Bible Study

Well, good morning to everyone, and welcome to our first Super Sabbath. Call it a Super Sabbath because we afford the opportunity for those who cannot get out to go to the biweekly Bible studies to have an opportunity to have a Bible study, and then to share in a luncheon, a potluck luncheon in between, and then have regular combined services afterwards. So this will be our first effort at this, and we'll see how it goes. I have two others scheduled. I'm likely going to cancel the one in April. I do have because I think it's a little bit too close, and we'll go to the one in May, especially with Passover and Unleavened Bread coming. We'll go ahead and probably cancel the one I had originally on the schedule. All the speakers have that, and I'll be assigning speakers for the morning. We already have speakers for the afternoon. That was April 9th. I think I was scheduled for one to have it here. I wouldn't even be here for that. And then April 30th, we have another one. Sorry, May 7th, we have another one. So we'll try those out, see how they are. The weekly Bible studies, by the way, and we will ask God's blessing on the meeting in a moment. The weekly Bible studies have been going very well, very grateful for the attendance. We've held at about 48 every time, 47, 48 in attendance here, and had up to 270 people tune in to it. And we've had 230, 217, 220. But the last time was 230, the time before that, 270. So for all of you on Cybercast, welcome to our first Super Sabbath. We will be continuing the Bible study going through the book of Acts. And we hope that you'll be edified and uplifted and have a love for God's Word and God's people and the God who made it all happen. So ask God's blessing. You can remain seated, and I'll go ahead and ask God's blessing. Heavenly Father, our God in heaven, we come to You, the One who oversees everything, the One who is Creator of the ends of the earth. And what a wonderful job You did, Father. What an awesome job You did. And we see Your handiwork everywhere, and the beautiful sun shine that we see in the springtime that's coming, brings us great joy in seeing that things come to life again. And we're so grateful to You for all that You've done, all You've made for the order You've given to the universe. We're thankful, Father, that we can have Your Word to study. We're thankful that You preserved it. We're thankful that You inspired it. And we ask You, Father, to help us to draw from it that inspiration that You put into it, the instruction, the correction, the edification that we can all receive. So we ask Your blessing on this Bible study this morning, on the activities that we have. And we ask Your blessing for Matt and me as we cover this, and we give You thanks in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, Mr. Fentchel is here with me. Mr. Fentchel taught the book of Acts for like four or five years at Ambassador Bible Center before going on career. But he's certainly well familiar with the Scriptures, and we'll look forward to having him take the second half of this particular session this morning. And a couple of announcements. I'll make this one right away. Chris and Alicia Stewart are proud to announce the birth of their son, Carson Otto Stewart. He was born March 12th at 12.06 a.m. via C-section after 26 hours of labor. He weighed 9 pounds and 15 ounces. They would like to thank everyone for the love and support that they've received over the last week.

So 9 pounds 15 ounces of big boy. He's going to be a bruiser, I'm sure. I also want to share with you, and I'll ask Mr. Fentchel to comment on it. This is the United Youth Camp 2011 brochure that's been sent out. And when it's time for him to begin, I'll ask him to comment on it for you about the one the camp that we have now here in Ohio.

And that's Camp Kotubik. So he'll be, he can give a little bit of a plug for that as we have summer camps here. Very nice. A world away from the world, it's called. And I'll read this other one just as we conclude. Go to Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4 verse 23 is where they left off. Mr. Eddington and Mr. Stiver handled it on Wednesday night this week. Just as by way of rehearsal, the book of Acts is really called Acts of the Apostles.

The book of Acts is really about two apostles. It's about Peter for about the first 11-12 chapters, and the Apostle Paul for the rest of the book. There are two others named in it, James and John. And if we say Barnabas became an apostle later, Barnabas is there too. But basically it's about the Acts of Peter and Paul. But what's more astounding that we should all pay attention to is we're going to see how first century Christians actually acted.

We're going to see how they responded. We're going to see how they used the Spirit of God in their lives and how God was actively working with them. We're going to see what that early church did, how they responded, how they obeyed, how they served, how they loved. And so it's a great lesson for all of us as we go through this book. And I'm beholden to God to have this book so grateful because we can see the only example because after the book of Acts, persecution came on.

And if you hated someone and had the power to do something about it, you would snuff out any vestige of remembrance of them. And that's exactly what their persecutors did. And so we look through church history and we find little snippets here and there and say, that might be God's people, that might be God's people. How can we tell? Because the only thing that their enemies would say against them would be that which would tend to be detracting. Why, those people, they obey those holy days. Those people, they're Judaizers.

They keep the seventh day Sabbath. Why, those people, they won't even baptize their children. And you start learning. Well, that's right. There's what the Bible says about them. But they would not tell you a lot of the good things that they did because they did not want to give them advertisements.

So the only thing they would say about them would be those truths from the Bible, which they didn't realize, that would be detracting of them, which would cause criticism of them, which would cause others to disdain them. So the book of Acts is an awesome book. In chapters 1, 2, and 3, we saw the beginning. We saw the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ telling them to wait. We saw them desirous of His kingdom to come and said, will you at this time restore the kingdom?

No, it wasn't the time for it. But He said, wait here. He said, you should be witnesses of Me in all of Judea. Then in Acts 2, we see they were all together with one accord. God poured out His Holy Spirit. Then we see that many were baptized, repent and be baptized, He said to them in Acts 2.38. Then at the end of that chapter, we see thousands added to the church. We see the gladness and the unity that they had. God gladly says the Lord added to the church daily those who should be saved, Acts 2.47.

And in chapter 3, we see the healing that took place, Peter and John, with the young man who was sitting at the gate beautiful. We'll see that He talked about the converted. He talked about the heavens must receive Jesus Christ until the time of restoration.

Then we see in chapter 4 some persecution, the very first persecution upon the church that took place, Acts 4. And now we come to verse 23. After the disciples had been threatened and told, don't you ever, we don't want you to ever speak in the name of this Jesus Christ again.

Verse 18, He said, so they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. Don't you come to us and tell us Jesus Christ said this or Jesus Christ taught that. We don't want to hear that word anymore. We don't want to hear that name.

