Haters are going to Hate...
...and they’ll Call You Out. (Acts 4:1-7)
How to Witness to Haters:
- Put them on Defense! (Acts 4:8-10)
- Use God’s Word! (Acts 4:11)
- Don’t Compromise the Message! (Acts 4:12)
John 14:6 - ...no one comes the Father except through me.
1 Timothy 2:5 - For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus
John 3:36 – Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:04
Open up your Bibles to the book of Acts and chapter 4.
00:05-00:12
Acts chapter 4, we've been walking through the book of Acts this year, and really the book of Acts is about one thing.
00:12-00:16
It's a long book in your Bible, but it's really just about one thing.
00:17-00:20
It's about what Jesus said in Acts chapter 1, verse 8.
00:20-00:31
Jesus told his disciples, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, "and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
00:31-00:33
That's what the book of Acts is about.
00:33-00:35
Jesus said power is coming so that you may be My witnesses.
00:37-00:39
And immediately, the power came.
00:39-00:40
God's Holy Spirit came.
00:41-00:49
And the rest of the book of Acts is about God's people and the power of the Holy Spirit being witnesses for Jesus Christ.
00:49-00:51
And that carries on today.
00:52-00:57
So if you are - listen to this - because if you don't get this, the rest of the sermon's not going to mean much to you.
00:58-01:10
But if you are a true follower of Jesus Christ - a true follower, not "I'm a churchgoer." Well, I'm not Buddhist or whatever, so I guess I'm a Christian.
01:10-01:26
If you are a true follower, a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, the question is not "am I a witness?" The question is "what kind of witness am I?" Okay?
01:26-01:35
So, if you're sitting here today, you're like, "Well, I'm a Christian, but I'm not really a witness for Christ." That's impossible, according to the Bible.
01:36-01:43
That'd be like you sitting here saying, "Well, yeah, I'm a human being, but I'm not really a mammal." You are!
01:44-01:46
It's the very nature of what you are.
01:46-01:53
Jesus said the Holy Spirit has come so that we may be witnesses for Him.
01:53-01:56
So if you're a born-again believer, You are a witness.
01:57-01:59
What kind of witness are you?
02:00-02:05
Remember in Acts 3, we saw that Peter and John healed this lame beggar at the temple.
02:05-02:11
And in v. 10, everyone recognized this healed man and was amazed.
02:13-02:16
And last week, we saw that Peter showed us how to witness.
02:17-02:19
We saw how Peter made it really clear.
02:21-02:22
The Gospel's about God.
02:24-02:27
He talked about our guilt and God's grace.
02:27-02:30
And he showed us that a response is required.
02:32-02:33
Well, church, you're going to get a response.
02:35-02:40
And sometimes, much like Peter and John, the response that you get is going to be persecution.
02:42-02:44
I believe this is on your outline.
02:46-02:50
"Haters are going to hate." Is that on your outline?
02:51-02:54
That is actually the proper syntax for it.
02:54-03:09
You may more commonly know this phrase as "haters gonna hate." And in my undying efforts to stay relevant and fresh to the young people of the church, I take time to learn the vernacular.
03:11-03:15
"Haters gonna hate." How many people are familiar with the phrase "haters gonna hate"?
03:15-03:16
How many people have heard that?
03:17-03:20
How many people have never heard that phrase before just now?
03:20-03:22
Wow! Wow!
03:22-03:24
You've never heard "hater's gonna hate"?
03:25-03:25
Wow!
03:26-03:27
Alright, hands up again to people that have.
03:29-03:29
Okay.
03:31-03:31
Wow.
03:32-03:35
Well, I don't know where I first heard the term.
03:36-03:38
But it's just sort of become part of pop culture.
03:39-03:53
You know, when somebody shows disdain for something that you may be interested in, the phrase is, "Well, you know, he's a hater, and haters are going to hate, or haters gonna hate.
03:53-04:05
And again, in my devotion to you to stay fresh and relevant with the slang of the youth, I, alright, I googled this to see where it came from.
04:07-04:10
Do you know where this phrase was popularized?
04:11-04:12
If you know, shout it out.
04:13-04:15
Taylor Swift, right?
04:15-04:17
Taylor Swift, and what's the name of the song?
04:17-04:18
Who knows the name of the song?
04:19-04:20
What's the name of the song, Livvy?
04:21-04:22
"Shake It Off," that's right.
04:23-04:24
At least that's what Google said.
04:25-04:28
So Livvy and Google are on the same page there.
