Review:
Obedience: I won't back down...BUT
- I will be obedient, and trust God with the Results. (Acts 5:12-16)
- I will be obedient, even when it seems Crazy. (Acts 5:17-21a)
- I will be obedient, even in the face of Hostility. (Acts 5:21a-32)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:05
Open up your Bibles with me please to Acts chapter 5.
00:07-00:11
Acts chapter 5, we're going to be picking up in verse 12.
00:11-00:23
And you know while you're doing what you do throughout the week, I have the incredible privilege of studying God's Word through the week.
00:23-00:29
And I thank you so much because you support me so that I'm able to feed my family.
00:29-00:34
I can devote my time to the study of God's Word, and that really means a lot to me.
00:35-00:44
And I was studying this passage we're going to be looking at this week, and as every week when I'm studying the passage, my main thing is, what is this passage saying?
00:44-00:47
What is the theme of the passage?
00:47-01:03
Because I'm going to be standing up in front of people saying, "This is what this passage is about." And I read this passage several times, And something a little different happened to me this week as I was studying this passage.
01:03-01:10
I actually, as I was reading it, spoiler alert, there are a lot of crazy things happening in this passage.
01:10-01:12
Just absolutely crazy things.
01:13-01:22
And as I'm reading it and following the adventures of the apostles here, my mind was actually writing a soundtrack.
01:22-01:33
Like, if I was making a movie about this passage, I had the perfect song that would go on the soundtrack when we get to this part.
01:34-01:43
And a few months ago, we were in Acts chapter 1, we were talking about the disciples were waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit as Jesus promised.
01:44-01:50
And if you recall, I had sung "Waiting is the Hardest Part" by Tom Petty.
01:50-01:51
Do you remember that?
01:52-01:59
And I would like to tell you that I've gotten lots of cards and letters and emails and requesting that I do that again, but I haven't gotten one.
02:01-02:02
And I forgive you for that.
02:05-02:08
But I couldn't help it as I was reading this passage. You're going to see this. We're going to walk through this.
02:09-02:11
But I couldn't help it as I was looking through this passage.
02:11-02:20
There was, believe it or not, there was another Tom Petty song that just kept playing in my head as I'm reading this passage.
02:21-03:13
and the song is i want you to help me okay i'm gonna i'm missing the first line and then i want you to jump in with me and i believe me up here are you i said you're not really be a priority actually no i wall back now no i you can stand me up at the gates of hell you know that's biblical jesus said the gates of hell will not prevail against his church and i'm not saying that on petty wrote a him i'm not saying that i'm just saying he kind of borrowed some jesus language here but i wall back down would you like me to keep saying that One, that's enough.
03:13-03:16
I got just one life.
03:16-03:16
Okay, all right.
03:17-03:22
Anyways, that is the soundtrack of this passage.
03:23-03:37
You see, these disciples, we're going to be walking through this passage here, but they had this attitude that no matter what was happening to them, crazy things, their attitude was consistently, I am not going to back down.
03:39-03:41
And something has to fuel that attitude.
03:42-03:44
What was in these men?
03:45-03:52
What mindset did these men have that had them so laser focused and unwavering?
03:53-03:55
And we see exactly what it is.
03:57-04:30
Skip ahead, look at verse 29, when Peter says, "We must obey God rather than men." Again, Peter, he says, "We are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit," look at this last phrase, "whom God has given to those who obey Him." It seems to me that this theme that was on Peter's mind and on the apostles' mind was coming out in his sermon.
04:31-04:39
The mindset that drove the apostles was, "We must obey God rather than men." And I would commend that to you.
04:39-04:41
That should be a memory verse for you this week.
04:42-04:44
It's short. You can remember that.
04:44-04:48
But this was a thing that drove them.
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A simple statement that you need to get down.
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We must obey God rather than men.
04:54-04:55
Who are you obeying?
04:56-04:59
Day in, day out in your life, in your family, in your ministry.
05:00-05:01
Who are you obeying?
05:03-05:05
Because honestly, this is missing from the church today.
05:05-05:07
We live in a day of information.
05:07-05:12
You can get on the Internet and read sermons from John Piper and Charles Spurgeon.
05:12-05:19
You can get podcasts and webcasts and books and magazines and articles and things sent to your email and things mailed to your house.
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You can get information, Bible information, everywhere.
05:24-05:31
But how can I incorporate these truths into everyday living?
05:31-05:32
See, that's what's missing.
