Hey everybody, this is Pastor John Ewart from Inglewood
Baptist Church in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina.
Thank you so much for tuning into our podcast.
You're going to hear from God today as we share from his word
about important issues facing your life that can guide you
according to the Bible. Well, good morning, Inglewood.
Take your Bibles this morning. Turn to Acts chapter 5.
Be with you in a moment. Appreciate everybody being here.
Appreciate the kind words that you all have been sharing to me.
Appreciate the kind words about Wednesday nights, some of you
listening to the podcast, those of you who are working in
worship arts and also with our children, our preschool and our
students. Appreciate you tuning in.
People been telling me they were listening at the gym, listening
on the way to the beach, listening on job sites.
So appreciate that very much. Appreciate God using that.
So this Wednesday night, you need to be here.
We're we have hundreds of people who are gathering here live.
We also create a podcast. It's been pretty remarkable.
I'm going to talk about work this week and you say, well, I
don't want to talk about that, but I want you to understand
theology of work. I actually teach a class called
businesses missions where you use business as a platform for
missions work around the world. And, and I teach about the
theology of work, which is something goes all the way back
to Genesis. When you think about it, God
gave Adam and Eve a job to do. Work is a part of who we are.
And and that's not just about your career or your job.
And so if you're retired, just sit there and say this week's
not for me. Well, this week's especially for
you. So you need to be here.
So appreciate that. Also want to call attention to
the front of your worship guide. I don't do this every week and
so don't get mad at me when I don't do your special thing, but
I want to call attention to the Women's Gathering on June 12th.
You need to sign up for that. It's going to be a very special
time. I appreciate very much Pepper
Manning and her leadership and what she's doing with this event
to where she's actually going to talk about how do we host people
in our homes? How do we gather our friends and
neighbors so we can share the gospel with them, but also show
hospitality. It's going to be a wonderful
time of skill and and also of spiritual matters.
And so I pray that you'll be there.
My wife's going to go and she's going to share a part of that.
Several ladies are going to be sharing.
So sign up for that. You'll enjoy that and learn from
it, and I pray that you'll be a part of that.
Well, I don't know if you've been here for every part of this
study or not. We've been working through the
1st 13 chapters of the book of Acts.
You may be a guest this morning. Thank you for being here.
We're in Acts 5. We're picking up the story.
Satan has failed. Isn't that good?
Turn to your neighbor and say Satan fails.
Yeah, every time. Because he's a, he's a slimy
snake. He's going to burn forever in
the lake of fire. And I just like saying it out
loud. I figure some demon will report
that to him. I'll have a flat tire on my
truck now. But that's all right.
That's all right. It's worth it.
Satan failed in his attempt last week.
If you were here to silence the first Church, he's been doing
that. Remember, there's a reason why
I'm sharing these messages. But you got to also remember
this about our enemy. One thing about him is in his
his horde is that they never quit.
They never sleep, they never relent, they never give up,
which means we can't either. And I shared this story with
some of you who were at a certain service several weeks
ago. But bear with me for a moment as
I elaborate on it just a bit. So when I worked, and I've
shared about working on some cattle ranches in my life, but
in when I worked in this, this bull breeding business that we
were in in Central Texas where we were kind of raising these
purebred bulls, it was kind of like raising thoroughbred
horses. You had to always make sure that
you knew who the Mamas and the babies were to keep the
bloodlines together, if that makes sense.
And so I'll keep this short and brief for those who do not care
about this. But but one of the things that
you would do and one of the things that they had me do is I
lived out there and I'd do a lot of pin work with the cattle
because you had to do a lot of that with these purebred
animals. And one of the things you had to
do is what we call paring calves, where you'd separate the
Mama and the baby for a little bit.
And they don't like that the Mama doesn't like that the Mama
wants the baby to eat. And the babies are hungry and
they're crying and yelling all night long.
And I'm trying to sleep through all that.
And, and and then what you do is you live in one Mama at a time.
And they would go and only let their baby nurse.
And then you could mark the calf and you know which calf belong
to which mom. You with me so far.
Yeah. So guess who worked the gate?
Well, so in those days, because I've suffered from massive
physical reconfiguration in those days, I was actually an
athlete and very strong and one of the bigger people around
there. And so I would work the gate
because I kind of a football player type in those days.
And, and one of the things I learned about the gate is this
cows are stronger than you are. I don't care how strong you are
as a human being, a cow is stronger.