And then Peter said to them in verse 20, we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. And then they were further threatened and let go. So let's pick up the story in verse 23, Acts 4. And remember, Luke is writing this and Luke was a physician and what they find in many of the sections here, sometimes when it comes to something medical, that he uses medical terminology because he was a doctor. They'll find he uses the words that a doctor would use instead of just a normal word that we might use, like for needle, for instance. He uses more of a needle than a physician would use, not a normal sewing needle or a regular pin. So verse 23, And being let go after they had been let go, after they had been apprehended and strictly warned, being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. Interesting. They shared information. Now, it wasn't confidential information. You know, ministers, in my early years, sometimes I thought, well, we're all a church family. It's okay to tell the church about this or that that I heard. You know what? That's wrong. There's something about confidentiality. There's something about when you talk to the minister about some issue that he's not going to stand up in the pulpit next week and describe you except he doesn't give you your name. Doesn't give the congregation your name, but he describes your situation perfectly. There's something about confidentiality that needs to be maintained. However, talking about what affairs there are in the church, it was wonderful. They shared with each other. They communicated, in other words. So they came back and they told their companions all that had happened to them. In verse 24, 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, the sea, and all that is in them, who by the mouth of your servant David have said. After they heard about this, they all prayed to God. They said, your servant David said, which is another good example, by the way, that when you're praying to God, it's okay to use the Psalms. In fact, it's a great idea to use the Psalms. When you pray to God, open them up. Most of the praises toward God, read a couple verses, talk to how they relate to you. But it's interesting here that they did. They said, God, David said, why did the nations rage? Psalms 2. And the people plot vain things. Why do the nations, and it's a song from, I believe, it's the Messiah, is it not? An oratorio, I remember, Garnert at Armstrong, singing that in Pasadena. Why do the nations so furiously rage together against God's people? Anyway, why did the nations rage? And the people plot vain things. The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ. It says, against God and is anointed in Psalms 2. Why do they rage against Him? They quoted this as they were praying to God. For truly, against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together. Well, look, this scripture is being fulfilled. We're being persecuted. Jesus Christ was persecuted to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. They gathered together, and what they did to Jesus Christ was allowed by God. It was according to His purpose.

He said, you took care of it. It was purposeful. You handled that. Whenever you decide, God, we're in your hands. He says in verse 29, Now, Lord, look on their threats. See what they're trying to do to us. Look on their threats and make a hiding place for us. Is that what He said?

Look on their threats and help us have a fast getaway. Give us a fast car. Get us out of here, Lord. Make us invisible. Help us shrink into the woodwork. Is that what they said? No, they said, Help us, Lord. Give your servants boldness that they may speak your word. These men had just been threatened. And they said, see if we're going to preach the Word of God. See if we're going to quit using Jesus' name. And when they went back, they said, Give us the boldness to keep on preaching your Word, to keep moving forward, to not back down, to keep doing your work. He said in verse 30, By stretching out your hand to heal, that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your Holy Servant Jesus. It's all done by God. You know, everything we do is supposed to be done in the name of Jesus Christ. Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do it all in the name of Jesus Christ. Think it's Ephesians 5, 20, or Colossians 3, 17. Whatever you do, do it all in the name of Jesus Christ. It's by His power that we can do it. So He says, Give us your strength. Galvanize us. Help us to keep going forward. Don't help us go run and hide. They didn't ask for protection. They asked for boldness to keep on doing the work. In verse 31, And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together, again, togetherness is very important, was shaken.

It wasn't a bunch of people standing around with tambourines making a lot of noise. That wasn't the shaking. God shook the place. And notice what happened. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And they spoke the Word of God with boldness. God's Spirit, remember one of the distinguishing signs of Jesus Christ? They said, This man speaks with authority. He doesn't speak like the Pharisees and the scribes. These milktoasts who have no backbone. He speaks with authority. Why can you speak with authority? Only when I speak the Word of God can I speak with authority. When I speak on my own authority, I can't speak with boldness. But when I speak the Word of God, I can speak with boldness. That's what God says. And Jesus Christ was the Word of God in the flesh. And what He said, He spoke with authority. And He wasn't like the scribes and the Pharisees. He spoke with authority. That's also interesting. Philippians 1.19, if you hold your place here, I'll turn in my other Bible, which I can get to quicker. I'm reading out of New King James, but I modernize Old King James for you. Philippians 1.19, the Apostle Paul said, I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The supply. So do you just have God's Spirit, or are you filled with it?

I submit to you there is a difference. Just having it as opposed to being filled with it. In fact, the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 5 and verse 18 made this comment. He says, Be not drunk with wine. Now if you are drunk with wine, you have had a lot. Be not drunk with wine, we're in his excess, but be filled with the Spirit. I submit to you there's a difference to just having it and being filled with it. I told my students in class, I like driving with a full tank of gasoline. I don't like running out of fuel. I've done it twice in my life, and that's enough.

I don't like being stranded on the side of the highway with people driving by and saying, What's wrong with that guy? I don't like that. I don't like having to walk for it or have one of my assistants walk. Usually I had my assistant walk to get the gasoline if I ran out when I was a minister. But I mean, still, I was embarrassed. He was embarrassed walking. But anyway, other times people stop and help you. But I like having a full tank of gasoline. I just feel comfortable. Is your tank full spiritually? Are you ready to go? And how do you receive God's Spirit by closeness to Him? Prayer, study, fasting, meditation, Bible study, all of it, and using it? Using it. And it's God's Spirit, like living water, as he explained in John 4 to the lady at the well. He said, I'll give you that. You'll never thirst again. Living water that flows into us from God flows out of us in good works and good deeds. But it is a power. It's a force that moves. It isn't some stagnant pool. It's a force. And we need that force in our lives. So they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the Word of God with boldness.

And again, you'll see the result of that prayer was God filling them with His Holy Spirit.

So when we go to God in our prayer lives, we say, God, fill me with Your Spirit, like pulling up your car to the gasoline station and filling it up.

Paul said, and the apostles here, not Paul, but the servants of God said, fill me. Fill us with Your Spirit. And God did. Verse 32, Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul. Again, can't stress enough about the oneness that we all need to have. Ephesians 4, verses 3-6, talks about that oneness that we can have. One faith, one baptism, one Lord, one Savior, one goal, one purpose, oneness. And when God's people are together, there's very little that they can't do. Notice, Now that the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul, neither did anyone say that any of the things that He possessed was His own. But they all had things in common. So you come to my house and I say, make yourself at home.

You don't go bring a freezer bag, start unloading my freezer, right? You don't do that.

You don't come and say, oh, fine, I think I'll go up and take a rest in your bedroom. You said, make myself at home. I'm tired. I think I'll go up and sleep in your bed.

You know, you don't do it, but it is an expression.

Hey, mi casa es su casa. My home is your home, right? Because I think that's what it means in Spanish, quoting. It means my home is your home. Help yourself. You say, help yourself. You don't mean them to raid your refrigerator. You don't mean them to go in there and take out your various juices and so on and load them into their into some bag and leave the house. You don't mean that.

But they had everything common. They were willing to share. Why were they willing to share? Go back and look. Three thousand converted one day, five thousand converted another day, and they wanted that extra feeding and spiritual food. So the others provided for them. And notice what they did. With great power, the apostles gave witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. A couple of things to note. What did they speak about? The resurrection. Why would they talk about the resurrection? Why don't they talk about the kingdom? They had just seen Jesus Christ dead, and then He was alive. They saw Him walk through walls. They saw Him disappear. They saw Him make a barbecue for them at the beachside. They saw Him tell them which side where the fish were. They saw Him, all those events, they saw Jesus Christ do.