05:34-05:37
We know some things. The problem is we're not applying these things.
05:38-05:47
We see these disciples were so focused on obedience to the mission, in prayer, to authenticity.
05:48-06:01
And we're going to see in this passage we're looking at today what happens when God's people have a mindset of "We must obey God rather than men." You apply God's Word, you're going to see God's power.
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Here at Harvest Bible Chapel, you know, we talk so much about worship, and prayer and giving and studying the Word, and all of these things we talk about as we walk through God's Word.
06:13-06:17
But I'd like to remind you of the words of Jesus in John 13:17.
06:18-06:27
Jesus said, "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
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Knowing God's Word does you no good unless you apply God's Word.
06:35-07:07
James speaks much on that subject. But for today, the title of your outline, I want you to jot some notes down. Obedience. I won't back down. Do you have that attitude? I won't back down. Well, let's look at the text. I won't back down, but, number one, I will be obedient and trust God with the results. I will be and trust God with the results.
07:08-07:09
Look at verse 12.
07:10-07:21
It says, "Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles." Again, we've spoken about this several times as we've gone through Acts.
07:21-07:27
The apostles were given the ability by God to perform signs and wonders to authenticate their message.
07:27-07:29
This was a turning point in history.
07:30-07:35
Jesus ushered in the new covenant and the promised Holy Spirit had come.
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And to make such a bold claim that God has enacted this new thing that He promised in the Old Testament, God backed it up with signs and wonders in these messengers.
07:48-07:58
It says, "And they were all together in Solomon's portico." Actually, Peter preached his second sermon there in Acts 3:11.
07:58-08:01
That must have been a place in the temple where they like to hang out.
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So last week, we saw God pursuing purity in the church in dramatic fashion.
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If you were here last week, we talked about Ananias and Sapphira.
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We'll pick that up again here.
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And in this passage, we see that the apostles perform signs and wonders.
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But I want you to see in the passage what resulted between God's purifying the church and the apostles doing the signs and wonders.
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Look at verse 13.
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It says, "None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem." Now, who are the rest?
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This is talking about unbelievers, and catch this.
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The Bible's telling us that during these days of the early church, when you would just pull people on the street, and say, "What do you think about the church?" This was the answer.
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You know, we really respect those people.
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We think very highly of them.
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"Why don't you go to that church?" There is no way I am ever going to that church.
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Absolutely not. I respect them.
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And then, "Why don't you go there?" There is no way. I'm not going.
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Now, why do you think these people had so much respect for the church, but they refused to go?
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Why do you think that is?
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I have a thought.
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Do you think maybe it's because word got out about Ananias and Sapphira?
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Do you think that might have something to do with it?
09:35-09:41
In the previous passage last week we talked about these people, husband and wife, that they had this plan, they were going to lie to the church.
09:42-09:53
"Yeah, here's all the money." And Peter's like, "Is that all the money?" "Yeah, this is all the money. You just lied to God." Remember, their sin wasn't that they kept money back, their sin was that they lied about it, they're being hypocritical.
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and God takes hypocrisy very seriously.
09:58-10:00
Ananias struck dead, carried out by the young men.
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His wife comes in three hours later.
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"Hey guys, what's going on?" Peter's like, "Yeah, how much money did you get for the land?" And she kept the lie going.
10:10-10:16
And Peter's like, "Yeah, it didn't work out so well for your husband either." And she dropped over dead and was carried out.
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That was... Do you think word got out about that?
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I think it did.
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And then when you get to verse 13, I think that's why you have these unbelievers that were like, "Yeah, those church people, they seem like, it seems like stuff's happening there.
10:29-10:30
Why don't you go there?" I don't know.
10:30-10:32
It's because I hear people drop over dead at that church.
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Call me a little self-centered.
10:37-10:43
Maybe I'm too much into the seeker mentality, but I'm looking to attend a church where I don't drop over dead.
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I'm funny that way.
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I just want to raise my kids in a different kind of environment.
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You know what I'm saying?
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I think that's exactly what's going on.
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It says they didn't dare join them.
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Because when people are so committed to holding on to their sin, and lying about their sin, and covering up their sin, and they're finding that this is how serious God is about sin, you know what, I'll just admire that church from a distance.
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But here's something that this church had in Acts chapter 5, Honestly, I believe that we've lost in the church today in 2016.
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The line was a lot clearer.
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Who belonged to Christ and who didn't.
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True or false?
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Because you see, today churches are filled.