04:28-04:43
"Shake It Off." Well, maybe, Livvy, you didn't know this, but do you know Taylor Swift was sued in October by Jessie Graham, an R&B singer who claims that she stole that phrase from him?
04:44-04:51
Well, I don't know who said it first, But, it's true that haters are going to hate.
04:53-05:01
And you know, I wish everyone that we shared the gospel with was eager to hear it, or at least curious to hear it.
05:02-05:16
And I know when I was first called into the ministry, I thought, well, this is great, because Jesus is awesome, and Jesus loves people, and I love people, and people are going to love me telling them about Jesus.
05:18-05:21
And I found that that is not always the case.
05:22-05:37
I found that there are people - not only do they not want to hear it, but they're going to hate you because you want to share it.
05:39-05:42
You see, when we talk about witnessing, there's really two kinds of witnessing.
05:43-05:46
You witness to people that are interested, like we've seen so far in Acts, right?
05:47-05:48
Pentecost, Acts 3, you know the crowd.
05:50-05:58
And there's people who are going to challenge you because they hate the gospel, they hate the church, they hate Jesus, and they hate Jesus' followers.
05:59-06:00
And there is nothing new under the sun.
06:01-06:06
In fact, Acts chapter 4 records the first opposition to the church.
06:08-06:16
And as we go through Acts chapters 4 through 28, There's something like only three chapters in the rest of the book of Acts where there's not persecution mentioned.
06:17-06:20
So, buckle up.
06:22-06:23
Haters are going to hate.
06:25-06:29
Secondly, haters are going to hate and they'll call you out.
06:30-06:32
Church, you need to be ready for this. Some of you have been there.
06:33-06:35
If you haven't, you will be.
06:37-06:38
They're going to call you out.
06:39-06:48
You don't have to go look for people who hate the gospel, because we're going to see from the text, they're going to find you.
06:49-06:52
Okay, so let's kind of set the stage here with the text.
06:52-06:53
Look at Acts chapter 4, look at verse 1.
06:53-06:57
It says, "And as they were speaking to the people," that's Peter and John, right?
06:57-07:09
"And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them." The captain of the temple.
07:09-07:12
You know, the temple, they had like their own police force.
07:12-07:14
Their own security guard.
07:14-07:17
And this was the captain of that guard.
07:18-07:20
And the Sadducees.
07:21-07:22
Who were the Sadducees?
07:22-07:27
Well, the Sadducees were the dominant religious and political force in Israel.
07:28-07:33
You know, they were Jewish religious leaders who were also wealthy landowners.
07:33-07:34
And this was their deal.
07:35-07:38
They wanted to keep peace with Rome no matter what.
07:41-07:47
Because if Rome sensed any kind of a threat with the Jews, they could have come and taken these people's wealth and taken their land.
07:48-07:51
So the Sadducees were like, "Everything's okay here.
07:51-08:01
We kind of got our thing under Roman occupation, but let's not cause any problems." So they made peace with Rome under their occupation.
08:03-08:04
To protect themselves.
08:04-08:10
The Sadducees didn't believe in angels, they didn't believe in resurrection, they didn't believe that there was any kind of a spirit world.
08:10-08:17
In fact, they claimed that they really only believed the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, the books of Moses.
08:18-08:22
But when we walked through the Gospel of Mark, we saw that they didn't even really believe that.
08:23-08:27
In other words, these guys were the religious liberals of the day.
08:29-08:31
But they were also in the position of power.
08:31-09:08
Okay, so verse 2 says, "Greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead." Annoyed - this word also can be translated "pained." The Sadducees were like, "These guys are a pain in my neck because you're teaching something that we don't believe." These Sadducees were so fired up that these uneducated people were preaching what the religious leaders would have thought was a false doctrine, which is resurrection.
09:11-09:12
Here's another problem.
09:13-09:21
This teaching centered around a person - Jesus Christ - who they just executed two months ago at this point.
09:22-09:24
So you can imagine how fired up they were.
09:24-09:27
We thought we were done with the Jesus of Nazareth business.
09:28-09:35
finally put to rest, and yeah, there's some people saying He rose from the dead, but His ministry's done.
09:35-09:41
Now all of a sudden, crowds are gathering, and who's the name centered around the controversy?
09:41-09:42
Jesus again?
09:44-09:45
Come on!
09:47-09:56
Side note, one of the biggest reasons given for the hate on Christians - people say this - Christians are intolerant.
09:57-09:58
Christians are intolerant.