They have a mechanical strength is just stronger than you are.
And So what you had to do is you had to figure out a way to kind
of fool them and and help them. And, and you're the whole idea
is I open that gate just a little and I let one mom in.
Well, now there's forty of them who won in but and the Cavs are
trying to get out and the moms are trying to get in and you're
working the gate and you let one Mama in and you're slapping the
calves back behind. You get back away.
You have a little help and a little sometime.
But anyway, you let the Mama in. Here's what I learned about
working the gate while you were pairing calves.
Here's the moral of the story, because I know you don't care
about the cows. You can never let go.
You can never take your eyes off the gate.
You have to stay extremely. I can't look back and look at
the cute little babies. Can't do that.
They push right through. You got to.
You got to stand your ground. You got to, you got to defend
the gate. You got to hold that gate.
You can never take your hands off, never take your eyes off.
Full strength, everything. You got to hold that gate in
place. Gang, that's a church.
Because Satan will never stop. He'll never quit.
He's got an army who's against us, and he doesn't want us to
succeed. He does not want us to do what
God wants us to do. So he seeks to fracture, He
seeks to fragment, He seeks to create disunity.
So a healthy church requires an intentional, continuous focus to
come join the King's mission. And that's what we've been
studying about in the book of Acts.
So I pray you're truly hearing these messages.
I pray. Well, that's nice.
We're working through that. No, no, no.
There's a reason for this. It's no accident that I'm
teaching about the church as one, as the strength of unity
that you see over and over and over again in this early church.
It's not by chance that I'm preaching about the power
engagements between the Holy Spirit and Satan.
As Satan is trying to stop the early church, trying to stop the
spread of the gospel, Holy Spirit has to come in and save
him. He tries from the outside, and
then he tries from the inside. We're going to see him today.
He's going to try again from the outside because last week he
tried from the inside. You can see this pattern over
and over again as they fight over the church.
Now, if you were here last week, you'll know that great fear has
now come upon the church and the entire city because God killed
Ananias and Sapphira for lying about money.
That was last week. You missed that one.
You really missed a good one. You got to kill you if you lie
about your money. How's that?
There's the sum. Maybe, maybe not, but they lied
to God about it. That was the main thing.
They sin. But the Holy Spirit was just
getting started. He's just revving up.
He's just beginning to display his power in this in this
series. And and I believe he's doing the
same thing here at Inglewood. Please don't take for granted
what you just saw in that baptistry.
Please don't take for granted the testimony you just heard.
We've been baptizing every single week and that's not by
accident, that's not by force. We're very careful about who we
baptize here. We have conversations with them.
We have long conversations to make sure people understand.
But God's blessing, God's working and he, he's just
getting started here and we need to embrace that.
And, and, but we also means that we got to be on guard.
We got to be on guard and pay close attention because when He
chooses to work, you cannot stop God.
So let's see what He does in Acts chapter 5, starting in
verse 12. It's a great story.
It's fascinating to see what He does here.
Verse 12. Now, many signs and wonders were
regularly done. Don't miss that.
They're regularly being done among the people by the hands of
the apostles. And they were all together in
Solomon's portico. None of the rest dare join them,
but the people held them in high esteem.
And more than ever, believers were added to the Lord,
multitudes of both men and women.
Now the first thing we're going to see four things today.
The first thing I just want us to see is that the power of God
cannot be stopped. It's up to him.
He's going to choose to display his power.
He's going to choose to, to reveal that power.
And we see that the apostles were all together at the temple
again. They, they're there.
They're these are all Jewish background believers.
So the place where they go is the temple.
They know that place. That's the place.
And and yet others you'll see in this passage are afraid to join
them at this point, probably because of two things, probably
because of the persecution of the Jewish leaders, but also
because of what had happened to Ananias and Sephora.
So great fear was upon them. But it's also interesting in
this weird balance that they still hold them in high esteem.
They're still listening from afar.
It's interesting because church membership being a part of the
body has a high price and should have a high expectation.
We're going to be talking in the weeks to come in great detail,
great detail, huge detail about what does it mean to be a member
at Inglewood, What does it mean to be a true fruit producing,
reproducing, multiplying disciple of Jesus Christ?
When we talking about that a lot it, it, it, this must have a
high price. It must have high expectation.
But this movement also, if you notice, it's not going
unnoticed. The Jews who are coming to the
worship at the temple, they're saying this.
