed that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them from now on. So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. Amen. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they have further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them because of the people. Since they all glorified God for what had been done. For the man was over 40 years old on whom the miracle of healing had been performed. And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders said to them. So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, you are God who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all of them who by the mouth of your servant David have said, why do the nations rage and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against his Christ. For truly against your Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and the people of Israel Israel were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. Now, Lord, look at their threats and grant to your servants that all of these things may be performed by stretching out your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be proven in the name of the Lord. They had prayed the place where they had come together. Hmm.

Filled with the Holy Spirit, and he spoke the word of God with boldness. He now dwells with me in those who obey him with one heart and one soul. He did not even consider that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they all had peace in common. And with great power, he caused them to bear witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was on them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked, for as all those that possessed a land or house sold it and brought the proceeds of the things they had sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet, they distributed to each as everyone had need.

And the Lord bless the reading of his holy word.

Amen.

So let's just take 2 minutes to meditate on this, uh, find segments and sections that leapt out to you on the inspiration, questions, observations, things that don't make sense. Eric, I feel like you just sit next to me. That's a great— that's a great point. So you should come. Come on. I just feel that, like, whatever seat you want. That look a little peachy. I didn't want to grab it. Yeah, let me scoot over, make room for the man of God. Let's take 2 minutes, just meditate on this word. It's a lot. There's a lot of richness here.

Here.

Let's give it one more minute. All right, let's bring our thoughts to a, a close. Um, so there's something that I want to— it's a couple things. Um, one of the benefits of like coming together like this is we have chances to disagree. And I feel like people don't like disagreeing, and I kind of just want to encourage that. If somebody says something that you don't agree with, feel free to express yourself. Last week, you know, and I'm, I'm not the most confrontational person, but when it comes to the Bible, I kind of like it. And we had a Bible study, and, you know, I was like, hey Eric, you know, you want to go hit this back room real quick? So me and Eric went to the back and we just kind of laid it all out there. There was some things I disagreed with him, there was some things he disagreed with me, and we were able to both make some corrections to make sure that when we go before people, we're better off. That's the point. So that when we go stand in front of people to communicate, we have sharpened each other. Scripture says iron sharpeneth iron. So in this room right now, there are some people that come with perspectives that we may never have. I'll give you one. I was just in a room with some international representatives of the faith, and I was talking to them about suffering. And this woman from Cairo, Egypt, was just like, 'Where I'm from, all we do is suffer.' And I'm just like, 'That's a great point. In the West, we probably need to hear more about suffering. In Cairo, they probably don't.' So it gave me a global perspective to the context I speak. That's powerful. That's very powerful. It helped adjust my dialogue as I talk about the faith at large. Again, it's because she spoke up. So please speak up. Um, so there's a lot that happened in Acts chapter 4. Let's take this first discussion to, uh, verse 1 all the way to Let's do 12. So verses 1 to 12. Verse 12 ends, there's no other name, uh, no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. So everything from 1 to that, um, observations, questions, what came to your heart as you read?

Yes. So I was looking at verse 4. In my translation, it's, "But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of men who believed now totaled about 5,000." And this is very much, I think, been a year of opportunity for me. I think it's just been new perspectives that I've been offering into my life. Of new blessings that have been coming into my life. And I always just give it to God because even in this instance, these people had nothing tangible. They had nothing that somebody— no one came to their door and forced them to change their mind or change something in their hearts. But all they had was the message, right? And even that message wasn't bound by jail, wasn't bound by walls, wasn't bound bound even by hatred, it was still there. And God, in all of his grace, allowed it to just stay in the air and allowed it in however way it came into every single one of those 5,000 people, into their hearts. And overnight you see this number increase. And I— yeah, I just think God gives us so many opportunities to do whatever we are going to do as humans. But to me, this is the core of being a believer. You know, you just— you take that message, you take that non-tangible, and you allow it to lead every aspect of your life, like as these people did. So I just found that very powerful.

That's really good.

Yeah, I think, um, specifically the beginning of Peter— or beginning of Acts 4, where Peter and John were arrested, it says that they were Well, I mean, what version is this? The ESV, CSB, another version where it says they were annoyed. They said they were annoyed they were teaching the people and proclaiming. And I think that that's what's happening now. Like, people are like, shut up, like, you're doing too much. Just all you see on social media is people are annoyed because we are talking about Jesus or our salvation. And it then goes to say that they were— the header was the boldness of the disciples. I feel like they were bold. They were already bold, right? And so how did they respond when people are verbally saying, shut up, like, stop, we're not trying to hear all that, or they got arrested, like, we're not getting put in cuffs. So like, how are we showing up as bold? And I think it was because they had experienced Jesus firsthand. Like, when you know what you know what you know, there is a level of boldness and you don't care if people aren't going. Like, to your point, like, you welcome, like, what's up, you disagree with me? Because you— there's a boldness because you've experienced him, because you know him. And I think in order for us to get there, we have to continue continue to be in spaces like this. We have to stay in prayer. We have to stay like close to the cross so that we have that boldness to— when, when people get annoyed, there's a confidence that we have, you know. Yeah, yeah.

To piggyback off of that, because I, I— that was the first verses I highlighted, 2 and 3, um, and I'm reading from the Amplified. It says, being, being extremely disturbed and thoroughly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming Jesus, the resurrection of the dead. So they arrested them and put them in jail until the next day because it was evening. The first thing I thought about was just like the laws during that time, and somebody can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think there were laws that prohibited gatherings after a certain hour. So I was like, thinking about the fact that from a legal perspective, if they wanted to arrest them or stop them from doing this thing, it would be because of the hour in which they were gathering, not because they were proclaiming Jesus. Yeah. And then the other thing that I thought about in that particular two scriptures was regardless of the time, regardless of the place, regardless of rules, regulations, there's not a situation where we can't proclaim our, our faith. Because I think about when I'm in the work setting, working in a corporate space, I think oftentimes you worry about, yeah, man, if this gonna result in me losing my job or whatever the case. And, um, I've recently found a boldness to express my faith no matter where I am, and It comes from just not only reading scriptures and knowing what happened and knowing who God has called us to be, but it also comes from just the Holy Spirit. And those are two things that really stood out to me on those first two scriptures.

Yeah. One thing that I noticed was just like the development in Peter, because I think in like previous chapters chapters that he, um, he denied Jesus out of fear 3 times, but now that he's, um, he's loud and bold in his faith. And I think, um, well, that's something I struggle with, but, um, I also noticed like obedience over approval, like how you said how people are annoyed, like, and people do look at you different, like, when you're so loud about Christ, but people need to see witness and stuff like that. Verse 4 really stood out to me, and for the reason of the importance of being a seed planter. Verse 3 talks about how they were arrested and put in jail, but verse 4 talks about how those who heard the message believed and how that number was growing even with them being in jail. And so for me, that just really stood out, like the seed that you plant in the world sharing the gospel and speaking of Christ, how it does even in your absence. It's not about us, it's about the seeds that we plant and how that work can still take place even with you not being in the midst of the situation.

Let's go ahead.

One thing that stands out to me is how a huge part of their annoyance was the proclamation that Jesus was raised from the dead. And it was repeated again by, I think it's Peter who was emphasizing in verse 10 that he was clarifying it's by the name of Jesus, but then he went into detail about that Jesus that they were talking about who was crucified and whom God raised from the dead. And it makes me think about how important it is to be very specific about the Christ that we, we believe in and we proclaim, because that's a hard thing to believe in during that time, that someone could be raised from the dead. And those in the Sanhedrin didn't believe it, but over 5,000 people heard that bizarre claim, and it's nobody but the Holy Spirit that graced them to believe that that was true, which I think is the same for us. Like, it's really hard to believe in an invisible God, so we know that it is no one but the Holy Spirit who has arrested us and graced us for that belief. And so this makes me think about when we share the gospel, you know, it goes beyond like there's God in heaven and Jesus is his son, but like what specifics are required so that people really understand the fullness of this is Jesus?

Yeah, go ahead.

I was gonna say that I feel like that's really funny. My boyfriend is Muslim and we were talking about He was telling me they also believed in Jesus. Yeah, yeah, we like, we think he was a great dude, like he did a lot of great things, great prophet, he's great, like yeah, he's a prophet. And, um, they were— he was just saying, so we don't think that they crucified him though. I was like, what?

And they were like—

he was like, yeah, like we don't think that he died, he was just like sucked up, like that he wasn't crucified. I was like, well, I feel like that's what the big part of the fact that he has to suffer in his death. And then the fact that he did die and he was resurrected. That isn't just like, he's a nice spirit. But like, the fact that he went through something for us, like, makes it so much more like significant.

Yeah, I think there are aspects of our faith that we can't overlook when we talk about it to other people. Because that's how we empty the cross of its power, right? There, there's some components of the gospel that, like, you— it's a recipe, right? Like you baking a cake. You, you ever bake the cake without eggs? You, you're missing power, right? So when we're communicating the gospel, um, we got to communicate the full gospel. And one of the things that kept bothering them was a component of the gospel was putting them to shame, because they're like, y'all just killed the person that healed this man. Like, they think about that— you, you just killed the person that made this miracle happen. They were offended, they were ashamed, they were disgusted with themselves. It's the same thing that Peter preached um, in Acts chapter 2. He said, this Jesus whom you crucified— he kept poking that bear. He kept saying, y'all did this. That's agitating.

He—

look, he actually said— look who he spoke to in the first verse. He's speaking to people of power that are not used to being spoken to in this way. He's speaking to the priests, the captain of the temple, the Sadducees. Like, these are the who's who in the land, and this fisherman is wagging his finger at them and said, y'all, you, y'all killed the man that gave this man his healing. This is still in the context of Acts 3 when Peter says, silver and gold I have none, but what I have in the name Jesus Christ, right, right outside the temple. So they are, they are, they are at the temple speaking these things. Healing is happening outside the temple and not inside of it. So the religious elite are like, they want to, they want to protect— they— if you want healing, you got to come inside the temple. Meanwhile, the healing is happening outside. You see the problem it's causing?

