In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of living a life dedicated to God. He highlights the book of Acts as a testament to the life of the early church and the significance of the church in the Christian faith. The speaker encourages the audience to seek a genuine and personal experience with God, rather than following popular ideas or trends. He references Romans 6, emphasizing the need to present oneself as a living sacrifice to God, just as Jesus did. The sermon concludes with the speaker mentioning Peter's witness to Jesus and the power of proclaiming his name.

I want to come in here and speak to you, beloved, not in any way to be corrective, but to point to basic things that are so fundamental in our spiritual living that unless we get hold of them right, we shan't live as God wants us to live, and we should be living in a realm or losing ourselves in the realm, probably. You can be alive and lost. You know what I mean, lost away, lost in the wilderness or somewhere. Losing ourselves in a realm of ideas and thoughts, and we're seeking to generate things from our own minds and understandings. Now to combat this, we have the Scriptures, and the Scriptures are no one man's idea or understanding. They're not even the particular ideas, that is, the originating ideas of the people that wrote the Scriptures. These men, as you will know, were under the power of the Spirit, and the things that they put down are to be for us the absolute bedrock, and we must not in any degree formulate any ideas that are different from what the Scripture says, although we may present them in different words, because after all is said and done, we must agree that sometimes the wording of Scripture is not quite up-to-date wording, and it doesn't particularly matter about that. But nevertheless, we must keep these things in perspective. I'm sure you won't mind me making reference to things that have already been said in the meeting, through whomsoever they were said. Just with this thought of having our understandings right, it would be a fearful thing to go along to meetings, if I open my mouth I'm going to be corrected. That would be terrible, and that's not my idea. It is that prior to them being said, the Lord had already been opening my heart up along certain lines, and so I want to come in now. For instance, it is wrong to speak about the measure of the Spirit, because the Scripture distinctly says that God does not give the Holy Spirit by measure. Now, we must understand that we may think of the measure of our own spirits. That's right. I mean, you can have great measureless heaps of grain, for instance, and you could go along and say, well, I'll have 14 pounds, please. Well, that's limited to your measure, but the heap of grain couldn't, could only be calculated, estimated by experts in the terms of millions of tons. How many millions? Who would know? Especially if the rats can get at it, and so on. You just can't tell. But, of course, in this realm, neither moth nor rust duck corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal, and so we're in all the glorious fullness of it all. Beloved, let's cultivate, shall we, this knowledge that when the Lord gave the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, He intended to do it this way. It's given nicely in the terms of Joel. It shall come to pass in the last days, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. There it is. Constant outpouring, constant outpouring, and because one lump of flesh can't contain it, it has to be poured on others, because one nation in the flesh can't contain, it's all poured out, and poured out, and poured out, and poured out. Unlimited. And this is a tremendous thing for our hearts to grasp. But, beloved, let every one of us in this room tonight know this, that there's no limit to the Holy Ghost. Now, let's get this fixed. Therefore, if any of us are living in an unlimited capacity or experience, it's our faults entirely. And you see, the Scripture is couched in terms to make us understand the glorious truth in all its fullness. It's utterly consistent. If, for instance, I turned you to one of the most famous verses in the Bible, and then asked a question about it, what answer would you give me? Here it is, And now abideth faith, hope, love. And the greatest of these is love. You're sure that's true? Of course you are. Now, I'll ask you a question. Why isn't power mentioned in that verse? I mean, isn't power eternal? Doesn't it abide forever? Especially in these days when we're very, shall I say, conscious of lack of power. If I said, are you conscious of lack of power? And it wouldn't be fair to start with a little girl like that. I'll start with Paul, and go around, and they'll understand what you see, and say, are you conscious of lack of power? What would you say? Well, why in the world is it mentioned in that verse, then? Why isn't it mentioned? You're right on the line, Laura. Absolutely. Well, if that be so, why aren't we seeing it? And so on. And we can ask all our questions, and God does want us to ask questions about this thing. Now then, beloved, let's move on then, because we're on fundamental things, and we have a key within our grasp to so much in the life of the Spirit. You must remember that God has not got power. He is power. That's the thing. We always think of the, God has not got righteousness. He is righteousness. Do you see that? God has not got love. He is love. Once this be seen, you see what God is getting at. In other words, God doesn't want to give us love. I mean, he doesn't say, God was so great. John 3, 16 isn't. God is so great that he gave us love. That's not what it says. It says, God so loved that he gave his son. God is, he is love, and he so loves because he is love that gifts