09:58-10:02
And I look at this passage and I say, well, who's being intolerant?
10:03-10:09
You notice, it's true in the text, but it's also true in the news, and it's going to be true in your neighborhood if it's not already.
10:11-10:15
There is no such thing as live and let live when it comes to Christians, right?
10:16-10:18
I have friends that believe differently than I do.
10:19-10:20
And that's okay.
10:20-10:22
I witness to them when I can.
10:22-10:30
I'm not forcing my beliefs on anyone any more than these apostles were.
10:30-10:34
They had a crowd gathered because there was a miracle and they were telling them about Jesus.
10:34-10:37
They weren't forcing anybody to do anything.
10:38-10:40
But you see, when it comes to Christians, there is no live and let live.
10:40-10:42
Like, I don't really believe that, but whatever.
10:42-10:47
When it comes to Christians, you guys need to shut your mouths with the Jesus talk.
10:48-10:49
Stop with the Bible stuff, ok?
10:49-10:50
We don't want to hear it.
10:51-10:52
I'm tolerant.
10:54-10:55
And the page - it's in the news.
10:55-10:58
It's happening in your neighborhood if it's not already.
10:59-11:00
It's coming.
11:01-11:01
Look at verse 3.
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It says, "And they arrested them and put them into custody until the next day, for it was already evening." Technically, they weren't allowed to have trials at night.
11:13-11:16
Like, wait a minute, didn't Jesus' trial happen at night?
11:16-11:16
Yeah.
11:17-11:18
That was wrong.
11:18-11:19
What they did.
11:19-11:29
an exception for Jesus. So technically they weren't allowed to have trials at night, so since it was evening they took the two biggest leaders in the church, right?
11:29-11:38
Peter and John, and they incarcerated them. Good news, nothing stops the gospel.
11:38-11:48
Verse 4 says, "But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of men came to about 5,000.
11:50-11:57
My best understanding when you look at the original language, when it says the number came to about 5,000, that it's adding to Pentecost.
11:58-12:02
Saying 5,000 total at this point, according to the language.
12:02-12:03
But you understand the point.
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The point isn't counting beans here.
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The point is, the church is exploding, and even when you arrest the pastors, the church is still exploding because God is at work.
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More people being saved.
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About 2,000 more people from Pentecost saved.
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Look at v. 5.
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It says, "On the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes - the religious leaders also called the Sanhedrin - we'll talk about them in a second - is gathered together in Jerusalem." Time for the trial.
12:38-12:39
And look who's involved in v. 6.
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This is interesting.
12:42-13:08
"Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high priestly family." So if you're familiar with your Bibles, and you look at this list of names, you could say, "Well, from an earthly perspective, things aren't looking very good for Peter and John." Annas, at this time, was the most powerful man in Israel.
13:09-13:12
Now, when this was being written, he wasn't technically the high priest.
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His son Caiaphas was technically the high priest.
13:17-13:19
But it was sort of like, you know how we do with the presidents?
13:20-13:23
You know, once you're president, you keep the president name, right?
13:23-13:25
Like President Bush and President Clinton.
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Out of respect for them having held that office, they're still referred to as the president.
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That's how it was with the high priest.
13:32-13:35
So he was still referred to, Annas, as the high priest.
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but another thing was this, Annas, he was controlling things behind the scenes.
13:42-13:49
His son might have been the one holding the office, but Annas was the one working behind the scenes.
13:49-13:53
In fact, John 18, Annas was a key figure in Jesus' trials.
13:56-13:57
So do you have the scene?
13:59-14:08
Here two months earlier, Annas and company thought that they had dealt with Jesus A few months later, Annison Company is still dealing with Jesus.
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Look at v. 7.
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"When they had set them in the midst..." They would form a semicircle and put them in the midst of them.
14:20-14:32
"When they had set them in the midst, they inquired, 'By what power or by what name did you do this?'" See the question?
14:34-14:39
What power or what name did you do this?
14:39-14:41
It really comes down to an authority issue.
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It's an authority issue.
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What gives you the right to do what you did?
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What authority do you have?
14:51-14:56
You see, we talked about the Sadducees and the Sanhedrin and Annas and Caiaphas.
14:57-15:00
Today, we're just going to put them all in a category, and the category is haters.
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Haters, obviously.
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So these haters put them on the spot.
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And this is serious business.
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This Sanhedrin was basically Israel's Supreme Court.
15:14-15:27
And imagine, the Supreme Court of haters has these two evangelists on trial, and you think, well, maybe Peter and John are going to do a little damage control at this point.
