Bible Study: September 1, 2021

There we go. Okay, okay, let me pull that back up again. Thank you, Raphael. Okay, so we have this map of where Paul and Barnabas have been going. So where we are right now is up in the northwest corner there, okay? Antioch, where the number five is, they've left Antioch up in Thucydia.

They're going down to Iconium. That's what we're going to pick up up in chapter 14.

Later on in this chapter, they're going to go to Lystra and Durvi when they're ushered out pretty much of Iconium. And then they're going to go back over, we're going to see the chapter, back over to Pamphylia, over to Perga, Atalia, and then back over to Antioch and Syria. It's on the eastern side of the map there. So they're going to make a complete circle. They started off in Antioch and Syria, and over a couple years they've made this complete circuit to come back to Antioch, and then we're going to pick it up in chapter 15 when we get to there.

A very interesting and pivotal chapter in the Bible as the Gentile church begins.

So that's kind of the picture of where we've been and where they've been, as you see some of the cities then as we talk about them. So in chapter 14, we're in Iconium. I should mention Iconium, Lystra, and Durvi. Those are the Galatian churches. When Paul warrior-writes the Galatians, those are the three churches in Galatia. I should have pointed out that it said Galatia there in that territory. So this is where they're going into now into that territory. It happened, verse one of chapter 14, in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews. Remember, that was their pattern when they went to the Jews first, and they were the people of God, they said.

So they would have an audience there to let them know, speak from the scriptures, people that should have been familiar with the scriptures. It happened that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews and so spoke that a great multitude, both of the Jews and of the Greeks, believed.

So here, the gospel message, the truth, is met again with a good reception by both Jews and Greeks. You know, Paul and Barnabas, they spoke the truth. They would talk about Jesus Christ.

They would talk about all the things that we've talked about as we've gone through the book of Acts.

And the people believed. You know, one of the things that I think is interesting there in verse one there are the two words, so spoke. It says that they so spoke that a great multitude, both of the Jews and the Greeks, believed. You know, we can have all the right words. We can recite all the right scriptures. We can do all the right things. We don't speak from the heart. If we don't speak in a sincere way, if we don't speak in a way that this is really important to us and the most important thing in our lives, then it may not have the effect that it should be. You know, the people there believed. They believed the words. They were speaking from the Bible. They could prove from the Bible who Jesus Christ was. They could show all the prophecies. But you know that as Paul, he was a primary spokesman, and as he spoke, the people could see he absolutely believed what he was saying.

It was God speaking through him, and they could see the energy. They could see the commitment. They could see this is him. He wasn't just repeating some words. That's something for us as well, as we talk with people and whatever. They want to see that we actually do believe what we're saying.

You know, anyone can kind of, a salesman, can go out. He can repeat all the benefits of a product, but the one who you're going to buy from is the one who can really, who really you feel like he really believes in that product, and he's telling you the straight scoop. And that's what Paul and Barnabas did here. That's a lesson for us individually. It's a lesson for the church.

You know, when we preach the gospel, there's preaching and there's speaking that goes along with the truth of it, and God will lead us into what he wants us to do. And in this case, and as Paul and Barnabas went around, the message was met with very good reception by the people initially. But in verse 2, it's not everyone who hears the word and believes it, and in iconium, like the other places, there are unbelieving Jews. It says, but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren. And so we have Paul and Barnabas coming to a point where they're getting used to this. There's always going to be a group that doesn't want to hear it, doesn't want to change the way they are, likes the status quo, doesn't want to bro with the truth, but is just happy to always do things the way they've always done them. And so you notice in these scriptures that it's not the Jews never come back with a scriptural reply or response or retort to Paul or Barnabas. They just go and attack the person.

It says here that they poisoned their minds against the brethren. You know, I think the old King James, I wrote it down, says they made evil affect their minds. The Jews did that.

So they didn't go back with scripture and say, no, because they couldn't. It was the truth. And they knew there was a truth. You can't guard against it. So all they could do was discredit the people who were giving the gospel, Paul and Barnabas. They could just, you know, discredit the disciples. And we learned that's one of the things that Satan does.

You know, he can't refute the truth. It's the truth. You can't refute it. But what he can do is try to discredit the messenger and take all the focus off of that and turn people against the messenger of the truth in a way that they lose all the they just lose. They turn against it.

And that's one of his that's one of the methods that he does. You know, we see that we see that in the world around us, too. We see this accusation. You know, you know, we live in a society we've gotten used to over the last several years here where, you know, everything is done and everything is done. And it's a vacuum. He did this 10 years ago, he did that 12 years ago, he said this on social media, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And we all, you know, we've all been guilty of things in the past that we wish we had never said, and we've repented of and whatever. But there's always something to discredit someone. And that's kind of the way Satan is. And as we, you know, march forward toward the end of the age when the two witnesses are speaking, we're going to see that probably the beast power is going to do everything they can to discredit those people and poison their minds against the peace. They're certainly going to poison their minds against the truth and the church of God and lead people to do exactly what we're going to see in chapter 14 to put them to death. That's what Satan does when he wants to put the people to death that teach the truth, and he wants to put the truth to death. And that's what they faced here in verse two in Iconium. It says, though, in verse three, that, you know, Paul and Barnabas, they didn't leave, they didn't believe, they knew what was going on, but they stayed there a long time, and they spoke boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. So as is the case with Peter, as was the case with Philip and others, there were the miracles and signs and wonders that God would have them, would give them the ability, I guess, to do, or he would work through them. So it was this kind of a sign that they were preaching the truth and God was with them, and the people would pay attention to these things, and they should have responded, you know, wow, this is something. Their God is with them and supporting what they have had to say. Well, it happened there in Iconium, but it didn't have an effect on everyone, obviously. In verse four, it says, the multitude of the city was divided, part sided with the Jews and part with the apostles. And so when we have division, you know, Christ himself, you know, said what was going to happen is when the vision comes, you know, hate is going to come and people are going to be driven out. And it's another one of those tactics of Satan. So we have now the Jews, the unbelieving Jews, those who believe the apostles and God, and we have this mess, and eventually Paul and Barnabas are going to be, you know, issued, ushered out of the city. You know, that it's one of the marks of Satan. When we see division and we see these things that have come up, we have to be aware that division is never a God, right? Division, he is of unity, and his Holy Spirit binds us together and keeps us together.

