The Power of the Laying on of Hands

And I'm going to start reading, we're going to go down from verse 12 down through verse 16. And I remember two weeks ago I shared on Ananias and Sapphira, by the way that was the Monday Night Message I had shared, I expanded on it a little bit and shared there. But we talked about Ananias and Sapphira, and we talked specifically about the power of God in the early church, and how the power of God was seen in the positive and it was also seen in the negative.

And we're just five chapters in, four chapters in, and the Holy Spirit has fallen in chapter two, so we're only about two or three chapters into early church life, and already we're seeing the power of God do great things on the positive side. 3,000 conversions, 5,000 conversions, healing of a lame man that was lame from his womb, that's the power of God on the positive side. But it isn't long before the power of God is seen on the negative side, and death comes to Ananias and Sapphira all because the power of God is there.

And they lied to the power of God, they deceived the power of God, they represented that they were giving everything, and the power of God was among them. And you just don't do something like that in the midst of the Shekinah glory. I mean, do it over there in the darkness somewhere, you can probably get by with it, but you don't do it in the midst of great and bright and shining light.

And the power of God is there in the midst of the early church, and so sin is addressed, and if man doesn't address it, God does. And especially sin that is willful, sin that is perfectly deceived, sin that has been concocted to it. They had concocted together and agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord.

And so this place, I don't know if some of us would like to be a part of this church. It's a pretty powerful place, and you come to church, or no, there isn't no coming to church, you're living in church. We're going to see that a little bit this morning.

You're living in it, and so it's something that you're either all in or you get out. As a matter of fact, we're going to see here that no man on the outside wanted to join that group. That was a holy fire that was burning in that bush, and they didn't want to get too close, lest they would get burned.

And so this is a revival, this is a real manifestation. And you know how it is, you set that hot coal out of my wood stove out in the open, and it's a hot coal, and that's a picture of the early church, but as time goes on, that coal begins to cool and cool and cool until it gets to where it's just basically room temperature. And that's a picture of the church.

You know, if we're not careful, we'll just let the world conform us to where we're just the same temperature as the world. The environment around us has basically cooled us down to such an extent that, hey, this is the way we are. We're just like the world.

So we're looking at power, and there's a lot of power here. And of course, Acts 1, verse 8, it says you shall receive power. After that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you.

So it's not unusual to see power that's coming once the Holy Ghost comes and is a part of the early church. They have the power to convert lost souls. They have the power to speak boldly in the midst of persecution.

They have the power to heal. Boy, you're going to see some of that here. They have the power to sell their goods.

They have the power to say, enough of this materialistic stuff. I don't need it. I'm going to give it to the Lord.

They have the power to do that. It takes grace to do that. It takes the power of God.

And they have the power to deal with sin. So there's a lot of power that is found in the early church here. I want to read to you what's happening here.

And Eli isn't here this morning, but he often uses this verse. But the context is good here. Chapter 3, verse 1 of 2 Timothy says, This know also that in the last times perilous times shall come.

For men shall be lovers of their own selves. That's the problem. We love ourselves.

We want to live our own life. Covetous, going after materialistic things. Boasters, proud, elevating ourselves above others.

Blasphemers, disobedient to parents, children that are unruly. Unthankful, we just passed through Thanksgiving. How many people are thankful? You know, I think we ought to have on Sunday morning in the open time a lot of thankfulness.

People saying, thank you Lord. If nothing else, just thank God for the mercies of God upon your life. Be thankful.

Have a thankful heart. Unholy without natural affection. Truce breakers, people who can't get along with one another.

False accusers, incontinent, fierce. Despises of those that are good. Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.

And here's the verse I wanted to bring out. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power. See, that's the early church there.

The power thereof. And so in the last days, as Paul looks down at that hot coal, he says as we get down close to the end days, you know there's going to be a temptation for the church to lose its hot fire, its coals. And it's going to have, once you lose the heat, all you have left is the form.

And so there's a form. That word form means that outward shell. And the church in many ways is just a shell of what it was.

It just has an appearance, a form of the true that we're given here in the book of Acts. And so let's not be discouraged about that. Let's find out what we're missing here.

Where the wrong peg is. And why we're not fitting in properly. We're like a car without any gas.

You know, a car can look great. It just don't have any motivation. It don't have any energy.

It doesn't have that drive to get out and reach the world and minister to the saints and build God's kingdom. And the plague of church life is deadness, lukewarmness. And so they have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof.