I have to go. I'm an adjunct professor, so I gotta grade papers. But thank you, Bridget, for inviting me. But to reflect on what you're saying and what you said as well, yesterday I was watching the Can We Talk podcast. And one thing that the lady— I forgot her name, I ain't finished watching this 2 and a half hours— but one thing that stood out to me the most, and even sticks out to me in this conversation, is that she was mentioning there are those who don't believe, there are also those who believe Jesus is just the Savior, and then there's those who believe Jesus as Lord Lord. And you can tell the difference based upon how they behave and how they act. Um, and so, and mentioning how these people, just like you mentioned, it had absolutely nothing to do with what we physically can see. It was off the faith and knowing that, and just that change in that thought pattern as well. How do you, how do you even see this person? How do you even view this person. Is this Lord? Is it just your Savior? Because people can acknowledge that he's a Savior, or like you said, he's a great dude, but that means nothing. Yeah, that means nothing to somebody. Acknowledgment is not the same as following and being obedient. And so even mentioning Peter in that regard, even just his trajectory of his behavior in general, some up to him being at that point. He was— he as well had a— as I think it was you that mentioned him being very doubtful, as well as him having a temper, and as well as just him questioning, um, Jesus and Jesus's intent, as well as just in general battling with that. And I think, um, to— as you mentioned, him speaking to all these individuals in the word, both boldness really stuck out to me is that you might not even see it, you might not even feel it, no nothing, but you know it's there. And to speak from that regard is freeing. And to see Peter in that regard, he's one of my favorite because it reminds me of me. I battle, of course, with my temper or different things like that, but to see that, like you said, someone's standing up. No question, go ahead, arrest me, it don't matter, it's whatever. Like, I know what I said, I know what I've seen, and I know what's going on. Do whatever, it don't matter, it doesn't matter. Um, and that strength and that boldness transfers over to absolutely everybody. It can just take one individual and it multiplies into so much. So, um, that's what really stuck out to me as well. And lastly, although y'all on 1 through 15, um, was, uh, because I have to hold— I got a different version, so I was like, my God, um, the other part of it was, um, the how they stated that space in that area shifted. And for me, as you like, honestly, I am a very loud prayer. I— so when y'all was praying quietly, I'm like, you know what, I'm not gonna go ahead and pray loudly because also respectful of other people in the room. But as I'm channeling, um, I'm writing down, I'm, I'm getting from God, don't be afraid to praise me, don't be afraid to worship me, don't be afraid to say it loudly because you never know who needs that. So I love that aspect of that, and that's really what I needed and wrote down as well, because in a lot of senses, when those miracles happen, people do not care. You can say whatever you want to say. I'm healed, I'm blind, I'm not bleeding, I'm doing whatever. And so the boldness and the unafraid to do it because they know that God has set them spiritually. So nothing in bondage, nothing that man made would matter to me because that is set free. So, and through prayer, the power of prayer, the power of praising God, the power of acknowledging and respecting and being obedient to what God said and knowing his power and speaking it loudly was something that was good, good for me.

Thank you.

Yes, you just go drop the mic and leave.

All right, all right, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. Yeah, yep, that's funny. Um, man, I, I, I mean, y'all know me, and every time the topic of prayer comes back up. It's like, I wish we could just always keep in mind that the key ingredient in everything they're doing here is power. You don't get to this point if you don't heal that person. Like, there's a tangibility to their face. There's an evidence, there's something produced from their belief. And I— how much I wish, and I'm praying that, like— and I've been— I like, I'm literally begging God because, I mean, we're skipping ahead here, but They were trying to figure out what to do with them, and they're like, we can't deny this miracle.

Like, I just kept reading it over and over and over.

They're literally having discourse. What do we do? Do we get rid of them? But the man's walking.

And mind you, they did something good. God said, "Hey, great!" That's what I was going to say. So in verse 7, when at least one person says that they asked, "By what power or name did you do this?" They didn't specify what this was. Only they were afraid to acknowledge it. So when— So then when Peter is then saying, if we are being called to account today for an act kindness shown to a man who was lame, are being asked how he was healed, then know this, and then goes into the explanation. So it's like, since you're afraid to say what you're trying to ask me, I'll say it for you and then let you know that it's the same man crucified. And then all that going into then them asking what to do about it, but also acknowledging that everyone believes what they just heard.

Point out verse 13 because this is like a prime example of like a stronghold. It says, now when the men of the Sanhedrin saw the confidence and boldness of Peter and John, they grasped at the fact that they were uneducated and untrained men. They were astounded and began to recognize that they had been with Jesus. So in that right there, I'm just like, okay, so you, you, you do know, you know, you know what's up. Something is preventing you from proclaiming and professing. And from my vantage point, the high court and all the things that they have been so accustomed to doing had a stronghold on them that prevented them from being able to accept it for what it was.

Yeah, right, because they didn't repent.

No, even after that, they doubled down.

Father, forgive us. I'm so sorry. So that, that stronghold could leave, but they didn't have faith. So it's like, yeah, yeah, we understand what, what that man can produce. We do not— we don't have faith in him. Like, we're not going to align ourselves and submit to his lordship that has enabled you to do what you just did, which sucks. Because y'all could do it too, you know.

Because in order for them to do that, they would have to give up their titles. And the one thing someone with power hate to do is to give up power. You just— because this is what we're coming to you— because look at what they said, they were uneducated and untrained. So now you got these uneducated, untrained fishermen and now 5,000 people following them, and you know that you are not able to deny the power in which just healed this man. In order for you to go where they went, you have to left what they left, and they were unable. They're like, I can't leave behind this title. They call me Sadducees. I can't, I can't give that up. Like, I'm in the same, I'm in the same. They, they couldn't give it up. Like But glory be to God.

To piggyback off what you said, when it said, 'And recognize that they have been with Jesus,' I feel like that was an example of like how we should be.

There's a scripture that says like we are the salt and the light of the world.

So when people look at us, like, it's a prayer I say all the time, like, I want people to look at me and I want to be like a good imitator of Christ. I want people to see me and see like what God has done done in my life. For when you had children testimony, how you were like, oh wow, stuff like that. You know, people look at you now, they're like, wow, like, that's a good man of God. I feel like we should all be like that. Like, people should look at us and they should just be like in awe. Like, we should be, um, just like a good witness to people.

You know what you just did? Even unbelievers will tell if you've been with Jesus.

The same teachers. I feel like that was a lot of pride and a lot of ignorance. And it's so weird how people just don't believe because like, I feel like when you say things out loud, it's like you give them proof. Like, 2 2 is 4, you trying to sit here and tell me it's 6, and like, the proof is in the pudding. Like, that's not it. Like, it's—

yeah.

That's one thing, like, I really don't know. I don't want to say it's touchy because I always want to be bold in my faith, but I'm like, how do we be respectful of other religions?

But when they're like, not— man, let me tell you, like, When we start to realize this stuff is life or death, the whole respectability politics things go out the window, you know. Like, man, and I'm, I'm, I'm a nice person, right? But if there are If there's a gospel that leads to life and there's a gospel that leads to death, it is my obligation to tell people truth's life, period. Like, we got to realize that in this, there's a lot of this— there's this idolatry in the world that like all of these paths lead lead to, to God. It's not true.

Can I ask something? So reading how Peter and John and all of them are responding to things like this tells me that there— God has given the green light to when there are the ops, right? He's given the green light. But there's this, um, you spoke on this at church where like when you mess with my daddy or you like you playing with God, there's this— he like allows you to— don't be nasty, don't be rude, don't be disrespectful. But to what you said where Peter kept bringing up, y'all killed him. Yeah, he ain't let up. Right? What I'm gathering is like, God allows us this green light, this space to be turned up when it comes to him.

Come on.

And the Holy Spirit will back us up. So there's a lot of different personalities in this room. Some of us are softer, some of us are more outspoken, and perhaps you need to be stretched either way, depending on who you are, right? Maybe you need to like get more quiet if you're a little round token. Maybe you need to buck up a little bit if you're not. But there's this, there's this boldness that I— and, and it says that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Yeah, let's move on.

Next part says the boldness of the disciples. So it's like the Holy Spirit gives us that, that buck and will, and God will allow it, right? So there, I want to seriously feel convicted if I'm at work or if I'm in the grocery store and somebody wants to debate me, right, on Jesus, what, who he was, who he wasn't, right? I, I feel like there's this, this boldness and this, um, attitude that God is okay with us having when it comes to things concerning him, right? So I'm speaking, I guess I'm speaking to myself where I like don't feel convicted afterwards. Like, did I say that right? How was my tone? How was my delivery? He's like, no, y'all playing with my daddy and I don't play about him and he don't play about me because y'all killed him. Y'all just killed him. And Peter didn't let up and he was okay and they couldn't deny it either. So it's like it shuts people up anyway. I don't owe you being polite. I don't owe you being nice.

Not with the truth.

I'm not saying be mean, y'all.

I'm just No, no, I know what you're saying. It's like the truth is the truth, right? And people will be offended by the truth. That does not mean you stop saying the truth, right? If we— this— the war that we're living in right now is a war between good and evil. And whenever you— and I say this to myself— whenever you stop shining your light, you're allowing darkness to, to spread. So there's a righteous indignation— I think that's the word— righteous indignation that you have about you, where you're just like, hey, if you're going to be so bold— I think it was Pastor Philip that said this— he's just like, they're more bold about a lie than we are about the truth. That's crazy, you know. It's just like, do we, do we really believe what we're reading here? Do we really believe that this is the way It's just like somebody is standing in front of a bus. They're on the highway and we're just going like, I think you should move out of this way. I think you should. I think you should. I think there's a bus coming, guys. There's a bus coming, Mr. Sir. Like, move! We can argue about my tone later, but I just saved your life. We'll sit in heaven and we can debate if I was a— if it was a nicer way of me saying it, but at least you heard me. So, you know, and we're going to move on from 13. Yeah, 13 to 23, but go.

I don't want us to skip over this, um, verse 12. I just think it's so important, um, because we all know in here, right, there's some Salvation in no one else.

That's right.

No other name under the heaven by which we must be saved. Like, it goes back, right? John 14:6, Jesus said, like, I'm the way, I'm the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you would have known who my Father is. From now on, you know him and have has seen me. I just— I think that's so important. I just wanted to make sure I say it and we don't skip over it. Once again, there's just no exception.

