These were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him. That is, the Apostle Paul. They knew the power of a good testimony, and one was disposed of. But the laying of wait was known of Saul, and they watched the gate day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night and let him down by the wall in the basket. He had quite a letdown after he got saved, isn't he? And when Saul must come to Jerusalem, he is saved to join himself to the disciples, but they were all afraid of him and believed not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of the... who was with them coming in and going out. And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Grecians, but they went about to slay him, which when the brethren knew they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Pasha. Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria. and were editha, and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied. It came to pass, as Peter passed through, throughout all waters, he came down also to the saints, which dwelt at Lida. And there he found a certain man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of this palsy. And Peter said unto him, Ananias, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. Arise and make thy bed. And he arose immediately with all that dwelt at Lydeth, and Sarum saw him and turned to the Lord. Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tobitla, whose by interpretation is called Dorcas. This woman was full of good works on all days, which she did. It came to pass in those days that she was sick and died. When they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber. And for as much as Lidda was neither Joppa and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not be laid to come to them. Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber, and all the widows stood by him weeping and showing the coats and garments of Dorcas made while she was with them. For Peter put them all forks and kneeled down, and prayed, and turning him to the body, said, Savaita, arise. and she opened her eyes, and when she saw him, saw Peter, she sat up, and he gave her his hand, and lifted her up. And when he had called the saints and widows, presented her on thine. And it was known throughout all Jaffa, and many believed in the Lord. It gave the past that he carried many days in Jaffa, with one, Simon, a thine. morning we gave an outline on this chapter with words beginning with C, that is, Paul's conviction and then his conversion, his consecration, and then his confession, and also the fact that he was considering church fellowship, church communion, but was cautiously received, and then finally the conspiracy to kill him. then you have another outline that divides this chapter up also. Saul's persecution, persecuting rather, the Christian. These begin with C. The Apostle Paul persecuting the Christians and what a persecutory was, and we pointed out this morning in verses one to two. Then you have Paul Tennyson, his real Tennyson, and then you have Paul praying. Behold, he prayed. And you also have Paul preaching. He began to preach Christ. Right the moment he was saved, he began preaching Jesus as Christ. And then he's being persecuted. He was the one doing the persecuting prior to this. Now he is being persecuted. He's taken side with the people of God, the ones he hated, and tried to destroy. being identified himself with the Lord's people, now he is coupling along with them to the main circumspect. Then you find him, and he is protected. The very ones that he was trying to persecute are now first protecting him from other version of evil. And through we find the Apostle Paul in the various headings, and he covers just about all that he has concerning his remarkable conversion. I want to speak a little tonight on his desire for church fellowship. Notice in verse twenty-six. And then Saul was come to Jerusalem. He has stayed to join himself to the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. The one that they were afraid of. And you'll notice in verse thirteen what Ananias said to the Lord when the Lord told him to go to that street called Strait. Ananias says, Lord, I have heard by many of this man how much evil he has done to thy sake. And after knowing how the Apostle Paul was seeking out in order to despise or in jail a prison, with any wonder that the Christians at Jerusalem were a little shy and timid about receiving him in the fellowship. And I think that's something that needs to be considered, a certain amount of caution in receiving one in tutelage. It's so easy today to receive people in, and if they haven't got a clear conversion, They're likely going to run into the trouble that was true of Israel, the mixed multitude deepened Israel's testimony, and she fell before her enemy because of the mixed multitude. The very meaning of the word fellowship should correct on remedy this situation. Paul wanted to come in fellowship, fellowship with like-minded, fellowship with those who believe, as he now believes, that word fellowship is very important. It means being of one mind, agreeing on all parts. They can have fellowship, and as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, that we all believe, that we all speak the same thing. Well, there's a lot going on today that are born against history. You cannot have fellowship in or fellowship with. I know you've been following some of the paper or news reports recently on the large denomination, one of the largest in the