But we have to overcome division. You know, we shouldn't have it in the church, and whenever we sense it, we should get on our knees, we should fast, we should go to God and search and get to keep that unity that you and I must have. Satan is a division, and we live in a world that is, you know, I would have to say, hopelessly divided. Now, we look around us and there's all sorts of things, people that are just adamant on one side, other people that are adamant on the other side, both have good arguments. As I said, both have studies, they can support what they do, and neither side is yielding to the other. There is not going, this is exactly what Satan would have the country do, and Christ said, a house divided against itself cannot stand. It's simply a fact of life. The challenge for you and me in God's church is, you know, we may have opinions on this and opinions on that, and God will lead us to what his opinion is and what the truth is.

But we need to make sure that we don't let any of these issues of the world come in and divide us, right? Because God is of unity, and we have to look to him and not let the world creep into our lives and into our churches and divide us and have us, you know, not talk to each other or even worse than that, right? We have to stay unified and ask God, what is your will? And look at the world honestly, and look at it through the Bible's eyes. Where is this going? Because we can see, if we look at the Bible and know what we can see, what's of God and what's of Satan, and where everything is headed, and we just need to, you know, let God lead us to that, but stay together.

Don't let these things divide us as it was dividing here the city of Iconium. Verse 5.

Okay. I'm sorry to pick you up so soon. That's okay.

Isn't there a good side to it? Not that vision is good, but God uses it to separate his people from those who are not his, even though he still leaves him tears. Because Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 19 that there must be heresies among us sometimes to show those who are approved. So those who are approved will cling to each other, cling to God in Christ, and then those who are not will run off sadly. So there's a, you know, there's a, so he uses it for his good, even though he didn't cause the division, but he used the division. He uses the vision to help us see what the truth is, and he says, yes, and the cling, yes, separate from those who would cause strife and division among you. And it's his job at the end of the age, right? Matthew 25, he'll divide the sheep from the goat. He tells us to live together, but as people are, as people are causing division by their own ideas and trying to convince others of their way, then we must, we must divide and separate them off. They're no longer part of the body. Yep.

Okay. In verse five, you see where division leads, right, leads, says, and when a violent, a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to abuse and stone them, Paul and Barnabas became aware of it, and they fled to Lystra and Derby, cities of Lyconia, and to the surrounding region. So again, here, you know, the same thing happened again in Lyconium as it happened in Antioch. The people got riled up, the Jews got people all stirred up. We don't want it. We don't want, we want the saddest quo. We don't want to believe, and so many times it's we don't want. That's one of the, one of the things that we have to look.

What is it that we want? What is the reason for our disagreement with the truth? It usually comes down to what we want and not what God wants. And of course, the converted mind is willing and ready to yield to God and His truth and be able to cast away our own wants and wants and desires.

But here we have a violent attempt, and even the rulers are there. Get Paul, get Barnabas out of this city. So they became aware of it, and they did. And to remember the verse, we, when we talked about persecution coming to the church back in Acts 7 and 8 after Stephen was, after Stephen was down to death, what what did we say about when persecution comes in one place?

Remember Matthew 10, 23, Christ said, when persecution comes in one place, go somewhere else and preach somewhere. Yes, yeah, go somewhere else, right? So that's what Paul and Barnabas do. They, they're not going to, they're not going to stick around. Jesus Christ said, if they reject you, as He told the disciples that went out two by two, He told them, if they receive you, fine. If they don't receive you, take the sand off, the dust off your sandals and go on to the next place. And that's what they're doing. They've done their job in Iconium.

There are people there who have stuck with the, stuck with the truth and, and resisted what the Jews were resisting of Paul, but they went on to the next place. So they go on to Lystra and Derby, some surrounding cities there. And as everywhere they went, you see they were preaching the Gospel, verse seven, they were preaching the Gospel. So, you know, as they went to the city of Lystra, you know, same message, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is the Messiah, God the Father is the one God, you know, they're coming into a city and the Gentile years that had all these gods and all these beliefs that they had. And it was, it was something that Paul and Barnabas would have spoken about. And as they come into Lystra, God brings Paul's attention to a man who needs healing, and God has him perform a miracle here. And what's interesting, I'm just going to read down through verse 13. It's interesting to see what the people of Lystra's response is to this miracle.

You know, as we've seen other miracles occur in the book of Acts, we've seen people glorify God, glorify Jesus Christ, and it kind of accentuates and supports, if you will, what Paul and Barnabas are saying. But here in Lystra, something different happens. In verse eight, it says, in Lystra, a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother's womb, who had never walked. The man heard Paul speaking, Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, Stand up, stand up straight on your feet, and he leaped and walked. It was God who had led Paul to look at this man and say those words. The man was instantaneously healed. And when the people, verse 11, saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lyconian language, the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men.

And Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. Kind of gives us a little bit of insight as they looked at Barnabas and Paul. Paul was the guy who was doing the preaching. Hermes or Jupiter or Mercury was the spokesman. Zeus, of course, was the head guy, so they perceived that Barnabas was the head of this duo that was there preaching to them.

Barnabas they called Zeus and Paul Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. And then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes. And then we see in verse 14, it's kind of like Barnabas and Paul are like, what's going on? This isn't the reaction they expected. Here they were, they were preaching the gospel to a group of people. They were probably receiving it, but then God does this miracle for this man. What they're expecting is people will say, glory to God, Jesus Christ is a Messiah, you know, and on and on and on. But just the opposite happens. Instead of giving glory to God, they give glory, they see Paul and Barnabas as manifestations of their gods, Jupiter and Mercury, Zeus and Hermes. And so they're ready to sacrifice to them. Now, you know, we can pause and think and like, why would they have that reaction when other people have the reaction of, let's give glory to God, he must be, that is the true God. Why did these people just come way back on the other thing?

It's like, okay, we're ready to worship and sacrifice to our gods because these men who were preaching about Jesus Christ just healed. It doesn't really make sense, does it? Doesn't make sense.

Anyone have an idea on this or think about it?