And so the power is waning. And God help us here. We don't want the power of God to wane.

And in your own individual life or in the life of the church, and by the way, a church is no better than the individuals that are in it. Amen? A church that is being revived has a lot of people that are being revived. So the burden here, I mean, we've got a long way to go to the book of Acts.

We've got a lot of things that we're going to talk about. But is the book of Acts our pattern? Is it something that we should just look at and say, hey, this is a great place, great part to be in, but it's not for us today. We'll chuck the whole book.

Or is that book the tomb where we ought to fit in? I believe that's why we have it. If it's not that, I'm wasting my time up here, am I not? What am I doing? Trying to teach something that God doesn't even want us to follow. So it is.

It is the pattern. Well, let's pray, and then I'd like to look at a little review here before we jump into this passage. Heavenly Father, we want to look at the truth, and that Lord, we believe that Jesus, when he said, I am the way, he meant that he is the way.

And that he gave that way to the apostles, and they demonstrated the way for us, and that we can follow the same way throughout the history of the church here, and Lord, even to this day. And so, Lord, may you bless us as we open our hearts and we hear your word. May we move more and more into the image of your dear son.

And bless the preaching of your word. Now, in Jesus' name, amen. Well, let's hold our finger here, and I want to go back and just remind you of something that we talked about in the book of John.

I thought going through the gospel of John would be beneficial. We jump right into the book of Acts. But in John chapter 14, I'm going to teach this morning, try to do the best I can to communicate.

Those of you who are hungry for the word of God, and hungry for change, and hungry for a burning bush, and not a dead, dry bush, look at this for a minute. John chapter 14, Philip, one of the apostles, in verse 8 says this, Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us. Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father, and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Philip, listen, if you see me, Philip, you see the Father.

He's going to say, because the Father is in me, and I am totally yielded to the Father. Therefore, if you see me, you see the Father. He is in me.

Verse number 10, Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works. Now, Jesus acknowledged here that the Father is in me, and the works that I am doing are not my works. I'm not doing them myself.

I am allowing the Father who is in me to do these works. Now, you say, why is the Lord sharing this with us? Because He is showing us the way. His life is the way.

In other words, as I have allowed the Father in me to do these amazing works, I'm going to show this to you, because I'm going to ask you to allow me, when I'm in you, to do the very same thing, because I'm showing you the way. This is the way to live. The way to live like me.

And I'm demonstrating it before you. The Father is doing the works. Verse 11, Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me.

And we talked about that in the book of John, that we are connected. I am in the vine. The vine is in me.

We are one. Or else believe me for the very works' sake. If you don't believe my words that the Father and I are one, and we're connected, then just believe me for the works' sake.

Look at what I'm doing. No man can do these things. You know that God is in me because of the works.

Now look at verse 12. Verily, verily, I say unto you, you apostles, you disciples, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father. In other words, I'm going to go to my Father, and the life that I have exemplified before you, being yielded to my Father, and doing these works, you are going to yield yourselves to me.

The Holy Spirit is going to be in you. I'm going to go to my Father and send the Holy Spirit to you. And we have the wonderful privilege of living a totally yielded life to the Lord Jesus Christ, and have the Spirit of God work in us the works of God.

And so when we go through the book of Acts, you say, man, these guys... And truthfully, if you look at the book of Acts, it's simply an extension of the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus was yielded to His Father. He did these amazing works.

Now the early church is yielded to the Holy Spirit of God. They're doing the same works. Same works.

As a matter of fact, even more works, because there's more of them. They can stretch all over the world. And so the example here is given to us.

Look down to verse number 20. At that day, and it's talking about the day of Pentecost, you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. And so we talk about this wonderful connection.

And so if you picture the Father here and the Son, and Jesus walked through this life, and the Father worked in Jesus by the power of God to do these amazing things, now it's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit of God is in us, the church. And so that same flow of grace comes all the way down. Jesus is the mediator between God and man, and you and I have the privilege of doing these kind of works, and being greatly blessed and fruitful, and being used of the Lord.

So God is in heaven. You can picture this. Christ came to the earth for three years, and he said, I'm a human body.

Three years I'm going to show you how to do it. The way. Here I am the way.

Show you how to do it. Now I'm going to leave, and I'm going to come back in the form of the Spirit of God, and you're going to yield yourself to me like I yielded myself to my Father, and we're going to keep this thing right on moving. And praise God, the book of Acts is this thing is right continuing moving on.