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This church, go to any church, any church you go to, it's going to be filled with some people who know and love the Lord, born again, And some people that it's a social club, they just like being around church people or, you know, they're getting warm fuzzies out of it or whatever the reason, but they're not truly saved.
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And you see in the early days of the church, it wasn't comfortable to go to church if you weren't saved because you knew they were serious about sin.
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They were serious about following Jesus Christ.
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And we've just made concession in our day.
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Like, "Oh, you're not that serious about Jesus.
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You're not that serious about your sin." okay you can still come that's okay and we've sort of made it seem like it's not that big of a deal to us the line was so much clearer who belonged to God and who didn't and by no means am I saying well you know if you're not saved you shouldn't come here if you're not saved you have to be here but you shouldn't be sitting on the fence and you certainly shouldn't be playing the hypocrite but whatever the case if we don't address sin in the church we're And the idea that church should be comfortable and soft never crossed the apostles' minds.
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And obedience to God is just naturally going to repel some people.
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It just is.
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I'm committed to expository preaching, verse-by-verse preaching.
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What does the Bible say?
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And that's not everybody's cup of tea.
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I remember a few years ago, we were going through this series, we had this whole row of visitors in the back.
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You know, as a pastor, young church planter, like, "Woo-hoo, look at that, we just got like 10 new visitors." Our attendance just like doubled.
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You know, we had all these visitors sitting in the back.
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And I was like, "Okay, here's the sermon today.
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Today we're going to be talking about what the Bible says about hell." And I got up and I said, "Hell is a real place, and real people really go there." And as soon as I said that, that entire row stood up, single file, out the back.
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And I don't mean fire drill or using the restroom.
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I mean gone.
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Because it's naturally going to repel some people.
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It's naturally going to repel some people.
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That's okay.
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Look at verse 14.
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It says, "And more than ever, believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women." At this point, the church was growing so much that numbers weren't even attached.
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Before, we'd see numbers attached.
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Here's how big the church was. Here's how many people were added.
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At this point, they sort of stopped counting.
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Like, how many people were at that church?
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We don't know, but there was a lot.
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How many would you say? I would say multitudes.
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Well, do you have a number? Yes, I do have a number. One.
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One multitude of people were going to that church.
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It was growing and growing.
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Crazy stuff. Look at verse 15.
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It says, "So that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them." What in the world is that verse about?
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The verse doesn't say that Peter's shadow was healing people.
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All this verse simply says is that people believed that Peter's shadow was healing people.
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And this verse is speaking about the reputation of the church.
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It's like God is so active in what these people are doing, and God is obviously doing so much through these people's ministry that, you know, Joe Average on the street was like, man, you know, my grandma's sick.
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If I can like drag her bed out, even if Peter walks by and his shadow touches grandma, grandma might get feeling better.
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That was just a reputation of a church where God is at work.
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Verse 16 says, "The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed." Word gets out when God is at work, and people are coming in even from the suburbs.
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What we see in this passage, we will be obedient, and we will trust God with the results.
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Even in this passage here, as I was studying this this week, I'm like, "Wow, what does this passage say about results?" It says, "Results were a mixed bag.
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Some people were kept away, verse 13.
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Many more were added, verse 14.
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But the disciples modeled this truth for us.
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You've heard me say it before.
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But doing God's thing God's way gets God's results.
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The results that we are going for at Harvest Bible Chapel is not quantity.
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We can attract a crowd.
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I mean, that's no problem.
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We can advertise that I'm gonna wrestle a polar bear sunday in the parking lot will get a crowd will be our last service that i'm pastor harvest bible chapel but will get a crowd but we're not just trying to get a crowd of people were not about a quantity were about quality we want to make true disciples as well as our uh... the way that we teach the bible the way that we have small groups and accountability i understand that's going to keep some people away from our church but i also understand that A ministry like this is going to draw people who really want to get serious about what the Bible says about your walk with Jesus Christ.
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And church, I'm committed to your discipleship.
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I'm committed to the people that are in this room, not the people that aren't here.
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And yes, bring more people.
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We'll love more people.
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We'll minister to more.
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But you see, throughout the week, I'm not thinking about and praying over and people that aren't here.
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I'm thinking about you. I'm committed to you.
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My concern is for who is here, not how many people aren't here.
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So the early church, obedience to the mission, meant that they were going to trust God for the results.
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Unwilling to back down from that.
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Secondly, jot this down.
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Number two, I will be obedient even when it seems crazy.