Well, let me pull up something again because I searched through some commentaries to see what, you know, is there any explanation to this? Why would these people have this reaction when no one else that we've encountered in the book of Acts, you know, has had this reaction at all? And so I came to Adam Clark and he has a section on this that is interesting. Now, I have no idea. He's got some references in there of something I've never heard of, but he had this as part of his commentary on this verse that has to do with Lystra in this area of Lyconia here.

And it has to do with a fable, a fable or a legend, if you will, that happened in that part of the world. So let me just read through this, and it might, and I'm just saying might because I don't know, but it seems to be a reason why these people might have reacted in the way they did.

It says, the ancient fable related by Ovid will cast some light on the conduct of the Listerians or Listerians in this case. The following is the substance of the fable.

Jupiter, that's the chief god, having been informed of the great degeneracy of mankind, was determined himself to survey the earth. Coming to this province of Lyconia, disguised in human form, he took up his residence at the palace of Lycaon, who was then king of that country. And the punctuation is a little weird in here. Giving a sign of his godhead, the people worship Jupiter, right? Because they know who he is. He gave a sign of his godhead. The king sneers, the king doubts his divinity, and is determined to put it to the trial. Some ambassadors from the Melashian state, having just arrived, the king slew one of them, boiled part of his flesh, and roasted the rest, and set it before Jupiter. Now, why this would offend Jupiter, I don't know, but that's the somehow it, we say that it offended Jupiter, the god, indignant at the insult, burnt the palace, and turned the impious king into a wolf. Now, that sounds like some fantasy and some movie, you know, that we would just know isn't true, but the people of that area believe that.

They had this as part of their background, part of their mentality, it was part of their structure, and their gods. They walked with Jupiter and Mercury, whatever else they called them. And so, they had this in here. We disregard Jupiter, who has manifested himself as a man before, and the king disregarded him, and look what happened to him. We need to be aware of this and never ever dishonor Jupiter. So, Adam Clarke goes on, he says, from this time, or rather from this fable, the whole province was called Lyconia. The simple people, now seeing such proofs of supernatural power in the miracles worked by Barnabas and Paul, thought that Jupiter had again visited them, and fearing lest they should meet with his indignation, should they neglect duly to honor him, they brought oxen and garlands, and would have offered them sacrifice had they not been prevented by the apostles themselves. It's an interesting thing that Paul and Barnabas encounter here, and we can see it takes somebody's surprise because it isn't what we expect the reaction of someone who sees a miracle of God, you know, be performed either. But it teaches us something. In some cases, people have such deep-seated beliefs that just are just part of them.

We may look at them and say, how could anyone believe that? How could anyone, you know, how could anyone, well, how could anyone believe that? How could that be so deep-seated that when they are faced, they're faced with truth, when they're faced with reality, when they're faced with a miracle of someone who is born, is lame from birth, being healed, how could you ever turn to your gods and think it was them who was doing that? It obviously was, you know, the true God.

But we might do that ourselves, right? We might have such deep-seated beliefs in some of us that we don't want to let go and that have just been to find us. And Paul and Barnabas, likely when they understood and had to take some time to understand if that is the case here, what made these people respond that way? They had some things that they had to teach. They had to go back into some detail here because these people weren't getting it. They were going to have to undo a lot of what they had learned and what had become just part of their being. You know, we have some of the same things.

We may laugh at that that fable, but you know, we have some of the things in our modern society that people really, really, really believe are the truth of God. You know, even though they know they're not the truth, it's so deep-seated they can't let go of them. You know, we could look at Christmas, right? We could look at Easter. We could look at some of the pagan holidays and what God says about those that don't do things the way that they'll heal and do them. Don't do honor me.

And yet it's so deep-seated that we just, some people, it's just very hard for them to say, well, I don't believe God is really dishonored if I keep Christmas. It's actually nice, right?

People are giving things and whatever, but God says clearly that isn't the way to do it. That isn't the way to do it. Don't do the things. Deuteronomy 12, 29 through 32, you know, tells us that clearly. And so there are things in our society, too, that we, that even some of us may have some belief, something that happened to us, something that our parents drummed into our minds when we were growing up, that we immediately go back to it. When something happens, we think, oh, that's it. That's something. Well, we have to be cautious about those things and think, is this of God, or is this something that I've learned before that isn't the truth?

And we spend our lives undoing, undoing, right? Some of the things that we've learned all through our lives as we allow God to put His truth into our minds, as He renews our minds, and we ask Him, get rid of all these old false ideas that we have and all these untruths that are part of our mind, and renew our minds and put in our minds what the truth is. So perhaps, as Paul and Barnabas were here, they realized, I'm going to have to spend some time. We're going to have to spend some time with these people, because this is something we haven't seen before, and it's a very deep-seated belief in this region that we're going to have to do. It's interesting that when you look at Paul's message of the Galatians, he opens it up saying, Galatians, Galatians, who has bewitched you? Who has bewitched you? Because even after he has left, it's like they're going back to their old ways again. There was something in their teaching and background that lent them to do that.

People need to be like the Bereans, right? Study the Bible and believe what the Bible says.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Another point, Brother Shibi, it seems as if there were very few of the Jews with the oracles of God in that city, because the Jews came from the other city going on further on. So the people may have had very little contact with the truth, not a preserved bed of the Jews. But there were some who believed it. It doesn't say great multitude in life's struggle. Like it says in Antioch and Iconium, and we'll see in Derby as well.

But there were some. Very few influence from the truth under the city. And that may well be, yeah, exactly. That influence, that influence in that area was very... Paul calls it a stronghold, right? One of those things we have to undo when he saw it in 2 Corinthians 10, break down those strongholds. That was one that in their area that was very much a stronghold.

So Shibi, what you have to understand is that in those days there was no Bible.

Everything was done in the city, in the gods and the temples. They were taught to think that way.

Yep. And they could release themselves from that.

Of the fable they had, right? Or talk about... Yes, okay.

So Paul had to teach them.

What the way they were thinking were incorrect. And that takes some time, doesn't it? Yeah, we have the beauty of going back and being able to look at the Bible and say, oh, that is the truth. I can look at that. They had to kind of remember what they were being told.

Yes.