And they were impressed, to say the least. He was dead. He's now alive. It gave them such great boldness. You know what? Nobody can keep me from life. They can kill my body, but they cannot kill my eternal life. God can resurrect the dead, and we have seen it. So they talked about the resurrection a lot. They gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. You can go over that real easy. What is grace? It's God's mercy, God's graciousness, God's kindness, God's favor towards you. They were favored by God to do a work He called them for.

Great grace was upon them all. Verse 34, nowhere were there anyone, anyone among them who lacked.

They made sure they looked after each other. Do we look after each other? Do we care? Do we note who's not here? Do we call them when they're sick? Do we encourage them? Do we try to help them?

Some of you do. I know, and I appreciate it very much. And I'm sure those who are sick appreciate it even more. When people are not here, do you give them a call and say, you know, we missed you, last Sabbath. Are you all right? Just encourage them to come? Encourage them? Can I help you? Do you need any help? Have you noticed widows or those who are fatherless or the widowers who need some help with things? Those who are older, whether they're widows or not, are widowers. If they're older, do they need help with things? Hey, do you need any help? You're visiting them? Do the drip leaky, leaky, fossil? Yeah, I've been trying to get this, but I haven't had time to get around to it. Yeah, get somebody to help them if we can't. If we can't, point them in the direction where they can go. Care about each other. They didn't lack anything. For all who were possessors of lands, I want you to note that, or houses, sold them and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, laid them at the apostles' feet, and they distributed to each as everyone had need. And so we see Obamacare in action. We see what's called equal distribution of wealth. Right? That's what we see. Take from the rich and give to the poor. Take from those who have and give to those who have not, so that everybody will be have not. And then nobody will be able to give. Notice it was their own things that they were giving. It wasn't the society. It wasn't communism. It wasn't owned by the state. It was their own things that they were giving.

And it talks about sometimes people had lands. You know, I've had that land here for a long time.

I'll turn it into money. I'll sell it. I know somebody's been after me to buy it. I've kept it. I have no use for it. And now it's a great use for it, because these people need money. These people need to be supported. They're staying here in Jerusalem. They're staying here and being instructed by the apostles. I can help them. I've got extra lands. It was extra places. They weren't selling everything and giving it away. But they were giving, and that's a big key, they were giving. And they distributed it to everyone who had a need. How awesome! They sold homes, brought the money, distributed it as it was needed. This was a special event. Remember, there were 120 of them initially. Now 3,000 plus maybe the 5,000 who were converted. 8,000 extras, many of whom probably stayed around to be instructed, because they came to Jerusalem on Pentecost for what? To worship at a Holy Day service, a Jewish Holy Day service. And now 3,000 are converted, and additional 5,000 after.

So you have 8,000 converted added to this group. What do you do with them? So verse 36, in Joseph, whose name is also Barnabas by the apostles, which is translated Son of Encouragement, a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. Let's let the apostles know they know the needs of the people. Let's let them do it. Of course, we have a good works program that hasn't been really up and running too well for a while, but we have a good works program. And we also are going to try to take up a collection or have people send in and help the poor people in Japan, not the brethren, but the peoples of Japan, the peoples of this world, what we can do to help them even as a church. Chapter 5, but a certain man named Ananias, following the same theme, and I'll turn it over to Mr.

Fentchel. I'm not getting as far as I thought I would, but he's ready to go with it anyway. But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession, and he kept back part of the proceeds. His wife also being aware of it and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. Now, there would be absolutely nothing wrong if he sold this house for $30,000, and he was only going to give $15,000. But apparently he told them, I've given you all of it. You'll see that later when he talks about his wife. Here it is. Here's, I sold this house. Here's all the money. But he and his wife conspired to let them think he was giving all, but they really kept back half of it for themselves. Now, it was their money. It was their property. So the issue wasn't, well, you didn't give it all. The issue was, you told us you were giving it all, but you only gave half. So notice what happened. And they kept back part of the proceeds. But Peter said, so he was inspired by God to see into this, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart? Interesting. Satan filled his heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself. See, you told me this is all of it, but you've only given me part of it. You lied. You lied to the Holy Spirit. And he said in verse 4, While it remained, was it not your own? See, it wasn't communism. The church didn't own it.

The government didn't own it. They owned it. But now you say you're going to give it to us, and you say you're giving us all, but you only gave us half or part of it.

After it was sold, was it not in your own control? You could have done what you want with it.

Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.

God's Holy Spirit is what God is. He's made up of Holy Spirit. He's not a separate person.

The Holy Spirit is not a separate person. But you have lied not to men but to God.

Ananias, then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down, breathed his last breath. Now, Barkley says, you know, it doesn't have to be a miracle that he was killed. He could have just been scared to death. You know, people say, I'm scared to death. And they point out one Earl back in British days who threatened some guy and he died of a heart attack or died of fear.

Now, I believe this is a miracle. And you'll see what he talks about the wife in a moment.

So he says, Ananias fell down and breathed his last breath. So great fear came on all those who heard these things, all those who around heard about what happened. Now, verse 6, And the young man arose and wrapped him up. That old King James says, they wound him up.

I like that. They wound him up. See, this thing will work again. Let's turn that key. He didn't work. It doesn't work anymore. Okay, let's take him away and bury him. It says, they wound him up. Here, they says, they wrapped him up. They wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him. Now, it was about three hours later when his wife came in. So his wife came waltzing in to see if she's going to get any accolades for giving all of this money and not knowing what happened. I find it surprising that nobody would say anything, but they didn't. So his wife comes walking in, and it was about three hours later. Verse 8, And Peter answered her, and he said, Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.

Did you sell it for and give it, is this the land, the total amount? And she said, Yes, for so much.

She was part, she was complicit, she was part of the plot to deceive and to lie. Then Peter said to her, How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? You've gone against, you've done despite to the Spirit of God. The Bible talks about that. Don't do despite to it.

Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out. Now, she didn't just die of fear.

And then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out buried her by her husband.

So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.

Hebrews 10.31 says it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

They conspired to lie, to make themselves look good by saying, Here it is. Here's all the money for the land. So it looked good like they sold all their land and they gave all the money for it.

And God said, Don't lie. Now, this is a lesson here, don't lie to the ministers, but frankly, don't lie to anybody. Don't lie to anybody. You do despite the God's Spirit. Why? Because God's Spirit is a spirit of truth. And when you lie, you are not of the truth. So, good lesson for us. Fear fell on the whole church and I would say, Yes, and I bet it did. I bet people were very fearful when they saw this happen. Mr. Finchel. Okay. Good morning, everyone.

Alright, it slowly works its way back the other.

Nice to be with you today and we do have a beautiful Sabbath day.