And that's the testimony of the early church. Well, let's look here at these verses in the book of Acts, because that's what we're seeing, a people truly surrendered. And, you know, as I look at the Lord Jesus, and I ask myself this question, how did Jesus accomplish these works, and the power of God was upon him? There's two things that I think when Jesus said that I think if every one of us can truly say this in the heart, we'll put ourselves in a position where we can be in the right place and fit in the book of Acts like we ought to.

Jesus said, I come to do thy will, O God. That's where it starts right there. I am on this planet to do your will.

That's what I'm here for. I am not here for anything about me. I am not here for, you know, my pleasures, my benefits, I'm in pursuit of this, pursuit of that.

You know, I've got this hobby over here. I want these riches over here. No, I came for one reason, and that one reason was to do thy will.

And by the way, if you watch the life of Jesus, that's what he did. He did the will of the Father. The second thing he says, I always do those things that please my Father.

I'm into the pleasing my Father business. And if you have that heart, you know, God, it's all yours. I don't care whatever you want.

I don't need anything in life. You take me and do whatever you want, and I'm going to live life to please you. Boy, you're in a good place right there.

You're in a real good place. And I'm sure you will see. You'll see things God does through your life to heal, to cast out devils, to win souls, to speak boldly in the name.

All these things that's happening in the early church come out of that attitude of heart. It's your will. It's your life.

And I'm going to please you, God. Amen. So we're going to see that.

That's what we're going to see here in the early church. These people who are just living life for the Lord. I want to start reading here in verse 12.

And there's a number of things here that I'm challenged with. And the challenge is not just in the example, but in how to understand them. Maybe some of you can help me out here.

But we'll get more and more as we go through this book. I'm trying to piece all this together one piece at a time. Maybe we can all work at this.

But starting in verse 12, it says, And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people, and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. Now, the apostles. Many signs and wonders.

And I'm going to share a little bit later on here, go further into the book of Acts. But here's what's happening. Jesus Christ, who is the head of the church, He is the cornerstone of this building called the church.

He has come and shown us the way, and He has taken 12 men. They were called apostles. Of course, Judas is no longer there.

They put, I think, Matthias is in there. There's 12 apostles. He has imparted unto them the responsibility of the church.

He, the head, He gave them the responsibility. Truthfully, in the book of Jude, it says, He handed them the faith once delivered to the saints. Here it is.

This is New Testament covenant faith. I'm going to give it to you. And He says, now go and teach them everything I've commanded you.

I've given you the faith. And not only am I going to give you the faith, I'm going to give you the power. I'm going to give you what you need to accomplish the purposes that I'm sending you forth.

And so I picture the Lord Jesus as the head of the church. In Him is the fullness of the Godhead. He is the one who's doing amazing things, mighty works.

Now He says, I'm going to leave you 12 men. I've given my life to you for three years, three and a half years. I'm going to impart unto you the faith.

It's your responsibility to take it to the ends of the earth and make converts and teach them everything that I've taught you. And I'm going to give you something else. I'm going to give you the power to do it.

You shall receive power. And so that was imparted unto them. Those apostles were given that faith.

As a matter of fact, in Matthew chapter 10, the same thing happened. When Jesus sent them out to share the gospel in Israel, He said, I give you power. I give you power to cast out devils, to heal the sick, to do this and this and this.

And it's given to you. Well, the Lord is doing the same thing here. So these apostles now are the head, in a sense.

Not the head of the church, but they're given that responsibility to lead out and give direction. And then they're going to communicate and teach others. And those others are going to be passed down until here we are 2,000 years later.

And we have elders and the church being raised up. And so these apostles are doing great and marvelous things. And I'd like you to look over here, because this is starting to move.

And there's something interesting that I don't quite fully understand. But in Acts chapter 8, it doesn't take too long here. In Acts chapter 8, let's look at Acts chapter 8 starting in verse number 5. Now, this is Philip and Stephen.

Well, let's go back. I'm sorry. Let's look at Stephen first before we look at Acts chapter 8. Let's go back to Acts chapter 6. I mean, we're in Acts chapter 5 right now.

But in Acts chapter 6, it doesn't take long here, starting in verse number 1. And in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, It is not reason that we should leave. Notice the twelve here.

The word of God has served tables. They're giving direction. Wherefore, brethren, look out ye among yourselves seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we appoint over this business.

But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen. So here's a man that's not an apostle.

Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip. Those are the first two names here that I mentioned. And so what happens is, and we'll see this in a minute, that the apostles lay hands on Stephen, Philip, and these other deacons.