came out. But he didn't give things. He gave a person, because it's persons who are reality. All right, have you got that? It's beings that are reality. It's beings that are the truth. I don't want to get wrapped up in philosophical approaches. I'm not a philosopher anyway. I suppose you've all discovered that. But the whole tremendous thing for our hearts to realise is precisely these things. And when we're told in 1 Corinthians that, you know, the first love, joy, love, faith, hope, love, remain, and the greatest is love, power isn't mentioned at all. Because once you understand how these things function, you don't talk about power. Amen. I think we can see it very clearly in a moment. We'll come right back into the Acts of the Apostles. And you will see that when we are baptised into Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 12, and we are made to drink into one spirit, we are not told after that that we are needing an anointing of power, or a baptism in power, or a baptism of love. This is all put down so normally and functionally. We're baptised in the body of Jesus Christ. We've been made to drink into one spirit. And we're all members of this one body. And here we go. This functions, that functions, because it's all being. It's all right. It's all tremendous. It's all to do with being in this life, and this life being in us. It's all to do with that. And apparently, we're expected to know what it is to be baptised into the body of Jesus Christ, and be a member of that body, and then start functioning, if this be true. All right. As the verse might very easily explain to us here, let's see if we'll turn to 1 Corinthians 12. It's also clear. It says, there are diversities of operations, verse 6 of 12th chapter, but it's the same God which worketh all in all. He works all in all. All of them. Now, He can only work all of them in all of us. He can't work all of them in one of us, or two of us, or three of us. He can only work all in all, as He lives all in all. I don't want to take the air as the subject tonight, but just to let us see this. It's all so sweet and wonderful. Now, once we are really alive and moving in this realm, let's drop back to Romans chapter 12, and I think we'll have another key to the whole position. It says this, in verse 1, a very, very lovely verse. Haven't you got a Bible, team, Catherine? I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And I suppose I need not point that out to you very strongly, although I once just mentioned in passing that that, of course, is what Jesus Christ did. When He'd risen from the dead, He presented Himself a permanent living sacrifice to His Father. You can't present yourself as a living sacrifice to God. Talking about altars and all that here is good material for preachers to get onto, but Paul hasn't got altars in view at all. He died, He rose again, and what did He do? He went back home and presented Himself to His Father, and He was the living sacrifice, obviously. And therefore, Romans 6 comes before Romans 12, until you know what it is to be buried with Him, crucified with Him, buried with Him and risen again, you can't present yourself as a living sacrifice to Father, can you? It's all so simple, isn't it? I wish I'd known all these things when I was as young as some of you. I wouldn't have made half so many blunders preaching as I have made by following the popular idea. The big thing is that He's the living sacrifice. Now, once you've got this business of being a real living sacrifice, now the whole thing will begin to work. It cannot work, it cannot work, beloved, despite all our best intentions, or with all our best intentions and hopes, unless we've been through Romans 6 as a personal experience, and know it, and live in it, and not be trying to get in, but we gloriously are, and seeing that all these best things are beyond that, wouldn't it be stupid of God if He left us for 45 years struggling to get through Romans 6? We'd never reach Romans 12, although I may as a preacher take liberties to sneak into Romans 12 without going through Romans 6, and start preaching something to people which only becomes a highfalutin idea, and a very good thing, sort of a conference subject to preach on. But to present myself now as a living sacrifice to God, that doesn't mean to say, oh God, I'm enjoying terrible happiness, I'm living on the altar and aren't I wonderful? No, it's perfectly logical if I've been through, if I've been buried with Jesus Christ and risen again, I'm a living sacrifice now. It's very sweet and simple and easy, and take all the strain out of it. Now if I'm presented then to Jesus Christ as a living sacrifice, I'm not conformed to this world, in verse 2, I'm conformed to the next. That's Jesus Christ went straight up. I'm now conformed to the next world, the world that is to come. I'm conformed to that. Of course that makes me quite out of form with this world. Amen. And then I'm transformed by the renewing of my mind, and I'm proving what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. I'm proving what this great, perfect will of God for my life is. What is this perfect will of God for my life? That I should be crucified, dead, and buried. This was God's beneficent will to me, the slaying of his son, the nailing of his son to the cross. That's my will. Hallelujah. Glory. And it's a marvellous thing. And I look beyond that, and I come out of the garden tomb, and I've entered into the new paradise, and I am conformed to the world that is to come. This is precious, isn't it? And I'm being transformed. My mind is all being transformed. And I say, well now, isn't it lovely that Father should will this for me? God's will for you is that you should be a transformed person. Isn't that lovely? Not just a crucified