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It's going to happen to you at some point.
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If you're a faithful witness for Jesus Christ, it's going to happen.
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Somebody's going to call you out.
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Somebody's going to say, "Were you telling people about Jesus?
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Were you telling people about the Bible?
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What gives you the right to do that?
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Who do you think you are?" It's going to happen.
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When you witness, you are going to attract haters.
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When you witness, you are going to attract haters.
15:58-16:07
"Pastor Jeff, have you ever attracted haters?" "Everybody loves me." You know something I've learned is I am everybody's cup of tea.
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That is so not true.
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I was just jotting down some examples.
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If you want to hear the whole story, buy me lunch, and I'll tell you all of these.
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Actually, you might have to buy me lunch and supper if you want to hear all of them.
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But if you want to hear them, buy me lunch.
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I'll be happy to go to lunch with you.
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I'll tell you the full version.
16:30-16:32
I'm going to give you a couple examples from my own life.
16:34-16:44
As a result to a letter to the editor that I sent to the newspaper some years back, I had a woman calling my house, demanding to meet with me.
16:45-17:06
And I said, "Why do you want to meet with me?" She says, "Because of what you teach, you are a dangerous man." tracked me down in my office and the letter was because some goofy doctor was saying you can't be a Christian and you can't be a scientist at the same time.
17:06-18:14
I sent a letter to the editor I'm like here's all the major branches of science that were founded by Christians and the list is like as long as your arm of sciences that were founded by Christians. I'm like so let's let's knock off the silly notion that Christians can't be scientists. In fact it looks like Christians invented science. And so this lady came after me for that. And it wasn't to share a muffin. I'll tell you the rest of the story if you buy me lunch. My wife and I were put on trial, literally trial, in the courtroom because we were accused of baptizing foster children that were under our care. We did not. We did not baptize them. We were accused. I was called to a meeting at the prison because I was accused of anti-catholic teaching in our Bible study. I was called out. "What is this that you're teaching?" I had some friends at church camp that I got involved secondhand, but I had friends at church camp that were called out because they were teaching Jesus. You remember this?
18:15-18:58
They were like, "What are you going to do to get saved?" And these friends were like, "Well, you got to receive Jesus Christ." And, "Well, you didn't preach baptism the way that we want you to teach baptism and church people calling us out because of the message circling around Jesus. I was chewed out by a missionary one time over lunch. I was chewed out by a missionary for not agreeing with him that Islam is a wonderful religion of peace. He was just going on and on about all Islam is so wonderful and Muslims are so... Muslims are just you know wonderful peaceful and I said, "Yeah, if you're a Muslim." Doesn't work out so well if you're a Christian or a Jew though.
18:59-19:01
You might want to check your facts on that.
19:04-19:05
And that lunch didn't end well.
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I think he even left me with the check.
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But it didn't go well.
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My point is this.
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When you witness someone is going to come after you, Somebody at some point is going to say, "What gives you the right?" And the question that we're going to answer today from God's Word - not my answer - we're going to see it straight from God's Word.
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What do we do when we're challenged by haters?
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So understand the difference in witnessing.
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We're not talking about, "I'm curious to hear what you believe." We're talking about, "Who do you think you are?" So what do we do when we're challenged by haters?
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Number one, put them on defense.
19:50-19:54
them on defense. Look at verses 8 through 10. Okay, so Peter's about to speak.
19:56-20:02
And Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit. That's like the key to all of this, all right?
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I find it so ironic. They're like, "By what power do you do this?" Next verse. "Filled with the Holy Spirit." You want power?
20:12-20:50
How about the power of God? Wow. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, it said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders, "if we are being examined today "concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, "by what means this man has been healed, "let it be known to all of you "and to all the people of Israel "that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, "whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, By Him, this man is standing before you well." Wow.
20:52-20:58
Peter and John are put on trial, but did you see how quickly the Sanhedrin - the haters - were put on trial?
20:59-21:03
Peter went right to the attack, right to the offense.
21:04-21:08
Peter was basically saying, "Is it wrong to heal a lame person?" Is that what the trial is about?
21:09-21:10
It's wrong to heal a lame person?
21:10-21:11
I'm sorry, I missed that part.
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We're on trial for doing something good for a crippled man.
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If you're really interested, you need to know.
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Jesus.
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You killed Him.
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God raised Him from the dead.
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And Jesus healed this man.
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Something we see Peter doing in taking the offense is something that you need to discipline yourself to do and learn how to do.