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even when it seems crazy.
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Look at verse 17.
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It says, "But the high priest rose up," we've already dealt with him, haven't we?
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It says, "But the high priest rose up "and all who were with him," that is the party of the Sadducees, "and filled with jealousy." Stop there for a second.
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Persecution is coming and church persecution is going to happen to us.
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Second Timothy 3.12 says, "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus, will be persecuted.
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But what was their issue?
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What was their issue with the disciples?
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Did you see at the end of verse 17?
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The issue wasn't that they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
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They were filled with something else.
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They were filled with jealousy.
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All of a sudden, the religious people that used to come and listen to them speak, now all of a sudden, these people had a crowd.
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People were flocking to see what was happening with these people.
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They were just jealous.
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Why are these guys getting a bigger crowd than we are now?
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Purely out of jealousy So what did they do about it they had a prayer service, right?
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Now verse 18. It says they arrested the Apostles and put them in the public prison That was their answer verse 19 says but during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out Stop there for a second. You can't miss the humor because the Sadducees were a religious group that didn't believe angels existed. So don't you think it's kind of ironic that God would send an angel to let these guys out of prison?
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I believe God has a sense of humor. The angel opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, "Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life, talking about eternal life in Jesus Christ.
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When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.
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You see how crazy that is?
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Could you put yourself in that scenario?
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They were out preaching and teaching.
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They get arrested.
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They're thrown in jail.
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An angel shows up, opens the door, and they step out of the jail, and they're like, "We're free!" And now what? And the angel's like, "Go preach." "Um, I'm sorry, you must have not been paying attention, but that's what got us into jail in the first place.
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And now you want us to go back and do the very thing that just got us arrested?
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I mean, isn't that crazy?
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It would be like if you stole a car, and you went to jail, and as soon as you got out of jail, went down to the police barracks and stole a police car.
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Like, what are you thinking?
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You just got arrested for that.
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And that's what happened with the disciples here.
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Let out of jail, go right back to doing what you just got in trouble for.
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Interestingly, the Bible doesn't tell us that the disciples ran away or explained it away.
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That's what we do.
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Like, I must not be hearing God correctly and persecution didn't change the mission.
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Persecution didn't change the mission because they went right back to it.
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In church, simple obedience is often crazy when you really stop and think about it.
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For example, baptism. Isn't baptism crazy? I mean, think about it.
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You're looking at me funny now. You're like, "Why is baptism crazy?" It's not crazy to you because you're used to it.
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You know, when somebody gives their life to Christ, they're baptized.
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But I want you to think about baptism from the perspective of somebody that has no idea what it is.
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And they're on the outside looking in, and what do you do at your church?
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Oh, well, when somebody believes in the leader of our church, Jesus Christ, we grab them and shove them underwater.
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What? You do what?
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Yeah, that's what we do. We dunk people. In water.
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Well, that's really weird. Like, what, at a swimming pool at your house?
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Oh, no, sometimes we do it in public.
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Sometimes we just put a hot tub in the front of like hundreds of people and we just grab them and shove them underwater.
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Does that seem crazy to anybody else?
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Obedience often looks crazy.
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Think about giving.
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You know, we're talking about, you know, let's Let's give some of the money that we have worked and earned and we're going to send it completely on the other side of the planet to help people that speak a completely different language and Some of you probably will never meet these people It's crazy It's crazy Think of these mission trips. We sent a group to Romania. We went to Thailand last November and we'll spend thousands of dollars Some people actually take vacation days from work so that they can travel the other side of the planet to tell people a message about Jesus Christ.
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Simple obedience is often crazy.
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I think when I was in Chicago at Big Harvest, we were having a baptism service, and this Muslim girl came forward and received Christ by faith to make that profession through baptism, and she told me that if her family finds out, they'll kill her.
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And I said, "Oh, you mean like they'll be really upset?" She said, "No." She was visibly shaking.
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She said, "No, I don't mean they'll be upset with me.
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I mean they will literally kill me." Simple obedience is often crazy.
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Don't you see, like the disciples, long before Tom Petty was singing it, were singing I won't back down I will be obedient even when it seems crazy finally for today I will be obedient even in the face of hostility let's pick up in verse 21 it says now when the high priest came and those who were with him they called together the council and all the Senate of the people of Israel and and sent to the prison to have them brought.
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Okay, so they think these guys are still in jail.
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They're like, "Go get them. Now." Okay, so here they go off to the prison to bring them back.