And good morning to everybody also out on the webcast. I do appreciate the opportunity to share this Bible study with Mr. Antion. He was one of several instructors I had in the book of Acts.

It was enjoyable the four years that I taught it at ABC. I think there are a few of my former students in this room. We had a good time with it and a very interesting book. Especially coming after the first four books of the New Testament and to see the real life history as Mr. Antion was explaining about how the work of the early church and how the interactions within the early church took place are certainly vital lessons for us. So not only do we have the actual teachings of the apostles in the book of Acts, but we have the real life examples of what happened on a day to day basis and of course learning by example either good or a little bit less than good. Actually, a bad example here of what we just read in the beginning of Acts 5 is important for our instruction as well. I'd like to go ahead and read verses 12 through 16 and then come back and make a few comments along that line. Beginning in Acts 5 verse 12, and many miracles and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the apostles and they are all with one accord in Solomon's porch. And the rest of the rest, no one dared to join himself to them, but the people magnified them. And more believing ones were added to the Lord both multitudes of men and women, so as to carry out the sick into the streets and place them on cots and mattresses, so at least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. And also a multitude came from the cities around Jerusalem bringing sick ones and those who were being tormented by unclean spirits who were all healed. Now, this porch that it's being talked about in verse 12 was probably a gallery or a walkway at the temple where they could gather. And as we've seen already here in chapter 4 and in chapter 5 and also, of course, in previous chapters in Acts, there was great unity among the people. Great unity and oneness of mind, oneness of purpose, oneness of spirit. This colonnade or this porch, as it's at least in my translation, was probably a covered patio of sorts. And it was probably along the eastern portion of the outer court. That just gives you a little bit of a historical background here. Of course, after a rather severe time that had happened here in the beginning of Acts 5, there's also a time for healing. And here the people had come together.

They had, you know, undoubtedly the apostles had comforted them. At the same time, it was a very important lesson to learn about lying to the Holy Spirit. Of course, Jesus Christ talks about that as well in the Gospel accounts about lying to the Holy Spirit or about a sin against the Holy Spirit. In other words, where you know and you know that you know to do better. In fact, the Holy Spirit is leading you one way and you deliberately hit the brakes and you go the other way. Very, very dangerous situation and that's exactly what happened. But they had come together after this. Verse 13 showed that you know maybe there's a little fear of the apostles as well that they didn't you know make sure they didn't want to when it said here that no one dared join themselves to them. And they were probably just a little okay we want to you know take a step back from these guys a little bit. Yet at the same time, it was probably also an instance of showing them respect and allowing them to do the work that they needed to do. But it also says here that people magnified them. Now that wasn't in an undue way. You know they weren't setting them up as you know replacement for Christ or anything like that. But at the same time showing due respect for the office that they had been given due respect for the responsibility that they had been given. Okay, and in verse 14 again notice throughout these chapters more were continually being added. It says multitudes of men and women. And I believe it was back in Acts 14 where it talks about the five thousand and who knows how many thousands were there by that time.

Now verse 15 notice one of the things that's very interesting to notice in the early chapters, it actually is frankly some of the later chapters of Acts, is how many of the let's say the events parallel some of the events that happened during Jesus Christ's ministry. And some of the things that happened to the apostles and that the apostles did paralleled what Jesus Christ did within his ministry. And so notice here that you know they in verse 15 that they would take the sick out into the streets, place them on cots, so even just the shadow of Peter would pass them by and the healing would be performed. Remember the time we'll also with Jesus Christ, Luke 8, I won't go there, but Luke 8, verses 43-46 where someone just wanted to touch his garment.

And by that faith they knew just by touching his garment there would be a healing. And here it happens to be the shadow of Peter passing by. But it's extremely interesting that if you think about some of the events that happened with the apostles, that very similar events happened during the ministry of Jesus Christ as well and this is one of them. Verse 16, here we had those with unclean spirits, but everybody was healed. Apparently there were too many really to even list. Luke is a very careful historian and he does list some specific examples of healings that we saw already in the earlier chapters. But apparently in some cases like this one there are just simply too many and again parallels what Jesus Christ did in some of the accounts that we have about Christ's ministry where he had multitudes coming wanting to be healed and that happened also those being tormented with unclean spirits were also healed.

Okay, but now you know at this time that doesn't exactly make the leaders of the Jews very happy campers to put it mildly. And we start to see that or we see that again beginning in Acts 17, or Acts 5 and verse 17. And it says, rising up the high priests and all those who were with them, which is the sect of the Sadducees, were filled with anger. Now you have to ask yourself, why would they be filled with anger because you had all these people being healed? You would think, are we told to rejoice when somebody rejoices and has something good happen to them? Well, in this case they did not rejoice, probably because it wasn't them who were doing it. They weren't the ones, you know, let's say receiving the accolades, not that the apostles received those accolades in a wrong way. They received them acknowledging, of course, that it was God who had performed the miracles. But here the Sadducees were filled with anger, the high priests who were of the sect or of the group known as the Sadducees. Verse 18, they had the apostles and they laid their hands on the apostles and put them into the public custody. Now, this is to be slightly differentiated between now and sections we'll read later on about the Apostle Paul, where the Apostle Paul was oftentimes, of course, as he was traveling to different cities, being put into prison under the authority of the Aromans. Now, this apparently was not that case. This was not necessarily the case that they were being put into prison by the authority of the Aromans, but by the leaders of the Jews.

That's important as we get later on in this chapter, and I'll note that when we get there.

But the angel of the Lord appeared to them or opened the prison doors by night and brought them out and said, Go, stand and speak all the words of this life to the people in the temple.

Now, God could have released them, of course, in any number of ways, but he chose to send an angel.

And, you know, maybe this is because you have to understand God also has a sense of humor.

And every now and then you get snippets of this as you go through the Bible. I think our good friend, Mr. Steiver, actually has a whole sermon about the humor of God. But to me, this is one of those incident or events where maybe this was a little bit of humor coming into place. And the reason is because the Sadducees denied the existence of angels. And they were the leaders of the priests at that time. And the priests were of that particular sect. And so God said, Okay, you deny the existence of angels whom God, of course, created. I'm going to release these apostles by an angel. And that's exactly what happened. Now, we don't have a specific name of an angel here, but they were released by an angel. You may also want to note down Acts 12 and 16 are two other examples in the book of Acts where the apostles, or I believe specifically in that case, Paul is released from prison. So beginning in verse 20, now what did they say? The angel didn't say, Okay, you can go back and kind of lick your wounds a little bit and relax, have a nice cup of coffee or whatever. He said, No. He said, Go! He said, Stand and speak all the words of this life to the people in the temple. Now, there are times when we have to stand firm. Moses told the Israelites as they were getting ready to, you know, they were murmuring and, you know, they were trapped in against the Red Sea and God had not yet parted the Red Sea. And there are times when we don't know God's solution where we just have to simply say, we have to stand and we have to stand firm until we see God's solution. But here he said, Go! Stand and speak all the words of this life. And that's a theme that we see also throughout the book of Acts. We see the theme of the way, and that's how they were first referred to. They weren't first referred to as Christians at that time, but followers of the way. And we have often used the phrase, at least ever since I've been, you know, attending church all the way back to age seven, so it's been a number of years now.