It's Jesus. And if you're confused about what name is being mentioned here in verse 12, the name is in verse 10. By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. They had to give his full name because you knew there were other people named— they named Jesus. So they was just like, all right, not just Jesus, Jesus Christ. And if you know another Jesus Christ, uh, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, that's his address. If you are looking for him, you'll find him at that name. It's like, we got to be very clear about which Jesus. This Jesus. There's no other name. Just the name.

I could like, by them saying that, like him also telling them that they have that opportunity to be saved, that like, right, then I guess they're like offering it to them, not just like, oh, you killed him, right? But you killed him and you can still be saved.

Amen. I love that.

It makes me think about like, that's such a good Because you might not be receiving what I'm saying in the moment, but you might replay these words over and over and over and over, and it makes you question and say, I killed Jesus.

That's gonna do something.

It'll be that moment. Like, if I could just share, you know, like, we, we have conversations about about like denouncing Greek life. And one of the things is like you can have a conversation with someone to explain to them why you came out and why they should come out, and they won't listen to it. When I first kind of got exposed to it, I wasn't really listening to it, but then it started to replay in my mind and I started saying more about it until it just clicked and it Was that? Absolutely not. And so I think like what you said is like sometimes when arguing with people, you still got to preach the gospel at the same time. So when you replay these words, the Holy Spirit can do the work because that's in you now. That's good. Also preach. That's what I mean. Also going along with that, and when it comes to preaching the gospel, especially when you're having a conversation with someone else with other different faiths, like Destiny has been saying, I feel like, at least for me, not that I have that many opportunities for it, to be honest, but there's a— not apprehension, but I don't necessarily know what the beliefs are of every other religion, right? So even with how Muslims don't believe that well, whatever the specifics of their beliefs are, I don't know why they believe that thing. So then I can dig into my limited repertoire of like memorized Bible verses and then counter that with something. But I feel like having that conviction of this is what I believe, and like you said, like just planting that seed, like they'll go back and be like, no matter what I said, they were still like, this is what I believe. There's got to be something to that. I don't care to think about it right now, but like, there must be something that's making them be like stuck in that way that they want to teach me about, whether I care to understand now or later. Um, that's why I feel like it's so important to even just like sharing testimonies, or if you like saw a post or like you got a message and you're like, man, and just like thinking about them, like ruminating on that, and then being able to share that, like even that is enough if you don't have the specific counter-argument that could like change them. You just— it's a plant seed. The Holy Spirit will do everything you need to just say the thing and move on. Like, that's really it. And I feel like that's something that I try to think about, and when I'm given the opportunity, I try to practice. Because what I say may not turn you to Jesus immediately, it may not have you be gung-ho in your faith, but maybe in like 3 weeks you'll think about like, "What did Chelsea say about that again? That's pretty cool, maybe I'll look into that," you know? So I feel like that is really important that we don't forget that you don't need to always have like a polished script, as long as you're not teaching wrong, but you can share your experience to share what you do know as fact, or what you do believe, that might be enough for some people.

100%.

I was just gonna say, I'm a testimony to that.

I was hoping you'd say that.

I'm a testimony to that. Like, Sean and I have been friends 3, 4 years at this point. We met in college. I was not— I was off of my faith. I was really into the church and into my, you know, my faith when I was younger. And I'll just share a little bit of like whatever. I fell into like really deep depression growing up. I— one of the things that broke first was my faith, just because everything felt so big in my life and everything felt so physical, and that non-tangibility of God felt so distant from me, right? And so naturally I kind of fell into this slippery slope of losing my faith, right? And Sean came into my life by the grace of of God. And it wasn't one conversation. It was— I can't pinpoint exactly what she said that flipped some switch in me because that didn't happen, you know. It was, it was little conversations through the years. It was her asking me to come to church with her. And when I did come to church that day in October of last year, I don't know what it was beyond the Holy Spirit that it just— like, you know, I'm 20 I'm 24 years old right now. Like, I've been out of God's light longer than I've been in it, but my God, like, I'm in it because of him. I can't deny that, you know? And so like, yeah, I think that's—

yeah, I just—

I wanted to speak on that too. Like I said, yeah, and even now, like, I just I can't help but not want to spread this.

Yeah, come on, man!

People may be— some people may not have like the light in them, but some people may think, may mistake the darkness that's in them for the light. And she's like, just talking about like how there's nuance about it. She's like, I don't get how people are saying that there's no nuance. Like, you really just need to read it. Like, you'll get what you need to get from it.

Y'all want to know something? The person that's most qualified to walk somebody off the edge right now is her.

I'm gonna try.

No, let me, let me tell you why. For the people that have been saved so long, you forget what it is to be new to the faith. You, you forget the scriptures that pulled you in deeper. At this point, we are like at like the 501 level. So you coming in at 500 telling somebody you need to go start praying in tongues, wow. And they're like, man, I I don't even know what the gospel is, you know. So I think how is that worked in the New Testament early church was one person got saved, and in their newness to their faith, in their zeal, in their excitement— think about how Jesus called his disciples. Remember Simon and Andrew? Simon, he was like, I just met Jesus, hey, come here! Brought his brother. And now both of them become disciples. When you just meet Jesus, like, I mean, y'all know what I'm talking about. When y'all first beheld him, you were like, oh, I gotta tell somebody. Somebody— you, you become a pastor that same day. And then, and then over time you become a seasoned saint and you'll be like, man, somebody else needs to go do that work, I'm tired. But we We're supposed to keep that childlike faith, that it shall always be new to us. This thing shall always be that new. It should be— we should read the Bible like the first time we gave our life to Christ, because that, that, that spark, that, that right there, that thing, that's the power of God. The thing that puts you in that church that thing that you can't explain. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. That thing right there, you can't lose it. That's the power. That's the power that heals. That's the power that caused the blind to see. That's the power that caused the dead to rise. That power right there that brought you into the church, that right there, that's the power. And we keep thinking the power is something else. The power is our abilities. The power is the thing that got you into the faith. I tell people evangelism is raising the spiritually dead. Somebody didn't know Jesus, now they can't stop talking about him. Is that anything more than power? The same power that brought you into the faith is the same power that can heal you. You have to believe that. There's not a greater power that will lead to your miracle. No, if you are a believer, the power that made you a believer can make you whole. And God is just using that, this, this small component of that power to just get people to hear, hear the apostles. So now at this point, they just saw a man sitting outside of the temple, broken, lame. Well, what happened? They said 5,000 people now all of a sudden come to belief. So the small power of the healing led to the big power of the conversions. That's the gospel. Deja, great. Let's go, Deja.

Uh, I think for me, like, I've always had that zeal, probably like 10, 20 years ago. And I was on fire for one of my family to be saved. I had kind of a, I would say, a Jeremiah moment where I was crying so much because I was like, yeah, I just want, you know, our people to be saved. And I think the biggest thing that I had to learn through that time was you can't change anybody. They have to want to change on their own. And so So I think for me, like, through my life, learning how to fast, learning how to, you know, truly dive into the Bible and all the things, is just be a light wherever I am. And I, I've kind of seen a lot of growth in that way with my job, with all the activities I do. Like, I can go to basketball I be telling people about the word. They be like, "Oh, okay." I go skating, I tell people about the word. I got people to come to church. When I'm at work, one lady, she used to date a Mason, and like telling her, "Masons, that's the old, you know, you a Christian, you don't want to be mixing with them." And so that In turn, helped us start a prayer, you know, some of the staff there, and it even eventually started, like now, like a Bible study at the school, the charter school. But just like those little things, and I've had bouts with the enemy trying to stop those things, but it's just, hey, being a light wherever I go and and there may be times where, you know, you may get rejected. Like, one thing that I really appreciate about just in, um, I think 16 to like 22 is that they wanted them to stop preaching. But it's not up to us to listen to man, it's up to us to listen to God. What does God, you know, you know, say in his His word. We have to believe what God says over what man says. And so if we see somebody healed, especially in the name of Jesus, say you gonna go and tell somebody. And especially, like, it don't matter if they don't agree with it, it happened. And so, you know, people would say after it, like, for me, like, I had my— I guess you would have probably come to Jesus moment, just my injury reading and healing and all of that. Um, but it's just continuing to tell people about Christ. That's, you know, continuing. And I, and I really— I'm a one-on-one person. I'm not really, uh, like talking to big groups, but I, I'm like, I hit it quick on the one-on-one because I have a heart for the people, you know.

I think one-on-one is the best route. Like, I'm not even going to just double down, just leave that at that. I'm not going to get in trouble tonight. Brittany, you was going to say something?

Yeah, hearing what you shared kind of made me go back to, um, verse 4: but many who heard the message believed. And there was something that I assumed It says that there were like 5,000 people who were literally out there gathered and heard the message, right? And could it be possible— I'm not saying that this is the case— but could it be possible that that message was repeated from the people who were present and they went home and they told their household and then their household told their friends and then they told this person and that person, and then that— what, what we're hearing is that those who just heard the message, that those who heard the message and believed, and then that is how the number grew. And I'm, I'm saying that because, like, your experience— I'm going to use you, your message, as a testimony to someone who I feel could relate to where you were at, and it would be your message that you are speaking in context of Jesus Christ. But it would be what I've heard from you that would save them or make them turn. And they weren't here tonight, but they'll hear it. And so it makes me— it makes me sit with myself. And although I do think I'm pretty like bold about my faith, it makes me want to do more. Yeah, it makes me want to praise God, speak more unapologetically, because it's gonna multiply.

There's a couple people, bro. I'm gonna just pick somebody. All right, Destiny, you go.

Going back to us being the light and speaking in truth, I mentioned before I didn't believe in God at all. I was like, that's fine, that's insane, there's just no way, I don't believe in you. And then also I think that came along with me saying I hated being a teenager. I did not act how a teenager should, so I would tell Oluseun that. And I think like Your boldness. I mean, I think you get a lot of things from reading the word, but I think when you're like saying like you're sharing the truth, it's like the actual truth about yourself. Like once I read it myself, I was like, oh no, that's for real. Yeah. Like I would have never thought that I would have— like everyone in my life was like, oh, that's real, that's real. But like nothing they it. Nothing that they were saying, like, was matching what it actually says. And like, what it actually says is like, oh no, that's correct. And I think like your boldness— like, they were bold in the way they were telling me, but their boldness was different than that. Like, I'm so sure this is real, so I know that you're like— you're not doing something right. Instead of like, I'm so sure this is is real, there's salvation.