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Verse 22 says, "But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison." So they returned and reported.
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Um, how do I explain this without sounding like a complete maniac?
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Look at verse 23. This was their report. I mean, I just, I don't know, this just completely cracked me up. Go get the prisoners and they come back empty-handed and here's the report.
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We found the prison securely locked. Good! That's great, because prisons should be securely locked because there are criminals inside. Good! Okay. Wait, I'm not done yet. I'm not And the guards standing at the doors. Good! That's what we pay them for. They stand at the doors and make sure that the criminals don't get out. I'm not done yet. But when we open them, we found no one inside. Okay, that's a problem.
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Because that is pretty much undermining the whole purpose for which we have the prison structure! It doesn't matter that the doors are locked and that the guards are there. What matters is that the prisons are inside. How in the world did this happen?" And you can tell by the report, they're like, "Yeah, I can't even begin to fathom a guess." It says, "When the captain of the temple and the chief priest heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them." Yeah. Okay, Like, back up. I want you to tell me that story again.
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Wondering what this would come to.
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And someone came and told them, "Look!" This just gets worse and worse for these guys.
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"Look, the men whom you put in prison..." Oh, good, you found them. Good. Good.
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You had the wrong cell, right?
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"...are standing in the temple and teaching the people." This had to have been an absolute nightmare for the Sanhedrin.
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Okay, so not only are they not locked up, they are out doing the very thing that we arrested them for.
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Don't miss the fact that they're doing it in the temple.
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They're basically doing it right under their noses.
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It's not like, you know, we went to like some little secret corner of Jerusalem where there were a couple people in the dark, in the shadows, And that's where we did our preaching.
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They're like right in the temple!
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Like, "Jesus is alive! And he is awesome! And he can save you!" And they're like, "They're doing what?" Incredible. Absolutely incredible.
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It says, "Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people." You can totally see this picture, right?
28:19-28:30
You're a parent, and you've ever been in public with your child, and you know that your child deserves a spanking right then and there, but you can't spank your child right then and there because you're in public.
28:31-28:32
Anybody else?
28:33-28:34
Oh, come on.
28:35-28:38
You ever happen to Ananias and Sapphira when they lied in church?
28:39-28:49
Parents, have you ever been in public, and you're like, "My kid needs a spanking, but I can't give them a spanking right now because I'm in public. Anybody else? Okay, thank you. So what do we do?
28:50-30:13
Come on Let's use our manners and you like You need a spank, but I can't do it and that's kind of what's happening here. They're like Come on you people we're going to go have a talk They were so scared of What everybody how everybody else was going to react these apostles became so popular that these religious leaders literally thought if we're rough with these guys the crowds going to Riot and start throwing stones at us They're going to execute us. So Let's coddle them Not by force. They were afraid of being stoned by the people When they had brought them they set them before the council and the high priest questioned him saying we strictly charged you Not to teach in this name That was just like one chapter ago chapter 4 verse 17 here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and You intend to bring this man's blood upon us That is such an interesting phrase you intend to bring this man's blood upon us because if you remember Back in Matthew chapter 27 verse 25 the cry of the people when Jesus was being arrested Do you remember when Jesus was on trial?
30:13-31:10
You remember the cry the people let his blood be on us and on our children. That's what they were screaming fast forward here a couple of months and Some of these same people like whoa, whoa, wait a second you're trying to you're trying to make us guilty of this man's blood So here comes the gospel verse 29 the Peter and the Apostles answered We must obey God rather than men The God of our fathers raised Jesus whom you killed by hanging him on a tree God exalted him at his right hand as leader and Savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins and we are witnesses to these things and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him." Peter just launches right into the Gospel.
31:10-31:12
It just gets better every time I hear it.
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But notice, it's much more intense this time than the last time he preached to these same people.
31:20-31:21
But all the elements are there.
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He talks about the death of Jesus Christ.
31:25-31:30
Jesus died to pay the penalty for your sin and for my sin.
31:30-31:32
He took our sin upon Himself.
31:32-31:34
He talks about the resurrection of Jesus.
31:35-31:37
Jesus rose from the dead to give us eternal life.
31:38-31:40
He talks about the exaltation of Jesus.
31:41-31:51
Jesus is now seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us in prayer, waiting for the day that He's going to come and return and reclaim the earth.
31:52-31:53
He talks about repentance.
31:55-32:02
God's calling for a complete life change, a radical transformation that comes when you truly come to faith in Jesus Christ.