Yeah, Mr. Shibi, just a comment kind of following on to that. Even today, similar in certain parts of the world and in certain religions, back then the idea of one god was still a pretty new concept for most people in the world. And like Hinduism today and certain other religions that believe in many different gods, whenever you come and you introduce Jesus Christ, or you introduce the concept of God the Father, it's real easy for them to incorporate that into their religion. Because they just believe that he's just another one of the many gods, but then go right back to doing the other without any kind of guilt because that's their background.

They just believe, well, this is another one of the many gods. And that can be very convincing on the one front, believing that, hey, they get it, they understand, but in reality underneath, they just see it as part of a bigger whole because that's been their background all their life.

Yeah, that's a good point, James. This afternoon we were talking a little bit about it.

I mentioned that some people that have the Easter religion backgrounds, right? I've come across a few that have the Buddhist type of things and all this belief and this belief. And sometimes Mother Earth comes up and sometimes, you know, and you can tell when they're talking and that this is still kind of intertwined in there. It has to be undone because it's such kind of a belief system there that they had. And as they come into the church, it's like, okay, yes, God is the God of the earth, but there's none of this and none of that. Yeah. And you can kind of see the struggle and all that, and they remind themselves. It's kind of what you're saying. It is so deep-seated that God is just another part of the religion, even though they realize the basis of the other religion wasn't at all true. Well, Peter calls it traditions we have learned from our forefathers.

Well, the Jews had a lot of those too, didn't they? They had a hard time letting go of that.

It can be hard for people to let go of what they've been taught, their father, the grandfather, you know, and on and on. That's like the parable Matthew 13. You know, when persecution comes because of the word, some people fall away because they got to choose then whether to go down to family and the popular, or just be separate by themselves sometimes, right?

Yeah. And the thing is, it's like, it's God who opens our mind to the truth. So, you know, all those things they were taught, they were taught, you know, probably in sincerity, but then when you come to the truth, you have to undo that and separate the truth from the error and get rid of the error. So, okay. So, here we have, you know, as I said, here we have the whole city. It kind of feels like the whole city is ready to come down and throw themselves at Paul and Barnabas' feet, and in verse 14, you kind of just feel their surprise, like, you know, they kind of shake their heads and like, what are you guys doing? It says, when the apostles, when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out and saying, men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them. It's like, you know, we need this is what you're talking about. You got to do away with these things. I think it's interesting that Paul just calls it, you know, useless things. He's going to speak only to them. Do you realize what you're worshiping? You're worshiping these gods of wood, these gods of stone. Jupiter is nothing. Hermes is nothing. Mercury is nothing. Zeus is nothing. This is all big none of your imaginations. Things that you have just sort of carved out of stone and wood and you're bowing down before. I've given you truth. I've given you who the real God is. Now, I don't know, you know, they might have been a little bit offended, especially when the the priests of Zeus came there and then he talks about useless things. But, you know, one of the themes throughout the Bible, from beginning to end, is idolatry, right? God always talks about idolatry. In the Old Testament, you know, we have all these gods, you know, God talks about being gods of wood, gods of stone, you know, things that people create they bow down to. But even in the book of Revelation and all through, God continues to talk about idols. So today we know, we've talked about it many times, today we don't have idols. We're not bowing down the bale. We're not bowing down to Zeus. We're not bowing down to these things. But there's a lot of things that we put between us and God that he sees as idols. When we defer to someone else and trust, follow, put our stock into, or whatever that, as opposed to God, there's an idea, there's this the concept in the spirit of idolatry that God warns us against. Let's go back and spend just a little bit of time on this. Let's go back to Deuteronomy 32. Those of you, I was in Jacksonville last week. Those of you in Jacksonville, we read this in Deuteronomy 32 last week. Verse 21. Deuteronomy 32-21.

Let's pick it up in verse 19. Let's start at the beginning here. Verse 19 to Deuteronomy 32.

When the word, when the Eternal saw it, he spurned them because of the provocation of his sons and daughters. And he said, I'll hide my face from them. I'll see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom it is no faith. They've provoked me to jealousy by what is not God. They have moved me to anger by their foolish idols. And ancient Israel did that over and over and over again. If they would see what another nation would do, they would want to do things the way they honored their God. They wanted to adopt that culture. They wanted to adopt that tradition. They wanted to adopt that celebration or whatever it was. And God would watch them do that and continually turn against him. You know, as we look through Israel's history, we see after Joshua died, the time where, you know, for a while they would worship a God, get themselves God, get themselves in trouble. God would rescue them and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. In Orlando, we'll talk a little bit more about that this week. But God got angry with them. They provoked him. He said, when you're putting other gods besides me, that's who you're trusting in. That's who you're relying. That's who you're looking at. It provokes him to anger, he says. Idolatry is one of the things that really, really irritates God, if we can put it in that human term there. In Psalm 115, David talks about these gods that we have. Of course, the Bible, like I said, is just full, just full of idolatry and God warning us, don't, you know, I mean, no other gods besides me.

That's the only God. Psalm 115, we'll read the first 11 verses here of Psalm 115.

David writes, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to your name, give glory, because of your mercy, because of your truth. Why should the Gentiles say, where is their God? Our God is in heaven. He does whatever he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they don't speak. Eyes they have, but they don't see. They have ears, but they don't hear.

Noses they have, but they don't smell. They have hands, but they don't handle. Feet they have, but they don't walk. Nor do they mutter through their throats. Those who make them are like them.