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And it comes through witnessing.
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I said it last week.
21:37-21:38
We have a prison ministry.
21:39-21:39
You want to learn how to witness?
21:39-21:40
Sign up for prison ministry.
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I promise you, in a few months, you'll be the best witness you've ever been getting in there, witnessing the people.
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But you need to steer the conversation.
21:54-22:01
So often, we think we just need to let people pepper us with the accusations and put us on the defense.
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You steer the conversation.
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Do you know who's the master of doing this?
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Do you know who the best person of all time of steering the conversation about Jesus.
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I love the Gospels - just how Jesus did this all the time.
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Matthew 21, for example, Jesus was asked about His authority.
22:23-22:25
By what authority are you doing these things?
22:25-22:28
And Jesus said, alright, let me ask you a question.
22:28-22:30
You answer my question, I'll answer your question.
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John's baptism - was it from heaven or was it from man?
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were like, Matthew 22, Jesus was challenged, is it lawful to pay taxes?
22:42-22:45
And Jesus says, who's on the coin?
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See how he put on the defense, but went on the offense.
22:52-23:00
Luke 10 25, Jesus was asked, you know, about the commandments and Jesus said, obviously love God, heart, soul, mind, and strength, love your neighbor as yourself.
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And then the Bible says that trying to justify himself, the one lawyer, the expert in the law said, well, who's my neighbor?
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And putting Jesus on the defense.
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Who's my neighbor?
23:12-23:13
Jesus said, let me tell you a story.
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And he tells him the story of the Good Samaritan.
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And Jesus closes that story by saying, now, let me ask you, which of these men was a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers?
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He turned the tables completely on them.
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And when you're witnessing the haters, church, you put them on the defense.
23:31-23:34
And the way that you do that is by asking them questions.
23:36-23:37
That's essentially what Peter was doing here.
23:37-23:39
Like, "Oh, is it wrong to heal lame people?
23:40-23:43
"Is that what's going on?" Ask questions.
23:44-23:48
Like, "Well, Pastor Jeff, "I'm not really sure what questions to ask." I'm gonna give you three questions to ask.
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When you're being challenged, when you're being attacked, I'm gonna give you three questions that work beautifully every time.
23:56-23:58
Jot these down, three good questions to ask.
23:59-24:01
You ask them when you're being attacked.
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You don't ask these in a jerky way, or it doesn't work, because now you're just being a jerk.
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You ask them respectfully.
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Peter was very respectful to them.
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I know I got a little smart-alecky in recounting it, but Peter wasn't smart-alecky.
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He was respectful.
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And when you ask the questions, be respectful.
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And ask these three questions.
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The first question is, what do you believe?
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You know, you're asking me about my beliefs.
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Here's the first question. What do you believe?
24:30-24:39
"What do I believe about what?" "What do you believe about what happens when you die?" I'm curious what you think. What happens when we die?
24:41-24:49
And let them talk. What do you believe about Jesus? Do you think He was God in the flesh or do you think He was just some guy? What do you believe?
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Get people to share what they believe. Just ask them.
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Don't try to correct them.
24:56-24:57
Don't interrupt them.
24:57-25:10
Just ask them, "Let me hear what you believe." And then after they share with you what they believe, the second question is, "Well, why do you believe that?" "Why do you believe that?
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Is that something you were always taught?
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Is that something your grandma told you?
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Were you raised in a church that taught that?
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Is that your opinion?" Just ask people, "Where did you come up with that?" do you believe? And again, respectfully, and why do you believe that? Okay, and here's the third question. This is really important. You need to write this down and memorize it. If what you believe were wrong, would you want to know? Now listen, I promise you, if you ask somebody that question, what they're going to say is what I believe is not wrong. This is a yes or no question. They only have two choices yes or no if what you believe were wrong would you want to know yes or no I have been challenged by so many people when I ask these questions they end up looking very foolish and I'm not trying to make them look foolish it's not my goal I don't want to make anybody look or feel stupid they bring it on themselves like I had an atheist friend one time challenging me on some stuff. I'm like, "Well, his name was Tom." I said, "Tom, what do you think happens when you die?" He goes, "Well, I think it's whatever you want to believe in. Like, if you believe God's a pink elephant, when you die you'll be with a pink elephant." I said, "Do you really believe that, Tom?" And when I said that to him, it was like you could have knocked him over with a feather. He was like... It didn't sound stupid until he verbalized it. So what do you believe? Why would you want to know?
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See, here's the thing.
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What you believe were wrong, what do you want to know?