Yeah, that's good. Yeah.

Okay, I just wanted to piggyback off what, um, you said, because I remember when I first started going back to church, and on the one of the first things, um, they did a segment on like prayers, and he was like, you get the urge to pray about somebody, do it, because it's like a domino effect. So I kind of think of like spreading the gospel is like a domino effect too. Like, we hear, so we can repeat that to other people, and now we're planting seeds, like you said. So I kind of think about it in like every area, spreading the gospel, because it's true. I think it's true.

I want to just touch on what William was talking about. I think the number was actually higher than 5,000 because usually they counted males in the Jewish custom. But it was a situation where previous chapter, John and Peter were going to pray. This was a common thing they did with Jews, right? And so they're going to the temple and that's how they confronted the lame man outside the gates. So this was a mass last thing that happened in Jewish tradition. So everybody's trying to get in to bring their sacrifice to do, you know, they're trying to catch them. Why the catching is good, because everybody's gonna be in the same place. But what's interesting is Acts 1:8, and I'm gonna bring it back, is when Jesus is ascending, he's saying, I'm giving you power to be witnesses. And to be a witness, if we're all a part of the kingdom, we all know our Father, right? We're not witnessing to each other. We're witnessing to people who have not known him or seen him. And so in that, um, because when he says, I give unto you power to be witnesses, the Holy Ghost will come on you. So the purpose and the power is to be a witness to somebody who does not know him. And in the book of Acts, and I'm not trying to get too far ahead, most of the miracles that you will see will not happen in the temple. It will happen to people who do not know. And so if you really want to experience the power of God, then use it for the purpose of God. Now, that doesn't mean we don't get the benefits to use it in our gatherings, because, right, that's just residual. That's what you call it. But the power is for the purpose, and the purpose is to be a witness. So when we're talking about testimony and communicating the gospel boldly, I don't have to prove nobody else that my God is real. I just need to testify that I know him and I know who he is, and then I can demonstrate it. If you allow me to demonstrate it, I'll show you the power. And the reason oftentimes we don't do that is number one, because of fear. Because if we're being honest, we don't— the way we're talking in here, do we walk up to an unbeliever and say, hey, do you want to be a part of the kingdom? Because what Jesus came to do is Matthew chapter 4 verse 23 is preach the gospel of the kingdom. So I can introduce you to someone who's not of this world. I can show you things you've never seen before. But do we have the boldness to say that and use the power of God for the purpose of God, which is to be a witness, which is our testimony? You read in Revelation, they overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. But in order to testify of him, you have to know him. In order to know him, You have to know his word. And to know his word, you have to be before him. You have to be in it. Like, I just can't get over it. Go ahead. No, I was gonna say, I can't get over it. They said, and they knew, and they knew that they were with Jesus. Like, that's just, that's a servant title. Like, I'm looking at my own life, and I pray that somebody writes that about me one day. Amen. Like, that's— it's— I think somebody used this, um, this, this, um, example of a perfume. You ever— like, like, my wife has this per— you know them old saints that you just stand around and you just know this person prays? Y'all ever stood around somebody somebody and you knew they had a prayer life? Yeah, they got them soft peppermint. There's some people I stand around— I, I'd say one thing and I'll go. We was, we was having a new, new, uh, we welcome new people in our church. And, um, we went into this room and we were supposed to pray for the new members, or the new, the first-time gatherers. And I look at this man next to me and I'm just like, this dude's powerful. And in a whole gathering I say, hey, are you a pastor? He just started laughing. Long story short, this one is one of the directors of Joshua Selman School of Ministry. Well, he, he lives in Nigeria, but he came to visit, so he had— and he just started laughing. Whole time we was going— we was going to start to teach this dude about the gospel. I'm like, man, we got to discern. So like, I just wanted to share that. We'll come to you, Chris. No, I was just going to encourage, cuz I, I heard a lot of people talk about not having motives or wanting more motives, even though We in Acts, this is like 3 years culminating them walking with Christ, them giving up everything that they were doing, them seeing him being persecuted and crucified, seeing him being resurrected, seeing miracles, being sent out to perform miracles. Like, we seeing a culmination of 3 years of them walking closely with God. To like everybody's point, some of y'all pointed on it, they were with Christ so much that, like you said, somebody over there said, people started to see in their speech and the manner they conducted themselves, they looked and sounded like Jesus. So that's like time equity of them really being with God, being in the word and understanding, you know, being rebuked when they would say something. When Peter would speak up and say something wrong, Jesus would tell him, I mean, you sound like Satan. And finally understanding it. And then being in that presence, then being in community, then praying, then worshiping together, then spending time with each other. And then it's like God's hand of approval was on them, like, I've seen y'all be through everything that I've allowed y'all to go through. Like, I've seen y'all show up even though you've seen persecuted, even though he's seen them be there. So now I'm giving I've seen y'all listen to my word and obey. I told y'all to wait, and now I'm about to give y'all the Holy Spirit. And now that bonus is, is all of that plus him giving him the Holy Spirit to be able to proclaim and preach the gospel to, as you said, the Pharisees who they had to contend against first. They believed in spiritual things, but they just didn't believe that Jesus was the Messiah because he didn't come the way they wanted him to. Now they're dealing with the Sadducees who don't believe in spiritual things, who don't believe in, uh, life after death. They are just comfortable with being with the Romans because they have a place of power, like y'all said. They don't want to disrupt that. They know that if this thing takes away and a riot happens, we're gonna lose our position of power. And they have like a pride and a greed that like like Pharaoh had. And so if you are looking for that bonus, God is going to give it to you. And you can find it in his presence, you can find it in his word, you can find it in, you know, just leaning into him. And like y'all said, that fragrance is going to come in that time of just being with him, because he's not going to allow you to spend time with him and then walk away not taking him with you when you go speak to people. So Man, just keep staying in the word, keep praying, keep worshiping, keep, you know, just spending time and inviting him. Because the Bible says, you know, abide in me and I abide in you. So yeah, the boat is going to come for sure. Just keep doing what y'all doing, which is like this, seeking after God. You know, you know what's so good? Like, the boldness that it takes to just come to God is the exact boldness you need to go before people. Like, if you really believe that, you are bold enough to go to God, a holy God, a just God, a God who can't stand in front of iniquity, and you can— you come to him, you can stand before kings. Like, it just unlocks something. Like, if I can stand before God, I can go to him, the God of the universe, that, that I can go to that God, I'm not afraid of my boss.

Hebrews 4, right before you said that, I'm like Hebrews 4:16 says, therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need. So I wanted to study, like, I wonder if the boldness, you know, the Hebrew or Greek word of boldness in Acts 4, how it compares to the boldness in Hebrews 4, um, how we are to go to God to his throne with boldness, it's that same boldness that we can go out in the world. Go, because you've been holding on to it. Unconditional boldness makes me think about my family. And, um, I come from a family of unbelievers, like generations, you know. I think it's tied to culture. Um, it's the— I feel like Asian culture leans on Buddhism a lot. And I'm not— I have never looked into the history of it, but I know that that's where my lineage comes from, right? And when he and I got married, when he became a pastor, it was a journey of like, let's say 5 years of us one day waking up and being like, we're not living this life no more. You know, so just imagine a 180 within a week of, all right, we're not listening to this music, we're not doing this, we're not watching this, we're not talking about this. And you know, we had to show up in front of my family in that way. And, um, I leaned on God's wisdom for how to interact with my family because it was a process of, you know, I'd be like, it's my little nephew's birthday party, we gotta come. And the whole time it's just uncomfortable. We're just in a different space now, you know, everybody's drinking. He's gotten into tons of debates with, you know, talking to people about Jesus, and it just became a space where it was no longer me, you know, but it's gotten to a point now, like 5, 6 years later, where everyone gravitates towards our house. We live the furthest out of everybody, but my parents want to come to our house together. Everybody—

they're buying our merch.

Yeah, my little brother is part of, uh, this content now. Um, my nieces and nephew actually last week came up to him and, um, me and was like, what does baptism mean? Like, can I get a Bible? And their dad, like, he's a funny guy. He'll make jokes about everything, and he's always like mocking us about going to church and, you know, just making light of the situation, like being funny, you know. Um, but now their kids are like, who is Jesus?

We want the Bible.

Like, he's, you know, we're like ordering him a Bible off Amazon. It just shows that boldness can come in forms of saying, I'm not coming.

Yeah, that's good.

It's like, we're not— if you want us, find us here. Yeah. Got to the moment of, okay, um, I'm giving my life to Christ, that burden of my whole family is going to hell, I think it, it made it hard for me to cross that line. Because if I cross that line, there's no coming back, and my whole family is going to hell, you know. Like, it's that battle. But God is just so good because our life, our life is the seed, you know. I knew if I sat down at the table and Tried to argue with them, they get what might have won. You know, I'm like, I can't argue with my brother-in-law. Like, I can't, you know, but just our lives have attracted them in ways that I could never take credit for.

That's so good.

I can never do, you know.