person, but a transformed person, that crosses God's method of transformation. You say, really? Well, of course. When Mary Magdalene saw him, she said, if you're the gardener, tell me where he is. And on the road to Mass, they said, well now, if you're a stranger here, and you haven't heard that, you see. And he said, Mary. And in the upper room, or in their home, he just broke the bread, and he was made known to them. You see, he was transformed. He was a transformed person. You and I are not being crucified with Jesus Christ and we're not transformed people. It's no, we're trying to kid ourselves. I mean, if we can't say we're having struggles to give up smoking, and all this business. If we say we're having struggles to give up drugs, or temper, or you know, and all this business. Well, I mean, that's not transformation, is it? It's agony, isn't it? And I think we're going to get rewards for struggling hard. The rewards, beloved, are for believing. They're not for life's long struggle. You do see this, don't you? Well, Lisa, I see it so clearly. And I only want to pass this on to you, because it seems to me to be written in all the lives of the great men of the book. Of course, the fact that they suffered, doesn't mean to say they struggled, because they suffered, you see. See, so many people suffer, and they struggle so nobly. And they have bitter experiences, you see. But it's not for that. It's for believing, and going through. There's a wonderful new realm of suffering for you to come into, beloved. It has nothing to do with trying to crucify the flesh, or get rid of sin. Jesus Christ did that. What he didn't get rid of was trouble, and suffering, and tribulation. He didn't get rid of that. He left that to you as a legacy. For this is the perfecting and purifying process in circumstances. You've got this clear, haven't you? Yes, amen. So wonderful to understand this. And then we go on into the next verse. Anybody think I was preaching to you from this Romans chapter 12? I don't want to take a key from it. But that's it. If I get over to the Bible, it all starts flaming up. And I can't get away from it. I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man, the measure of faith. Now that's where the measure comes. The measure of faith. Not the measure of the Spirit. That's measureless. Hallelujah. And once we we come here, beloved, and know what God has done, amen, amen. If your spirit and my spirit can be measured, then beloved, we've got to get into a place where sooner or later that's got too big to be measured too. We have a spirit in us that will go with God. Now my beloved brothers and sisters, your spirit and my spirit will go no further than the measure of the faith we have. All right. Now to connect these things up so far as we've come into the Acts of the Apostles. Where this great word power is used, you will know that the writer to the Acts also wrote in the last chapter of his gospel, that is the 24th chapter of Luke, you shall receive, you shall be endued with power from on high. Tarry ye in Jerusalem until ye be endued with the power from on high. Praise God. And then in the Acts of the Apostles, in the first chapter, verse eight, you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in Orjudia, and in Samaria, and unto the outermost part of the earth. Glory be to God. That's what God is intending, power to be a witness unto Jesus. Praise his name. Power to be a witness unto Jesus. Now if you read in the chapters that follow, you will find that's precisely what happened. You see? Or in this very same chapter, Peter stood up and all he did was, he was a witness to Jesus. That's what he did. Started, bang off, you men of Israel, verse 22, here are these words, Jesus. There it is, first thing he said, listen to these words, Jesus. You see? Witness unto him. Here are these words, Jesus of Nazareth. And all he talks about Jesus is this. He makes just a passing reference to the fact that he was a man approved of God among them by signs and miracles which God did by him and so on. Him being delivered by the determinate foreknowledge and counsel of God. God knew perfectly well it would be hopeless about talking about you and I having salvation and power and love and grace and things like this. And it's got to determine to take his son to the cross. So by the determinate foreknowledge and counsel of God, you by the hands of Wicked Man are taken and crucified and slain and away he's gone then. He's just got straight to the Jesus, the cross, the burial and the resurrection and the receiving of the promise of the Father. Lovely, that's what he goes through in this chapter, it's all he goes through. And he's a witness to Jesus, that's all. Marvelous, isn't it? That Jesus was crucified by God's determinate foreknowledge, his counsel. He asked counsel of no one. God doesn't pander to, God doesn't get down to consult or take counsel with men. God knows that men don't know anything. Not in these realms, nothing. They don't know anything. They can't give him any advice. They can't help him on and they can't hinder him when he fixes up his mind and his will. He'd rather that we moved with him, but it's no good as trying to move against him. Because Jesus said this, he said, you could have no power against me at all except it were given thee from above. That was the presiding judge, the representative of the greatest power on earth. And that was that. And he was moving on, oh God give us all tonight to see clearly into this, to understand that we're dealing with the determinate foreknowledge, the counsel and foreknowledge of God. We're dealing with his will. We're dealing with the thing that's fixed. When we see Calvary, when we see Easter day as we call it, when we see Pentecost, we know it was all fixed