I mean, there's thousands of people have been a part of this.
They've hearing about these stories and they're being
influenced. And so many people were
submitting to the power of the Holy Spirit and we're being
saved. Multitudes of them are added to
the church still, even in these scary times.
And one of the things that's interesting, and it may not seem
that interesting to you today, but you've got to understand in
this context, this is a big deal.
Luke mentions for the first time the specific salvation of women.
And this is a big deal because you need to understand the
inclusive nature of the gospel, especially in this Jewish world
where the religion tend to flow through the men.
And so now you're seeing women coming to know Christ, too.
They've been doing that the whole time.
But he calls attention to this in a special way because a woman
now has this incredible standing, personal standing
before God. It's a big deal because the Holy
Spirit's breaking through barrier after barrier.
He's going to do this through the entire book of Acts,
including gender barriers. He's still doing that today
around the world. And then what's really
interesting too is we're seeing in chapter 5 answers to prayer.
They prayed back in chapter 4. And you may not make that
connection. You may not have been here.
So listen to this chapter 4, verse 29.
It says this is them praying. And now, Lord, look upon their
threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak
your word with all boldness while you stretch out your hand
to heal. And signs and wonders are
performed through the name of your holy servant, Jesus.
So these signs and wonders had a very important purpose.
They were evidence to authenticate that Jesus really
was the Messiah and that the Holy Spirit really had come.
They didn't have the whole Bible yet.
They didn't have everything that we have.
And so they needed this this evidence, They needed this
testimony. They needed this authenticity
related to the reality of Christ and the Holy Spirit.
The writer of Hebrews comments on this.
In Hebrews chapter 2 he says, How shall we escape if we
neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the
Lord and then listen, and it was attested to us by those who
heard, in other words, the apostles, while God also bore
witness by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts
of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.
So these were testimonies, just like the testimony you heard of
a changed life in this baptistery.
But wait, just like that, not for the glory of man, but for
the validity and as a witness to God's mission and God's power.
And then healing was taking place.
Whether whether spiritual, physical, mental, relational,
they're all going to point to his power.
Look at verse 15. Look at how dramatic this gets.
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.
The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem,
bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits,
and they were all healed. So it it must have been
difficult to even walk through the streets at times because
they would have been just cluttered by these cots in these
mats by by people who were sick. Now, now you understand there's
a part of the story that might not make sense to us today.
There was a Jewish superstition that taught that a person's
shadow represented them. So they were clamoring even to
be touched by Peter's shadow and people from all around Jerusalem
were being healed. They they needed proof.
They needed proof that Jesus was truly the Messiah.
And and they needed, they needed to understand that and to
receive healing from him, whether it was disease or demon.
And I wonder today, what do you need some of you?
What do you need to believe? What do you need to validate
that all this stuff we talk about Jesus is real, that he
really did die on the cross for you, He really did rise again,
That He really is the only one who can save you and He wants
to. What do you need to believe to
nail that down, to allow Him to heal you?
Because see, Satan wants to divide you.
Satan wanted to decrease the church.
Satan wanted to disgrace the early church.
But the church experiences complete triumph over his
attacks by the power of God. You can see the warfare going
on, but that never meant that the church wouldn't have
trouble. It doesn't mean that you won't
either. We don't get to avoid the storms
of this world. We just get to walk through them
and triumph now that we're going to have lessons that He wants us
to learn. But God cannot be stopped.
His mission will move forward, and it'll move forward
Inglewood, with or without us. God doesn't need us.
God doesn't need you. He wants you.
You got to understand that. You got to wrap your head around
that theology. He wants you to join Him.
He wants us to be a part of it. And that's why I believe I'm
here, because I believe that about what He's doing here and
what he's going to. He's just getting started here.
But now listen, just like clockwork, then God's working,
God's powers being displayed, God's missions moving forward.
So guess who steps in? Here He comes, the enemy, Satan
going to attack. That's what he does every time.
Got to keep your hands on the gate.
Look at verse 17. But there's that word book of
Acts, every time you see it, you know, there's contrast coming
something different. But the high priest rose up and
all who are with him, that is the party of the Sadducees and
filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles and put
them in the public prison. Don't miss that word public.
That word public is important. I'll show you in a minute.
So secondly thing, not only do we see this, the power of God
can't be, we're going to see that the obedient of God, those
who are obedient of God, they can't be stopped.