The common phrase that we have is this way of life. This way of life. And it's the only way. God's way is the only way that leads to life. And he's saying there, Go! Speak this words, or these words, of life. And that's what the message of the gospel is all about, about life.

He said, Speak this full message. And they were told to go to the temple.

I forgot my notes were double-sided. They were told to go to the temple and to do this.

And hearing, they went to the temple about dawn and taught. But the high priest came and those with them, and they called the Sanhedrin together, and all the elderhood of the sons of the Israel, and sent to prison to have them brought. Now, teaching at the temple at dawn, this would have been one of the times that people would have gathered at the temple for one of the sacrifices or to be taught one of the times a day that that would have been taught. You may want to note down John 6 and verse 68. I forgot to mention this when we're talking about the words of life.

Because Christ asked the disciples at that time, he says, Will you too also go away? Because some had left and stopped following him. And I believe it was Peter who said, Where else should we go? It is you who have the words of life. So that's John 6 and verse 68.

Alright, so but here in the latter half of verse 21, the high priest came and those with him, they called the Sanhedrin together. They also called what is known as the elderhood, or those who are recognized as elders among the Jews, but weren't necessarily a part of the Sanhedrin.

And they sent to prison to have them brought. Now, of course, interesting to note is that they didn't go to the temple that morning. Otherwise, they would have noticed the apostles in the temple. But they went to have them, you know, brought to them. Verse 22, But having come near, the officers did not find them in the prison. And returning reported saying, We indeed found the prison shut with all safety, the keeper standing outside the front of the doors. But having opened it, we found no one inside. Now, earlier on, it said that the angel had opened the door. Apparently, they went ahead and closed it. The guards had not noticed anything that was going on. That was a part of the miracle. Probably the greatest part of the miracle is the fact that the guards didn't realize what was happening. This parallels a couple of other instances where this takes place in the book of Acts, where the guards just simply remained asleep on the watch, or didn't know, or maybe that was a part of the miracles that they were temporarily, you know, the angel knocked them out or put them to sleep, or whatever the case may be. Not putting the sleep as in the case of, like you do, veterinarians, you know, do or anything like that, but, you know, just had them fall asleep. Now, the reason I mentioned earlier that it's interesting, or it seems to me that this was just simply, you know, maybe a prison or confinement that the Jews, the Jewish leadership had set up, is because there is nothing that was done to the guards, at least nothing that we have noted down in Luke. Now, later on when we get to the other events in the book of Acts, where they are put into prison, they are escaped, the guards are put to death by the Romans for having fallen asleep. They were tortured and put to death by the Romans for having fallen asleep on the watch. And that is, in a lot of armies even today, that is a crime punishable by death, that if you fall asleep on guard duty, that you are put to death because you have allowed, you have put the rest of your comrades in danger. But we don't see that necessarily happening here, so that's just a little speculation on my part that this maybe wasn't under Roman guard at this particular time. So, going on here, they say they found no one inside, verse 24, and when the high priest and the temple commander, the chief priest, heard these things, they are bewildered. What had gone on? They're saying, how could this be? These are reliable people, and how did this take place?

By now, the Sadducees were probably feeling a little bit foolish or a little bit taken back.

Bad enough that these apostles should heal somebody, but then when they escape from a well-guarded prison, you get kind of the hint that the Sadducees are left scrambling a little bit. They're playing catch-up. They're having to react to all these things. So, they are wondering, okay, what is going on? Now, you would hope that they would maybe think about, maybe this is really God's hand working here, but that apparently didn't cross their mind. All right, verse 25.

But one came reporting to them, saying, Behold, the men whom you put in prison are now standing in the temple and teaching the people. Well, that about tops it. Okay, first of all, they heal all these people. Okay, we tell them not to. We throw them into prison. They have the audacity to escape prison, and then, you know, icing on the cake to rub salt in the wool, and they have to go back to preaching in the temple. Again, I'm not sure what they would have been thinking at this time.

So, again, this would have been the usual time of prayer at the temple. And, of course, there would have been a number of people, probably crowds, great crowds, actually, at the temple.

And the angel had told the apostles, Go and preach at the temple. Again, interesting to note that the leaders of the Jews didn't happen to be at the temple at that time. So, verse 26, And the commander went with the officers. Now, the commander of the temple, I don't know if that's been discussed in earlier Bible studies or not, would have been the one responsible for keeping order, make sure that if a discussion had started, or make sure there was no tumult, or any rabble rousers that would come into the temple responsible for keeping order there. So, the commander went with the officers, verse 26, and brought them not with force, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. Now, again, this parallels the number of verses that we find, especially during the time leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, where the leaders feared the people more than fearing God. If they had feared God, they would be asking themselves, maybe examining themselves, okay, what are we doing here against God? But no, they more feared the people. And that happened during the time approaching Christ's crucifixion as well, in terms of how they dealt with situations. They were more fearful of the people, and what they might do in losing their standing, or if the people would take them aside and stone them, then they actually had fear about doing what is right before God. Now, that's an extremely important lesson for us. We obviously are told to avoid offense where we can, but our first fear, or our only fear in that regard, should be to fear God and to make sure that we are obeying Him. And if that means in obeying Him, that others are stumbling in that regard, not that we've done something wrong, but just simply because we are following God, well, then that's something that we have to put up with. We are told to bear our cross, to bear our burdens in order to follow God, and our first fear, our only fear, really, should be of God. As Mr. Antony mentioned, fear not those who are able to destroy the body, but fear those who are fear Him who can take away eternal life from us. Okay, verses 27-28, in bringing them, they stood in the Sanhedrin, and chances are, one commentary's idea is that they would have been standing there, and maybe the Sanhedrin seated around them, or maybe seated in a little bit of a pavilion. Not a pavilion, that's not the right word. What's the word I'm looking for? A little bit of a... where the seats went kind of up. There's a good word for that, and I just can't think of it. You thinking what I was thinking of? Theater? Theater, yeah, maybe a theater where the people are actually seated above. And so, it's a little bit of an intimidating position if you're the person in all these heavyweights sitting there above you. Verse 28, now, Acts 5 verse 28, did we not strictly command you should not teach in His name, and behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Now, from going back to Acts 4, we're not going to actually go back to Acts 4, but in Acts 4, when they had been first brought to the Sanhedrin, legally, the Sanhedrin could not do anything to them back in Acts 4, because they had not been given a specific command not to preach in the name of Christ.