country, and what's been going on, the decisions they've made. How can a kind of God have done with this for that matter? As we open our arms to welcome in homosexuals of people like that without even a confession of faith. sending one of them, defying this Angela J. Bacoff, and she said in one of her letters, and we read this week, that she was for it all of us, the death of none of the people in the place, and she was for the overthrow of the United States government. And the nomination, sending large contributions to have that woman released. Where have they gone? Yesterday, people are having fellowship. If they are in that organization, they're having fellowship with the devil, and not with God. And the word fellowship simply means I can go along with what this group seeks to preach themselves. And that's the meaning of the word fellowship. How can two walk together unless they be agreed? The Bible makes that place. And if two must agree in order to walk together, two hundred need to agree. In other words, there needs to be unity of thought, fellowship. In other words, salvation by grace. If you have an element in your church, a neighbor leave that work has something to do with grace. Your fellowship breaks right there. Fellowship on pure, solid, undiluted grace. Nothing else. It makes it so bad. And when all have fellowship on that, then you're in a dream of that in accord. It comes to the subject of baptism. One believes sweetening, another believes pouring, another believes immersion. You've got dissension. You've got discord. You've got differences of opinion. But if you've got all believing in a person, you've got television. And if one group says, oh yes, you're saved, you're saved forever. I'll say, oh, hold on here. You're not saved forever. You can be lost again. You can't have television. And unless you're agreed on all these biblical truths, You can't have fellowship. Christians today need to look for fellowship, never mind the membership. You can be a member of something and not be fellowship with what's going on. And so we need fellowship, church fellowship, and that's what the Apostle Paul sought, and how natural and how necessary fellowship is. There's nothing that will contribute to happiness any more than fellowship. to have a bunch of people together, and they all believe, and move to the same thing, of that's what's lost in death. Some say, well, I think there's room for difference. I believe that it's all right that one believes in immersion, another believes in poetry. You can get either out of the Bible. You can get the written in the Old Testament. but it's not the straightness of a Christian. He's speaking there of the nation of Nazareth. He's speaking there of the waters of refreshment, sorrows of repentance for the nation. It has nothing to do with the meaning of baptism in the New Testament. If God says, all right, you can be baptized. by mercy and you can be baptized by sprinkling and you can be baptized by pouring, then God is responsible for causing division. And God would not be met. The word of God is clear. There should be unity and fellowship on these one. So he sought church fellowship. And also church fellowship hindered here in this case. Who's hindering it? I'm often a hindering his application for church fellowship. Fear. Fear. You point that out in verse thirteen. Ananias. Why? He says, Lord, you want me to go to that man? Haven't you heard? Don't you know what he's been doing to your people? He's been persecuted. Yes, but Ananias, you'll make up half the story. It's another side. It's another side, and that's the way. Here you find cautious caution being exercised and right-faced so. Who would want to receive? And the Bible just strictly warns against laying hands suddenly on a man. Paul says lay hands suddenly on no man. a perfect stranger walks in here Sunday morning if we're remembering the Lord. Of course, any other meeting, he'd come in and sit down without any question. But if it's at the Lord's table where only believers belong, and he's a perfect stranger, no one knows anything about him, then I think he should be told. You're a stranger yet. Well, we're remembering the Lord this morning. It's what Christians and Christians only. Those are no type. Those who are doctrinally sound and living clean lives. And if you'd like to witness the meeting, you're certainly welcome. But let anybody come in and sit up without any questioning or any concern. It's absolutely wrong. You find it here, they were caught in the receiving of the Apostle Paul. And God didn't let that be put in his book. without intent. There's a lesson there for God. Then you have this fellowship accepted, obtained in verse twenty-seven. There's always a man there, and this is a good word for anybody in the assembly who notices a stranger, and you happen to know for a chance he wants to remember the Lord. On this occasion God sought with us, there was a man available. Barnabas by name. Wonderful Barnabas, but has something more to say about him in chapter number. If you notice the five kings here, verse twenty-seven, first of all, Barnabas knew him. He spotted right away. And he said to the brethren of Jerusalem, for he took them with a hand, took them up. That's nice of them. In other words, He's kind of leading them along, a young convert. And he told them that they knew him. And he said, he has seen the Lord. He has seen the Lord. Well, that's really good. Barnabas told them, and we have all the confidence in the world in Barnabas. And Barnabas