You can't stop obedient people. Just like in the previous
episode, in the earlier chapters, they're arrested again
by the Sanhedrin. If Satan can't win one way,
he'll try even harder. So Peter and John have broke,
they've broken the note testifying about Jesus rule that
they were given last time they were arrested.
So they arrested Peter and John, but this time you'll see there's
a plural, there's more apostles. So it's more than just Peter and
John this time. There's a group of them.
We don't know exactly which ones, but there's a group of
them and they round them all up and you can just hear them.
Let's stomp this out. Let's stop this for good.
And it says the Sanhedrin was filled with jealousy.
The word means zeal, zealous to stamp this out.
Jealous over their popularity, jealous over their rising power,
jealous over the competition. It was giving them fear of
losing our own position and power.
And they put them. They put them in the public jail
they're going to. The persecution is going to
intensify. They put them in the public.
That means everybody can see them.
It's an open jail where people can see you.
They want everybody to see it. And that's going to become
really ironic in a minute as this story continues because God
is hilarious. Verse 19.
But that word shows up a lot in this passage.
During the night, an Angel of the Lord 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.
And when they heard this, they entered the temple at Daybreak
and began to teach. I want you to understand, I want
you to embrace, I want you to feel the total helplessness of
the Jewish leaders. God is in complete control.
And an Angel leads them out and commands them to go right back
to the same place, start preaching the same message for
what they've just been arrested for.
Go preach the gospel. And so they obeyed.
Notice this, they didn't. They go, What we gonna do when
an Angel opens your prison door, you go do what he tells you to.
They go and they preach. And they're at the early
morning, so there's big crowds coming.
Now, this is when the morning sacrifice at the temple's going
on. So there's a big crowd that'll
come. It's a good time.
But they had No Fear for their safety.
Their fear of God far outweighed their fear of men.
How about you, Inglewood? Who you afraid of?
What are you afraid of? Who do you fear?
Are we ready to obey no matter what?
Lottie Moon, a missionary to China.
Some of you know that name Will. Some of you've never heard it
before. She'd stand about right here.
This is 4 foot something. Maybe here.
She died while serving in China. Lottie Moon once said this.
She said I have a firm conviction that I am immortal
till my work is done. God's in control.
And here's another incredible irony of this story.
Don't miss this. Don't miss God's sovereignty and
and the fact that I'm telling you he is so funny because you
got to remember the Sadducees didn't even believe in angels.
God showed him the truth. God showed him that he was in
control. But meanwhile back in the
chamber, the council chamber, Verse 21 B.
Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him,
they called together the council, all the Senate of the
people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought
out. But when the officers came, they
did not find them in the prison. So they returned and reported.
We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing
at the doors. But when we can't open them, we
found no one inside. Now when the captain of the
temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were
greatly perplexed about them. Wondering what this would come
to. And someone came and told them,
look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the
temple and teaching the people. Then the captain with the
officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were
afraid of being stoned by the people. 1st order of business,
call the Sanhedrin to order. Let's go get these lousy
Christian preachers and take care of them.
Let's fetch them out of the prison.
And there's a big oops, is the guards there, the doors locked,
but nobody to home, nobody there.
So hear the irony. Instead of stopping miracles,
they actually enable one see. So the presence of these guards,
don't miss that either. Don't miss these details.
The presence of these guards actually authenticate the
reality of the miracle. It's amazing.
Finally, somebody shows up and reports to the apostles back
that these guys are that these apostles are back at the temple
again. These guys, you're right,
they're back there doing it again.
So this time note this, this is, I'm telling you, don't miss
this. The the captain himself has to
go. He's going to go to make sure
this is done the right way. There's no mistakes.
But then when he gets there, he has to ask him nicely because if
he doesn't, the people are going to stone him.
Who's afraid of what now done. Yes.
See the irony? So here's the Sanhedrin.
The most powerful man made authority of the Jewish people
completely in the hands of God, and they didn't even know it.
And my friends, so are you. Whether you believe in him,
whether you reject him, He still has you.
And he wants you to know him because he's in control.
And the only reason the apostles appeared before him this time is
because they were willing to do so.
They knew they were in the hands of God.
Corey Tenboom. And I've quoted Corey Tenboom
more at Inglewood than any other place in my entire life.