However, in Acts 4, they received that command, and now in Acts 5, they had violated the command of the Sanhedrin, and now the Sanhedrin, from just strictly a legal standpoint, would have been allowed to inflict some sort of punishment. They were not allowed to do that in Acts 4, because they had not been first warned about that. But more importantly, in verse 28, he says, or they say, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine. And of course, they're not acknowledging that this is not their doctrine per se. It is, in a sense. It does talk about the apostles' doctrine, but of course, this is the doctrine of God. This is the doctrine of Jesus Christ, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Matthew 10, verse 17, I'll just give you a few scriptures to note down. Christ told the apostles and had warned them, you will be brought before councils, and you will be persecuted, and you will be beaten. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. We're not going to actually go to that scripture, but if you want to note that down. Also note here, it says, you intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Well, who had brought it upon them? They had actually brought it upon themselves. Matthew 27, verse 25, if you remember, during the time of Christ's crucifixion when He was being beaten, or before He was being beaten, they had told Pontius Pilate, let His blood be upon our heads and the heads of our children. So, it wasn't necessary. This wasn't the first time that that had happened. By their own words, they had condemned themselves. They had said, we will take responsibility for the death of Jesus Christ.

And Peter and the other apostles are just simply putting that mirror now up to them and said, you know, indeed, yes, you did. You took it upon yourselves and you were responsible for the death of Jesus Christ. If you want to note down as well, Acts 2, verses 23-26, scriptures you've already discussed, or we've already discussed in Acts 3, verse 15, the apostles did indeed preach that they were responsible for the killing of the Messiah. Now, primarily, of course, that would have been the Jewish leadership of that time. However, crowds were also there during Christ's crucifixion and saying, yes, he should be put to death.

Now, one of the things the apostles mentioned later on is, he said, but we also know you did this in ignorance. And even Christ said that, you know, about the soldiers putting him to death, forgive them, Father, for they do not know what they do. So there's a certain level of responsibility that they did carry at the same time. There was a certain level of ignorance that they were not aware of exactly what was going on. In Acts 5, verse 29, Peter and the apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. That needs to be one of the main pillars of our faith. We obey God rather than men. And sometimes we have to make it that simple. Because we as human beings, we can come up with all kinds of excuses. We can come up with all kinds of ideas. Well, I can fudge a little bit here. Because of the difficulty of this situation, maybe I can fudge a little bit there. I can get by a little bit and not be so careful. We ought to obey God rather than men. Sometimes we just need to say it as simply as that. Revelation 14, verse 12, it talks about those in the end time are those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus Christ. And we need the faith of Jesus Christ in order to follow God and follow God, sometimes through very difficult situations. Acts 5, verse 31, this one God has exalted to be a ruler and savior to His right hand in order to give repentance and remissions of sins to Israel.

In other translations it says to raise up. God raised Him up to be ruler and savior.

So not only did He raise Him from the dead, but He raised Him to be at God the Father's right hand.

And He is our Savior. He is the one and the only one by whom there is remission of sins, by whom there is forgiveness, and frankly by whom there is repentance as well. Because it talks about that God has to grant us repentance. Romans 2 and verse 4, Romans 2 and verse 4, if you just want to note that down, it is God who leads us to repentance and it is God who then leads us to the fruit of repentance, which is forgiveness of sins, our sins being washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ. And of course we know and talk about Him being the coming King of kings and lords of lords. Verse 32, we are witnesses of these things and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him. And so we receive God's Holy Spirit because of repentance, because of faith, which God leads us to because of baptism laying on of hands, and then we receive the Holy Spirit. The Acts of the Apostles, what I've seen a couple of people mention, the Acts of the Apostles in terms of the title of the book, could also be, in my opinion, correctly labeled the Acts of the Apostles through the working of the Holy Spirit.

Because basically from the beginning of the book to the end of the book, you see the working of God's Spirit and how the Apostles acknowledged that, that the Holy Spirit either motivated them to take certain action or in some cases the Holy Spirit prevented them from taking certain action.

Because of being attuned, and as Mr. Antion talked about being filled with God's Spirit, they knew the will of God and realized, oh, actually we don't want to go there, we want to go here, or we want to do this and that. So it is through the lead of the Holy Spirit that many of their actions were done, and we'll see that as we go through. But those hearing were cut to the heart, and they took, in verse 33, took counsel to kill them. Now, we had read earlier in Acts 2, when the people were cut to the heart or were pricked in their hearts, that led to repentance. After Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, it says that they were pricked in their hearts, and they asked, men and brethren, what should we do? This was not the same thing happening here in Acts 5, verse 33. They were pricked or cut to the heart, but they didn't ask, what should we do? Or, I'm sorry, we have just stood in the way of God here. No, they were cut to the heart, and they took counsel to kill them. In other words, there was nothing more that they could really say. The only solution in their minds was really, the only thing we can do really is to put them to death. Hebrews 4, verse 12, talks about that God's truth is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And the Sadducees probably realized, you know, we're in the wrong here, but the only way to save face is that we have to put these people to death. Of course, like I said in Acts 2, they were cut to the heart, but they changed. They asked, what should we do? Repent to be baptized, and on that day 3,000 were baptized. Okay, verse 34. But then stood up one in the San Hedren, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, honored among all the people, and he commanded the apostles be put outside for a little space. Now, Gamaliel was one of the main and revered teachers of the law. He was called the doctor of the law at that time, and he's referred to later is that the apostle Paul was taught under the, or at the feet of Gamaliel.

Now, by way of reminder, the high priest and those who had been most active in opposing the apostles were probably Sadducees. The Pharisees were also opposed to them, but at the same time, the Pharisees had different teachings than the Sadducees, one of those being the resurrection of the dead. From William Barkley, it says, Pharisees had no political ambitions. Their name literally means the separated ones, and they had separated themselves from ordinary life in order to devote themselves to the keeping of the law in every detail. There were never more than about 6,000 of them all told. And it goes on, Barkley goes on and talks about Gamaliel a little bit. Gamaliel was more than respected. He was loved. He was a kindly man with a far wider tolerance than his fellows. He was, for instance, one of the very few Pharisees who did not regard Greek culture of him by itself as sinful. He was one of the very few whom the title Rabban, R-A-B-B-A-N, and most spellings, had been given. Men called him the beauty of the law. When he died, it was said, since Rabban Gamaliel died, there has been no more reverence for the law. Purity and abstinence died out at the same time. And so that was what was written about Gamaliel. So very much highly respected. Acts 22 and verse 3 is the reference that Paul makes to Gamaliel.