And they commissioned them to this work. And look what happens now in verse number eight. And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.

Now this is a deacon here. And he's now doing some of the very same things. So it's not being limited to just the apostles.

But something that's interesting that's happening, and we'll see another example in a minute. As these apostles go out and lay hands on other individuals, now this blessing and this power is given to them. So here we have Stephen.

Now jump over and look what happens with Philip in Acts chapter eight. Philip also has the laying on of hands and the ordination there of the deacons. In Acts chapter eight, starting in verse five, then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them.

And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits crying with loud voice came out of many that were possessed with them, and many taken with palsies, and that were lame were healed. And so this is moving now.

It was Christ. Christ anointed the twelve. The twelve did amazing things.

Now these twelve laying hands on these deacons. And now these deacons, it's moving out. These deacons are going forth, and they're doing great things.

So one thing I've always been fascinated about, never really could get a grip on, is this laying on of hands thing. Because in Hebrews chapter six, it talks about the beginning principles of the doctrine of Christ. It talks about faith and repentance, and then it says baptism.

We all can understand that. And then the next one is, and the laying on of hands. And these things are just basic principles or beginning things of the doctrine of Christ.

And I've often wondered, I could understand faith. That's an easy one. I could understand repentance.

That's an easy one. Baptism is an easy one. And then eternal judgment is after laying on of hands.

That's an easy one. But this little laying on of hands, what is that? You know, my Christian upbringing, nobody would talk about that. The only time we talked about laying on of hands was when you had an ordination, and that was maybe once every five years.

What's it have to do with the basic principles of the doctrine of Christ? And yet you get to the book of Acts. You get to the early church, the New Testament. There is a number of situations where there's the laying on of hands.

First Timothy 4.14 says, Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of hands of the presbytery. And that word means the elders. So now the elders are laying hands on people.

And here Paul told Timothy that a gift was given to you by the laying on of hands of the presbyterians. So it's not just the apostles, but now it's the elders. And so I understand it this way.

Jesus Christ is a fullness of the Godhead bodily. He then imparts these things to these 12 men and gives them the responsibility to take this to the ends of the earth. They go and they begin to lay hands on others, appoint others.

And pretty soon this thing is spreading and spreading and spreading and multiplying and multiplying. And I believe that was the will of God. Jesus said, I'm going to build my church and I'm the chief cornerstone.

That's the first stone you lay. Then the foundation is the apostles and the prophets. That's the foundation.

Then you start going up with the house. And you build. You build the church.

So this thing is beginning to spread. God is a God of order. I believe that.

The Bible says all things, 1 Corinthians 14, should be done decently and in order. And so God, when He builds, He doesn't just half-heartedly do it. He builds in order.

My son Jesus Christ, He's the chief cornerstone. I'm going to show you the way. And by the way, when you build, I'm not a builder.

But when you build, I understand that you set the corners and you line everything up with the corner. And the chief cornerstone, everything has to be lined up because He's the way. So you build a building.

You line things up with the chief cornerstone. So everything we do ought to line up with the life of Christ. He is the chief cornerstone.

You get out of line with Him, your building is going to be all kiltered. So God is a God of order. And I believe that this responsibility and authority, Jesus said, all power and authority is given unto Me.

I'm going to give you that authority. Apostles, I want you to take that and I want you to distribute it to elders, to leaders. Lay hands on them, and we're going to build a church.

Well, let me just give you an example of this. I don't want to spend a lot of time on it this morning, but in Acts chapter 6, let's look at a few examples here. We just read this passage.

Here the apostles, verse 2 of Acts 6 and the 12, called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look out seven men. Christ gave them responsibility.

Now they're also giving out responsibility, and they're ordaining and they're laying on hands. Look over to Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter 8, verse 14. Acts 8, verse 14, it says, Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who when they were come down prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost.

And this is interesting. For as of yet He was fallen upon none of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Here people are receiving the gospel, and yet they're not blessed with the Holy Spirit.

I never could understand that. I'm still trying to figure this all out. Why didn't God give them the Holy Spirit? But He requires that the apostles of all people, the apostles go to them, and look at verse 17, Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.

It's like the apostles needed to come and lay hands on them, and then once they laid hands on them, they received the Holy Ghost. Boy, here's some amazing things here. Verse 18, And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money.

Hey, this is something I want. Of course, you know what happened there. He gets rebuked by the apostles.