So is everyone who trusts in them. And then he tells us now, you know, again, we're not making idols of wood and stone, but if we think about it and we realize the spiritual implications, the spiritual application of what we've just read, we can look around us and see this world has a ton of gods, a ton of gods. What they trust in for their well-being, for their future, for their protection, for everything, right? And you and I can be part of that. Part of our lives is to, you know, come out of the world, put trusting in the gods of the world, but start trusting in God and putting our reliance on Him. Verse 9 in 10 and 11, that's exactly what David writes, you know, his inspired God, O Israel, trust in the Eternal. He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the Eternal. He is their help and their shield. You who fear the Eternal, trust in Him. He is their help and their shield. It has to be Him. It's what we have to come to, that by the time Jesus Christ returns, and He will lead us to that, that we trust in Him and not in the things of the world that we think will help us, protect us, whatever it is that we are looking to the world to do for us, that we should be looking to God to do and have to train ourselves to do. Revelation 9, at the end of the Bible idolatry and man's failure to repent and turn from his idols, is front and center. You know, we've got the Feast of Trumpets coming up this Tuesday. We'll be talking, you know, maybe we'll be reading part of Revelation 9 on at the Feast of Trumpets, but we have God raining down these punishments, if you will, on mankind. He brings the worlds, what they have earned and what they've sown. He brings them, this is what they're going to read, and in verse 20 here, it says, the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues, you know, so, you know, as you read through the book of Revelation, you see there is no explanation. There's no natural explanation for the things that are happening. They know it's of God, but they're not going to admit it, right? People don't want to have God in their minds. They kind of will resist that. The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues didn't repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons. You know, if it's not of God, there's only one other thing it is of. God pretty much says it there. They didn't repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they didn't repent of their murders, or their sorceries, or their sexual immorality, or their threats. And so, you know, you can't read the Bible without looking at idolatry and continually examining ourselves. Could we be? Could we have idols before us? And chances are, we do, and we have to continually look to God to help us end the reliance on those and put the reliance and trust in Him and Him alone. And that's what Paul is saying there. You know, when we go back to Acts 14, you know, these things, people in Lystra, this fable that you believed in, Jupiter, Mercury, Zeus, Hermes, whatever you want to call them, they're all useless. They're all useless.

They mean absolutely nothing. And so, you know, that's what we have to come to, too. The things of the world will fade away. They won't be there anymore. And if we are continually looking to them, then we need to correct where our vision is and where it's going. It's God who the trust has to be.

Okay, let's go back to verse 15 there. We were in Acts 14 verse 15.

You know, as Paul goes on, he says a lot as he continues that sentence. He says, you know, put your trust in God who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them.

Verse 16, who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways.

That's one of the things about God. He has made us all free moral agents. He doesn't make us do his will. He doesn't force us to keep the Sabbath. He doesn't force us to stop taking God's name and bait. He doesn't force us to give away our idols. He'll let us choose our paths. He'll make his way known. He'll tell us what his will is. We have the Bible that's pretty clear on what God's will is.

It's up to us, you know, as his Holy Spirit is in us, to let him lead us to what the truth is, to let him lead us to the purity and the perfection that he wants us to have. He's not going to make us do it. He's going to let us go our own way because one of the things that he wants us to see is what the error of our way will lead to. You know, it never leads. It never leads to the happiness that people want. It always leads to some kind of misery, some kind of despair, usually death in the long run. You know, it's not anything that if you're going to make the choice that you would do, but as we make our mistakes and we choose to do this and follow this way, you know, or that way that's apart from God and thinking it's the right way, you know, God will let us do that. He'll let us see that doing our way doesn't result in what we hope it will. It usually results in something different. And, you know, if we're really paying attention to God, we won't keep making the same mistake over and over and over like Israel did. We'll say, well, you know what, that didn't work. I can't continue trusting in, you know, wealth, military, whatever it is that we put our trust in because I keep putting my trust in there. The same thing keeps happening. I can't even put my trust in God. Only He can deliver into His kingdom, right?

But God will let us learn lessons. And once we learn those lessons, you know, we're going to be able to teach them. And certainly, you know, it would be very nice if every time we started walking down the wrong path, God actually did tap us on the shoulder and say, no, no, no, that's not the way to go. Do it this way, right? We don't have that luxury today. Now, our conscience is, if we're paying attention to Him, and the Bible would certainly lead us in that way. But that's what you and I will be doing in the millennium. If we look at Isaiah 30, right, when people are beginning to go down the wrong way, you or I will be saying, no, no, no, this is not the way.

That's not the way. This is the way. Walk this way as we teach and we train the people how to, you know, have the happiness and the joy and the unity that God, you know, always wanted man to have. So it's our job to learn that today. It's our job to learn that today so that we can teach it to others and even explain to them, and they're done that. We've done it. It doesn't work. It only works God's way. So verse 16, okay, we were in verse 16 there. Verse 17, nevertheless, God did not leave himself without witness, in that he did good. He gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. Now Paul is saying, you know, God lets us do our own way. You know, he doesn't approve of our way, but he'll let us do it. But he's always there. He's always watching, you know, even as Israel, what they would, when they, when he would say, I'm not going to listen to you anymore, I'm not going to hear your prayers anymore. He was always there, just like he is with all of mankind, even though mankind has, by and large, rejected God, you know, forever. Some societies don't even know the name of God.

They have religions that are ridiculous, you know, when you look at it, but God is still there. He still allows, for instance, Paul says he still gives us rain. You know, if he was really going to turn against us and say, you know, I'm sick of mankind, I'm sick of the way they handle the things, they don't obey anything I say, they turn against me every chance they have. If God took away rain, none of us would be here. And for all of mankind's wanting to, you know, we can do this and we can do that. Man can't create rain. Man can't create rain. It's God who gives the rain, you know, as a gift, the fruitful fields and the food we have, even though mankind has resisted God, rejected God, he's still there. He's making his witness know he hasn't completely abandoned us.

You know, Paul, you know, rain has a meaning in the Bible as well, and sometimes we don't, well, probably been a while since some of us have heard about it, but let's think about rain here for a little bit, because the Bible uses rain physically as well as spiritually. Let's go back to Deuteronomy 11. Well, Chibi, before you read it, a couple months ago, sadly and shamefully, China had boasted that they could make it rain. Really? Yes, and I know right now in Dubai, they're doing the same thing, where they see the clouds. Interesting. They see the clouds, and it does cause rain, but it's because God is permitting it to happen. So sadly, then after that, they started getting too much rain, and we know what has happened since then. But they were bragging, and it was all over the news, and articles, and everything. They were bragging, and then sadly, I know some of us may have experienced that on a smaller scale. And then the people suffered, not just the leaders and the scientists, but the people ended up suffering with flooding and all kind of horrible things, because of the braggadociousness of the leaders. Is that the recent China floods that we were hearing about? Oh, I hadn't heard that other part of it. Okay, kind of like the Tower of Babel, right? We'll show you, we don't need God. We can make the rain ourselves. Interesting. Goodbye is on the same path, certainly. Science has become a God, hasn't it?