I don't know why that is, but but Corey Tenboom once said
this. She said there's nothing anybody
else can do to stop God from using us.
We can turn everything into a testimony.
In other words, it doesn't matter what anybody else does.
You can't stop me from serving God.
You can't stop me from obedience.
You can't stop me from doing what God wants.
We are the only ones who can stop ourselves because of our
disobedience. God can't be stopped, but He may
refuse to use us. He may be refused to bless us if
we're not walking closely with Him.
Inglewood, I'm begging with you to believe that we are in the
hands of God and that He wants to do something special,
something abnormal here or I wouldn't be here.
He's real and He has an amazing purpose for us and God's
mission. We'll move forward and I just
pray we join Him. Look at verse 27.
And when they had brought them, they set them before the council
and the high priest questioned them saying, we strictly charge
you not to teach in this name. Yet here you have filled
Jerusalem with your teaching. And then don't miss this last
phrase. It's really important.
And you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.
So the third, the, the, the third thing you need to see is
that the gospel of God cannot be stopped.
I want you to understand what's going on here.
The leaders try to protect themselves and they're trying to
protect their dead, their dead traditions and their and their
positions of, of pseudo power, while the apostles are willing
to risk their lives for the truth.
Don't miss the contract. Who's really on trial here?
But the Sanhedrin, they bring 2 charges.
Here are the two charges they bring.
First, you disobeyed the previous command not to teach
about Jesus. We told you not to do that.
You're out there doing that. Shame on you.
Second, Peter and John, we're trying to lay the guilt of the
blood of Jesus on them. So that phrase to bring this
man's blood upon us is an Old Testament expression for a
charge of murder according to their law.
And according to the law, it demanded the death penalty.
And So what the Sanhedrin is interpreting or saying is you
guys are trying to get us killed for, for our responsibility in
the death of Jesus Christ. Now notice there was no mention
of the miraculous escape. That would have been a little
too embarrassing. Don't know how you guys,
Houdini, did your way out of that.
We're not going to talk about that verse 29.
But 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 the 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. And it's more than just John
now. It's the apostles.
They don't want the Sanhedrin killed.
They, they, they didn't want them to suffer the death
penalty. They, they wanted them saved,
not killed. It's amazing.
They preached the gospel to them.
They had, they had one sermon and they kept preaching the one
sermon, the gospel, the good news and, and friends, if you'll
bring people here, they'll hear that message too.
Or better yet, better yet, you tell them yourself.
Go ahead and tell them yourself and then bring them here and,
and let us hear the testimony in baptism and, and, and have them
join like we had that whole line of people join in church
membership. So the apostles call for
repentance and forgiveness. I mean, they're literally say
it's not even too late for you Sanhedrin, like I've said
before, but you got to respond to God's grace through faith and
you got to obey. But then here we go.
Here it all is verse 33. They all fell to their knees and
cried out serves what? What must we do to be saved?
And they were all saved that what the Bible says No, when
they heard this they were enraged strong word.
They wanted to kill them. This was too much.
Us, the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, the Sadducees need to
repent. How dare you?
They were furious. The, the word enraged means to
be sawn into. It's a very, very strong word.
And they called for the death penalty.
We want you dead. So again, one of the things you
always got to remember, and the book tells us this, not
everybody's going to believe what a tragedy.
People are going to go to hell forever.
That's a tragedy. I, I, I don't want anybody I
know doing that. I want them all in the throne
room with my friends from all around the world worshiping him,
people from every tribe, every tongue and every nation together
praising him. That's, that's where I want my
neighbors. That's where I want my friends.
But not all are going to make it so I'm going to reject.
Some are going to react negatively.
Some are going to act very negatively to the message I did
to it first, very negatively, violently, the one of the times
I heard the gospel. But that doesn't lessen our
responsibility, shouldn't lessen our love, doesn't change the
mission, and God won't forget our faithfulness.
So once again, the Holy Spirit has to step in.
Satan's raging got them all riled up.
Holy Spirit has to step in to win the battle.
This is what's going on in the book of Acts over and over and
over, because we're not in this by ourselves.
We're not in this by our own power or trusting in the power
of God. And he steps in, but he uses a
very unique vessel this time. Look at verse 34.
Very unique moment here. But a Pharisee.
But a Pharisee in the council named Gamilio, a teacher of the
law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders
to put the men outside for a little while.