Now, what's interesting here is that that connection with Paul may be how Luke found out what was being said. Because, as we notice here, Gamaliel asked that the apostles be put off a little ways. So the apostles would not have been able to necessarily hear. That's kind of the impression I get out of Acts chapter 5, what was going on. But maybe later on, Paul, who was a Pharisee and maybe would have been even within this group at this time, maybe he related to Luke what had actually been discussed. Because Luke obviously wouldn't have been a member of the Sanhedrin, either. So the question arises, how did Luke know what was being discussed between Gamaliel and the rest of the Sanhedrin? Perhaps it was through Gamaliel and Paul's connection to Gamaliel or Paul directly being there. So that speculation on my part, just note that as a fential speculation. That is not in the Scripture. So just note that for the what it's worth category.

And at verse 35, he said, men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding this man or these men. You know, acting in haste, even if for a good and right cause is rarely a wise thing to do. That's important for us to remember if we take this a little bit out of context.

Acting in fear is also not a wise thing to do. Perfect love casts out fear, as God says. Fear of God, of course, that's what we should have. But, you know, Gamaliel was saying, let's not be hasty in that which we do. The Holy Spirit is called a spirit of a sound mind. A sound mind. Rational thinking, not hasty thinking. And he says, take heed. Let's do this right. He says, verse 36, For it before these days, Thedias rose up, boasting himself to be somebody. A number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves to him who was slain. And all, as many obeyed him, were scattered, and they were brought to nothing. Now, depending on which commentary you look at, you look at two commentaries, you get three opinions sometimes about historical events. But one version or one commentary says this probably happened around 4 BC, or it may have been talking about an event with a similar name around 32 BC. And so, again, there's not exactly sure which one would have happened. But the point is here, he says, you know, take care of what you do, because here somebody rose up, they thought themselves somebody great, they were killed, followers were scattered. You don't hear about them anymore today. And verse 37, And this one, Judas of Galilee, rose up in the days of the registration, and drew away a considerable people after him. And yet he was also killed, and as many obeyed him were scattered. And so, what Gamaliel is getting at here is, he said, look, he said, just like these two leaders, or supposed leaders, were killed, and nothing became of anything that they did, he said, you know, their leader has been killed. Well, that was their version. They did not believe that Jesus Christ necessarily had been resurrected. Even though the apostles were preaching that. He said, but he's been killed. And, you know, if, well, why don't I just go ahead and read the verse, verse 38? And now I say to you, withdraw from these men and let them alone. For this council of workers of men, it will come to nothing, just like these other two situations, these other two events, the leader was killed, it became nothing. Guess what? This will also come to nothing if it's only of men. But, if it is of God, you could not overthrow it. And then you're going to be found fighting against God.

Didn't have to be found fighting against God. That sounded vice for us as well.

And that was even sound advice later on as we get into Acts. I'm thinking specifically of Acts, chapter 10, of where, you know, sometimes God works in ways that we don't expect.

And I'm not going to try to give you, talk about Acts, chapter 10 now, but Acts, chapter 10, was an example of where God acted in a way the apostles weren't expecting. It was a surprise, from beginning of the situation to the end. And so, we have to be open as well to realize God is sovereign. God will do what God will do in His way, and sometimes it doesn't always meet our expectations. And just to give you a small taste of coming attractions with Acts, chapter 10, that was actually the case where the Holy Spirit was given first and baptism took place second.

God will do what God wants to do in God's way for God's purpose. And we have to be open to that when that does happen. And we don't want to be found fighting against God just because it goes against our expectations. And so, Gamalia was saying that here. He says, you don't want to be found fighting against God. Now, of course, we have any number of scriptures I won't try to give them to you all here, but Romans 8, verse 31, is one of them that if God is for us, who can be against us?

And it's not a question, is God on our side, but if we repented, are we on our knees humbly making sure we're on God's side? And that's, of course, in this Passover season, that's what we have to make sure of. And they obeyed Him, and calling the apostles, beating them, they commanded to go speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. Now, they didn't exactly obey Gamalia, but at least they did not put the apostles to death. Not that they would have been allowed to necessarily anyway. You know, that may have involved the Romans, although I think, actually, if I remember correctly, the Jews had... there was one allowance under the Roman system where the Jews were allowed to put them to death, and maybe preaching heresy in the temple would have been considered that, or defiling the temple in some way. But they did not put them to death. They did beat them, and they commanded them not to speak in the name of Jesus. Now, we don't know how many lashes they took. Paul talks about later on that five times he took 39 lashes, 40 minus one, was one of the standards. There's no reason to think that that was not the case here, and probably was the case. They probably gave them the maximum allowable for that time.

2 Corinthians 11, verse 24 is one scripture where Paul talks about that, if you just want to note that down. But notice verse 41, what their attitude was. And they indeed departed from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be shamed for his name. Again, I've already given you the scripture. Again, Christ said, you know, that is going to happen to you. If they persecuted you, they'd persecute me. And they counted themselves blessed that they were counted worthy to take such punishment as representatives of Jesus Christ. They were honored in that way to suffer that indignity.

Now, obviously, it would have been an extremely painful situation. There's no getting around that. But their thoughts were, they had joy in that. It wasn't fun, but they did have joy because of that. And also, let's remember the scripture, I think it's Hebrews 12 and verse 1, where Christ said, where it talks about Jesus Christ, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross because of the joy that was set before him. Joy and fun are two different situations. Obviously, neither situation were fun, but through God's Spirit, and because of the purpose being worked out here below, it was joy to Jesus Christ, and it was joy to the apostles here at this time.

Verse 42, then, in every day in the temple and in every house, or from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, what it says here, now it depends on which translation. I actually have a slightly different translation in verse 42 here. And daily in the temple and in every house, they did not cease preaching and teaching Jesus as the Christ.

Now, what it doesn't mean is that they simply went from house to house trying to preach Jesus Christ. That is not what the original text means. It just means in whatever house they found themselves in, whatever house that they were being welcomed into and found lodging, that they taught in the houses as well as teaching in the temple. And the culture of that time was very much geared towards that if you had or if you were a guest, that they would welcome you as a point of honor, that they would take care of you if they welcomed you into their house.

Jesus Christ talks about in Luke chapter 10 verses 3 through 7, if you just want to note that down, about not going from house to house. Because actually that would have been an insult at the time had you just if somebody had welcomed you in and was giving you lodging, it wasn't like they had a motel six around every corner at that time, and had given you lodging, it would have been an insult then just to simply depart the next day and go to the next door neighbors and spend the night with them.

It would have been against the politeness and the culture of the time. And so Christ told them whatever in Luke chapter 10 verses 3 through 7, wherever you are welcomed, let your peace be on that house and abide in that house and be grateful for whatever you are given at that time. And the apostles did that and they did not cease, though, teaching and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It did not matter. The point of this chapter is it did not matter what the Sanhedrin said, it mattered what God said. And God said, preach the gospel. Paul says later, woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. And they preached the gospel of Jesus Christ in the kingdom of God. So I think we'll end there in terms of discussion if we have or unless you have any questions. Since there are no questions that have come up at this point, I'll continue and just finish a little bit.