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If they say no, then there's really no point in further talking, right?
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Okay.
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But if yes, and you say, "Well, you know what?
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I'd like to share some things with you about what the Word of God says," if you're interested.
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So, what do you do with haters?
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First of all, look at Peter.
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Put them on the defense.
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He went right after it.
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right after it and you go right after it, not obnoxious, not arrogant, not cocky, but the biblical word, we're going to talk about this next week, the biblical word is boldness.
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Boldness doesn't mean abrasive, boldness just means this, I'm not afraid to speak up. I'll speak up humbly, I'll speak up lovingly, but I'm not afraid to speak up and that's what That's what Peter did here.
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Not disrespectful, but very bold.
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Secondly, use God's Word.
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Use God's Word.
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Peter's like, since we're on trial for doing something good for a crippled man, if you're really interested, you need to know Jesus - you killed Him, God raised Him, Jesus healed this man, I'm not finished!
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Look at verse 11.
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He says, "This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you - the builders.
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Which has become a cornerstone.
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What's the cornerstone?
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Well, this is actually a quote from Psalm 118 v. 22.
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What's the cornerstone?
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When they wanted to build a building in these days, they didn't call the concrete company and say I need you to come with your trucks and pour a slab.
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They didn't do it that way.
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They would have a bunch of stones that they would build.
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But the most important stone of all of them was the cornerstone.
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The cornerstone was the first stone that was laid.
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And it had to be the right size, and it had to be the right shape, and it had to be the right angle.
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And the cornerstone was placed so that as the rest of the stones were built around it, the building would get its alignment from the cornerstone.
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And Peter here is saying, listen, Jesus is the cornerstone.
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Meaning everything in God's Kingdom is built from Jesus Christ.
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Everything in God's Kingdom is aligned to Jesus Christ.
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He is the most important part Kingdom." In other words, Peter was quoting this verse to say you rejected Him.
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You rejected the cornerstone that God gave Him the highest exaltation possible.
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You know something that really makes this verse cool in this context?
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Jot this down.
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Matthew 21.42 Jesus' authority was challenged.
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When Jesus' authority was challenged, does anybody want to guess what verse He used?
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Psalm 118.22 Jesus said, "The stone that you've rejected has become the cornerstone." Now fast forward here just a couple of months, and Peter on trial for Jesus.
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Do you think Peter was having a flashback moment of when Jesus was dealing with haters?
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Do you think Peter had this flashback moment Oh, I remember the verse that Jesus used.
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Rejecting the cornerstone.
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And that's exactly what you're doing.
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Very significant verse.
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So my point is this, church, if Jesus and Peter used the Word of God, do I think that I don't need to?
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Every word that came out of Jesus' mouth was the Word of God, but He still found it important in quoting Scripture and showing the power and the authority that the Word of God has.
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So when you're dealing with haters, use God's Word.
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Why? Well, there's really two reasons.
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One, God's Word has the power.
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We'll talk about that in a second.
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But another reason you want to use God's Word is it helps keep you objective.
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Not jerky or abrasive.
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It helps keep you objective because when you get into these kind of arguments with haters - discussions, debates, whatever word you want to use - it's easy to attack the person.
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It's easy to attack the person.
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They say, "Well, you're an idiot for believing that the Bible's true." And you're like, "Well, you're a godless pagan moron for not believing the Bible." Great, now we're just name-calling.
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You see, taking people to the Word of God - let's get objective here.
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Let's just deal with facts, right?
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Let's just deal with facts.
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This isn't about me or my personality.
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It's not even really about you or your personality.
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This is about the Word of God.
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political ads how many people just love political ads show it raise your hands come on get them up high if you love political ads I got one maybe don't you just love those political ads you know the ones that I love sarcasm you know the ones that I love are the ones that just come out and they're like my the person that is running against me is the most horrible evil wicked person of all time and you know he kicks puppies on his day off and he steals from the elderly but you should vote for me paid for by the committee for me whatever and Aaron and I've said this so many times over the years why don't the candidates just get on and say here's here's what I believe in here's my platform here's why you should vote for me because I'm going to XYZ but the closer you get to election you see very little of that but you see a whole lot of don't put don't "I'm going to vote for this piece of trash." True or false?
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"I don't like them.
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They're grating on my spirit." But that's what people do.
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So when you're dealing with haters and sharing the Gospel, don't make it your opinion versus my opinion.
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You need to make it this is your opinion versus the Word of God.
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Your opinion versus the Word of God.