beforehand. What was going to do, what was going to happen, all fixed. And God moved along that line with steady pace. Nobody hurries him. Nobody can hold him back or slow him down. Hallelujah. Do you believe in this kind of a God? Is this really the one that you're concerned about and you think is concerned about you? Do I really believe this? Amen. You know I want to get into this more and more. I don't know whether you do. Hallelujah. God is moving all the time and praise his wonderful name and that's all Peter could talk about. Just Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Hallelujah. Him, he was a witness to Jesus. God save us from just dealing in words about Jesus. God save us to move and talk with power about Jesus. He said you're going to receive power and talk about me. That's right. He said you're going to receive power and be a witness to me when the Holy Ghost comes upon you. That's right. Amen. No, you say, well here you are. There's this great word power. Well it is a marvellous power and I suppose we've all preached on it. Some of us are the preachers at odd times or perhaps we've been concerned with it. I don't know at different times in our lives but when we get into Acts chapter 3 we see this. You know we've gone this way before so many of us but oh how we do need to take it right into us what God is really doing. In that third chapter you know the man that was laying from his mother's womb is lying there at the beautiful gate of the temple you see and to them it's the most beautiful place on earth. I suppose he felt he was about as near to God as he could get in his state and up comes Peter and John and the miracle is also wonderful. He said silver and gold have I none but such as I have give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Rise up and walk and he just lifted him up and you see he was being a witness to Jesus. He was so bold he came into the name of Jesus. He came into the person of Jesus. He didn't use in the name of Jesus as a formula for healing. He was only testifying to the fact that he was living in the Jesus name. Instead of Jesus living on the earth now it was Peter and John. I've packed up using my name. I'm using the name of Jesus. I'm living in the life of Jesus. This is what the baptism of the spirit meant to Peter and John. This is what it meant. This great transformation. Has it meant that to you? And has it meant it to me? Hallelujah. It's the same as Paul says I live no longer I but Christ lives in me. It's Galatians 2.20. You see every time the power is tied up with the cross. I'm coming there in a moment. It's all linked with the cross and you will find that power isn't talked about at all here in this third chapter. He says this I give it to you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth and you know they went all passed on together and they were having a terrific job to hold this man down that was leaping and shouting and dancing and I don't want to get too excited or be too excitable although perhaps I think I am a fairly excitable kind of a character. I don't know but I don't want to get too excitable because I don't want to read into the bible. It says like this but I think we'd better read it so that we get it right. Let's go on you see and as the where are we oh verse eight he leaping up stood and walked and entered with them into the temple walking and leaping and praising God and all the people saw who come on what does your bible say him you sure it doesn't say them no that's what happened people would have us believe we should all go leaping and dancing and walking there was only one man doing it don't say Peter and John they said come on let's all go skip marvellous it's right isn't it I mean I didn't write the bible I do try to believe it he was love doing back somersaults and and turning and shouting jump this is to say that we shouldn't rejoice in the lord that but I don't want some of these inferences put over to me wrongly he went in leaping shouting jumping praising the lord amen I've done it many a time but I do want to read my bible right amen and it was a glorious time they had there and when they came up and challenged Peter he said isn't our own power or holiness that's made this man to walk I'm looking in verse 12 he says the god of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob the god of our fathers had glorified his son Jesus whom you delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go but you denied the holy one and the just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you and killed the prince of life who got us raised from the dead whereof we are witnesses and we have power from on high no that's not what he said and it's his name through faith in his name there it is the measure of faith determines the amount of power always always beloved let us all but especially we brethren understand this faith amen according to the measure of faith not the measure of the spirit he was poured out measurelessly amen and eternally beloved he's never been withdrawn and he won't be glory be to the name of the lord this is wonderful good and uh the measure of faith you see and straight away you see you've got the setting he says you denied him twice he said this you denied him now beloved this is where the faith is going to work most and understand it's when people deny him that you turn up and witness to him that's when faith will work that's when you'll find you'll you'll reach the place of power that's that's when you reach the place of power when others are denying if you're a coward and run away then you'll have no you can talk about being baptized in the spirit of the cars come on won't make any difference it's faith and boldness hallelujah there was a time when peter said he said uh i'll be with you