So glory be to God. I think, I think, uh, that's going to free a lot of people. Um, we, we We have to remember, like, we don't get to choose what family we're born into, right? And that's why the scripture said it's a friend that's sticking closer than a brother. Yeah. But being born again, once we have that emotional setup, like, this— I'm actually— this is our family now, right? And it's not to say we don't treat them well, we don't exemplify Christ, but if we compromise for the sake of blood, right? Then we end up actually putting them in more things in our second day as well. So is that the thing where Jesus said in Matthew 10, I think that I've not come to bring peace but a sword? Because Jesus is a contentious issue, right? He is a contentious thing to be surrounded about. So the sooner we cut the cord, if you will, the sooner they actually come over. Getting all the emotions out the way. We can't save— Jesus could perform no miracles in his own time, and we're trying to perform miracles in our family. Instead, if we go ahead and just let me go into the kingdom family, God will take care of them too. Oh no, but Jesus, I got to bury my brother, I got a wedding to go to. Jesus said, follow me. Yeah, do you not trust the universe can also save them too? But they don't come. So thank you for sharing that testimony, cuz that was My wife and I struggled for the first 5 years about the same thing. I'm like, baby, I can't keep going around. Don't invite me back because I'm gonna mess it up. To share this, we're talking about boldness, boldness, boldness, and I 100% agree we need that boldness, but we also need the grace because, you know, by the grace of God she's here and she's safe while all her family was condemning her, telling her she's gonna go to hell. Um, but you don't want your boldness to make somebody feel like they are disqualified for salvation, whether that's tangible or intangible. So I thought about our pastor was preaching once and he said truth without grace can be harmful and grace without truth can be deceiving. So we need that balance of both of those things. Say it again. Rewind it. Truth without grace can be harmful, and grace without truth can be deceiving. So we need the balance of both of those things, and we need the fruit of the Spirit, in all honesty. And I was reminded of— because we talking Peter— when Peter cut off Malchus's ear, his right ear, that was intentional, because at that time, if you had blemishes, you couldn't go before, uh, you couldn't go into the temple. Just put the ear back because he wanted him to still have the opportunity for salvation, to be saved. Um, and I was just reminded of that. So as we think about gold, we also have to think about how we can do that gracefully. Yeah. So yeah, so good.

That discernment. I think what he said, and I'm glad I went after you because what he said was super perfect about invoking the fruit of the Spirit. Because if you've noticed throughout Acts, it really should be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit, not the Acts of the Apostles. And even in the Book of Luke, you don't see any movement with Jesus without the Holy Spirit present. So I hear us saying our boldness, our boldness. It's not really ours. Like, it's really the Holy Spirit that is infusing the boldness within us. So I feel like, especially when we're talking about witnessing to people, it's super important that we stay grounded in the Holy Spirit. Because I've experienced— I have a similar story to Daisha and Christine. My family is not believers, and And when I first, like, really realized the gospel, I was trying to tell them so hard, like crying, like begging, like sitting by my mom's bedside, like crying, begging. But at the same time, I was doing that in my own weakness. So what I was doing was steering them away because they were like, what's wrong with her? Is she okay? It's like, like, do we need to call somebody, you know? So I feel like it's really important when we do things to really be grounded in the Spirit and really listen to how he wants to minister to people, because he'll make that clear. And sometimes we're super zealous and we're just like, I want to save the world, but we have to check ourselves. I want to save this person. You gotta check it because it's like Like Deja said, we're not going to do that. Like, that's not our place. Like, the Holy Spirit does that, and he places us in places, and he puts us in people's lives. But we're not— that's not our job. Our job is to listen to how he wants us to operate, and that's moving with the boldness of the Holy Spirit. And that boldness could be fruit, which is still gentleness, which is still peace. Pursue— we're supposed to be pursued— we're called to be pursuers of peace.

Wait, cut that out, cut that out, cut that out! Wait, honestly, I feel like this is a great way to drop that we're going to be doing a combined Bible The last Tuesday of March, so we were really going— we're really gonna grind this thing out, you know. Okay, um, y'all would not believe it's 9:13. You know, I got lost in the sauce. I, I think we need a timekeeper because I I was thoroughly immersed in this, um, but we want to be mindful of time. But you know, the tent is where you learn to stay. It's too much, it's too much. Let's get there. And like I said, um, we're very respectful of time here. We're decent people. If you have early wake-ups and you need to go, please don't let us keep you. But I agree, I want to get to the back half of this when, um, they showed everything. They were literally out here selling land like they were real estate agents, and they own Prime real estate. I mean, they had property on Wacker. You selling that property on Wacker? You know what's going on in the economy right now? I mean, they were giving, they were giving, they were giving, they were giving. And, um, I'm gonna share a quick testimony. Um, every time God wants to give you something, he's first going to take it away from you. And this has been my testimony so many times in my life. God has been breaking apart that idolatry of money. And one of the mechanisms that he uses to do that is the principle of giving. So don't— the giving that they're doing here is spiritual and it's strategic, because at this point in time, people had needs. You, you remember the story of Peter as a fisherman. He would— he needed to, to fish to sustain his family. The people that are here giving is not like they don't have needs, but they've seen something, they beheld something, they saw something worth contributing to. And we live in a generation right now where giving in the church is now taboo. You tell somebody, you know, I just gave $10 to the church, they like, man, you should— it's like when Judas saw Martha break the alabaster box, she's like, we could have gave that money to the poor. Like, we're preparing Jesus for his burial. So that the poor can now be rich through him. That's what we're giving to. And I feel like if we don't take giving seriously, we're going to limit the power of the gospel. The way that I understand the Lord's Prayer 'Give us this day our daily bread' is that through his benevolence he might give Eric too. And I don't have bread for today, but I know Eric. That's my daily bread. And we don't know the needs of each other in this room. And I'm gonna balance this because we've also seen some news stories of people doing some terrible things with the church's money. But what if that was a ploy of the enemy to stop people from giving and people fell for it? That's terrible. Like, and I'm— I don't talk about giving. To my detriment. I've had people come up to me and they say, hey, P.O., you need to start, you know, asking people to give to the tent. And it's week 4 and I still haven't asked. It's just not on my mind. It's not, it's not my heart. It's like I, I'm so mindful of how money can be can be a hindrance to the preaching of the gospel, that I'll rather separate it from my gospel message than have it offend people and they never hear the true message of Jesus. But the true message of Jesus is all about giving sacrificially. And I want to share this testimony. There was a time the Holy Spirit asked me to give my mom $10,000. I'm like, whoo, $10,000! Lord Jesus. And I thought I was smart. I'm like, I'm going to give her $5 right now. I'm going to give her $5 later. So I started to use the other half to put earnest money down on a house. I lost that $6,000. So I went to find the other $5,000 real quick, and then I gave. The Lord wanted me to give $10,000. Through that entire process, I lost $16,000 because I thought I was smart. But every time I've given sacrificially, every single time, I've never missed. You can't lack what you give by definition. Do you understand that? By definition, you can't lack what you give. Because I gave it to you does not mean it still don't belong to me. In the eyes of God. Do you understand that? Because I give it to you does not mean it's now yours. You just get to enjoy. Jesus gave us his Son. It's still his Son, but we get to enjoy it. That's giving. So we read in these Acts, they just did these miracles, these signs, these wonders. They could have started a church right then and there, but they were just like, it's not enough to show power, it's not enough to go preach, it's not enough. I'm gonna reach into— I'm gonna give. There's a pastor friend of mine and he says that he's very strict about this, and I might need to institute this principle. He said it's not fasting if you didn't give during the fast. Oof! It's not fasting if you didn't give. You fasted, you cooked your food, and you're counting down until you ate it. Believe it or not, food is still your idol. The whole point of fast is to detach ourselves from things that we can't bring into God's presence. And right now, money, man, it's such an idol. So the giving part is not necessarily for the person that receives, it's for you. Is you saying this thing is not an idol in my life? What I'm gonna get is much greater than what I'm giving up. If you don't believe that, you won't give. Or the person that's on the other side of this is worth more than what I'm giving them. It's a hard thing. So now let's talk about tithing. Mhm. Y'all don't want to hear it. Is it an Old Testament principle? Yes. Is it true that believers don't need to tithe? Yes. Great question. What is tithing? Let me look at the time.

Yeah, because—

so tithing is basically a tenth. And what happened in the Levitical law, the Levites they didn't work. They didn't have jobs. They were responsible of maintaining the order of the priesthood and worship going for the tribe of Israel. Because they didn't work, the 11 other tribes would bring a tenth each to make sure the Levites could be whole when it comes to eating and surviving. So everybody would bring a tenth. And then you imagine that, and you count all of the tenth of the 11 tribes, you give it to Levi, and it was as if they never lacked anything. That was the tithe. The tithe also happened in the Order of Melchizedek when Abraham gave a tenth of the increase to the priest-king Melchizedek. So when we teach tithing, we can teach it from the Levitical priesthood and the order of Melchizedek. Either way, either direction you go, the point of it was to sustain what was happening in the church. I believe to this day that, yes, you don't have to tithe from command. But your heart posture should never be looking for excuses not to give. If you are using it as an excuse not to give, your heart is bad. If you're saying, 'I don't tithe because of the Old Testament,' you know what I want to do? I want to get to a point where I can give 100%. Not because anybody commands me to, but because it's not an idol in my life. Now I say this to say, when you look at what they gave in Acts chapter 4, you calculate it. What percent did they give? Let's be sincere. Least that they gave was 10%. This is why the issue of tithe is a heart thing. You think that— you, you don't think people gave 100%? People don't have issues with tithe, they just love money. You read this book and you tell me what percent they gave. I, I think it was more than 10%. Seems like 100.

It had to be.

Come on, come on, come on.

God, but not giving that.

Wait on it, wait on it. Acts chapter 5 next week. That's why the command now— remember, every— this is so good, you rushing. This is so good. When Jesus was teaching about the commandments, he said that they said that you shouldn't— huh? I haven't finished. Jesus was talking about the commandments. He said, you have heard that it was said that you should love your neighbor, that you should not murder. But he said, but I say anyone that hates his brother in his heart has committed murder. They said that it was said that you should not commit adultery. But I say anyone that lusts after a woman has already committed adultery in his heart. So what Jesus was doing was not lowering the standards, he was raising the standards. So why now when it comes to giving, if he was to reteach it, they said that it was said that you should give 10%. Said. But what would he say if the pattern continues? I don't think Jesus will lower the bar. She said, if they take your clothes, give me the tunic too. That seems like 100% increase.

I'm just saying, why though?

Why?

Because I think like that's so important. The reason why— so no one would need anything so they could continue to— yeah, to me, something that has been, uh, not bothersome, but like how stingy Christians are. Like someone could be in need of something and people be like really tight-pocketed. And if I'm being honest The people who sting you always lacking something. Always, always. I always noticed that, like, people who do not live open-handed are always, like, asking for something or hiking the prices up on something and, like, wondering, you know, like, why they're always in that state. And it's the people who are the most generous, who don't care nothing about no name brand, nothing, who who live quite modest lives and really could, if they wanted to, always have something to give. And I think that the church has to get on one heart and one mind and not claim ownership of anything and share everything we have so that no one around us will lack anything. None of us should be hungry. If somebody got a need right now, you should probably open your mouth while we hot, you know, and get what you need. We hot?