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Okay, this is what you're saying, I'm going to show you what the Bible says about that.
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Because honestly, at the end of the day, my opinion means very little.
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My opinion doesn't mean anything.
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When you take me to lunch to hear my stories, I'll give you my opinion on anything you want, but I'm telling you it's not worth anything.
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It's just not. It's just my opinion.
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But, God's Word has power.
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You know what kind of power God's Word has?
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Isaiah 55:11 God says that His Word, when it's sent forth, it always accomplishes the purpose for which He sent it.
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There is nothing else in existence that works 100% perfectly every time.
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And God says this does.
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My Word always accomplishes the purposes for which I sent it out.
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That's why a pastor friend of mine has said this.
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I don't know if it's original with him, but I love the expression.
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He says the Word of God - the Word of God is like a lion.
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You don't need to defend a lion.
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You let the lion out of the cage, and the lion's going to defend himself.
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And when you're dealing with haters, you let the lion out.
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You don't need to defend God's Word.
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You let God's Word out, God will defend Himself.
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He doesn't need you to do that.
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What He's called you to do is to proclaim it.
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So use God's Word.
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Real quick story, the effectiveness of this. One time in prison ministry, this was still at the old prison, it was still like a dungeon, but the one night we actually, this particular it wasn't we, it was just me, and the guys were coming in and there were about probably 20 guys this night in a like an 8x20 room. These two enormous gentlemen came in. They didn't look like they were there for a picnic, They looked like they were there for a fight.
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And I started sharing the gospel.
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And one man raised his hand.
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He said, "The Bible doesn't say that Jesus is actually God." And he didn't say it like, "Pastor Jeff, I'm kind of interested in what you think about the divinity of Christ." It was slap in the face, throw the gauntlet down kind of thing.
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He's like, "The Bible doesn't say that." So I just smiled and I said, "Well, let's see what the Bible does say." We walked through John chapter one, we walked through John chapter eight, we walked through John chapter 10, we walked through Colossians one, I think we even ended up in Revelation one, and back to Hebrews one, where God the Father calls God the Son God, and through this impromptu Bible study, I said, "So what does it look like "the Bible says to you about Jesus?" You know, they didn't say a word the rest of the night, and they never came back.
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Because you see, their issue was with God's Word, not me.
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I didn't invent this idea that Jesus is God.
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That's the truth of God's Word.
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So I'm like, look guys, here's what it says.
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You see that?
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Your issue's with God, not with me.
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So use God's Word.
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And then finally, finally, don't compromise the message.
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Don't compromise the message.
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Look at verse 12.
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This should be highlighted in every Bible here.
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There is salvation.
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Look at v. 12.
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"There is salvation..." "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." In our day of political correctness, everybody is offended by everything.
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I shared with you before, that really hit the beyond the you know point of no return when everybody was all offended by the Dukes of Hazzard. Wow there's just no going back now.
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With everybody being offended by everything you know at this point as we're reading the sermon we get to verse 12 and we're like you know what Peter maybe you should maybe you should pump the brakes a little here. I mean you came off a little strong with the cornerstone remark. Maybe you should pump the brakes a little here and Peter's like, "Nah, full gas," and just like right into verse 12.
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Remember the original argument, the original accusation, "By what name do you do this?" Verse 12, Peter's like, "You want a name? I'll give you a name. Jesus Christ. There is no other name that will save." Even saying that now, there might be some people in the auditorium that are like, "Oh, I don't know if I I like hearing that.
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Or I don't know if I really believe that.
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Understand, church, this is what the Bible says.
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Salvation is in no one else.
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John 14:6 - do we have these verses?
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John 14:6 Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father except through Me." Was Jesus telling the truth or was He not telling the truth?
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1 Timothy 2:5 It says, "For there is one God as one mediator between God and man - that man Jesus Christ.
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John 3:36 says, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.
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Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life.
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But the wrath of God abides upon him." The Bible is clear.
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Peter makes it clear here.
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There's salvation in no one else.
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There is no other name under heaven even among men by which we must be saved." We're getting ready to move, and we've had to do a lot of repairs in the house - just some of them little things, but we found we had a couple of kind of major things.
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Like we had a plumbing issue where a pipe wasn't going to the right drain and it had to be rerouted.
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And I'm like, well, that's a little beyond me.
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I needed a plumber.
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When I needed help to fix this plumbing situation, I didn't just grab the phone book and-- I'm sorry.
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In my quest to be relevant, I forgot.
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How many people here know what a phone book is?
