208 - Les Feldick Bible Study Lesson 1 - Part 4 - Book 18 - God's Secrets - Part 2

https://lesfeldickbiblestudy.com Through the Bible with Les Feldick LESSON 1 * PART 4 * BOOK 18 GOD'S SECRETS - PART 2 Never rest on what I say, but rather what The Book says. Our pastor was aware of a couple coming into our church who were married but from diverse church backgrounds. Look at every word. See what's in The Book and what's not in The Book. I never want people to say, "Well, that's what Les said." Now back to our study, verse 11. Peter is continuing his message to the religious leaders of Israel. Acts 4:11 Israel was the builder of God's kingdom and their Christ was to be The Messiah of it, the Chief Cornerstone which would hold it all together. They rejected that Stone and like the builders, threw It out into a vacant lot. A Stone of stumbling. There is so much departing from the truth of Scripture that people can be saved outside of faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that it's a narrow concept but it's a narrow Book. I remember talking to a man whose particular group was vast in numbers. I said, "Wait a minute Jimmy, I have a Scripture verse that proves you wrong." Matthew 7:13,14 God has only had a remnant. Even in Israel, the Covenant people, how many Jews were true believers? Because we are getting so much false teaching coming in and people are flocking to it. People will always flock to the false before the truth. This verse is narrow. For the Jew in this particular time that Peter is dealing with, they had to recognize that Jesus was The Christ. And only Jesus. Now continuing on with verse 13: You see how Satan uses religious people to stop the truth. War after war. It's religion. Religious people will often be tools of Satan to resist the truth of God. Now verse 18: Acts 4:18 "And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus." Verse 19: For the man was above (or over. And there's that number. Again, what did this man's life span indicate? God is not going to wait all the way to the end of their forty years to start calling out a people for His Name as we'll see in Chapter 15. Whereas Israel has been blinded. Verse 23. Peter says: Acts 4:23 Over and over I see these men refer to these Jewish men as Christians. You find in your Bible that the Word of God calls them Christians, and then I'll admit that you were right and I was wrong. But the Word never refers to these Jewish believers as Christians. Acts 11 says that the Gentile believers up there at Antioch, were first called Christians. All right, let's go on: (Psalms 2) For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles (Peter is tying Jew and Gentile together? It isn't just Israel. The whole human race is guilty), and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.'" "Him (speaking of Jesus of Nazareth) being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:" Was God caught by surprise? Did anything happen that God didn't foreordain? It was all in eternal purpose. He came to be Israel's King. Now Ephesians Chapter 1, verse 11. Now did you catch the word purpose in there? Let's see what that purpose is that Paul is talking about. II Timothy Chapter 1, verse 9. Paul is writing to a fellow believer, a Gentile with the name of Timothy. "Who (God, of verse 8) hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works,... If you are a child of God, do you know why you are a child of God? Because it was in the purpose of God. You were saved for a purpose. You were saved for a reason. We have to understand that we were already in the mind of God before He ever created Adam. I have a couple in my class who, in God's Divine Sovereignty, came half-way across this country to a place they would never have thought to live in. God had two people in mind. One night I was teaching, where Martin Luther had made the statement that the work of the Holy Spirit is the hound of Heaven. I was doing everything but what God was wanting me to do. Imagine! The most ungodly man in the community, but that's how God works. Read it carefully, word by word and tell me if this is the local church that we are associated with. Because there is no perfect church. Not the pastor and the deacons') the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. Now is that church language? Not the way I understand church language. I've never had a Pastor ask me to sell my land and cattle and bring it to the Church. #LesFeldick #BibleStudy #Bible