Really? Yeah, yeah. Interesting, you see these things happening around you, what man does.

Well, let's look at Deuteronomy 11, 14. Let's pick it up in the beginning of the sentence here in verse 13.

13, yes, someone, Judy? Okay, so you're not going to be here until about 12.

Hey, Judy. I can't make it. There we go. Okay, I got it. Got it to mute. Okay, Deuteronomy 11, 13.

It shall be that if you earnestly obey my commandments, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God with, to love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I'll give you the rain for your land in a season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. The early rain and the latter rain. Well, we know we need the rain in the spring in order for the crops to grow.

Maybe they have the latter rains as well. In Psalm 147, Psalm 147, in verse 8, now verse 7, where the stands are beginning, sing to the Lord with thanksgiving, sing praises on the heart to our God, who covers the heavens with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth.

Who makes grass grow on the mountains. He gives to the beast its food and to the young ravens that cry. God who prepares rain for the earth, you know, it's a blessing. Maybe you've lived in some places where rain has been scarce. I know I, when we moved down to Florida the first few years, it just was very, very dry. There was a couple very dry summers and, you know, whatever.

And I would wash the grass. We didn't have any crops or anything like that. Man, it just needs to rain. I want to see it green, so I still always appreciate rain when it comes. I don't take it, don't take it for granted. And that's not even crops and livelihood depending on it.

And then in Joel, the book of Joel, in chapter 2, you know, we see, see the prophet here talking about the day of the Lord. He talks about this early and latter rain again, and it has a spiritual element to it here because God, such a tremendous blessing from God the rain. We can't live without it. And he talks about it early and latter rain too, and a spiritual element toward it. Verse 21 of Joel, of Joel 2, Fear not, fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done marvelous things. Don't be afraid, beast of the field, for the open pastures are springing up and the tree bears its fruit. The fig tree and the vine yield their strength. Be glad, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the former rain faithfully, and he will cause the rain to come down for you. The former rain and the latter rain, in the first month, threshing floors will be full of wheat and the vaxial overflow with new wine and oil. So as you look at the early rain, the former rain, and the latter rain, we see this element of a tremendous blessing physically with the early and latter rains, but then you have the tremendous blessing of Christ who comes down to earth as the early rain and his Holy Spirit that is poured out on us as a result of of his death to pay for our sins, the hope of the resurrection, the fact that we have access to God's throne, that we can come to him, that we can repent, and that we can be baptized, receive his Holy Spirit.

And then the latter rain, when Jesus Christ returns, and again waters the earth and it becomes everything that God had hoped it to be. So, you know, maybe, you know, over the next few days, we can think about the early and latter rain and what God has talked about in the Bible about that, and think about that, and think about what he's built into the physical universe, think about what he's built into with the spiritual lessons. You know, so many times we look at all the world around us, the physical things, and we can learn some pretty insightful spiritual things when we look at the world around us and what God has built into it. So that's kind of just an aside, but perhaps, just perhaps, when Paul is speaking in Acts 14 and he makes the comment that God gives us the reign, he has some of those things in mind when he gave that to the Gentiles, and it's going to be part of their education to appreciate, you know, Jesus Christ's return, and to look at the God who really did give them their sustenance and who does give us everything, you know, everything that we have, everything that we have, literally everything. So in verse 17, we'll go back to Acts 14.

Let me notice here for a minute.

Okay, nevertheless, he gave us the reign from heaven, fruitful, fill your hearts with food and gladness. And with these sayings, you know, here they are, they're kind of giving a little message here to him. Again, it's God who does it. It's God who does it. He's the one who provides everything.

And here it says, and with these sayings, Paul and Barnabas could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them. It was like they were just not having any other, right? You know, though, you know what, you perform this miracle, you must be God's, you must be Jupiter, you must be Mercury, we're going to worship you. So they could almost not even restrain them even from that.

There was a lot of work that had to be done with those people before they would understand to be able to understand the truth and live by it. So in verse 19, you know, we know that there was some of the people who believed the gospel, because here comes the Jews in verse 19, the Jews from Antioch and Iconium, the two prior cities, it's like it's not enough that Paul and Barnabas are out of our cities. We hear they're over in Lystra. We got to go warn the people there and turn them against God, too. Let's we don't want anyone believing what Paul and Barnabas had to say. We don't want anyone believing in Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there, and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. You know, we talked about, so I don't know, several Bible studies ago, I guess now we talked about Paul and some of the things that he went through. Remember, we went to 2 Corinthians 11.

You know where the scriptures are, what Paul says. You know, I've been beaten with 40 stripes, saved one so many times, etc., etc. And he says, he says in 2 Corinthians, I was stoned once.

That once is where we are in Acts 14-19 when he refers this. Here he is in Lystra, the place where they were going to come and worship them. You know, they had such good feelings about Paul and Barnabas.

They were going to worship them and sacrifice them, but the Jews came in, and the Jews knew what they did.

They soured the people against Paul and Barnabas, and anyone who believed, you know, they didn't fight scriptures. These were bad people. Blah, blah, blah. The people turned against them so bad that we're going to sacrifice and worship them. They actually stoned them, actually supposed them to death, dragged them out of the city, supposing him to be dead. And so, you can imagine the scene there as it is in verse 20. You know, God works a miracle. However, it's interesting because, you know, as you look at commentaries and see what they had to say about that, you start to curiosity, say, Madam Clark, who had a pretty good insight about Lystra, and what he says about this event, they found interesting. Well, it wasn't probably that Paul was really, he'd just been knocked unconscious. One stone maybe came against his head, da-da-da-da-da, and they didn't realize that he had just been knocked out for a little bit of time. I think, you know, Adam, come on, it says here, they dragged him out of the city, right? They dragged him out of the city, so they supposed him to be dead. They wanted him dead. They supposed he was dead. That's why they left him alone. In verse 20, the disciples come and gather around Paul. Now, you know, for the disciples that were there, that's had to be kind of an alarming thing to happen. We have Paul, and we have Paul and Barnabas there, we have Paul there, and he's stoned, he's stoned to death, we think, and here's the man who's brought the gospel to us. Our minds are enlightened. We understand Jesus Christ. God will protect us. He's worked miracles through Paul, and he's laying here dead. He's laying here dead. The people have hated him and put him to death, and he's laying here dead. How does something like this happen? But God uses it as an occasion to inspire greatly the disciples that are there. However, when the disciples gathered around him, again, you can picture what was going on. As they gather around Paul, kind of just probably shocked by everything that had gone on, when the disciples gathered around him, Paul rose up, and he went into the city. Now, I don't know about you. I mean, if Adam Clark was right, and he said, well, maybe, you know, one of the boulders or whatever hit against his head and knocked him out for a little while, even if that was the case, would you feel like getting up and going into the city again?