But, and we're going to get into this more and more, there is evidence here that in the early church that the laying on of the hands of the apostles was an important thing. And through that, the Holy Ghost was given, and they were certainly blessed. And I don't want to spend a lot of time on that here this morning, because we're going to touch on it as we go through this book.

But Jesus is the way. He imparts these things to the twelve. He tells them to go and teach everything I taught you.

They go out and make disciples. Those disciples were to make disciples. And this thing was to be transferred further and further and further.

And we'll see that happening here in the book of Acts. Well, I kind of got off subject here, but let's go back to Acts chapter 5, and look at this passage again. So these apostles are starting off, and they're the ones doing the great miracles.

The miracles are moving from them into Philips and Stephens and others, and moving down the line. Verse 12 says, And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people, and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. Now, I think it's important to talk about this.

They're all with one accord in Solomon's porch. What happened in Solomon's porch? Anybody know? Yes, well, the lame man. Remember, the lame man got healed.

This is just probably a few days earlier, maybe a day earlier. The lame man was healed, and they were walking into Solomon's porch, a porch. I looked this up.

A porch is a place that the temple had a top on. It was covered. It was outside, but there was many porches around in the open courtyard.

You could find shelter. Maybe it was raining under a porch. And so they're at a place called Solomon's porch in this courtyard, a temple courtyard, and they're all there, it says, in one accord in Solomon's porch.

This is where the lame man was healed, and this is where, and I believe human nature is this way, this is where God manifested his power right there in Solomon's porch. The lame man was there, and I think whenever, for example, if God would do a miracle, like right here in this chair, and maybe there would be a crippled man for all his life, and Brother Chris would come over and pray over him and touch him, and that crippled man would get up and walk, and many people would be fascinated and be praising God, but there would be something amazing about this chair or this area. This is where God did an amazing thing.

So all these people are there in Solomon's porch. It's kind of like that lame man for 38 years sat there around that little pond there in one of the porches at the temple waiting for the moving of the water. Everybody knew this is where God meets right here, and an angel comes down, and we jump into the water, and whoever's first in gets healed.

It's like, okay, this is a great place to be. If you want God's blessing, let's just meet here. God's power has been here.

So they were there meeting. They gathered together. And by the way, this is not a Sunday thing, and I think this is a big staff.

This is where we have a hard time, I think, fitting into the rectangle. If you read this, they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch on Sunday morning. Is that what it says? Not at all.

They were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. I get the picture, and as you go down through the Bible, you get the picture that they are there on a regular basis. People are coming and going.

There is prayer being offered on a regular basis. God is working, and so they're there. It's one accord in Solomon's porch.

And you see this, even in this chapter. Look down to Acts chapter 5, verse 41. It says, And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

And daily in the temple and in every house they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ. And so this is a daily thing, daily in the temple, and that's where Solomon's porch is. You know, I think one of the great hindrances to Christianity is it moved from a daily religion to a Sunday thing.

You know? Are you a Christian? To the average person on the street. Oh yeah, I go to church on Sunday. That makes me a Christian.

But in the early church, that's not how. They never thought about this one day a week thing. It just doesn't seem to fit.

But they were daily. There was a ministry going on on a regular basis. And it was their life.

It was something that they had sold their possessions. They were giving themselves to this. And so it was something that they experienced daily.

Look at Acts chapter 5, verse 17. I love this story here. We'll get to it a little later on.

I think it's the next Sunday. Verse 17, Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with them, which is the sect of the Sadducees, and were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison. But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.

And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning and taught. This is something, if you'd have been there in the early church, not only was God for it, He was sending angels to tell them, Get back into the daily religion. Get out there and teach the word of God every morning in the temple.

Praise God. These people got up early in the morning and were there. Probably seven o'clock.

There's that guy out there again, teaching the word. Getting the early birds who were coming into the temple to pray to their Old Testament God or whoever they thought they were praying to. And here are these New Testament saints in the temple in Solomon's porch.

They're going to get run out of town here in a little bit. In Solomon's porch, preaching. And the word of God is going forth.

And they're in one accord. And they're living a daily life, a daily religion. It's an experience that is a daily thing.

And I look at my life. That's one thing I think that we lack. And Christianity is not to be a Sunday-only thing.

We know that. And I know that we can live daily lives. But I think, and I'm at fault here more than probably anybody, we need to be connecting on a day-to-day basis.

We need to have a daily community, a daily work, a daily striving together for the faith of the Gospel. Instead of, hey, Brother Chris, good to see you. I'll see you next Sunday.