What you need? We about to practice what we preach.

Yeah, while we hot. I feel the Holy Spirit.

You better speak up, cuz seriously, like, it This is how we're gonna close so we can pray, because I pray this never happens to any one of us in the name of Jesus. There was a brother in our church, and man, he must have been very tight on money. He was stressed about it, and he popped the blood vessel and passed. As a pastor, this is the places where I go. So when we was going to visit his house, we were seeing eviction notices on the door. Nobody knew, man. We don't want to have to pay for funerals. We'll rather pay your rent.

Yeah, sorry, can I just share a testimony? That just like— we got evicted I did my freshman year of college. Like, we came home and our stuff was outside, and we had— I'm just grateful to God, like, where he brings certain people out of, our destiny helpers. I didn't mean to cut you off, but I can relate so much. And I feel like after everything, my family doesn't believe, you know. My mom has an understanding, but I personally don't know who else, like, it's but God, you know? And by the grace of God, I have my own apartment, but I'm rarely there because I just want to extend myself to other people who don't have that opportunity, who may not know Christ. So I don't know, I felt like someone needed to hear that. That, um, it's not forever. Just keep trusting God, keep having faith, keep getting up every morning praying, getting in the word. Just keep fighting that flesh. That's all I have to say.

Yeah. And please, please, I, I believe that everybody in this room is a representative of what we're reading in this text. Send someone a message message. Please, please send me a text. Create a random email and email me. I really gotta say my email? My email? Email thetentlive@gmail.com. Like, my wife can bear me witness, there are some pastors that I never met in my life that I've contributed to. I will never step foot in their church, but I know this thing is going to be used for the gospel. Freely do I have. I don't own any of this. I just came from a conference —of a CEO. He spoke. His company makes $400 million a year. He gave 100% of it away to a Christian organization. I promise you, that man don't got no idols in his life. Like, $400 million a year, and he gave it all away.

I would just want to add, when there's, you know, you go to conferences and other churches, or maybe guest pastors like might come to your church, and we talk about this often because, you know, people are— some leaders are greedy and they will ask for wrong for the wrong reasons. And I can see why a seasoned or new believer might be hesitant to give. But to your point, if it's not an idol, whatever— if you get— the word says God loves a cheerful giver. So whether— whatever they got going on, God can get them more than anybody. So if they don't need it and they are being greedy, God will deal with them. But if your heart is in the right place, right, if your heart posture if it's not an item for you, don't let that stop you from still giving. Even if that person seems scammy, if that person seems like they mooching or whatever, God loves a cheerful giver, and he will get them. He'll bless you, and he will handle them. So that— I say that because we have conversations with some of our friends who are newer to the faith, and they— we've invited them to things, and we like, we didn't know that person, they was a guest, and they like sound like they asking for stuff. And 20 people, 20 people, he look, lock the door.

Like, you see why we gotta, we gotta fix this conversation about money in the church? We got work to do, man. You know, even for homeless. It was for so nobody lacks. It would create an economy within an economy under Roman rule. A kingdom economy. Exactly, kingdom economy. So it's an ecosystem. And I'm just not with the Roman Babylonian church system that has been adopted by America. The example is what y'all are walking through. It is a gathering of believers brothers who share unity, one mind, one accord, and they're on a mission to spread the gospel of the kingdom while creating a kingdom economy here on earth before the return of Jerusalem. So it's that purpose. Every other reason— I'm that skeptical one because I'm a pastor and I sit and see, I don't take a salary. I work, I have a business, you see what I'm saying? And I won't take a salary. I will depending on the job, but not for church, not for the gospel. I'll put it maybe 3 times. I don't want to lie to you. But my point is, is that that's what the problem is. We're reinstating temple worship in America, and we're trying to fuel a machine that Jesus destroyed when he tore the veil. And that's why we're talking. And so let's see here. Look, I'm going to have a lot of— I already had a lot of pastors mad at me. I will not give a church money unless I see your books. I see who's on there. I'm, I'm, I'm protecting some people here, but at the same time, I know y'all are in good hands. I'm not trying to overstep, but I'm saying the why is so important. The why is so important. Why are you here? Why am I so— Jesus said this about tithes. He said, you tithe frankincense and myrrh, but you forget the important things— taking care of the orphans, the homeless. That's what the money— the weightier matter. The way it matters, that's what it's for. So the New Testament church, he said it before, if your heart is trying to use it as an excuse to tithe, I get that, because the 10th is a good rule. It's not much, it's a good practice. But what are we giving for? You see what I'm saying? I think that's the most important part. Are we assigning value and purpose to everything that we steward, that we have to give an account for? So hopefully that was helpful to someone. Yeah, man, like, like, we're gonna have to have a longer conversation about this topic because, like, I'm a finance guy. I get it, you know, I totally understand it. But one thing that I refuse to put in the minds of people is any system that makes money an idol in their lives. Like, you don't understand how dangerous that that is. It's so dangerous to make money an idol. Our whole point in believing this is that we're not going to worry about what we're going to wear, we're not going to worry about what we're going to eat. Like, come on, man.

I think a lot of times that lack of, um, like, the love of money thing I think it's coupled with fear, probably coupled with a lot of other things, but like fear, like, oh, I ain't gonna be able to pay this, I ain't gonna be able to do like whatever it is. And, you know, we get afraid, especially like with society, you know, the way society is. It's like, well, you need money to do such and such, but it's like you also got society telling you, okay, you gotta have a job, you gotta have these things, but it's like they put so much emphasis on certain things that it's like we idolize it. Yeah, like we—

if we can simplify our lives a bit, like we don't need as much as we think we do. That's the part, that's the problem. That's why debt— like you're using money you don't have to buy things you don't need to impress people People you don't like. I haven't, but I need to. Yeah, we're gonna have a book club, Kirsten and Destiny, and then we'll pray. Unless somebody else—

I think this is something funny that we went through, right? Where it's like you pray to be a vessel and you pray for God to use you until he's trying to use you. We went through a season of giving, um, probably like after that $10,000, you know, after $10,000, $100.

I'm telling you, bro, everybody could get it.

In the middle of the night, um, he like goes and runs into our mudroom where he keeps, uh, his wallet, and he's like, this guy from Zimbabwe asked me for $100. I was like, what is— he he needs a new laptop. I'm about to give him $100 to buy a new laptop. I'm like, who is this guy? He's in— you know how he even found him? Um, but it was like online. I don't— do you remember? Like, was it a Bible study he saw?

He just keep commenting on my YouTube channel.

But you know, it's funny because I think about that and, you know, I'm like, he could be getting scammed for—

in Nigeria, you know. But God said—

then I also thought, what if this is the answer prayer? Like, imagine you're just on YouTube commenting like, can I get $100? What are the chances of you actually getting that $100, you know? And like, this guy is like, no, I'm about to give this guy $250,000.

And I don't know ever follow up with him? Yeah, he like all our posts. Hey bro, he locked in now. Hey bro, he locked in, bro. Straight up, if ain't nobody going to interact, I know, I know he is locked in, man. Yeah, that's so good, because I'm always just like, I don't— because like, when God said— I don't care what happens on the other side of it, it is none of my business. If God tell me to give and it's a scam, that's God's fault. I don't have to worry about that. I just gotta worry about hearing him. That's my responsibility. What happens with the giving is his responsibility, and I'll leave it at that. Destiny?

And we say even when Oprah, like, just like in conference room, like, how much harder is it for like, and we were talking about like, if you're going to try to like get some more money, like you're going to be asked to give, like your heart is going to be tested a lot more.

That's good.

And are you prepared? Like when you're like, I want to get like, I want, especially say I want to like look at my Bible to get that money. Like, what is that going to— like, what's going to come to me after that? Like, what am I going to have to sacrifice? Like, how long is that going to make me, um, like, an image bearer? Like, things like— if you're going to ask for that, like, you also have to, like, really prepare your heart for, like, what's going to happen. Yeah. When you're— like, people get everything, and, like, I think it easily could think like, oh, I, I want to be a millionaire, like this is going to help me, and then he's not going to ask you to get like he said 400 million away.

No. Did anybody hear what she just said? That was powerful, right? If you are trusting God to use you, don't be shocked when he use you. Yeah, like that's you, you— I want to be an ATM for Jesus. Like, I don't want— I don't want anything.

I feel like with tithing, people who are able to tithe now, and you know, like, you do pray for increase, you do pray for growth, but your tithe today might be $200. When that tithe is $2,000, don't forget that you were okay with what what you had after the $200. So don't be shocked when you have more and you're led to give more when you were fine with less. I feel like people get too comfortable, like, oh, now I have this, and then like your finances get like mismanaged. Now you're buying the most expensive thing when you don't even know that you need the most expensive thing. And now because you're mismanagement, now you're like, oh, but I this for this when you were fine 2 years ago where you were. So I feel like that's also something to keep in mind. Kind of like what Oluseun was just saying, don't be surprised when your capacity is enlarged and now your giving needs to be enlarged also. Not only that, but when you have only $200 to your name and you give $20, that's a lot of money versus like you got $2 million you're living and you gave what, uh, $200,000 or two— yeah, $200,000. That does— it's not the same. Like, in God's eyes, he's gonna look at that $20, and he said this, he's like, you gave so much. So like, even in the desperation, feeling like you don't have anything, when you give that, I think God looks at you and goes, oh my God. Like that heart to give what you have when you don't have much. And I think it just means so much more.

I just gotta give, man. Like, it's not— I can't, I can't stress this enough. Like, please give. It's— I've never been more happy in my life than when I've given giving money away. Of all the things that I own in my life, the greatest joy I've ever had was giving my man's money for a laptop.

You said what? Yeah, I know. For me, I love giving out money, and not just anybody.

Yeah. That's good.

Yeah, I had—

what God led me one time, um, I was bowling, like, on my team.