You would probably say, Lystra's on my map. I will never go back into that city again after I've been handled. But even with that, you know, he got up, as if nothing had happened to him.

He rose up, he went into the city. He wasn't gonna let anything. Nothing was going to defer or deter Paul from what God had called him to do. He had every reason to be afraid to go back into that city. If they didn't finish the job the first time, he might have thought they'll finish it for sure the second time. You know, it's a lesson to us. Don't fear where God leads you. You go.

You follow. You go where God leads you to go, and you don't let what men can do to you to interrupt what God has planned for you or where he wants you to be. Paul went right back into that city without any problems at all. A tremendous, tremendous lesson for the people that were there that day that saw all that happen. So he stayed the night there in Lystra, and the next day he departed with part of this to Derby. It's clear the people didn't want him there anymore, so he, again, persecution came. He went on to the next city in Galatia to Derby, and when they had gathered, when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, so your Derby, receptive of the message and made many disciples, they returned to the three cities that they had just been thrown out of. They returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. So their, you know, their mission was coming to an end. They were going to turn, go back to Antioch and Syria, and as, you know, apparently no notable incidents occurred in Derby, many people were called there, and then they turn around, they go back up to Lystra, go back up to Iconium, back up to Antioch, where they turned out before, because there were disciples there. There were people, there were churches in that area, and Paul and Barnabas wanted to see them before they went back there. And they knew that the stories had been told how they'd all been, you know, kicked out of this city, kicked out of that city, etc., etc., etc. So Paul goes back, and he wants, and God wants the people, the disciples there, to be encouraged. In verse 22, as they go back to these three cities, says, they strengthen the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, we must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God. You know, Jesus Christ himself said, I haven't come to bring peace on earth. He'll bring peace when he returns the second time. The first time he didn't come to bring priests on the earth, he came to bring, you know, discord. People will be turning against each other, because his, the truth of him will divide people. But he wanted the people, and part of the education and the training that the people then had, that we have to have too, is there are tribulations we're going to go through. And we can't, we cannot think that nothing's going to happen to us, right? We're not going to, that there's never going to be persecution, there's never going to be tribulation. Well, we can't ever let that be the thing that sets us back and makes us turn away and go back to the world. You know, Romans, Romans 8, you know, Paul, as he's writing the Romans, he says this very eloquently in Romans 8 and verse 35. You know, maybe the, maybe the same type words he was giving to Lystra, Derby, and Iconium, it says he went back into those, those cities there. In 835, Romans 835, he says, who? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?

What will be the thing? Where's our line drawing? Well, you know, I'll follow God, but if this happens, I give up. He's kind of drawing attention. No matter what happens, keep your focus on God.

You've got to be loyal to Him through all these things that are uncomfortable, not the things that we want to have happen, but we must endure them. Shall any of these things separate us from Christ?

As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long, for accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. If we didn't have God's Holy Spirit, there would be tribulation, there would be famines, there would be pandemics, there would be whatever that could come our way that would say, okay, I got to turn away from God and save my own skin here, but God says don't do it. Look to me, keep your eyes on me. Whatever it is through thick and thin, follow me and keep your eyes on me. We can only do that with God's Holy Spirit.

In all these things we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. For I am persuaded, Paul writes, that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And as he went back to those three cities, that's the type of thing he was teaching them. They would be persecuted, they would have things come their way. He was telling them stick with God. Don't let anything interrupt your walk with God. Nothing. Nothing. Not even the good times. Which, you know, I've said many times, you know, the trial that comes when food is plenty and money is plenty and leisure time is plenty, is more of a trial sometimes than when things are tough. And we're faced with terror or whatever it is that may come our way. So they go back to the cities. And in verse 23 we see that he had some, he had to leave some leaders in these cities. They had just been called, right? They had just, they had, Paul, in these years had just preached. They had received the message. And so they appointed elders in every church. We could take the time. We won't, you know, with Paul in 2nd Timmett or 1st Timothy 3. Let's what the qualifications of an elder are, you know, he would have looked at some of those things and these churches, they appointed elders who were going to be the overseers of those churches there. He appointed elders in every church.

And they prayed and fasted before they determined what God choose who the leaders were, who it was going to be that that would lead them. And when they had prayed and fasted, they commended them to the Lord and who they believed. And so Paul puts it in God's hands. The same thing we do, right? We ask God, put, you know, watch over all of us. We put our, you know, we put the church in God's hands. Lead us, guide us, direct us, protect us, shield us, strengthen us, encourage us.

We not even pray, correct us, right? Because that's we all need some correction along the way. We all need to become who God wants us to be. And that doesn't come without correction. And if it comes from God, receive it, make the changes. So, you know, here he is the shepherd over the sheep and putting him in God's hands and trusting that God's going to watch over them and the people that he appoints there to, you know, to watch over them as he leaves. Verse 24, they make the trek back to Antioch and Syria. After they had passed Rufusidia, they came to Pamphylia, and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia or Atalia.

From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the works which they had completed. The job was done. This journey was now done. When we get past chapter 15, we'll see that they begin another journey. Now, when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

And you can imagine the glee of the joy that came from that church. As Paul and Barnabas would say, you know, this happens here in Lystra, and this happened in Iconium, and this happened in Antioch, and look at all the things, and they would have glorified God and been happy to see the progress of the work. You know, we might, you know, those of us who've been in the church for quite a while, we might remember the days where we heard a lot about the progress of the work around the world, and how many, you know, how many people listened to Atella, Aqalahas back in the 70s and 80s and whatever, and how God opened doors here and there and whatever.