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OK, when I was a kid, we had these white and yellow books.
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And they threw like three of them on your curb.
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And when I needed a plumber, I didn't just like open up the phone book and go to the white pages and be like, you know, Herbert Smith.
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I'm just going to call him up.
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Hey, can you come and fix my plumbing?
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Like, who is this?
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I didn't just call on anybody to fix the plumbing.
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I needed the name of a plumber.
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And when I was given the name of a plumber, I called that guy to come and help me fix the plumbing problem.
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We had a little electrical problem.
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One of the thermostats, the current wasn't going to it.
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I don't mess with electricity.
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But I didn't just grab the phone book and just start randomly picking people.
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Hey, can you come and risk your life to fix my thermostat?
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I had an electric problem, so I needed the name of an electrician that could come and fix the electric problem.
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Not just any name was going to do, right?
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Here's the thing.
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You and I, we need a Savior.
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Because we have a problem with sin.
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We are guilty and it's destroying us by nature.
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We need a Savior.
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You need someone who paid the penalty for your sins that you committed against God.
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And you need someone who can restore to you the eternal life that was forfeited when Adam and Eve brought sin into the world.
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You need a Savior, and Muhammad cannot do that.
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Joseph Smith and Charles Taze Russell and Mary Baker Eddy and the Buddha - none of those people are able to save you Because there's only ever been One who died and rose from the dead so that we could be forgiven and have eternal life.
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And that One - the only One that's ever done that - is Jesus Christ.
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So that's why Peter here in Acts 4:12, and that's why you and I, church, need to get to that mindset in our lives where we say I am not going to compromise on the message.
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Because I'm more concerned about offending God and I am about offending people.
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And you know, the same Peter that's speaking here, the same Peter later wrote a couple of letters that are actually in your Bible, and one of them, 1 Peter 3:15, Peter said we should always be prepared to make a defense for anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you, in us.
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The question, church, as we close, as our worship team comes up, Are you prepared?
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Are you prepared?
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The days are coming, church.
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The days are coming, church, that you're either going to have to pretend you don't know Jesus like Peter did during Jesus' trial, or you're going to boldly stand on the truth of Jesus like Peter did in Acts 4.
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Are you ready for that?
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Church, you know, maybe Maybe like Peter, maybe you blew it before.
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Maybe like Peter, you had an opportunity to share the Gospel and you blew it.
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You had an opportunity to stand for Christ and you blew it.
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Like Peter did when Jesus was on trial.
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But also like Peter, you're going to get another chance to do it right.
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As we bow our heads in prayer prayer team comes forward.
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We're going to pray that we allow God's Spirit to give us power to witness, to be bold witnesses even when we have to deal with haters.
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Let's pray.
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Father in Heaven, we thank You for the truth of Your Word.
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And it is Your Word that gives us the authority to make the statements that we make.
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don't make up the message, but Father, You've called us to broadcast it.
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You've called us to be witnesses.
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And Father, we know what motivates You is love.
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We know, Father, that we can't stand and say, "believe anything you want," because that's going to send people to hell.
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It is Your heart that people are saved.
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It is Your heart that they know the name the only One who can save them.
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And that name is Jesus Christ.
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God in the flesh.
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Crucified for our sins.
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Resurrected for our life.
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But Father, I'm sure there are some people in this room right now who maybe feel the pressure of people challenging them on their faith or what they're teaching.
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to witness.
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Father, there are people here that that's coming real soon.
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I don't know how.
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I've seen it show up a lot in my own life in a lot of really weird ways.
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I pray, Father, for all of us that You would equip us.
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And yes, we should be equipped by studying Your Word.
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And yes, we should be equipped by taking opportunities to witness.
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But the number one way that we are going to be equipped and prepared by living in the power of your Holy Spirit.
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Because that is where we get the ability to be witnesses.
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Father, we don't want to shrink back.
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We want to go forth not in arrogance.
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We want to go forth in humility.
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But with a godly boldness and confidence that says we are witnesses, even in the face of those who would hate.
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Give us opportunities, Father.
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Let us honor You when those opportunities come.
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We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Acts 4:1-12
Why do you think there is animosity towards the Gospel? Why are people who attack Christians unwilling to “live and let live”?
In verse 8, the Holy Spirit gave Peter POWER to WITNESS. Does the Holy Spirit still do this today? How? What does that look like?
Explain why Jesus is the only way to salvation.
Can you share a story of a time a “hater” attacked your beliefs? How did you respond?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for those persecuted for the Gospel across the world!