said, this man has seen the Lord. And furthermore, this man has spoken to the Lord. He prayed to the Lord. Well, if you have a person come in, and he knows one of our leading brothers, and this leading brother said, yes, I know him, and also, I've seen him in his witnessing for the Lord, and he's really seen the Lord. This man has really met the Lord. And I heard him pray, behold, he prayed. So I moved it to him. come in in the fourth case. He says, Saul hath spoken boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus. You ought to hear his testimony. You ought to hear him preach. You ought to hear him defend the truth. And furthermore, you ought to see his changed life. Now, Barnabas mentioned these five things. And if a stranger came in here than one of our seven, being known? And he said, I know that man. I often hear him tell it in the verse that I call on testimony. That man I heard of praise. God said that he's got a change in that. He said, he's got a change. That's what he's doing. And it's nice to have the confidence of someone like that. someone who is ready and willing to identify himself with a stranger and say, I know this man, I know this sister, and in further use Satan as he came in and did the grace of the Lord Jesus. So you have this change of life. That's the name. But I mentioned that Ananias only knew half the story. As you'll notice there in verse fifteen, I have heard by many of this man how much evil he had done for thy shaita Jerusalem. But there's something else. And you'll notice here, down in verse twenty-six, that when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he has said to join himself the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way and that he had spoken to him and how he had preached boldly at the baptism of the name of the Lord. So here is the other side. I thought as I was reading this before coming to the meeting tonight, there are two sides in your life that you are a Christian. There is the before and there is the after. Have you got two sides? in your life. Is your life cutting half so much? Half of four and an after? Well, I thought of that. I thought of a limited spirit from all my life. Before I was saved, I was anything but an angel. Well, in other words, I used to get into many a fight, and I didn't mind losing some bad life, and I'm ashamed of that. But I just wanted to give expression to myself, sometimes not too healthy. But the superintendent of the railroad shop where I used to work, Mr. Seedy, he had it in for me that he caught me through the time, being down on the dock. Well, I put it down on the dock. I said, the map was on the check. So he caught me through the times, and he got in from it. Mr. Orr, who was foreman of our department of border shop, he went to Mr. Seve on two of the occasions to try and get me promoted. Mr. Seve, he said, I'll let that man go before I'll promote him. Mr. Orr, he said, stand up and he said, no, you're not going to let George go. He said, call me George, because that's my first name in it, Mr. Orr, out to Leicester. He didn't know that. But anyway, he used to call me George. But Mr. Org died, and I'm going to show you, I believe I mentioned this in a moment, a tape we gave of our work, a lot of our life stories. Mr. Org wouldn't let Mr. Org release him. Mr. Org was going to do it. Mr. Org said, you're not going to do it. So Mr. Org died suddenly. I was watching him with three minutes to five, making a bet with Mr. Org, the former Lieutenant Department, over the hockey game was to be played that night, and he was shaking hands with Mr. Hook, and I was walking. Fifteen minutes later, he was picked up dead. He was not an atheist. An atheist. So who should step into his shoes for the Mr. Barrett, who was a real Christian, a scientist? Well, Mr. Barrett, before his promotion on his part, he was an inspector, a boiler inspector. And sometimes he thought me taking a nap on the job, but he couldn't do anything. He was just an inspector. But when he was promoted to be foreman, now this is something to ask. But you see how the Lord works it up. I had just gotten saved a couple of months before him. And I'm not on the feet for it. There's a group of young men. I gave my fishing. And I see that a lot. Who will have a Lord's Savior? Of course, he'd known all over town about St. Hawke in the city, or they said, well, that won't last long. It'll last about three months. He'll be back with you. But they hadn't been back yet. But anyway, in that circle of young fellas was Mr. Barrett's boy. And he went home that night to his oldest father, I love my conversion. The father was quite pleased to hear about the conversion. So when Mr. Barrett went back for the shots on the Monday morning after hearing about this preaching on Saturday night in the open air, he went to Mr. Sealy to ask for me to be promoted. Mr. Sealy said, no, you can't promote that. I'll provide a relief. Mr. Sealy said, I agree with you, but let's be open, as a private man. I know he lays out on the dock. I know he doesn't do that. But I want to turn you, something past you. Oh, yes, my son heard him teach on the other night the sleep corner, did this and would have helped God save you. And he said, he was a different man. I think you ought to be Muslim. Of course, Mr. Shili was one of the officials and one of the big churches in town. He had a good deal of religion. That was what he said. In that case, I think we ought to be concerned. So then I only dared to later I passed Mr. Shili going down the big