and you know what happened he denied him himself now you'll deny me he says and this bit into peter i tell you it burned into his heart the i oh the loving forgiving jesus forgave him but it had burned its way into peter's heart oh i this is one thing you'll find about peter that the great events of him and he was this type of man and it's this that made him great this was the material got got god got hold of when he got hold of peter so things that happened they bit right into peter they they burned into him they became bedrock principles of all scriptural interpretation with him i wish i had time to work this out for you in the scripture but you that are this you that are preachers you take note they became bedrock principles of biblical interpretation they became foundational things of all his ministry i'll give you one illustration the first thing jesus said to him now you take this man no jesus said you're going to be called a stone that became bedrock in all his ministry never said a word when it you see this isn't that i wonder whether when jesus christ talks to you his words gain such power in you and become bedrock in you you need expect to get not to get very far unless this is so in your life jesus talks to you hallelujah oh and it got in pbc things he'd done he denied jesus he could never get away from it even when the lord had done what he wanted with him and restored him and made him this great spokesman on the day of pentecost it was there but the thing that had been tragedy with him and always bless the lord for this this is how he redeems everything he now turns it into a point for ministry hallelujah he wasn't under the depression of it the weight had gone the stain had been washed away the perversion had been removed now he could use it for the glory of god you denied him he said again and again you know you must let events in your life so mark you not as to bring you into the web of satan and bind you with his bonds but you beloved to be able to use them under the power of the spirit when you're in life for god's glory that doesn't mean you say you've got to go into the depths of sin in order to find them out god will take every man the way he can go and god will deal with every man according to the way he's come if he's come a deep deep way of sin let him not rejoice in that let him not praise god for that but praise god only that he's being brought out of it and then under the blessed spirit refer to these things in your ministry without keep advertising the depths to which you don't peter didn't go back over you know i denied him i denied him and go through the terrible story it's bad enough to have been written in the scripture once otherwise it would never have been mentioned but the lesson he learned was eternal amen glory i wonder if you and i are learning lessons like this but let me return to the point he says it's his name blessed be the name lord it's not me it's not i it's not power power power let's get out of this talk of power it's jesus jesus jesus and through faith in his name the faith which is by him i've given this man this perfect soundness in the presence of you all hallelujah and then he goes on and he says and i what that through ignorance she did it because that's how peter did it because he was ignorant so knowing what was ignorant he knew jesus yes he was ignorant but he was ignorant of himself oh i'll lay down my life for your sake he said jesus just looked at him he said oh i said before god you knew me peter he was ignorant of himself and isn't this also in this truth ignorant of sin we've all been it ignorant of sin ignorant of the devil ignorant of self ignorant of god ignorant of everything that matters we're born ignorant we increase our ignorance i don't know what we don't do but god by his grace and mercy loves us beloved and brings us into this place where he would deal with us so radically hallelujah if we'll only let him faith faith let's turn to the fourth chapter where the same story is taken up really this time they're in trial for their lives you know annas verse six the high priest and kaiaphus and john and alexander and as many as were of the kid with the high priest were gathered together at jerusalem and when they had set them in the midst they asked by what power ah by what name have you done this now you may think that peter only refers to the name let's go on shall we then peter filled with the holy ghost and said of them you rulers of the people and elders of israel if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man by what means he is made whole and the word impotent means a man without power seeing that we're on power a powerless man all right be it made known unto you all and to all the people of israel that by the name of jesus christ of nazareth whom you crucified whom god raised from the dead even by him doth this man stand here before you hold this is the stone there it is again he couldn't get away from it this is the stone he he's right on it bless god for an impressionable man bless god for a man upon whom god could write something hallelujah but you see what he says he says it's uh it's his name by the name of jesus talk about power don't keep talking to me about power want to know about power apparently it's his name glory this is the stone he says it's him it's his name blessed be the name of the lord and then he goes straight away and he talks about the cross whom you crucified because that's the power that's what paul said he said that listen he said i determined to know nothing among you he's talking to the corinthians now we looked into the 12th chapter you remember i determined to know nothing among you save jesus christ and him crucified and didn't say and the power of the holy ghost he didn't say jesus christ in the