She'll read again, please, in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter one. The Acts of the Apostles, chapter one. Before we look at the passage itself, I would just like to say that what I have in mind to speak about for a few minutes tonight is the Holy Spirit and his work that he planted in the Acts of the Apostles. And there are five great things in the Acts that I want to emphasize. Before I read the passage too, it might be as well to give a few statistics about the Holy Spirit of God. It's one of the most tremendous subjects in the whole of the Bible. Have you ever realized that there are three hundred and fifty different references to the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures? The Holy Spirit is God. He's a member of the Holy Trinity, not just a force or an influence. but he is a real person, the third member of the Holy Trinity, and his name is mentioned three hundred and fifty times in the Bible. In the Old Testament we find him mentioned eighty-seven times, and in the New Testament two hundred and sixty-two times. Under the Acts of the Apostles he is mentioned fifty-eight times. He is mentioned more frequently in the Acts of the Apostles than any other book in the Bible. And in practically every phase of the work of the Lord, as we find it in the Acts of the Apostles, you find the Holy Spirit behind it. And that is very important. And I thought that I'd like to point out just a few things very briefly tonight in connection with five different references to the Holy Spirit. But before we do that, I want to look at the first three references here in chapter one and use that for a jumping off place to speak about the five different things that we find in the Acts. I think that are most important. Now shall we read Acts chapter one and verse one. The former treatise of I made O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach. until the day in which he was taken up, after he threw the Holy Spirit. That's the first reference. After he threw the Holy Spirit, I've given commandment unto the apostles whom he had chosen. Now that looks back, I believe, into the gospel according to John. The Lord Jesus is the one who lays the foundation of teaching concerning the Holy Spirit in this upper room discourse. We'll look at that in a moment or two. But I think that this first reference stretches back into the Gospel according to John to the upper room ministry of Christ, where we find them speaking about the comforter, the paraclete, the Holy Spirit. So this first reference, it reaches back into the Gospel by John. And verse three. to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which said he ye have heard from me. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence. Now that is the second reference. And again that goes back to the full Gospel. The Lord Jesus in each one of the Gospels, Matthew and Mark, on Luke and John, he speaks about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And here it's mentioned again. The Lord Jesus here in the post-presurrection ministry He tells them that not many days hence there are going to be that ties in the Holy Spirit. The second reference. Now verse six. When they therefore were come together, they asked of them, saying, Lord, will thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times of the seasons which the Father has put in his own power. but ye shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the utmost part of the earth now the third reference it stretches right into the whole of the Acts of the Apostles from the Gospel it's going to start being preached in Jerusalem and in Judea and then Samaria, and then to the uttermost part of the earth. Oh, her fool, these first references to the Holy Spirit of God are, the first one stretching back to the teaching of Christ, and the second one stretching back to the promise of the Lord Jesus in the Old Gospels concerning what will happen after he goes back to heaven that there will be a baptism in the Holy Spirit. And then the third one, looking to that great work of the proclamation of the gospel starting in Jerusalem and then going to the utmost part of the earth. These are the first three references in the book. And there are fifty feet of them altogether, each one in a very important context. Now, it's perfectly obvious that we want the time to bring to some of the others. But I want to do the five different things in the Acts of the Apostles that are important. First of all, I want to speak about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And then I want to speak about the filling of the Holy Spirit. That is something entirely different from the baptism. And then I want to look at the fact that the Holy Spirit called two men through a sphere of special service in chapter thirteen. And then I want to look at the fact that those two men Barnabas and Saul went out on those three great missionary journeys to preach the gospel, and then I want to speak of how they were guided. The guidance of the Holy Spirit. We get that in chapter sixteen, and then the final reference that I want to speak about is in chapter twenty, when Paul is bidding goodbye to the elders at Ephesus and giving that final instruction through them, those men of God that were responsible for leadership, and for eldership on Ephesus, and he says that they were overseers that were raised up by the Holy Spirit. Beloved brethren here tonight, ancestors, one of the great needs today is good men. Oh, we do need leadership among our assembly. Men who know the Word of God, are men who are established in the truth. and are able to give guidance and leadership and counsel to the younger ones among them. Now, these are five great contexts in the Acts of the Apostles that I want to speak about. But first of all, let me go back to this first reference on the teaching of Christ concerning the Holy Ghost that we find in the upper room ministry. Four different times in John, John, fourteen, fifteen and sixteen. The Lord mentions a term... concerning the Holy Spirit that He only mentions, and that is the Comforter. And by the way, that word, it means the paraclete. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful word, the paraclete, the one who's called alongside the hell. As a matter of fact, in those chapters, the Lord sitting at the table, just for a few hours, before He went to Gethsemane on the cross, He gave them this final message. It was his valedictory message. And in it, we find the seven great fundamental truths of Christianity in synoptic form. And one of the great truths that the Lord spoke about there was the Holy Spirit of God. You remember, first of all, he speaks about the Holy Spirit in relation to himself. And then secondly, we find him... speaking of the Holy Spirit in relation to the Holy Scriptures. And then thirdly, he speaks of the Holy Spirit in relation to the sin. That is to the believer. And then finally, he speaks about the Holy Spirit in relation to the sinner. Now let's think of this just for a moment or two, because here we get the good foundation of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the teaching of Christ himself. And by the way, Every doctrine in the Holy Scripture is based on the person, the person of the Lord Jesus. He is the one that lays the germ and gives the initial teaching and we find the elaboration of it in the Great Epistles in the New Testament Scriptures. So first of all, he speaks of the Holy Spirit in relation to himself. And he uses two terms. He says, He shall testify concerning me. and he shall glorify me. The Holy Spirit always keeps himself in the background. And the work of the Holy Spirit is to testify concerning Christ and to glorify him. I have any preacher that stands up with the Bible in his hand. Either to preach the gospel or to minister the word. He must never forget that. Holy Ghost ministry, it testifies concerning Christ. and it notifies him. And the man who's doing it, just like the Holy Spirit himself, he keeps himself in the background. Did you ever notice that Luke, who wrote the Gospel by Luke, and the Acts of the Apostles never mentioned his own name? He keeps himself completely in the background, and the only way we would know whether Luke was present in any situation, then the Acts of the Apostles is a change of a pronoun. When he uses the pronoun, we, we know he was there. But if he uses the pronoun, they, we know he wasn't there. And there are certain sections in the Acts of the Apostles, because there is the change of the pronoun. But the fact is that Luke keeps himself completely in the background, never mentions his own name. But he speaks about Christ. Oh, he testifies concerning him. And he glorifies him. This is a tremendous test. of Holy Ghost ministry. The Holy Spirit in relation to the person of Christ. The second one is in relation to the Holy Scripture. And the Lord Jesus used three terms in the upper room discourse concerning the Holy Spirit in the inspiration of Scripture. And the first one is, He shall bring all things to your remembrance. That's a remarkable statement. He shall bring all things to your remembrance. That's the gospel. When John wrote the gospel according to John, he must have been an old man, nearly a hundred years of age. It was one of the last things that he did. It's like this tremendous gospel, the gospel according to John. And he was an old man in the last decade of the first century when he wrote the gospel according to John. And do you mean to say that he was just trusting on his memory? You know, the most of us that are getting old, our memory starts to go. That's one of the first things that go. But John, at a hundred years of age, you think of the seventeenth of John, the Lord, and speaking of this great high priestly prayer, he not only gives us the very words that the Lord used, but he also, the gestures that he did before he started his faith. He lifted up his life to heaven, says John. And then he said, Father, Holy Father, righteous Father. Do you mean to say that it was just because John had a good memory? It wasn't. It was the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. He shall bring all things to you to remember. That's the gospel. And then secondly, he said, He shall guide you into all truth. That's the epistle. the great epistles that we find, fourteen of the Apostle Paul, so on. He shall guide you into all truth, the epistles. And then the third thing he said concerning the scriptures, he shall show you things to come. That is the book of Revelation. So there we get the Holy Spirit of God and the inspiration of the New Testament scripture. First of all, in relation to Christ. And then secondly, in relation to the Holy Scriptures. And then in relation to the saints, there's a lovely passage in chapter fourteen of the Gospel according to John. Speaking of the Comforter, he said, he shall abide with you forever. And then another term that he uses is, he shall be in you. He shall be in you. Now, that's future. That goes into the Acts of the Apostles when the Holy Ghost comes down. And one of the characteristic things of the believer today is the strength of the indwelling Spirit of God. We were speaking this morning about the gospel. And from that great miracle of regeneration takes place, one thing that's happened, along with others. As soon as a person is born again and regenerated, the Holy Spirit comes into dwell. And oh, thank God, my poor little heart. And your heart, Paul says, is the inner shrine of the Holy Spirit of God. Oh, thank God for the seal of the Spirit and the indwelling Spirit of God and what he has to say about that indwelling Spirit in our heart. He will never leave