32:03-32:04
How does that happen?
32:04-32:07
He talks about the Holy Spirit given to those who respond.
32:08-32:09
Notice it's for everybody.
32:09-32:18
It's not like there's a few really special spiritual people who get the Holy Spirit, and the rest of us, like average knuckleheads, are just like regular strength Christians.
32:19-32:24
Everyone who believes in Jesus Christ, born again, has the gift of the Holy Spirit.
32:26-32:28
Peter lays out the gospel for them again.
32:29-32:41
Last week I read an article where Saturday Night Live, the television program, did a skit based on the movie called "God's Not Dead 2," and I didn't see the skit.
32:42-32:53
But this article intrigued me because Pat Boone, a musician, actor, speaker, has a decades-long career.
32:53-33:00
He was talking about the skit being highly offensive, which I could imagine that it was.
33:02-33:03
But here's the thing that intrigued me about the article.
33:04-33:16
It said that Pat Boone said, "Believers in God deserve an apology." That's what he said. He goes, "Believers in God deserve an apology." I thought about that.
33:18-33:20
Do you really think that Christians deserve an apology?
33:21-33:22
Where is that written?
33:23-33:45
Do you really think that people that hate God and hate God's people to the point of public ridicule, to the point of producing this program that we're going to air on television so millions of people can watch us make fun of Jesus, do you really think those people are going to offer up a heartfelt apology?
33:47-33:52
I understand Pat Boone's sentiment, I would just say don't hold your breath.
33:52-33:53
I don't think that apology's coming.
33:54-33:58
And honestly, as Christians, I don't think we should expect it from the world.
34:00-34:01
Dead people act like dead people.
34:01-34:03
Lost people act like lost people.
34:03-34:06
In church, it's going to get worse, not better.
34:07-34:12
So our responsibility to a hostile world is obedience to God.
34:12-34:14
It's that I won't back down.
34:15-34:17
I'm not going to dilute the message.
34:18-34:19
I'm not going to demand that they apologize.
34:20-34:24
I'm going to shine as light in a dark world.
34:25-34:27
Yeah, it's going to get hostile.
34:28-34:29
And that's just going to give me greater opportunity.
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As long as I refuse.
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By God's grace and by His power, I refuse to back down.
34:40-34:42
So do you want God's results in ministry?
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Be obedient.
34:46-34:50
Do you feel that God's calling you to do something that seems absolutely crazy?
34:52-34:54
Like these early apostles, be obedient.
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Do you find yourself staring down hostility?
34:59-35:00
Be obedient.
35:01-35:02
Make this your motto.
35:04-35:10
"I must obey God rather than man." And make this your song.
35:11-35:14
So I won't back down.
35:15-35:16
Will you pray with me?
35:18-35:31
Father in heaven, we thank you for the example that you have shown us by Spirit-powered people in an absolutely crazy passage in your Word.
35:32-35:34
So many things happening.
35:36-35:50
And the overarching theme that we see, Father, the persistence that you give us by the power of your Holy Spirit, the desire to serve you and honor you, the appetite to do what is pleasing to you.
35:52-35:59
Father, we know it's never been easy, but we know it's getting increasingly harder to live in this lost and dying world.
36:01-36:03
It's just easier to water it down.
36:04-36:09
It's just easier to not be so radical about our enthusiasm for Jesus Christ.
36:10-36:12
And I pray, Father, we would take this passage to heart.
36:15-36:25
We saw your people do some amazing things because you were the one, by your power, doing it through them.
36:27-36:35
But they've certainly set an example for us and presenting themselves available to you as your servants.
36:37-36:50
Father, I pray that for Harvest Bible Chapel, that we don't dilute the message, we're not afraid of hostility, we don't shrink back when we believe that your calling is to do something that the rest of the world might say is crazy.
36:52-37:00
But our trust in you is so strong, our faith in you is so deep, that we will be obedient no matter the cost.
37:01-37:06
All to your glory and honor, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Acts 5:12-32
In Acts 5:1-11, God dealt with sin. What effect did this have on non-believers (Acts 5:13)? What does this say about the mentality of a church that is “just going after numbers”, that is, just wants to bring in as many people as possible?
Compare Peter’s sermon in Acts 5:29-32 with his sermon (to the same audience) in Acts 4:8-12. What is the difference? What does this say about how you should witness?
Share something crazy God called you to do. How did you know that was what He wanted? Why did you think it was crazy at the time? How did obedience work out for you?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.