And, you know, we'll see you next Sunday. Well, that's just not early church mindset. Better I'll see you tomorrow.

Let's get back at the work. Let's be of one accord. We'll see you tomorrow.

What we can do for the Lord tomorrow. Is anybody still with me here? Do you agree with that? Or am I way off? The plague of the church is Christianity is a Sunday thing. I don't see that anywhere in the Bible.

Well, let's keep reading here. Verse 13 says, and the rest, that's the unbelievers, there's no man joined himself to them, but the people magnified them. And so there was a great power.

You know, that holy bush was burning and nobody wanted to get close to it. The sinners were saying, I'm staying away from those people. I'm staying away from that Port Sullivan's porch area.

I'm staying away from this church, this gathering of God's people, because Ananias and Sapphira, they just heard were killed. You don't get close to that. You better be serious about what you're doing.

That's a great thing for a church to have a testimony. You come into this church, you better get serious. You don't just go there flippantly, okay? And so that ought to be a testimony every church ought to have.

No man dares join himself to that group because there was fire in that bush and there was a holy fire. And by the way, it wasn't just an outward form of holiness, an appearance. Their holiness was hard attitude.

Their holiness was passion. Their holiness was a life of religion, not just a Sunday religion. They loved God.

And I believe that we ought to be welcoming. I go out and preach on the campus and these kids tell me, you're not going to get people to come the way you preach to them. You've got to preach on love only.

That can be more welcoming. You can get more people to come if you just preach on that love stuff. I totally agree, but that's not what we want.

We don't want a big crowd. We want people who love God. That's what we're looking for.

And see, if the early church would have preached on love, love, love, love, love, and God doesn't care about what you do, they'd have giant crowds. As a matter of fact, there was already giant crowds in the temple who believed that kind of stuff. But this was a very holy bush and this is very holy people and so you didn't join yourself to them unless you were very serious about what you were doing.

I'm going to read to you here. You don't have to turn there. And John, this is a principle that we've shared in the book of John, but John chapter 3, it says this.

Jesus is speaking. It says, this is the condemnation that light has come to the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. For everyone that doeth evil hates the light and neither comes to the light.

So if you're here and your life is full of sin and you're doing evil deeds, you don't like to come to the light. You like to stay away from the light. The light bothers you.

So why would you come to something that bothers you? Because it reproves the way you live. And so men will not come to the light. And so people look at that early church and say, we stay away from that place because there's a lot of light there.

And there's a lot of light there. I get close to that place, I'm going to be reproved and exposed for who I really am. By the way, our church ought to be that way, amen? That when you come, if you're living in sin, you ought to be reproved.

Just being around people ought to reprove you. Oh God, I'm a sinner. I've got to get my heart right with God.

This isn't good the way I'm living. I went to that church and it just made me feel so awful about the way I'm living. That's the way it ought to be.

That's why the Bible says we have to go into all the world. They will not come to us. They're not wanting to come.

Light, darkness does not say, oh look, let's just run over there to that light. It's such a wonderful thing. We're darkness.

We want to be by light. No. They're not going to come to the light.

So that's why Jesus told us we have to go into the world because they're not coming to us. Verse 14 says, and the believers were the more added to the Lord multitudes both of men and women. And so God was converting multitudes, thousands at a time.

Verse 15, here's something that's just amazing and I know this gets kind of off, off maybe our schedule a little bit or off our possibilities, but in verse 15, insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets and laid them on beds of couches that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. Now this is amazing in the early church what's happening. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about into Jerusalem bringing sick folks and then that were vexed with unclean spirits and they were healed every one.

Wow. Now sickness. Sickness is also being addressed in the early church.

And I read verse 15 and it says, insomuch that they brought forth. Who's the they there? Who's the they? Anybody know? What's that? Maybe? And you know when you do your English you go back to the previous verse. It says, and believers were the more added to the Lord, multitude both of men and women, insomuch that they, they brought forth the sick.

Now people are getting converted and lives are being changed. And you know what it's like when you're first converted. Go get your friends and come.

Come and hear about Jesus. Everybody's come. We're all getting converted.

This is a great thing. And there's a revival and everybody is, when you first get saved, your desire is to get other people saved. But also, Peter just healed a lame man at the gate of the temple and you're sick.

That's not a problem either. Come, come on. And so they're pulling people out of their houses and they can't get to Peter but they lay him in the street on cots hoping that Peter or somebody will pass by.