us. He will dwell with you forever. And thank God he said he shall be in you, but that has already happened. And then finally, in relation to the sinner, in chapter sixteen he said, when he has come, He will convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, of sin because the believed not on me, of righteousness because I go to my Father, and of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. Here we get the convicting work of the Holy Spirit of God in the heart of a person who hasn't trusted Christ. So the foundation of the doctrine is in the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. his upper room ministry. And then coming here into the Acts of the Apostles, we find here for the first time in the Acts we read about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. You notice that in Matthew and Mark and Luke and John, when the Lord was baptized in the River Jordan, he said, John truly baptized with water. But there's one coming. One coming, John said, and he shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost on the fire. On each of the four Gospels make that promise. But here we get it, again in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And by the way, I want to emphasize that little preposition in the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The baptizer is Christ. The element is the Holy Spirit. And the object is the body, the body of Christ. Now, to turn over to the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, we find the fulfillment of that tremendous promise that the Lord himself gave. And I don't know of any truth concerning the Holy Spirit of God is more misconstrued and more misunderstood than the baptism in the Holy Spirit today. I believe that Acts chapter two is one of the most tremendous chapters in the whole of the New Testament scriptures. The Lord has gone up, gone up to heaven. But here we find a change of dispensation. It's linked with typology. It's linked with the feast. In Leviticus chapter twenty three, the feast of Pentecost. And one would love to go back and refer to it and point out that the feast of Pentecost is a beautiful picture of what happened that day in Pentecost. It was being fulfilled. And we read of a hundred and twenty believers sitting in the upper room. And while they're sitting there in that upper room, we read about a mighty wind. And then we read of cloven tongues out of fire, came down and separated on the boat on the head of each one. First of all, the wind, and then the fire. And then we read that they began to speak in other languages, in other dialects. and we read that this is the Holy Spirit coming down and baptizing these believers into the body of Christ it's only mentioned twice in the Acts of the Apostles once here in chapter two there's baptism in the Holy Spirit and then in chapter ten and eleven what happened in the house of Cornelius the Roman centurion were told there that the same thing happened to them That's what happened. The similar thing happened to them as what happened at Pentecost. At Pentecost, it was for the Jews. In the course of Cornelius, it was for the Gentile. And here we find the Jew and the Gentile, that time in the Holy Spirit of God, and brought into the body of Christ. You know, this is something, a tremendous event that took place. It was the birthday of the church. It was a change of dispensation. It's the Holy Spirit here coming down in a completely new way and working for the great work of the redemption of mankind. It's a tremendous event that happened there. Now, I would like to take, I'd like to have taken time for to speak more particularly about the different events that happened there. And particularly these three things that are mentioned. First of all, the wind, and then the fire. And then that supernatural gift that were given to these believers on the day of Pentecost that they were able to speak languages that they had never heard. There were sixteen different ethnic groups gathered together for the Feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem and believed that every man heard in his own language the wonderful works of God. Now I know perfectly well that this is something that's very much misunderstood and very much at misinterpreted. And people would say that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is a subsequent experience through conversion. We can be converted, but not baptized. And always when a person is baptized, it always results in speaking in tongues. That is not the teaching of Holy Scripture. The baptism in the Holy Spirit was baptism into the body of Christ. It's mentioned twice in the Acts of the Apostles. once for the Jew and once for the Gentile, and it's only mentioned once in the Epistle. And again a tremendous passage in First Corinthians, chapter twelve and verse thirteen. Notice what Paul says. It's the only passage in the Epistles that deals with the baptism in the Holy Spirit. For by one Spirit, were ye all baptized into one body, whether we be Jew or great, Bond are free and the banal made a drink into one spirit. That is the only place in the epistles where we find the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The baptism in the Holy Spirit was historic. Not only was it historic, but it also was collective. It was corporate and it was unique and it was final. It never, never will happen again. It was something that happened there at the commencement of the birthday of the church when the hundred and twenty believers were fused into the body. And as far as we are concerned, when we put our faith and trust in Christ, we are united to Christ, the living head of the church, and so to speak, we received that gift that was given to those at Pentecost, were put into the body of Christ, united to him, and thank God every true believer, is a member of that body. And a