power of the holy ghost did you see that he said jesus christ and him crucified see as i was with you in weakness and trembling in my speech and went on he says wasn't with persuasible words of man's wisdom power and in the holy ghost that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of god jesus christ crucified the power of god and the holy ghost has only come to make this the determining and the determinative and the divine factor in every situation hallelujah what a precious thing this is and then beloved if we go down to the end of that chapter four we read and when they prayed or if we'd like to go on or read that prayer perhaps before we come there this prayer's so lovely and after all it's just sunday night and we are spending time in god's word aren't we it says that they uh went to their own company in verse 23 of chapter 4 and they reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them and when they heard that they lifted up their voice to god with one accord and said lord thou art god amen do persecutions make you see the greatness and onlyness of god the onlyness of god they never saw anybody else anything else thou art god glory be to the name of the lord which circumstances only did that with one of us hey if they really did you're going to tell me that god put them in prison that god did this and god did that to them of course who put jesus christ in prison then you see does god go along with wicked men not in their motives not in their desires but he certainly goes along with them all right praise god he of course he does that makes the prison cell a feather bed for any man in spirit you by wicked hands you took and you crucified and you slowed jesus christ you see that was what venus had but that god was there and god was in him and god was in jesus christ at that moment for the greatest thing that jesus christ ever did and so beloved here we are thou art god oh to have my life so taken up with god oh to be so free from self oh to be so free from softness that groans and moans for i'm not redeemed from sufferings at all i've been redeemed into them a new kind of suffering you say oh they're just the same old sufferings people going in prison people being this people being that no they're not everything's new when we're in christ we read it this morning for any man being christ he's a new creature old things have passed away all things have become new hallelujah is it a marvelous thing when god can so live in us beloved that we can take things that they do to everybody else and we can be as it were a channel that turns them to god's glory that's a marvelous thing beloved that's why you're allowed to go into the depths that's why you're allowed to go into all these things so that these things can all be turned to the glory of god amen that's why you and i will have to go into them beloved and when we get them as i've already said some of them they start denying christ that's the place to stand up that's the place where they're denying christ that's the time oh faith will rise in you then or else fear one one or the other power or weakness will be determined then so shall the lord lead us through the god verse 24 which is made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is don't forget that all will you all that in them is blessed be the name of the lord everything who by the mouth of thy servant david has said why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things the kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the lord and against his christ for of a truth against thy holy child jesus whom thou hast anointed both herod and pontus pilot with the gentiles and the people of israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done now i want you to notice that at this point they did not say that ha lord you anointed us on the day of pentecost and we you know he didn't go there he talked about jesus being anointed they didn't talk about themselves being anointed did you see that you know at times it's as well to notice what's not in scripture as well as what is they they were right off it praise god you anointed jesus and now lord verse 29 and remember that we're in this determined counsel of god in verse 28 it's what god's determined to do and now lord behold their threatenings and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word by stretching forth thine hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child jesus and you know peter's got this in perspective here this word child that you've got twice in this section is really the word that means a youth a servant or a slave grant unto thy slaves unto thy servants if jesus christ was only a youth anointed you know rather keeping the figure in scripture and the scriptures always correct it's inherently wonderful and consistent you never went david slew goliath whose son is this youth whose son is this youth bless the name of the lord and uh jesus slew slew goliath for us didn't he huh the devil hallelujah and we're in this tremendous thing to see oh blessed be the name of the lord to see i don't understand the mystery of the godhead when we get heaven beloved if you ever see me around come and have a conference with me will you i and tell me what you've learned i don't understand the mystery of the godhead but this i do believe i believe that that young man 33 that died and went back to heaven he's not grown anymore but he i think he's matured personally i'll leave that thought with you he's always been eternal god all right i'll leave that with you if i'm wrong remember to come and tell me will you i think we shall find this out this is what peter is referring to oh we said i'm all straight and down i'm all shut up here oh this blessed jesus it's what he made said late this time he said oh father