I was bowling. I had, you know, this one lady that I bowl with. She was talking to me, kind of pouring her heart out to me, and I was like, okay, I'm gonna give you this Bible. She's like, no, it's your only Bible. It's not my only Bible. What's your name? I'm writing down. She's like, oh, like, you don't have to do this. I don't care if you don't read it. Here you go. This is for you because I know you'll remember the gift that was given. And I, you know, had those moments, and it's just like that gift for me is like I don't care if you read it, but I know it's gonna be there saying, read me, right? And then you go, or you might give it to somebody else and say, here, you might use this better, or whatever it might be, right? She's right.

It's not just money, you know, your time. The Bible says that greater love than no man have than to give his life life. I equate life with time, you know, like you can't get that time back and you gave it. Yeah, you on the serve team at church and they don't pay you. Like, let's think, everybody has prescribed to yourself an hourly rate. Mine, my hourly rate is $100 an hour. That's the rate that I assigned for myself. So when you spend an hour with somebody, you just gave them $100. Now think about this. As you get longer, your value goes up. As you get older and you have kids, you have a family, You had a business, you got ministry, and you're still spending that hour with somebody discipling them. You're giving sacrificially, you know. If you are not in the financial spot to give, yes, you can give your time. If you don't have time, you have money. If you don't have money, you have time. If you don't have both, something wrong.

I think that's a good point too, because ultimately God is asking for all of us. And I think about how many people just have a problem with giving like a little bit. He's like, well, God's actually out there asking for every thought, every like every part of your body, every, every part of your soul. He's asking for that.

And if you have a problem Yeah, we gotta go to the drawing board. Um, let's rise and pray. God is so good. God is so good. And, um, we're not gonna pray long, just like 10 minutes. What time is it? I'm like, because it might be— we 10 minutes away from the, the, the price Um, well, we're gonna pray for as long as God wants us to pray. Um, so I actually want a couple people to pray, um, and I'm not gonna say their names. I'm just gonna pray their name, and I'm gonna hope they, they just begin to pray. So I want 2 people to pray, and I just want you to hear from God because the Lord has a prayer for you to pray for us. So I'm praying that you begin to pray in the name of Jesus. Father God, we come to you and we just lift you up in honor, glory, and praise. We worship your name because you are worthy, God. We thank you. We come with a spirit of thanksgiving. We just thank you for allowing us traveling mercy to come into this presence, and we invite you here. We thank you for dwelling dwelling with us. We thank you for sending your Son to die and give us an opportunity for salvation. Lord Jesus, we just lift you up in honor, glory, and praise, and we say thank you. We pray that you bring forth destruction upon any satanic agenda. Amen. Amen. Any spirit that reaches out to confuse to cause us anxiety, to cause us fear, to cause us to be silent and lose the voices that you've given us, Lord. You've created us to be fearless. You've created us to live and imitate the fruit of the Spirit, Lord. So we pray that you give us the strength, the courage, the wisdom to pick up our crosses daily, to bear the image of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And we just pray that you continue to cover our minds Cover our bodies, cover our spirits, Lord. We pray that this word resonates on us as we go into our lives tomorrow, the rest of this week. We pray that Acts chapter 4 resonates and we are moved and we have spirits of giving, Lord. We pray that we come out of this looking to fast, looking to give, looking to be more like our Lord and Savior. Thank you, Jesus. We continue to pray just to keep us, and as we think about all the works of your hand, as we think about how much you consider us and how much you care for us, we pray that you put it on the top of our minds to consider you and care for you, Lord, in everything that we do. May you be on the top of our minds, the center of our hearts, and the tip of our tongues, Lord. And we just thank you. We thank you for all that you're doing. Thank you for for all that you've done. Thank you for all that you've built. Thank you for this community. We pray that you continue to allow us to come together. We pray that this grows as the folks that were saved, the 5,000, Lord, we pray that this grows. And we pray that every cup in this room runneth over. Amen. Nothing missing, nothing broken. Lord, thank you, Lord. We pray that you continue to fulfill every need, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Nothing is missing, nothing is broken. We need to go nowhere, we need to seek nothing and no one. Thank you, Father. Let us lay all of our burdens at the foot of your throne, God. Thank you, Jesus. We love you, we honor you, we give you all the glory and the praise. We just continue to pray that you be with us as we travel home, you be with us as we sleep in our homes, and you send your angels to stand guard, protecting us again from any attack of the enemy, any satanic agenda, Lord. And we thank you, thank you, we love you, we honor you.

Thank you, Father. God, we worship you. We thank you for this time of thanksgiving, this time of worship, this time of understanding, this time of studying. Thank you for this community. We thank you, Lord, that we are able to gather without rebuke. We are able to gather in safety, that we are able to learn and to understand your scripture, your word, without persecution. Thank you, Lord, for your protection. Thank you, Lord, for your provision. Thank you, Lord, for your love and your care, for your intentionality, your thoughtfulness, and your graciousness. Thank you, Lord, that we've been chosen, that we've been called. Thank you, Lord, for wrapping us in your arms, Lord. Thank you for keeping us safe. Thank you for giving us shelter and continuing to look after us, Father God. Thank you, Lord, for our jobs. Thank you, Lord, for our families. Thank you, Lord, for our vehicles. Thank you, Lord, that we have what we need. God, we just thank you, Lord, for giving us this opportunity to learn about your intention for the church. Jesus, you are convicting us and detoxing us from ways that we have been conditioned to gather, to give, to serve, to be in community. And I ask, Lord, that as we continue to study, as we continue to walk this thing out, Lord, that you would allow us to assemble and to gather the way that you had intended, Lord, to be able for this movement to ripple out In the name of Jesus, more communities, more tabernacles, so that we can get what you intended us to get, so that we can serve the way you intended us to serve, so that we can embody fully who you created us to be, so that we can bring your kingdom here on earth. Lord, we thank you. We thank you, Lord, for this opportunity, Father God, to truly understand, God, what you have given us, this gift that you have left behind for for us to understand your DNA, to understand how you speak to us, to understand how you called us, what your image is, what our image is. Lord, we thank you, God. Thank you, Father, for wisdom and knowledge. Thank you, Jesus. Continue to open our ears and open our eyes, God, so we can see and we can hear you clearly. Father, we come against any distractions. Yes, try to convince us of something other than what is your truth. Father, we pray against any attack on our minds as we travel from here that may try to distort and twist what we've learned and may try to distort and twist what is true. Father, we ask God that you send your Holy Spirit to continue to give us revelation and wisdom, Father God, that we are able to interpret what you have called us to see and what you called us to know. Father, that you give us dreams, that you give us understanding and wisdom wisdom, Father God, to preach the gospel, to preach the truth, to speak up and be bold in conversations, Father, with people who you have a heart for, Father, who you are trying to woo to your own heart, Father. We ask, Lord, that you would give us the words, that you would speak to us and through us, that you would call us into the spaces and places that you have ordained and destined us to be, Father, so that you can use us as your vessel, Father. Give us clean hands and a pure heart. Thank you, Jesus. Father God, to serve you fully and wholly. Father God, to empty ourselves, Father God, so that you can fill us up. God, pour out your spirit. Pour out your spirit, Father God, so that we can move boldly and fully and in truth, Father God, so that we may do here on earth what you've called us to do. God, we thank you, Lord. We pray that everybody in this room, not on any prosperity preaching, God, that we but we pray, Lord, that you would give us increase so that we may be blessings to other people. I pray, Lord, against any idolatry that we may have, whether it be food, whether it be money, whether it be relationships, whatever it be, Father God, let us turn those things over to you, Father God. Give us the right heart, the right desires, the right needs and Father God, that you can fill those things, Father, through, through your Spirit. We thank you, Father God, that you are giving us exactly what we need, Father God, that there is overflow and increase so we can bless who you called us to bless, Father God, so that people can see you through us, Father God. Help us to be better image bearers. Help us to be more pure. Help us to be more holy. Help us to be more righteous. Help us to continue to deny our flesh. Flesh, to be more holy, Father God, to be more blameless, Father God, to edify and increase our spirit, Father God, to continue to increase and build up our spirit man, Father God, so that we may lead and have endurance for the times ahead. Father, I pray that you continue to bless us, Father God, that you continue to protect us, God, that you I send your angels to encamp around every space that we occupy, our vehicles, our home, our workplaces. Father God, as we travel to and from, Father God, send your angels to protect us. And I rebuke any attempt of the devil to steal away what has been deposited today.

Amen. Pray that that word that was deposited, Father, that it grow roots, Father God, and bear fruit. Amen.

Others may see that we are walking with you, Father God, that you— that we have spent time with you, that it is you, Father God, who is the author and finisher of our faith.

We thank you, God, for all that we are, for all that you're doing in us. We worship you.