person who is not a member of the body is not a Christian at all. One of the tremendous truths of the New Testament is the body of Christ. No, just a word about the speaking in tongue. I believe today that some of the claims that are being made by many, many people that they're able to speak in tongues. It always gives me a certain amount of concern. And I'll tell you why. If I allow my mind to become blank, and I'm not in control of my mind and control of my tongue, I'm asking for trouble. You know, I think that what this came to be the gift that comes today is an imitation of the real thing. They were real languages that were spoken. And they were used for communication. And every man heard in his own dialect the wonderful works of God. But the kind of thing that claims to be the gift of tongues today is certainly not re-languages. One could go on and on talking about that and offer some proof. And another thing. The only time that I have heard tongues spoken was done by an African witch doctor. And it was done under the power of the demon. You find it in Islam. You'll find that in Mormonism, the Church of the Latter-day Saints, they came to be able to speak in tongues. And in pagan Africa today, there are men who, under the influence of a demon, they speak in tongues. So it's a very, very dangerous thing for any today for to say that they have that gift. And again, let me say, if I alarm my mind to go blank, I'm not in control of my tongue and in control of my mind. I'm asking for trouble. I wouldn't want to say it not for a moment that some of the dear people that claim this and claim to be able to speak in tongue, I wouldn't say at all that they're under the part of a demon. But it could be. It could be. And for that reason, I think we should have our mind and our tongue in control. I remember an old preacher saying to me one time, a better gift than the gift of tongue, that the gift of being able to hold your tongue. And I believe that that is perfectly true. You know, this little member, I heard Peter tell many years ago, he's speaking about the tongue and he said this. He says, you know, the Lord knew what he was doing when he had never tongue. He said, he put it in the position of maximum security, behind the pearly gates. and behind the two red guards. And God, he knew what it was doing and putting her tongue in that position of maximum security. We've had a little bit of experience among believers right around the world. And again, I wouldn't say anything derogatory for some very delightful people. I believe truly born again in the charismatic movement. And they claim to be able to speak an ecstatic language on the say that it's the language of angels. You don't find anything like that on the Bible, the language of angels. It was real languages. It was real languages that were spoken, dialects that every man heard in his own language the wonderful works of God. On anything else that is not real language, I believe is an imitation of the real gift, the supernatural gift that was given from the Holy Ghost in God. and the hundred and twenty believers were baptized into the body. And again, let me repeat that tremendous verse, the only verse in the epistles where we find the baptism and the Holy Spirit mentioned in First Corinthians chapter twelve verse thirteen, for by one Spirit were ye all. Notice it was collected. Were ye all? There was a lot of people at Corinth. And there were believers, but I tell you, there was an awful lot of trouble among them. I don't know any assembly described in the New Testament where there were so many problems. They were called children. Not only that, they were called carnal. And they were doing all kinds of things. There are twelve different problems than the Acts of the Apostles. But yet, when they were truly born again, this is what Paul said, For by one spirit we all, not by into one body, whether you be Jew or Greek, whether you be bond or free, and of an awe, merely entering into one spirit. It was historic. It was collective. It was corporate. And it was unique. And it's final. It will never be repeated again. So I just want to leave this baptism in the spirit. Oh, thank God we have been put into the body. one of the great truths that every believer that knows the Lord enjoys. And the bottom of his heart is the fact that we belong to Christ. We're linked with the head, and we're linked to every saint that loves his name. And thank God one day, that body will be complete when Christ comes back again. So chapter two, the Acts of the Apostle, a tremendous chapter, not only for the fact that Peter preached a sermon where three thousand souls were brought in through the body, at that time. But the fact that the Holy Ghost came down and that tied a hundred and twenty believers into the body, and we, experientially, when we trust Christ, were put into the body, linked to the head, and linked to every member of that body. That is him in the body of Christ. Now another term that's used in the Acts of the Apostles, it's used ten different times. And there are four names that are mentioned in connection with it. And that is filled with the Spirit. Now that again is a lovely term. This is something entirely different from the baptism. The baptism of the Spirit took place at the commencement of the church. Never will be repeated. But really the four different names that were filled with the Holy Spirit. Now just let me mention them. The first one is Peter. and read that Peter filled with the Holy Ghost, he started to preach. Peter in his preaching. Now, the second one that's mentioned is being filled with the Spirit is the first martyr of the Christian church. That is Stephen. Read that Stephen filled with the Holy Ghost. Just before his Spirit left the body, he looked up to heaven and he saw the glory of God. And he said, I see Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Here was a man, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. We find that again in Acts chapter six, when he was one of those that ministered to those people that were hungry and that were chosen for to take care of those widows. Would he dare that they were full of the Holy Ghost on the table? But here Stephen, the martyr, going up to heaven, and suffering for the cause of Christ and being a martyr, we read that he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter and his preaching and Stephen in his suffering. Now the third man that we read of those of the Holy Spirit and the Acts of the Apostles was Barnabas. And in chapter eleven, we read these words, he came to that first church that had been formed at Antioch. And when he got there, we read that he was glad. And he exhorted them that with purpose of heart that would cling to the Lord. And then it says this, that he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. And much people were added to the Lord. You know, I love Barnabas, the son of Paracletus, the son of comfort, the son of consolation. And I don't know of a better eulogy of any man than what said here. He was a good man. You know, sometimes when some preacher comes along that have never been there before, people get carried off their feet and they say, wasn't that wonderful? They never heard anything like that before. And they take this man on the carry him shoulder high and they say, wasn't it marvelous? Wasn't it wonderful? And I've heard them use exaggerated terms like, wasn't it fantastic? And they would even go further than that and would say, that was absolutely fabulous. You know, The Bible doesn't use those terms. I don't know of a better word in connection with a man than what has said about Barnabas. He was a good man. You don't need to say anything else. He was a good man. And I would rather have not said to me than have a lot of degrees after my name. He was a good man. I'm full of the Holy Ghost and faith. And much people were handed to the Lord. Thank God for this dear servant of God. In his ministry, we read that much people were added to the Lord. He was the third one. Now, the fourth one is the Apostle Paul. In his first sermon, after he was commended with the word of the Lord, we read that he encountered a witch doctor, a sorcerer. His name was Pellemais. And another name that this man had was Bar-Jesus, if you please. Bar-Jesus. And this man, he tried to subvert the work of the Lord. We get it in the thirteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. He was a witch doctor. And Paul, recognizing that the man was trying to subvert the work of God and to spoil the work that he was doing, we read that he was filled with the Holy Ghost. And talking to that man, he used some strong turns. And he said that he was full of the devil. You know, I have had a good deal of contact with witch doctors and people of that type. I'm not here to talk about that here tonight. I believe that these men are powerful. They're agents of the devil and they're full of the devil. They're inspired by the devil. They're demon to death. I've already mentioned the case that I was sat and listened to myself for one of them talked in tongues. It was a real language he was speaking, but it was turned onto the part of the demon. And these men are able to do things that sometimes the medical profession in this country are not able to do. To do it onto the part of the devil, onto the part of Satan. You know, it's a terrible thing to help against Satanic power. I know a little bit about it. But, oh, thank God, the only remedy for that kind of thing is to be full of the Holy Ghost. And certainly the Apostle Paul was. And he stood up to that man, and he used strong language in connection with him. And then he turned to the man that he was preaching the gospel to, and that man believed and got saved. So here are four men that were filled by the Holy Ghost. Peter, in his preaching, and all beloved friends, we do need men like that. Men who are filled with the Holy Ghost. You know, anyone... There is any spiritual discernment and sensitivity to know when the power of God is behind a man when he's speaking. You know, it's so possible to use language and try to speak to people's head. I'm not against intelligence. Don't misunderstand me. I believe that the Lord can use intelligence, but I do believe that not only intelligence must be spoken to, but I believe that the heart and conscience of people must be reached. And I believe that the conscience of people must be around, even the Lord's people. And then again, their heart must be touched. And anybody that has any sensitivity at all about a preacher when he stands up, they can tell whether he's full of the Holy Ghost or not. Whether the Holy Spirit is behind the work that he's learned on what he's preaching. Peter in his preaching, he was full of the Holy Ghost. And then saying, may that dear man, the first martyr, I thank God for a man that I have known that gave their lives for Christ. Some of my dear, dear friends, heartbreaking to think it, but I know men too full of the Holy Ghost on the right of martyrs' death. I am looking forward to seeing them in the coming day. You know some of them, too. I don't want to mention names. I don't want to embarrass anybody. But all thank God for those. that have given their lives for Christ, and they were faithful right on to death. And so we get Stephen full of the Holy Ghost. And then thirdly, we get dear Barnaby, and then finally the Apostle Paul in his confrontation with Satan. Now what does it mean to be full of the Holy Ghost? I just want to use a little illustration. When I was young, our dear brother Bill Barn, that we read away this morning, yesterday morning. He and I used to do some preaching at the street corners in the open