It's amazing that the shadow would pass over them. They'd be healed. So you got a burden.

Get people out in the public. Get them out here in the streets. And maybe Peter will pass by and they can get healed.

When's the last time you saw that anyway? Again, I'm supposed to preach the Word. So I'm just trying to do that this morning. Preach the Word.

Now these believers, these new converts here in verse 14 were of great faith and just like a new convert is. I love to hear that story. Some of you probably, oh, I just love it.

Linda Lee gave on the church text how little Matthew was walking there with his mom. Linda, they were out at some park and Linda got sick and Linda laid down. She was not feeling well and got a headache and Matthew just been converted.

Praise God. Matthew comes over and prays over her. And Linda's testimony is headache just went right away.

Where's Matthew? I need him to pray for me. I believe that. I don't think that's a little child thing.

I believe that. I believe that God hears a child as much as He does us and those children have so much faith. Beautiful little heart there.

Mom, I'll pray for you. She said God healed her. So there's young believers and these young believers are great in faith and they have great expectation that these people can be helped.

So they're bringing people out into the streets and laying them on cots and hoping that Peter passing by that the shadow of Peter might fall on them. I don't know what the shadow of Peter is going to do to them but I do know this that if they have great faith like that woman who approached Jesus and said if I can just touch the hem of His garment I shall be healed. What's in the hem of His garment? There's nothing there.

It's just the faith that she had of the Son of God. He can heal me if I can just get close enough to touch Him. There was so much faith here that these people believed that if we can just get them out of here and Peter's shadow passing by going over there will heal them.

That's a lot of faith, isn't it? Now some of us would think why would God put this in the Bible? That's getting kind of wild. Isn't that Pentecostalism here? Or we're going to see just a little bit that somebody's going to take handkerchiefs off of Paul's body in a little bit and hand them out. You want healed? Here.

Caleb. And handkerchiefs touching his body and they would take them and here, that touched Paul. It did! I'm healed! Can you imagine that? What healed these people? Faith.

Faith. Faith in God. Faith in the fact that Peter is a holy man, that Peter is being led of God and that somehow if we could connect with Peter and have faith, then God would heal us.

Yeah. Even his shadow. I know we'd probably think these people are Pentecostalists.

We shouldn't probably follow this. But this is that rectangular hole, you know. Try to fit into it with a square or a round peg.

Well, yes, in Acts chapter 19 it was handkerchiefs coming from Paul's body. It's a time of great faith. And you have to remember that these people, 500 of them were told by Paul, have actually seen the Lord.

I mean, what kind of faith would that produce in you? You've seen the resurrected Christ. You've seen Him on the cross. You knew He's dead.

Then, ten days later, you meet Him. He talks to you. You touch His body.

Yeah, this is real stuff. Then you just see Peter healing a lame man that's been sitting there his whole life, lame. You just experienced the death of Ananias and Sapphira.

You know that God is here, and you've got great faith. And by the way, I've tried to promote that here, but what we need is some more great expectation of what God can do. Amen? I mean, if we don't have any expectation and real faith... The Bible says faith is a substance.

Do you know what substance is? It's the real thing. The substance of things hoped for. You know, I don't criticize the Pentecostal.

I think the Pentecostals have a lot of things right. I don't agree with everything, but when the Pentecostals say, I may not be healed, but I believe I am. I am holding on to substance even though I don't have it yet.

It's the substance of things hoped for. God is going to do it. He's going to save me.

He's going to heal me. I'm trusting His Word. It's substance.

I believe that's what faith is. And I shared this when I went through the book of Mark. I remember I was teaching through the book of Mark and I just kept seeing this.

What is this? And finally I put it all together and said, oh, this is something that's interesting that God always responds to your faith where it's at. And I started out with the centurion. I remember teaching on the centurion and here's a centurion who has a servant at home sick and the Lord says to him, I'll go with you to the house.

And the centurion says, no, I'm not worthy for you to come under my roof. Speak the Word only and my servant shall be healed. In other words, in his heart, his faith is you speak the Word and it's all it takes for my servant to be healed.

And the Lord says, okay, I'll do it. I'll meet you right where your faith is. And he says, he's healed.

And the guy goes away, he's healed! That's pretty simple. God responds to your faith where you're at. So the next guy he meets is Jairus.

Jairus has got a daughter at home that's dead. And Jairus is all worked up and says, Master, come to my house. Lay your hands on my daughter so that she can live.