And he said that the men of Israel take care of what you are
about to do with these men. For before these days Theodus
rose up claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about 400,
joined him, and he was killed. And all who followed him were
dispersed and came to nothing. And after him Judas the Galilean
rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the
people after him. He too perished, and all who
followed him were scattered. So in the present case I tell
you, keep away from these men and let them alone.
For if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will
fail. But if it is of God, you will
not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing
God. So they took his advice.
Let me, let me just help you for a moment to understand who this
is. See, see the Pharisees and
Sadducees were different. The, the Pharisees believed in
the coming Messiah. They believed in the
resurrection. They believed in life after
death. But the Sadducees did not.
And so the Pharisees actually would not have been offended
quite as much by Peter's preaching, but the Pharisees
actually had an oral tradition where they could interpret the
written law. And this oral tradition is
called the Torah. And they would interpret the
law, which gave them a little more flexibility and they were a
little more open to change. But the Sadducees only accepted
the written law and were far more rigid, far more
conservative. And so a Pharisee from the
minority party steps in and calls for moderation.
But this guy, Gamilio the first is famous.
He's respected. He's even referred to often in
Jewish rabbinic literature. It's the Mishnah, which is a
written version of that. Oral tradition actually says
this. When Robin Gamilia the elder
died, the glory of the law ceased and purity and abstinence
died. He was very well respected.
He was the son or grandson of a very famous rabbi named Hillel
that Jesus himself would often quote, and he had great
influence. He was also the president or the
Nazi of the of the court. But here's what you know him
for. He had a student.
He had a pupil named Saul of Tarsus, the apostle Paul.
So he gives these two examples from Jewish history.
See, this wasn't the first time that a false Messiah or somebody
claiming to be in the Messiah had arose and risen up or, or,
or there were there were there were people who wanted
revolution against Rome or people who rebellious against
this or that. So these movements would come
and go and this court would see him and, and judge them often.
And so for them, this was just one of those which was part of
their problem. God wasn't in them and thus
didn't sustain them. He says God's going to work out
His will. A movement that has its backing
is going to prevail. Otherwise it will fail.
So leave them alone, lest you find yourself fighting God.
I wonder sometimes because of the history in your life,
because past experiences in your life, how many of you are
fighting God today? I really feel like some of you
are supposed to respond today. I've been feeling that all day.
I've been telling Charles that. It's been bugging me a little
bit today. Something's supposed to happen.
Maybe I'm not going to see it in the service, but maybe it's
going to come later. But somebody something and I
don't talk like this often, but what do you do in fighting God
based on your past, based on history something be careful.
Are you abiding in him and he and you so that you know what is
perfect will is for you and your life and so and so and so this
church can move together to bear fruit.
Well, look at verse 40. Look at verse 40 and when they
had called in the apostles, they beat them.
Don't miss that. It's 2 little words in it, but
it's going to mean a whole lot more than that.
Beat them and charge them not to speak in the name of Jesus and
let him go. So after his counsel, they beat
the apostles. This is not some minor thing.
Now this is not the same as the scourging that Jesus went
through, but this is a a flogging which would be 39
lashes save one. According to Deuteronomy chapter
25. They would only give 39 in case
they miscounted. So they wouldn't violate the law
because you couldn't go above 40.
And they used a triple strap of chalahyde and the victims would
be bare chested and kneeling and you got 2 lashes on the back for
every lash on the front. And this was not a small thing.
People died from this and they were ordered not to preach
anymore. Suffering may come, but God
can't be stopped. So they just quit.
The apostles gave up. Never hear from them again.
That's what happened. It's too hard.
It's too much. Didn't have my way.
Had to suffer for Jesus. I'm not doing that.
That's too uncomfortable. Didn't like the way the chairs
were arranged, didn't like the temperature.
I didn't like that song or something.
It's too hard. Too hard.
I quit. I'll go find a better show
somewhere else. Starting the middle now, aren't
I? But it's too hard.
Look at verse 41. Then they left the presence of
the Council. I'm not sure we can relate to
this next part. I'm not sure we can even
understand this next part. Rejoicing that they were counted
worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
And every day in the temple and from house to house, they did
not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.
See #4 the mission of God cannot be stopped.
They could not be persuaded to stop.
They could not stop. They would not stop.
Instead, they rejoiced that they were considered worthy enough to
suffer for the sake of Jesus Christ.
Again, I'm just not sure we can even relate to this.