air. And we used to have what we called cottage meetings. And sometimes a person would offer their home for the preaching of the gospel. And we would go to this home and we would invite people to come. And people would come and fill the room, just an ordinary home. And the place would be full. But then the next night some more people would come and again the place was full. There were more people than the previous night. So we had to get some of the heavy furniture out of the place and push this out and push that out and push the other thing out and then put in some benches and some seats. And again the place was full. And then the next time we came back again the same thing happened again. And we had to push some of the heavy furniture out and put in some crude benches and again the place was full. The more you got out. the more you get in. That's just exactly what filling of the Holy Spirit is. My poor little heart, you know, I know that the Holy Spirit dwells here, but I wonder if you have a little room. And the more of the world and the flesh and the devil, and my heart, that would clutter up things in my heart, the more of that that there, the Holy Spirit is not able to operate, the more I get out of the world and the flesh and the devil, unconfessed before God, the more I can be filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, the other points, I just want to mention, and I'm going to close. My time is up. There's a wonderful thing to happen in chapter thirteen, where two men were called by the Holy Spirit and sent for it into full-time service. Now, we could not be by a long time speaking about this, but notice twice over, it was the Holy Ghost was responsible. What we badly need today, both on the mission field and on the work of the Lord at home, we badly need men called by the Holy Spirit of God and commissioned by the Holy Spirit of God. I believe that the elders there, they laid their hands on them and they prayed on the fasted and they let them go. You know, we need more of this. We need men raised up today, but there must be people that are called. and commissioned by the Holy Spirit of God. It's not a short-term project. It's a lifetime business. And when God calls a man or a woman into the work of the Lord, it's not a short-term project. It is a lifetime business. A woman has to give their life to it. And if they do, there'll be a tremendous amount of money. And then the guidance. We find in chapter sixteen that the wanter to go to the northeast. They wanted to go to the southwest, but believed that the Spirit suffered them not. And then they were led up to the coast. And they saw, Paul, he saw a vision of a man of Macedonia saying, Come over and help it. And then assuredly gathering, they took ship, and they went over to Europe. And the first place they landed after they landed there was in Philippi. And the gospel had arrived in Europe. It's a wonderful thing to be guided by the Holy Spirit. You notice as a subject of duties, he spends an hour on the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Not self-will guidance, but to be guided by the Holy Spirit of God as a real experience. And then finally, in chapter twenty, Paul, at the end of his public ministry, before he's arrested in Jerusalem and before he's taken as a prisoner to Rome, He gives that tremendous message to the elders of the church at Ephesus. And he tells them. And he warns them. And he weeps with them. And he gives them the word of God. Commit them to the word of God and to God and to the word of the Spirit. And he says that these are men. You have been raised up by the Holy Ghost. You know, most of us that are getting older. And we know that our time down here is short. Is this one burden that I have in my heart today? Is that good men, among our younger people, feel raised up, elders, overseers, sheriffs. Oh, we do need them. And we thank God for those that are doing that work. My beloved friends, it's easy for anybody with a glib tongue on a well-stored mind and as a bit of an actor to stand up and talk. It doesn't take a lot. of anything else for anybody to get up and talk and maybe occupy an hour, deliberately. But I tell you what we badly need are men to do the work, and the work of an elder, the work of a shepherd. Badly, badly needed a day. And I pray, God, that from among our young people, is the Lord's hurry, that men may be raised up to give counsel and guidance and leadership among the people of God. Now, these are things in the Acts of the Apostles, and every one of them, you could occupy a whole hour in speaking about them. And I have said more than I should. Well, tonight, I would like each one of us to sit down and study again the Acts of the Apostles and the different mentions of the Holy Spirit, and it will be a real blessing to your soul. May God bless his word for his ministry. I shall be present. Our blessed God and Father, we bow again in my presence in the name of the Lord Jesus, and thank thee for thy word. We thank thee, too, for the Holy Spirit of God. As we look back over many years and think of his guidance and comfort and health, our Father, we thank thee for it. We thank thee, our Father, that we were ever convicted of our sin and brought to Christ, and we know that it was the operation of the Holy Spirit. We thank thee, too, that along life's journey, again and again, when we could have fallen into a trap and we could have brought this grace upon thy name, it was the Holy Spirit of God that prevented it. And, O Lord, we do pray, as long as life shall not, that we may continue to be guided by the Holy Spirit of God. We pray that it may be on grave and on quench, and that it may work through it for the blessing of men and women. Lord, bless each one here tonight, we pray. As we commend thy word to thee, for thy blessing, in the name of the Lord Jesus.