glorify down me with the glory that i had with thee before the world oh and he'd been glorified on the earth he was going up there maturity in glory i and i found this about christ i found this about carrie i know i'm talking in relationship to my own little spirit and my own little self but i've found that the more i know of it the more it matures in me i hope i'm maturing with it i had a very nice compliment paid to me behind my back if i i don't always get compliments paid to me but so when i do i i like to remember them and it was it was this one it was made by somebody in the kitchen who referred to my good brother norman i mean our norman not the uh north country norman he said to our normans hasn't mr north matured since last year glory be to god amen you can't do better than that right well anyway uh he said uh here he is you see and the anointings on jesus and he says he says now lord behold their threatenings verse 29 and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word by stretching forth thine hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child jesus now they did not pray oh for a new anointing they didn't pray that they didn't brother did they they didn't did they no honest we've got to be straight with scripture and get ourselves out of this sort of uh stricture we've got ourselves into amen it's right isn't it somebody didn't get up and pray for power or something no did they beloved honestly they didn't no it was jesus they were just consumed with jesus utterly consumed with jesus somehow beloved the vision's gone we've got nondescript things everybody's telling us we're all right with jesus but it's more power we want or something like that i say we're not right with jesus must be unless i've never read my bible right and i'm needing someone to teach me the basic things of scripture again amen do you know beloved i believe this is fundamental i believe this with all my heart i believe this whether men accept us or accept it is immaterial perhaps it's not quite but you know what i mean it's ineffective then the whole tremendous thing is that it's him him him i see it plainly beloved i see it plainly i tell you i can remember it all fits in with all that i know i can remember the days when god so wrought in me and moved on me way back now 20 years or more ago and i remember at that time i was all taken up with jesus jesus jesus he was my thinking eating sleeping working daylight and dark everything it was all taken up with jesus i wasn't taken up with getting anointings or getting power god knows it was him i testify that to you and it seems to me that this is according to the blessed scriptures of truth this is the apostolic life i believe i mean that by the revelation in the acts of the apostles because it was the whole church life i'm just not referring to apostles now it was the whole glorious truth beloved as i see it i can't see anything else in the bible i trust you haven't seen anything else than that tonight unless i failed you amen you see and they prayed and when they prayed verse 31 the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the holy ghost and they spoke the word of god with boldness and the multitude of them that believed was one heart and of one soul neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own but they had all things common and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the lord jesus and great grace was upon them all hallelujah see now this is paul i'm sorry this is luke the um the the the one that's doing the recording that refers to this that great power was upon them all they never asked for it he says it was there they never asked for it if i read this right and i believe i have beloved it was jesus his name through faith in his name according to the measure of faith listen i'll ask you a question as you read through your gospels i'd like chiefly for you to do it through luke's in luke is the recordist that we're we're referring to tonight in his acts of the apostles and you will find that you will find that again and again the power of jesus christ that is the power of god worked when when that's right according to your faith woman thy faith has saved say but faith yeah well you see his power works it's always his power it's not our power we're always wanting to get more power don't just see the things being twisted upside down not that the bible doesn't talk about us having power it does you shall receive power but to be a witness to me that's where it's all gone wrong be a witness to me um your faith has saved faith has no power in faith apparently there is isn't it true if you can remember there came a time in your life when you with the full consent of your being and you stopped trying to live a split kind of an existence and you came off your sin and off yourself and off your your cowardice and off what other people thought of you and you concentrated everything and you on jesus christ didn't power come to you and radically change you when you believed like that that's right and it couldn't till then so faith and power are linked in scripture and what god has joined together don't let any man put asunder faith amen all right not the measure of the spirit lord not power lord faith now abideth faith faith hope love the greatest of these is love of course but when faith abides you'll have power i'll have power we'll have power faith hallelujah now i know that i touched on a vast vast truth i um i didn't have time before god spoke to me to work it out i mean that's patent that's obviously in it but you you work it right out for yourself in the scriptures and this is what you will find everywhere boldness faith especially when things are the hardest when the fanatics are ranting against jesus christ when all religion is wrapped