Then I'll have Mr. Finchill come back and speak a little bit about summer camp and then he'll ask the blessing on the lunch. We have a question coming up. Might have one question. We might have one. Give it to him and I'll just make a couple of comments here. I wanted to mention about verse 28 of chapter 5, I find it interesting, the zeal of the people of God and the elders and pastors and apostles. He says, and look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine. The zeal that they had, they could say, everybody in Jerusalem knows about you. But I doubt that everybody in Cincinnati knows about us. You filled Jerusalem with your doctrine. How open? How much have we let God's message be known?

How much have we been able to get out and get that message? People in Pasadena, California, when we were using how many watts of radio power and when we were the top buyer of radio or television time, and people in Pasadena didn't even know who we were. Some. A lot did because of our activity, but some did not. I also wanted to comment about John 15 verse 20, which talks about persecution. Jesus Christ said, if they persecuted me, they will persecute you. So persecution does come, and it does come especially when you do the job, when you do the work. If we have questions, we'll go ahead and answer them. That just came in online. I'll go ahead. I tackled this one ever so briefly, because that's all I can do. It's not actually asking a question that we would address here, but it says, long-time members, even like me, rely on the little Holy Day calendar cards for the Holy Day dates. Would it be possible to have a Bible study specifically to teach us how to calculate the Holy Days? I would think that that would be possible. That would be something I'd need to discuss with Mr. Antion or some of those who are more familiar with that. It's not necessarily something that we have point-blank outlined in Scripture about calculating the Holy Days. Obviously, a lot of it is in there, but some of it has to do with postponements and things like that. But we do teach that, as far as I know, at ABC, if I'm not mistaken. We have classes on the calendar or lectures on the calendar. I don't know if Dr. Levy continued that or not when he was teaching. Okay. Okay. Probably we'll do it next semester with Mr. Wosselkopf doing it. Right, right. So that might be, you know, certainly something that we take into consideration, see if we can do something like that.

We had another question that came in, and I'm not sure that I want to tackle it.

It's not that I couldn't answer it. I could, but I think I'll defer on this one because I think it could be too controversial with the current situation that we have. Someone wanted to apply to ask what we could do about the current situation of the current group that is no longer with us and apply a scripture to that. And I, at this point, I would defer to answer it. I can answer it, but I would prefer not to do that at this point.

Anybody have any questions we can answer?

I mean, if you have questions we can answer, we want those. All questions that we can answer. I would be happy to answer this one. I just think the timing of it and the situation of it would not speak of it, would have me not speak in that area. And I'm trying to defer. I hate to not try to answer questions, but in this case, I think I would write. Here's another question. We have one more. Yeah, come on up. In the meantime, I'll just mention to you, as we get into Chapter 6, next time we'll be talking about the Deacons, and that will be on March 30th.

March 30th will be the next biweekly Bible study. It will be conducted by Mr. Steve Myers and Mr. Randy Stiver. And then we'll go back to Mr. Eddington and myself in April, and then we'll go back to Mr. Myers and myself in April, and then we'll have May 30th will be our one that we do.

Not May 30th, May 7th, we'll do another Super Sabbath. Do you want to? Yes, thank you. You mentioned the Sadducees did not believe in angels. I'd never heard that before. Can you go into a little more background on why they did not? Can you hold it up? Oh, I'm sorry. Could you go into more information on the Sadducees not believing in angels? Because I was not familiar with that.

Those notes I don't have in front of me right now, in terms of why it's just simply, I'm not exactly sure. The why of it? I'm not sure. I'm not sure of the why. Well, they didn't believe in the resurrection, for sure. And I'm not sure if they didn't believe in the Spirit world.

But I'd have to double check that one on why they didn't believe that particular doctrine. I don't really know that. Yeah, I was going to mention the same thing. I seem to recall, I don't recall a whole lot on why, except for the fact that they did not really believe in the Spirit world. I can try to look something up here. While he's looking it up, I'll just make a couple of more comments. I think Acts 5.29 and Acts 5.32 are two tremendous scriptures. I have them in yellow in my Bible. And anything in yellow, I usually know. We ought to obey God rather than man is something you invoke every time, when there's a controversy between God's way and the way you're asked to do. And if you're asked to do something that's contrary to God's way, you personally have to invoke, I ought to obey God rather than man. And Acts 5.32, God gives His Holy Spirit to those who obey Him. God's not going to give His Holy Spirit to people who are unwilling to obey. He's not going to give His Holy Spirit to people who are not yielded to Him. His Holy Spirit is given to those, and that's another sign that when you repent, it's not just words. See, you repent, I'm sorry for what I've done, but it's changing, too. And it's changing from what's wrong to what's right. It's not changing from what's wrong to what's wrong. Right? You can go from one group to another and go from one wrong group to another wrong group. Now, you've changed, but you haven't changed for the better. You've just changed. You've just moved laterally, but you've not moved from what's wrong to what's right. So it is important to know what's right in order to repent. And to repent means you are changing. You're turning it around. Then God gives His Holy Spirit to you because He sees you want to obey Him. Then His Holy Spirit gives you the strength to obey Him, to continue to walk in His ways. Beautiful Scripture. Also, Romans 8, verse 9 talks about the Holy Spirit, that is, having the Holy Spirit makes you a Christian. Makes you a Christian. I find that whole example there wonderful of Gamaliel, of the zeal of the disciples, despite the fact they were beaten, they walked out of there, thrilled that they could suffer for the sacrifice for what Jesus Christ did for them, that they could suffer a little bit on His behalf. Mr. Fentchel. The only thing I, this is from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia where it talks about the doctrine of the Pharisees, is that there was, as Mr. Antion mentioned, disbelief in the spirit world in general. And the resurrection, of course, is that of the Sadducees, not Pharisees. I'm sorry, Sadducees, yes. Disbelief in the spirit world in the resurrection, which would go along with that, if you believe you are resurrected into a spirit form, then obviously they would have had a disbelief in the resurrection, and a well, disbelief in that. And it says here in Providence, in other words, in God's hand guiding things, is what is meant there. So, it was more of the materialistic sect of that time. They tended to be, if memory serves me correctly, the wealthier group. The Pharisees tended to be more ascetic, nadir, not that they were totally ascetic, but more ascetic in nature where the Sadducees were the wealthier. But they had a general disbelief in the spirit world outside of God. I just want to see if there's anything else that I may have here. Okay, well, we certainly want to thank all of you online for tuning in, and anytime you have questions, please feel free to shoot them to us, and we'll be feel free to put them on put them aside and not address them. But if you do have questions, please feel free to send them in, and most of them we will answer. I just deferred out of out of honor and out of dignity to not answer this one.