I know people who are paralyzed when things in life don't go
exactly the way they want them to.
Are we worthy enough to even join the mission?
Are we worthy enough to be used by God?
Is Inglewood worthy enough to obey even when it's hard for His
glory? Will we pay the price?
Because I promise you, the enemy, we'll be right at the
gate. He's going to press and he's
going to try. But the apostles didn't stop
their testimony. Not only did they do it in the
temple and they're now going house to house every day, not
Sundays, not just Wednesday nights, but every day.
Tell they weren't Baptist, they didn't cease, couldn't shut up.
So what God calling you to do today?
If God's calling you to salvation, do not stop.
If God's calling you to baptism or church membership, do not
stop. If God's calling you to
volunteer to serve, do not stop. If you know you should join a
Connect group, do not stop. If God is calling you to
missions or ministry, do not stop.
Remember what the Latin says. Semper avante deos valente.
Semper avante deos Valente ever forward, if God wills.
We constantly press forward. The King has a mission in the
plans of man and the plans of this world will not be able to
stop him. Satan will not be able to stop
him. And I believe with all my heart
God has a mission for Englewood Baptist Church and and he cannot
be stopped because He is God. He is real and you can be
certain of it. He changed their lives.
He changed the lives of multitudes.
He changed mine and He can change yours.
He's been changing others all around you.
So is it your time now, no matter how hard that may seem to
you got to listen to him speak to your heart.
In fact, listen to these words from God through the prophets.
Listen to the prophet Isaiah. He says, for my thoughts are not
your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Or listen to the prophet Jeremiah.
Oh Lord God, it is you who have made the heavens and the earth
by your great power and by your outstretched harm.
Nothing is too hard for you. Behold, I am the Lord, the God
of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?
Your life, your past, your sin, your lostness, your future, your
present, none of these things are too hard for Him.
Doesn't matter. Mark Twain once said the secret
of getting ahead is getting started.
What do you need to do right now to get started?
What? One step, one prayer, one
decision, one choice that you need to make this morning for
you to be in step with the mission of God.
Maybe it's salvation, maybe it's baptism, maybe it's church
membership, maybe it's recommitment, maybe it's prayer
and intercession. What do you need to do this
morning as we go to Him in prayer?
Father, thank you. Thank you for your word.
I'm thankful, Father, that what I say really doesn't matter, but
what you say can transform us. And Father, I'm no Mystic.
I don't know what you're doing in the hearts of people.
You just impressed upon me strongly this morning that I
felt like that something needed to happen today.
Maybe it's in me, Father. Maybe it was me.
We'll see. The Father.
I just thank you that you're working.
I thank you that we are in your hands and that, Father, we,
we're not doing this on our own. We're not doing this by our
strength. We, we can't do that, Father,
we're depending upon you. So Father, I pray for those here
that right now, Lord, that your Holy Spirit, because your Holy
Spirit is the only one that can do this according to your word
in Corinthians, that Father, you need to remove the spiritual
blindness. You need to help those people
who need to move forward with you in some way.
For some it's salvation. They, they need to be saved.
For others, it's a it's the testimony of baptism after their
salvation that they need to make.
For some, they they need to quit being visitors and attenders and
they need to join the church. They need to become an official
member so that they can serve and so that we can help one
another in a greater way. Father, I'm burdened for those
who serve overseas that were sent out by our church.
Father, I'm thankful that Pastor Charles and I could be visiting
with him over the last several weeks.
And Father, I just pray that there are more people who would
go. There are unreached people
groups who need. Somebody with the gospel, so
maybe they're called to ministry or maybe they're called to
missions today. Others might just need to come
and kneel at these steps as an altar before you Lord and pray.
Then you pray for themselves. Then you pray for the families.
Then you pray for the friends, whatever it is or, or they need
to take a pastor by the hand and say, would you pray with me?
Surrender obedience to your control, your power.
That's it. Help us to do that, whatever it
is, right now, in Christ's name, Amen.
Stand with me if you would. Pastors are going to be standing
here. We'd love to pray with you.
We'd love to share about whatever it is the Lord's laying
on your heart. Maybe you just want to come and
pray. Whatever you need to do, you do
it right now as we go before you.
Thank you so much for listening today, and I also hope that
you'll go to ourwebsite@englewoodbaptist.com
as well as our app and find many other resources that will bless
you and your families. Thank you once again.