We repent, God, for any ways that we've disappointed you, any ways that we've made you sad, any ways that we have gone against your Thank you, Jesus. Help us return. Man, thank you, Father.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Amen. Amen. I feel the Spirit moving in here. So, um, oh, thank you Jesus. I'm trying to contain myself, um, but there's something that Eric keeps saying that has been pushing against my heart, and I just want to release him right now. And why, why I want to give him this liberty is because I do believe that Babylon is in the hearts of people. I really believe that he was in the spirit, brother. And I sever the emotional attachment that we have to this life in the name of Jesus. The word of God will not be consumed by the thorns of this world and the cares of this life and the life of these people in the name of Jesus. Lord, I pray that you only give us divine connections and not emotional attachments. Lord, this life is fleeting. Lord, so I pray that you will set us free, Lord, and give us the power for the purpose, not the power for ourselves. Lord, I pray that every empire that man is building and has built will fall in the name of Jesus. Lord, and only your name will come up great in this city, in this nation, Lord, all over. Lord, your return is soon to come. Lord, we pray, we are with you. Lord, we pray that there is nothing in us that does not look like you, God. Lord, as the rich man was saying, what shall I do, Lord, that I, I could be closer to you? You said sell all that you have. Lord, let us be stewards only. Let us wear loose garments so that the things of this world cannot determine our identity. In the name of Jesus, I pray that over these people in this room, I pray that a heart that gives everything, that gives all to you, at a moment's notice when you say obey, you said they will people who love me obey my commands in John 14. Lord, let us be obedient to your commands. Amen. Let us love your church. Let us love your bride the way you love your bride. Give us eyes that you have, Lord. Let us warn those we see going into wolves, Lord. And Lord, I just pray against— I just hear this in the name of Jesus— there are some of you that are in the church that you've been discerning if you should leave. I pray that you have a conversation with your pastor and tell the spirits as the Lord has said to do in, in the scriptures. Test the spirits. You will know and see if they are of God. Somebody is struggling because of a financial issue in the church. I pray that that thing get exposed, but I pray that you do it with grace. Amen. You do it with meekness. Amen. So you can be blameless. Amen. In the name of Jesus, I pray, and I bind the hands of the enemy. Amen. Until that is off your people. Amen, amen, amen. Um, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Last thing I want to do I want to— I want us to pray for authority. There are some things that we have given permission to that didn't have authority before our agreements. And the thing about authority is that it comes from God. And then through man. So when God tell us in the garden to go have dominion, our authority comes to the place he instructed and planted us. What the enemy wants to do, he wants to make you doubt the authority God gave you. So then he said that God really say And the moment you give him ear, you give your authority away. We're taking the authority back so that by the time you begin to speak to these things, they have to listen. That is the authority God gave us. Some of you have been praying about something and it hasn't been changing. Because you lack authority. When God brings that authority back, the moment you speak, it must respond. Everything in this world has an ear. The water has an ear. The sky has an ear. The mountains have ears. Jesus said, speak to this mountain You be lifted and cast into the sea, and it will happen because you have authority. So the first half of this prayer: every authority I have given up, every authority I've given up by laziness, every authority I've given up by a lack of prayer life, every authority I've given up by idolatry, every authority I've given up by being submitted to the wrong pastor, every Every authority I've given up by being in the wrong places, every authority I've given up by being in the wrong relationships, I take authority back, not by my own strength, but by the blood of Jesus. Authority belongs to him. All power, all glory, all honor, all authority. Jesus says all authority belongs to me. Me. So Lord, I walk, I function, I exist in the authority of heaven. Lord God, whatever I have given up, whatever I have let go of, I take territory back by the mercies of God. I refuse to let things speak to me that I should be speaking to. I refuse to bow to things that should be bowing to Jesus. All authority in heaven and earth. That was a lie. Father, in Jesus' name we pray. What you just did was build your faith. Now I want you to direct that faith faith at whatever that mountain is. I'm talking about stubborn situations. It's been in your family too long. You've been dealing with it for too long. My prayer, after tonight you will deal with it no more. In the name of Jesus, that Egyptian you see, you see no more. Now, can you release your words to that mountain? You know what it is, you know where it is. Just speak in faith. That mountain is stopping you from preaching the gospel. It has to go. Come on, it has to go. It has to go. That mountain of doubt, that mountain of doubt, that mountain of doubt, it has to go. It has to go. You are a child of God. Great is he that is in you than he that is in the world. You have the Holy Spirit of God. You have power. It has to go. Those relationships, those relationships, huh? I am bound to no one but Christ. Anyone attaching themselves to me, anyone attaching themselves to my family, anyone claiming relationship with me, it has to go. Those relationships from college that are holding you back, we We begin to sever it right now by the sword of the Spirit. Those things clinging on to you, those old relationships, you thought you ended them physically, they keep coming back in the spirit. We end them now. We know none except Christ and him crucified. So Lord God, we just want to say thank you, Father. Every old relationship that someone keep making reference to, in your mind here physically present, you're done with that relationship. In the other person's mind, they've built an altar around it. It has nothing to do with you. Someone else has built an altar of a relationship you and them used to have. Do you get me? Does this make sense? You have walked away. Somebody built an altar and attached your name to it. Father, we cut it off in the name of Jesus. Anyone making reference to our name Anyone speaking of us in places we haven't entered. Anyone speaking evil of our lives. You see, words are seeds. If people are speaking evil about you, you don't have to accept it. If anyone is speaking negativity about you, you We don't have to accept it. Any tongue that rises against us, we condemn in the name of Jesus. Any tongue that rises against our children, our families, our fathers, our mothers, our brothers, our sisters, we condemn in the name of Jesus. We don't have to accept it. Anyone speaking depression into our lives, anyone speaking anxiety, anyone speaking death. Words are powerful. The only words that will reign is the word of God in our lives. In the name of Jesus, let God be true and every man a liar. In the name of Jesus, every lie of the enemy that says you are not enough, every lie of the enemy that says you're inadequate, any lie of the enemy that says you can't do it, Any lie of the enemy that has penetrated your mind, we fortify it against such in the name of Jesus. Let God be true and every man a liar. Any negative voice in your workplace, oof. I'm just going to go there. Your name keeps coming up for promotion. Somebody in that room keeps taking your name off. Every time your name comes up, someone there is saying, not this person. Father, in the name of Jesus, you that reveals all things, see all things. The one that can enter rooms that we can't. The Bible says that the hearts of kings are like rivers in his hands, and he turns them whichever way he pleases. Lord, everyone that needs to favor us will favor us in the name of Jesus. Lord, again we pray against Babylon. We pray against the Roman Empire. We want no parts of it. Anything that man-made will be destroyed, but he who builds on the rock— Lord, we choose to build on this rock in the name of Jesus. Jesus. Thank you, Heavenly Father. Thank you, Jesus. For in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. In Jesus' name. Um, I want to caution us this, this season. Um, man, I don't want to say this. Like, sometimes when God— when he speaks to you, it will sound crazy repeating it to other people. But this is the boldness that we just read about, that when God speaks, you say what he says. That's boldness. The Lord's just been warning me against relationships. And the reason why the enemy uses relationships is because by design we are relational beings. But any relationship you put above God is an idol. It could be mother, it could be father. It could be your children. It could be your spouse. Jesus has to take preeminence in our lives. And I'm not telling you this is easy, but the words of Jesus: He who loves his mother or father more than me is not worthy Those are harsh words, and I thank God they're not my own. We got to be very sensitive about the relationships that we keep. Everything that happens in this world happens through relationship, good or bad, period, period. The good things that happen, you can trace them to a relationship. The bad things that can happen, you can trace them to a relationship. People have died in this world because of wrong relationships, wrong affiliations, being at the wrong place at the wrong time. People go to jail because they was in the wrong cars. Is it fair? No. So I just want us to just be very cautious and be particular. You don't have to give everyone access. Nobody's entitled to your presence in this world. So please, please, please Be very discerning. Satan couldn't get to Jesus, so he used Peter. I'm saying you be watchful even with people in faith spaces. It's not that the person is bad, but they're not fortified. And we too got to make sure we not being used. There are times me and my wife would get into an argument, I'll take a step back and be like, the devil is a liar. I will not be used to frustrate her. I won't, I won't, I refuse. I will not be used to frustrate her. So that's why I'm telling us to be mindful, because these could be the best relationships That makes it the perfect candidate, because you would never believe somebody like this would say something to you. Be mindful, it might not be them. Don't rebuke them, rebuke the spirit. Jesus never rebuked Peter. Pay attention to that. He said, Satan, get ye behind me. Many a times you're gonna mess up a relationship because you rebuke the wrong person. You gotta be careful. We still need Peter. So I just wanted to share that. Um, we'll be— we'll be back here next Tuesday, maybe. Yeah, we're gonna iron out this calendar. Um, If you're not a part of the WhatsApp, just feel free to find Shell, um, and she'll get you situated. Prayer gym is happening right now, ironically. Um, so I mean, we do prayers in the morning, prayer in the evening, just a daily rhythm. We call it the prayer gym. Um, we will be worshiping and praying this weekend. So on the 27th at 6 PM at Indian Avenue Pentecostal Church of God The 27th too. 27 is prayer, 6 to 9, and then the 28th will be worshiping, 6 to 9, in Brownsville. Um, like I said, Bishop Moore, been in ministry 40 years. I, I think it's a reflection of this ministry that churches of this capacity is allowing us to express ourselves though. This is a 91-year-old church, so I met with the pastor He said, I want to protect my— who you are. I said, that's what's up, I'm about that too. So we sat down, 1 hour 10 minutes back to back, went against theology, word, everything, read me like a book, opened it up. He was just like, okay, you good. Like, I knew that before I came in, but thank you. It does mean a lot coming from him. So we're going to be, I believe, an ancient altar man. I mean, you know, you call me whatever, but I believe that altars that been there since the beginning of time— I believe there's a reason why Jesus had to go to that well in Samaria, Jacob's Well. Ancient altars. My church is 27 years old, this one is 91. So guess where I'm gonna be this weekend? I'm gonna take that fire back home. So come, please let people know. Last thing, I've been told, like we said, that I don't ask people to give, and I feel very weird, but we're going to be doing a lot of traveling this year, and we're going to Atlanta in April, North Carolina in May. We got some places to go to, so We're gonna start a giving fund just to help offset the cost of travel, particularly, just so as many people that can come could come. Thetentlive.com/give is the link. Just pray about it. That's all I can say. Just please pray about it. Give cheerfully. If you feel compelled to give, I'm doing it wrong. And then we got hats, we got merch, all that good stuff. All right, um, Lord God, we just want to say thank you one more time. Thank you for what you've done here tonight, Lord, for the grace to just sit around your word and to patiently divide it and to hear from your children, oh God. From the grace that you have placed in each and every one of them to share. Lord, we've learned so much in such a short amount of time. We pray again, may the enemy not steal the seeds, in the name of Jesus. Lord God, I pray that we take this word and we live it out. I pray that we share this word with somebody. And Lord, by the time we come back for Acts chapter 5, I pray that our seats not be empty. For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, now and forever, until Christ comes. And the church said, amen. Amen. God bless you all. Oh yeah, I forgot something.

But we are collaborating with Kirsten and her ministry for Bible study. That'll be the last week of March. They're going to dive into the fruit. Um, that day we should be in Acts 9, but we're going to figure it out. It'll still be in person. We'll figure out the location, but, um, super excited. Our first Bible study collaboration of the year. So thank you, thank you, thank you. We're super excited. So, um, yes, we'll see you all there.

Yeah, we'll get a flyer out ASAP. All right, light hands. What's the— what's the saying? Light hands make heavy work. Oh man, of course. Yeah, man, no, like, I just be like