And Jesus doesn't say, well, just listen, I just spoke for the centurion. Why don't you just tell me to speak and we can speak for her too? He didn't say that to him. He said, listen, is that where your faith is? You want me to lay my hands on her? I'll go.

They walk over. You read the story. He goes in, says he lays his hands on her, and she's made alive.

Well, the next story is a woman who comes and she approaches the Lord and presses through the crowd. And in her heart, she says, if I can but touch the hem of his garment, no speaking, no laying hands, my heart is, I'll just touch the hem of his garment and I shall be whole. Faith.

When does she get healed? As soon as she touches it. Because the Lord, I'll meet you right where your faith is. If your faith is for me to call, I'll call.

If your faith is to touch, I'll touch. If your faith is just to touch my garment, I'll meet you there. Where is your faith? And so here God is meeting people.

I think people get out in the streets and say, oh, if Peter would just come by and the shadow would fall on me, I would be healed. God will meet him there. If I can get one of those handkerchiefs from Paul, God will heal me.

I'll meet you there too. But it's faith in me. Amen? I'm not teaching some wild things here this morning.

It's faith. Let's keep reading here. We'll finish in verse 16.

There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folk. People hear about this lame man healed, and they're saying, hey, go get grandma, go get grandpa, go get mom and dad. Let's go.

And them which were vexed with unclean spirits, we've got a troubled young man here, he's got demons in him, taken down to Jesus or to the early church, and they were healed every one. I know that every one is troublesome for us. I know that there are times that Paul wasn't healed.

But the Bible says each one of them were healed. This is a manifestation. We're understanding this is a manifestation in the early church of Jesus Christ right here.

His life is being continued through the early church. Jesus Christ is living out His life through His body. How many of you know that's what He wants to do here? He wants to live His life out through His body.

Jesus Christ is saying yesterday, today, forever. Jesus Christ is saying 2,000 years ago, today, forever. I lived my life on the earth for three years.

I lived my life out in the early church, and I'd love to live my life out 2,000 A.D. in you! In the early church. Amen? Do you agree with that or not? Do you think Jesus Christ lived Himself out in the early church and He says, well, now I'm a different person. I'm a different person up here.

Now we're just going to live a boring life. Dry, dead life. No, it's not true.

Otherwise, we should just close this book and we all go home. No, that's right. In fact, we shouldn't.

Well, the Lord wants to do that today. And I think it was two weeks ago I might have read this verse, but I want to close with this one in 2 Corinthians 4. It says this, verse 10, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. That's what God wants, just for you to die.

Die. I'm dying to me. My will, Lord, it's not my will, but thine be done.

I'm dying to what pleases me. I'm going to live to what pleases you. And those people, you get a bunch of them together in a thing called church, those people who live that way, all of a sudden the Spirit of God begins to manifest Christ in the body.

All of a sudden you have gifts appearing. Someone over here has the gift of discernment. Someone has the gift of word of knowledge.

And someone has the gift of healing. And someone has the gift of helps. And all of a sudden these things start to manifest.

And we as a group become the totality of who Jesus Christ is. He manifests himself. And so we need more of a full surrender.

And we need more of like the children's lesson, Lord, if you want me to be a round circle, I'll be a round circle. If that's what's going to fit into the table. If you want me to be a square one, I'll be a square one.

If you want me to look like a fool, I'll look like a fool. If you want me to sell everything I have and give it all up, I'll do it. Yes, I'm yours.

Amen. Otherwise, I think we're going to just continue to have form. And let me say this.

Generally people who have form, and this is my experience, that's where their whole focus is, is they magnify form. They magnify that outward appearance because that's all there is. And so Christianity is all about how I have an appearance, how I look.

It's not about the true energy and vibrant experience that the early church is experiencing. And so let's not go that direction. So let's continue here.

This book is going to be a real challenge. The apostles are now living out the life of Christ. They're starting to lay hands on people.

And when they lay hands on people, those people go. And they start doing things. And this laying on of hands is going to continue.

And the Word of God is going to spread. So can we participate on challenge? I want to participate, but I know I have a flesh. And I have my will to deal with.

But I'm going to do my best to participate. And let the early church example be an example for me. All right, let's close with a word of prayer, and then we'll open it up for anyone who wants to share.

Heavenly Father, we acknowledge that this is the Word of God, and that you're willing to conform us into the image of Christ. Lord, may you have your way here in the congregation, and may the Word of God bring forth good fruit. Lord, as we even heard this morning,