railroad shop to report a thousand men. I almost fell down. You look at me smiling on his head. Well, I may believe it anyway, that I've gotten saved. But here's the point. There's the two sides of the story. For four and a half. For four. Yes, I am. For four. That's how you believe me. I knew that then. But when he heard that I found Christ, and I was different now, he changed. I wonder if there's a before and an act in your life. What you were before you were saved and what you are not. There should be a difference. And so you find on this occasion that the Apostle Paul has now been received into fellowship. And he certainly enjoyed that fellowship. Fellowship with like mind. You'll notice that in verses twenty-eight and thirty which we read. And how happy they were and in verse thirty-one then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria. Now notice this. How did these churches come to be in Judea, Galilee and Samaria? Samaria. The Apostle Paul had just gotten saved, so he didn't plant these assemblies. How did these assemblies get planted? How did they get planted? Well, I think they have the answer in verse four of chapter eight. The first, if you need a Christian, they would help you. I'm not worried. So these assemblies were formed and founded by a Christian-like Christian. And that just means this. They're going to do the same thing today as they're on fire in the Lord. They're fairly faithful. So was Paul that into this fellowship. Fellowship of the other disciples. He was with them. It says he went in and out among them. Here he find his fearlessness. They saw it through that mutual testimony they had. about preaching Christ, my what a change had taken place in this land. Right. And that paternal protection, there are certain fraternities today, and might they protect you. They protect one another and defend one another. That's in their grief. I wonder if that's in our grief. Eternal protection should be protected. one another. Here is this wonderful fellowship being enjoyed. Now that word together was found many times in the Bible. You could almost take up the time speaking on it. You have prayed together in Acts twelve and twelve. We'll be getting to that later. Laborers together in First Corinthians three nine. Workers together in Second Corinthians six one. Hempers together in Second Corinthians one eleven. trying together for the people of the gospel in Philippians one through the seven, breaking bread together in Acts twenty and seven, and ascending yourselves together in the evil skin and nothing else. Together, together, together. You know, together, much can be accomplished for God, and Satan is like nothing better than to see our efforts Splendered. Splendered. And if there's anything I've been impressed with in going through these messages, I'll act as an oft-repeat word, one at four. One at four. One at four. One at four. And I might as well say from the class, I don't think there should be any meeting suggested or carried on independent, whether it's young or old, unless it's something that is known by all One accord. One accord. One accord. In order to get the oversight blessing, or advice it needs, it's an assembly effort. One accord. One accord. And I can't imagine for the life of me, back in those days, with all these converts, thousands of them, there were a lot of young people there. There were men who were women, whatever they did. There was one and more. One and more. That's the reality. When I was saved, I liked to be more in the presence of older Christians than I did younger ones, because I learned more. I liked to learn more patience with the younger ones, but I learned more real knowledge from the older ones. Older Christians. I love to go up north to Greatford Hall, Mr. Taylor Hall. Mending the Bible. I could open it and explain things to him. I think the young people need the old people in order to gain from the old people's experience and knowledge. I think the old people need the young people because it makes them feel a little younger. They don't need to have a little of that beautiful zest and zeal and atmosphere. What a contribution the young can make to the old and the old can make to the young. But I don't believe in this independent group or these splinters that everything should be done in one accord. May each of us be aware of the subtlety of Satan, this who seek to separate and to divide. Not necessarily by dissension, but by... dizziness so that our dizziness interferes with our togetherness and destroys our attention. Excuse me. What do I mean? Our dizziness. Some are too busy to come to me. Wednesday night. Mother night. And therefore we won't see some for a month on end. There's no business. Therefore there's not that togetherness. And if there's not that togetherness, there's not going to be that effectiveness. You know, there's two. I haven't seen some of the Lord's tables or six months. Others may be once and a half. You know, if all the Christians hear of the chapter, were at the Lord's table. Every Sunday, and if all the Christians were here on Wednesday night, Sunday morning, Sunday night, I tell you that these are together in the prayer and what effectiveness. Effectiveness in prayer and in our testimony. People will be saying, boy, I must get something over there at the chapel. They're always there when you go home. I've always heard that a satisfied customer is the best we could. You must have a good friendship. They're not satisfied, or they're not hungry. Together now, God wants us to be