up into something which is gloating looking back just a less uh 40 or 50 days over over calvary you know when everything was and it was death to even mention jesus it would i don't know i reckon beloved that this is when power is really going to operate when popularity is dead amen when we've really got nothing else to live for that's when it'll happen that's right that at least this is what i see in the bible that's what it is how did paul get in shame see nothing else to live for now may the lord open this thing to us in a mighty way faith so now let me ask you the question beloved what's the measure of your faith for that's the measure of you and it's the measure of your power it's the measure of your spirit your spirit is no bigger than your faith no it's mine it's all right i'm talking to myself amen i wish the power of christ would get hold of every one of us in this room beloved and we learn to leave everything else alone and lived only for christ i wish somehow the blessed spirit could do these things with us as he seemed to be able to do it with the early church i wish this could happen i wish we were brought out of the heritage of so much that cleans and works to our minds and we could be predetermined by that blessed cross so recent in history as it had been on the day of pentecost i wish beloved this thing moved us now to the place where we stopped playing around in the things of god and i wish it came on us i wish everybody else thought we were mad i wish the whole wide world thought we'd gone wrong i wish i wish beloved somehow it could all happen i wish that we died to popularity i wish we somehow we could come to a place where we took part in nothing else and we didn't want anybody to admire us for our strength or our abilities or our achievements or anything else i wish somehow that all that had died by the cross should die in us i i wish it would such as i have give i thee in the name of jesus christ and of nazareth glory be to god what a vast claim that is i haven't got anything else to give you we too much else to give with too many contributions to make in other realms it's right i'm not scolding anybody i'm come i'm stating my conclusions praise god i think i'm going to leave it there faith faith his name through faith is the key to the rest of the church history after the holy ghost had come it's stated for us in in the first chapter it's stated thus repent every one of you and be baptized in the name of jesus christ for the remission of sins you shall receive the gift of the holy ghost this was quoted or it was prayed out around tonight talked about tonight earlier for the promise is unto you and to your children and to them that are far off and as many as the lord our god shall call how many of us believe that and are living like that not just because we're wanting to get our children saved but are believing in the absolute truth of it that the promise is to you and your children and to them that are far off it doesn't matter how far off they may be even as many as the lord our god shall call and how shall we know whether they're called if we don't go and preach to them how shall we know they that gladly received his word were baptized immediately straight away they never they never played around hallelujah and it all happened and then you're introduced to the third chapter and here's the next simple step in this life now then his name faith in his name this is the apostles doctrine it's all prison the apostles didn't immediately set themselves up as great teachers they just put out and taught the fundamental things of this life you repent you're baptized in the name of jesus christ you receive the gift of the holy ghost you uh break bread from house to house you continue with the impossible in the apostles doctrine and prayers and then you go out hallelujah and it's his name and it's faith in his name and it's the key to life the rest of it very simple isn't it the life's in the in chapter two the continuance of the life is in chapter three amen and the result of the continuation that life is in chapter four so simple the acts of the apostles is a book of life it all is simple the rest is death you say now what's in chapter five now you don't need me to tell you do you read chapter five and see what conclusion you come to the life of the early church the end of chapter two the lord added to the church daily such as were being said amen chapter five that's right it's the church again all right i'll leave that with you and the lord wants to move us on but i'll be in all these things for me i see a flaming pathway through these words of scripture for me i see a plain path for me i see something that won't have any monkey business for me i see something that's come out of the realm of airy talk it's him his life his name and faith love is there of course they had all things common nobody dared say anything they had was their own beloved next loving word but indeed and in truth it's in there it's in the opening chapters there it's right beloved it works praise the name of the lord and this is this is wonderful all right i'm stopping because when i get wound up i've gone and all night i should preach right through the acts of the apostles or something like that but god's here beloved and i want to say this too tonight if you're not here well how about coming here let's get this thing right let's get hearts right beloved it's no good trying to build anything except on this foundation nothing at all we don't want it now then beloved if we're not right let's all get right let's pray if you know you've got to get right i invite you to come and kneel here or you might want to kneel where you are or what you are that's immaterial to me the whole thing is this that we've got to be right hallelujah