Maybe we don't spend as much time as we should thanking God for the progress of the work around the world, and but when we do see that progress, it should encourage us, you know, everything we do has to be of God. You know, we need to continually seek Him, and as we seek Him and then do His will, He will grow the church and He will lead the church in where He wants it to be, not where we want it to be, where He wants it to be.

And that will happen increasingly between now and the return of Jesus Christ. So they came back, they did all their reports. Here's what they did. They glorified God by the calling of the Gentiles and how God, you know, was everywhere they went. The gospel was being well received, and so they stayed there a long time with the disciples.

And so we come to chapter 15. We're going to stop here at the end of chapter 14 here tonight. Chapter 15 is one of those chapters in the Bible that is so misunderstood, and many of the world's churches use it as an excuse to do away with the commandments, do away with the the word of God, and we're going to take some time to go through chapter 15 and see exactly what happens here as Paul and Barnabas and the disciples or the apostles in Jerusalem get together for this Jerusalem conference, and they have all these challenges coming from Jews.

What about this? What about this? The Gentiles have to do this, and etc. You can imagine as they mold, as they develop the church, and as they move from Old Testament times to New Testament times, the things they had to, you know, they had to discuss. We'll say that for next time, and end with chapter 14 here. Any questions, comments, any discussion at all on anything, really? Mr. Shabey, can I ask a question?

Absolutely. Now, the Gentiles, would they have been presented a calling at this time or at that time to be a first fruit if the Jews would have been faithful? Because it says that they were called at that time... Well, I got a cramp in my leg. Sorry for moving around. Ouch! They were called at the time to provoke to jealousy the Jews so they might save some.

So that's why I was just asking a question. It's sort of like the wedding supper. The ones that weren't ready that were invited, well, they went out in the streets, and they let, you know, invited other ones in through the wedding. So I was just wondering, as a first fruit, everyone's going to have their opportunity, but as a first fruit, have the calling, it says that they were cut off so they could be grafted in. The Jews were cut off so the Gentiles could be grafted in.

Right. So if they would have been faithful, would the Gentiles have had a calling at that time presented to them? Yeah, well, that's a hypothesis, right, that we could look at. You know, God did take the message to the Jews first, and they rejected. He always knew they would reject it. There would be some who would reject it. And his purpose was that he, you know, Christ died for all of mankind. So God, even in the Old Testament, talked about Gentiles.

So he did give the Jews, who were the, quote, people of God, the opportunity first. They said, no, we don't want it. We want to stick with the things we do. We don't want Jesus Christ. We don't want what he taught us. And so that opened the door. And the wedding supper analogy used, is very good. So you don't want it? Fine. The Gentiles will have, but I will have, I will fill my wedding supper, and I will have the first fruits that I want. If it's you, not you Jews, that will fill the table up with whoever does, genuinely and sincerely respond to me and repent and follow. So. Yeah, Mr. Shavey, that brings up kind of an interesting thought.

You know, you look at King Saul and King David. If King Saul would have made the right choices, there wouldn't have been a King David. But God gave him a shot, just like he gave the Jews a shot, and they'd made the wrong choices. So his mission is going to be completed on earth, whether you choose it or not. You just need to choose it. So this is a thought from King Ammon.

No, that's good. It's up to us, right? I mean, he leaves it in ours. Either we're going to accept and follow him with all our heart, mind, and soul, or we'll say, no, we don't really want to do that.

We show him by our attitudes and the choices we make in life. So. It goes right back to the very covenant our Lord made with Abraham, his sermon, where he said, in you shall all, in your seed, rather, shall all the nations of the earth. He didn't just say one nation, he said all. So from the very beginning, it was to reach everyone. How he chose to do it, says Prerogative. Yeah.

Yeah, do the Jews first because of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and then to the rest of the nations.

Yeah.

Very good.

In regards to the persecution that they experienced, we realized that the first persecutors of the way were the Jews and then the dudes and the nations. And then when we come to the English Bible, it's the same thing. It was the Catholics and the Jews undermining it. Anything they could do to it. And it's going to happen again, sadly. Yep. Yep. Persecation will come from within again, right? When you look at Revelation, it'll leave people. Yeah, okay.

Because we see the Pope going around doing things you would never think that someone would promote and then endorse openly. Yep. And this is just absolutely conjured with the Bible. You know, they always had their traditions and people, you know, saints frowned on it. But the things that he's been endorsing, you're like, really? That's so far from you guys' focal roots because, you know, most of them are him and most of them are already pretending they're hypocrites. But yeah, that's... Yep. The ones of all in Poland are very familiar pattern, right? Satan, you know, Paul says we know Satan's devices. We're learning some of them here in Acts and, you know, in our own lives we've seen them, but the same patterns follow. Human nature is the same, even though the times and the technology is different. So...

Okay, well, we're not going to have a Bible study next week. Next Tuesday is the Feast of Trumpets, so we won't have a Bible study. Actually, we probably won't have a Bible study now until after the Feast of Tabernacles. We have... Next Wednesday is the day after Trumpets. The next following Wednesday is the day that evening because the Day of Atonement, then we're going to be at the Feast of Tabernacles. So, I think we'll probably just take a break here until after the Feast, but I hope that you will kind of keep your mind in Acts, plus all the other studying that you're doing as you prepare for the Feast of Tabernacles. And we'll come back and we will begin with Acts 15. Acts 15, I think, which will be a very interesting discussion and a very interesting chapter for us to dig into. So, Jacksonville services that are 1130 this week, Orlando 130 this week, and I think that's about all I have, but I did want... Was there anything else before we sign off here? I just may mention that I listened to Peter Eddington's recent sermon and the Gospel in Europe and in the New World, and it might be complementary to what we've been discussing this evening. Oh, okay, okay. Did he just give that? Or? He did. This just passed, Sabbath. Ah, okay, okay, okay, very good. I know we have a new booklet coming out on that sooner, pretty soon, so, okay. Okay, well, everyone, you have a very good Sabbath, have a very good trumpet's atonement. If we don't talk again before the Feast of Tabernacles, a great feast, and I will let you know, and we'll take this up again, and we'll begin in Acts 15, okay?

Okay.