together. And the loon is that verse thirty-one. Here is peace, purity, power, and progress. marking the New Testament church, the little church in the beginning. And after all the troubled waters had passed through in these earlier chapters, persecution, persecution, persecution. Now there seems to be a calm settled down. And the church is having a lovely calm. And it says, then has the church's rest, and in the original that word is peace. Then has the church's peace. who was all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and great upon and walking in the field of the Lord and in the countenance of the Holy Ghost. My what a season of happiness, tranquility was now the portion of the early church that the day of Luther, the public walk. Now it was calm. All the clouds had been driven from the sky, and the sky is blue, and the sun is shining. Glorious days of the church. There are all of you might, you'll notice the things that are said about them. And because of this, they multiply. Now, they didn't just get a few anecdotes. They multiply. Or until you have a church that multiplies the glory of God. Multiply. that result of the situation you have in verse thirty one edified i wonder if you know something of being edified built up yes this is broad people need to be built up and if there's a building up edification then there'll be multiplication building up building up and building up If you want to extend, expand, then all get built up, edified, then there will be multiplication. That's what I see in my Bible. There was a peaceful church in those days. What a peace had settled on. But God was one another. Yes, with a happy, happy... In other words, they were all entering one thing, one thing only, that's spiritual things, not material things, not tangible things. Spiritual things have their priority. They have the promise. These are the dominating factors, spiritual things. Not worldly things, not common things, but spiritual things. That's the teaching of this text. They were edified. The Apostle Paul tells it later, He says, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up. It's nice when you get built up. The word of God will do that. Not the word of men, but you're built up. Then he says, it says they were active. Walking. Walking, yes. Now, this is not bricks and mortar walking. This is not stained glass windows and steeples walking. These are human beings. A church is not a building. The church is what is a building. All were born again. Here you have the church active. The church is walking. That's what it tells you in that verse. Edified and walking in the fear of the Lord. You know, that means that they were humble if they're walking in the fear of the Lord. You can't walk in the fear of the Lord and be proud. If you know anything in the fear of God, you're going to be humble. That's very evident. Walking in the fear of the Lord. Humbly! Walking before God. And that's what the early church was doing. And in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. For the joy of the Holy Ghost. Love, Peace, Joy. And they were a holy group. These two groups were holy. Walking in the holy group. You can't walk in the holy group without the Holy Ghost. That's what the Bible says. And it was multiplied. Not as quite simple as he ever, an assembly. It was operating like this. There found a model. Because the Spirit is going to be ungrieved in their midst. And there's a monger plot. That's what he added. An assembly is a whole. It's a place of fellowship. A whole is a place of fellowship. My, you like to say, well, I'm glad of both. Loved one day there. An assembly is a whole. It's a place of fellowship. And it should be a place of order. there is disorder in some mode. And now again there might be a little disorder in the assembly. But if the head of that house has been controlled, he can straighten out that disorder. It won't last very long, and will be ruled. Yet a family of fellowship, a home for order and for lose, The father doesn't exercise authority. Certainly his sons and daughters are going to grow up little rebels. There's got to be a firm hand in a case like this. And of course there's food and fellowship relative to a home. And the assembly also like a home or like a school. Not only is an assembly a home, but it's a school. The place you go to learn something. where the word is taught. And here's where God's people, especially the lands, should get fed. It's a school. Furthermore, it's a hospital. Yes, an assembly is not only a home, it's not only a school, it's a hospital. It's for the sick. Christians who have backslip, here's the place to come. and get restored to the Lord. A lot of Christians are sick today. You know what makes us sick sometimes? Eat something that shouldn't. When I see what some Christians are reading, I don't wonder that they're sick. When I see what they're reading instead of the Bible, a lot of filthy crap. That would upset the stomach of any spiritual. In other words, when you get sick, nauseated, you swallow something that your body, your anatomy is trying to reject and it upsets your anatomy. Well, I'll tell you, if I started eating some of the literature, I know it's even that's untouchable. I'd be upset, too. And when your stomach starts growling, it's complaining. I'll tell you there's something inside me when I start reading something or looking at something I shouldn't. There's a little complaining going on down there. And so the assembly is a hospital for the sick and for the poorest sinner who is sick and weary in his sin. Who wants salvation? He should be able to come and get. Because the assembly should be a home, a school, and it should be a hospital. I'm not a club. I'm not a restaurant. Or not a pool parlor. Not a dance hall. None of these things. Not a place to play bingo. Or a lot. No. That has no place. In God's assemblies. The world has that. And if you want that, you can get it in the world, not in the people among the people of the law. So these are the lessons you have in connection with the early church, and the wonder God blessed them. And I want you to notice that how they were blessed because of the condition that existed in the former part of the Thirty One, the first end they were multiplied. Now the next passage we want to notice is that in connection with Aeneas. We've noticed... the prosperous condition of the church and how the Spirit of God worked and the gospel was messed up. Now you have a case of sickness and the gospel. The case of Aeneas. What happened to Aeneas? Well, you can read it there for yourself. What happened to Aeneas? And it came to pass. Verse thirty-two, as Peter passed through all quarters, he came down to the saints with, well, at Lydda, and there he found a certain man named Aeneas. which had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy. Peter said unto him, And he is, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole, arise and make thy bed, and he arose immediately. All that dwelt at Lither, and Saran saw him, and turned to the Lord. Little sickness can be very fruitful and very confident. Some Christians and I visit a lot of Christians, and they can't understand why this should happen, why that should happen. I've always tried to impress them, as I tried to convince myself, that this has a lesson in me. And God intends that all these things are the faults, that we profit from them. Now I mentioned a week or two ago about Mr. Pell, going home to be with the Lord, a man who gets up and compiles those calendars that we get every year. I don't know a minister that's been more blessed of God than those calendars have gone out by the thousand year after year and will have been piled. He was taken to the hospital, grant that of it, pictures from the family this year. I may have a year. Wednesday night, he took a picture of me. A year after, he found out he had malignancy that he lived three or four years and kept working at the county. And Will Pell, he was taken to the hospital and he was taken home. And every time but four occasions, he was able to get a private room. But when he couldn't get a private room to do his work, he was looking up material for these calendars, he accepted it as from the Lord. And these four times in which he was in a sharing room with another patient, all four of those other patients got saved. Now, how would you have reacted if you'd have been a sicker's little pal and you got in the room with some, he swore it all night, I can't sleep. Go out of here to talk. talking all of that. Yes, that's human nature. But there's no sickness among the Lord's people can be blessed with God. Here, all the people in these two villages turn to the Lord. Because of a sick man, a sick man, is a heal. And that's where sickness comes in, in the lives of Christians. These two towns, Litter and Sermon, they saw him, this man, that's knowledge, that conviction, they turned to the Lord, that's devotion, that changed his mind. And so you have the gospel and this. Yes. Jesus can be a fool with the gospel. There are many that he did. Then again you have peace of glory. has a story of Gorkas in verse thirty-six and forty-three. Here you have Saul and the gospel hand in hand. And what a worthy woman she was. You know her name Gorkas means gazelle. I had a book and it gave the names of all these various animals and told her characteristics. Do you know what gazelle means? Gazelle means graceful. and tender and in the Hebrew language this word Dorcas means gazelle and they say that Jewish husband it was quite common for a husband to call his wife Dorcas meaning gazelle she was so gracious and so tender and gentle and kind now a gazelle is not a title nice to be a gazelle. To have that graciousness, that gentleness, that kindness, that was what Thorpe was doing. That's what her main need, Agatha said. And here she was, full of good deeds. What is it she was, full of good deeds? And almsdeeds, almsdeeds, and good deeds, good works. You say, why should a person like that die? My look at the good she was doing, making all these garments for the other saints, but she died. This gracious, kind, loving, considerate, gentlewoman, she died. What a great loss. It was. And all I say, and I thought of it, I read this, I wonder if I'll be missed when I'm gone. She was missed. You know, I'm going to mention this incident. I've never mentioned it publicly before. I was in an assembly up in Pennsylvania. The correspondent of that assembly was a man. I'm not going to mention his name. I met him. He had a dog in that assembly. And she said this about her own part. wouldn't want to be left in a house alone with him. In other words, there was a man he was too strongly impressed to be just wrong. The other day, he was not the one, but the other day, and when he done, he was hardly of his gift. They felt relieved that God had taken this man away. I've been in the motherhood with a dear sister died or a brother passed away with a dear sister died or a brother passed away and it was a sad second I've hardly been able to get some funeral the Lord because of the Christians weeping all over because of the death of this brother this sister Will I be missed? Will I go? When the Christians gather after my funeral, unless they are my, we miss so and so. Don't we miss her? Don't we miss him? Something to think about, isn't it? Hear these Christians weeping and showing the good deeds of Gorkas, these garments that she had made for these widows. and they were weeping because of her loss. And I want to make this plain. The good work she did here, and they all did, didn't merit salvation. They were the result of her salvation. I thought, as I read President Nixon's remark to speak about J. Edgar Hoover, it kind of struck me, and this is what he said. J. Edgar Hoover loved the laws of his God. Nixon said he loved the law, his country, and he richly earned peace through all eternity. He did not earn peace. And I highly respect J. Edgar Hoover. I don't expect the United States will ever see a maul, a man of his statue. I expect the Justice Department to continue to weaken from now on. I don't ever expect this country to have another man at the head of the FBI that will serve under eight presidents, but I don't think this country will live this year. But H.A. Edgar Hoover with all his virtues and values, and he was a giant among them, he did not earn... eternal keys. Unless he was born again, and I believe with all my heart he was, I read articles from them talking about the value of the Sunday school and urging parents to get their children into the Sunday school and teach them the Bible. I read some remarkable articles by J. Edgar Hoover and I believe he was a saved man. But if he is in heaven which I am confident he is... He didn't get there because for forty-eight years he did such a remarkable work to the FBI. He's there because he trusted the blood of Christ as a poor, lost, guilty sinner. And I wondered if the President knows about grace when he made such a remark that J. Edgar Hoover is richly earned and deserves eternal peace. No, none of us deserve. Not one of us deserve eternal peace. I went one day to a restaurant to get a meal. The waitress came over and she came and she said, what do you want from dessert? I said, if I got my dessert, I wouldn't get a dessert. She said, what do you say? I said, if I got my dessert, I wouldn't get a dessert. She said, what do you mean? I said, maybe if I got what I deserve, I'll be in hell. I'll get my dessert. That way. But I said, I'm saved, I'm going to heaven. I'll have a dessert. And that's true. If you all got our desserts, there'll be no dessert. There'll be no heaven, there'll be no salvation. You don't deserve it. It's free. Salvation is by grace. If I get anything when I get the heaven in the way of rewards, it's because God and sovereign grace I have been pleased to use this hundred and ninety-five pounds of whole sin and flesh and what have you. That's not what I've done. That's what God and sovereign grace has gained the stoop and two of who lead. And he who is all the credit. and all the glory. But I get a real thrill of it. Ah, yes, here is Galapagos, and she had all these good things. And Peter took them all, and he put them on the floor, and he knelt them. And he prayed, he says, Savaita. Now this is the very same word that you have in the original, in the fifth of Mark, in the first forty-one. When the Lord was raising a little damsel, the girl of twelve made it, he said, Salifa Qumar, which means my little lamb. And this word is the same. And Peter says, my little lamb. When I thought that, I thought she must have been a little lamb. A very cute little character. Very kind. Love who was already mentioned. My little lamb. And she rose up. He said, Alive, and she sat up. She sat up. What else happened? He gave her his hand. That's courtesy, isn't it? Nice to be courtesy. Brothers, young Christians, especially on unsafe. She raised her up, said Stratton. Satisfaction, he presented her as a eating little new other Christian on New York Saturday. What was the result of her sickness and death? Notice verse forty-two. And it was known throughout all Joppa, that is, the Orpheus, Stein, and Demiurge. And it was known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. Now maybe she didn't like that extreme, but after... He was raised again by a people who saw all those people who turned to the Lord. He led to him and sat our pastor there. What a schoolman he was. And here you have the gospel, fusing that flourishing condition of the assembly. He blessed, and he will mortify. The spirit of God fusing the sickness of an ear for all the people in two villages. were saved. I mean, here you have the Spirit of God in the gospel, using the death of the raising again of darkness, and many believe in the Lord. Here you have these various experiences. You have peace and prosperity. You have sickness. You have death. You have sorrow. But all these are two that the Spirit has brought you to bring them good. trust these things. We have helped to you if they have been to me. Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we humble for thee. We ask thy blessing upon thy word. We thank thee for it. Because, Father, we will open our hearts and receive it. Because we're more responsible now than we were an hour ago. Hearing thy word brings a response to the others, we obey. Search our hearts, and we are only here tonight unsaved. May they come to us soon. Realize with only satisfaction, sacred, groundedness. We ask of the Lord Jesus' precious name.