1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:04,200 So Acts chapter 4, verse one, the priests and the captain of 2 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:07,200 the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and 3 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:08,560 John. While they were speaking to the 4 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:11,480 people. They were greatly disturbed 5 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:15,240 because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming 6 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:17,640 in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 7 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:21,960 They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put 8 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:26,240 them in jail until the next day. But many who heard the message 9 00:00:26,240 --> 00:00:29,240 believed so. The number he believed grew to 10 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:34,000 about 5000. The next day the rulers, the 11 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:36,640 elders, and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 12 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:41,280 Anas, the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, 13 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:43,880 Alexander, and others of the high priest family. 14 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:47,240 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to 15 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:50,520 question them. By what power or name did you do 16 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:54,400 this? Then Peter filled with the Holy 17 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:58,160 Spirit said to them, rulers and elders are the people. 18 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:01,200 If we have been called to account today for an act of 19 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:05,040 kindness shown to a man who was lame are being asked how he was 20 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:08,840 healed, then know this you and all the people of Israel. 21 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:12,760 It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you 22 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:16,800 crucified, but in God raised from the dead that this man 23 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:21,360 stands before you healed. Jesus is the stone you builders 24 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:24,080 rejected, which has become the cornerstone. 25 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:28,120 Salvation is found, and no one else, for there is no other name 26 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:31,080 under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. 27 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:36,640 And when they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that 28 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:40,080 they were unschooled ordinary men, they were astonished. 29 00:01:40,320 --> 00:01:43,080 And they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 30 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:46,880 But since they could see the man who had been healed standing 31 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:49,360 there with them, there was nothing they could say. 32 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:52,560 So they ordered them to withdraw from Sanhedrin and then 33 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:55,800 conferred together. What are we going to do with 34 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:57,240 these men? They asked. 35 00:01:57,480 --> 00:01:59,920 Everyone in living in Jerusalem knows they've performed A 36 00:01:59,920 --> 00:02:02,480 notable sign, and we cannot deny it. 37 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:05,520 But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the 38 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:09,000 people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in 39 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,400 this name. And then they called them in 40 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:15,640 again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the 41 00:02:15,640 --> 00:02:18,600 name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, 42 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:23,400 Which is right in God's eyes to listen to you or to him? 43 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:27,800 You be the judges. As for us, we cannot help 44 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:30,240 speaking about what we have seen and heard. 45 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:34,240 And after further threats, they let them go. 46 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:37,800 They could not decide how to punish them because all the 47 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:41,120 people were praising God for what had happened, for the man 48 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:44,440 who was miraculously healed was over 40 years old. 49 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:49,160 Well, I hope if you've been here at all the last little while, 50 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:51,560 you might even just see this morning the book of Acts. 51 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:55,840 It is a precious gift from God to any local church. 52 00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:00,080 It's the unique record of the early years of the Christian 53 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,440 Church in the city of Jerusalem. And without Acts, we'd have a 54 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:08,240 much poorer picture of what it means to follow Jesus and live 55 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:10,080 as his witnesses. Just imagine if we didn't have 56 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:12,440 the book of Acts. We'd have so much more guesswork 57 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:16,080 to do about what it means to be a local church. 58 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:19,400 And actually, the book of Acts was much shorter if it was just 59 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:21,440 a couple of chapters. Say it finished at the end of 60 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:25,600 chapter 2, then the picture we get of life in the local church 61 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:30,760 is one of largest of joy and peace and steady growth. 62 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:34,360 At the end of chapter 2, you might expect healthy church life 63 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:38,960 to always look like the steadily ascending curve, basically, 64 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:41,000 where new people become believers every day, where 65 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,920 believers grow in love and worship and witness together, 66 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:47,680 where everything just keeps getting better all the time. 67 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:52,120 And this is how Luke sums up the life of the early church at the 68 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:53,960 end of chapter 2. We look at this a few weeks ago. 69 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:57,080 Every day they continue to meet together in the temple courts. 70 00:03:57,240 --> 00:03:59,840 They broke bread in their homes and act together with glad and 71 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:03,200 sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the 72 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:05,320 people. And the Lord added to their 73 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:08,520 number daily those who were being saved. 74 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:14,080 It's an amazing picture of a healthy local church here, and 75 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:16,320 even if ACT stopped where we were last week at the end of 76 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:18,959 chapter 3, it's still an amazing picture. 77 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:23,080 Peter and John have just healed a lame man in the name of Jesus. 78 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:26,280 They've transformed his life. He's now physically healed, 79 00:04:26,280 --> 00:04:28,000 we're told. He's walking and jumping and 80 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:31,080 praising God and he's spiritually transformed. 81 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:34,880 He's now a joy filled worshipper of God. 82 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:39,160 Overall, Acts chapters one to three paint a pretty idyllic 83 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:43,720 picture of the early church. A church that was 3000 strong 84 00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:46,680 and growing. A church that was loving Jesus 85 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:49,840 and loving each other, enjoying the favour of all the people, 86 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:52,560 seeing people come to faith in Jesus daily. 87 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:56,800 It's very much the honeymoon period of the early church. 88 00:04:57,840 --> 00:04:59,800 And as a result, actually people reading these chapters, 89 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:02,280 Christians over the centuries, they've, they've both been 90 00:05:02,280 --> 00:05:06,520 hugely encouraged by the opening chapters of Acts, but also sort 91 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:09,800 of on a bad day, they felt really intimidated, maybe even 92 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:13,600 crushed by the picture of the early church here. 93 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:18,600 If you read Acts one to three and go, why isn't my church like 94 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:22,760 that? Why isn't our life together like 95 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:25,560 this? We feel so small and weak by 96 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:27,720 comparison. It doesn't feel like we enjoy 97 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:30,040 the favour of all the people. It feels like people think we're 98 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:32,280 pretty irrelevant or they oppose us. 99 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:35,200 We don't see anything like the growth in numbers and success 100 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:37,680 and evangelism that the early church had. 101 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:42,520 Why can't our church, my church, be more like the early church in 102 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:46,000 Jerusalem? How should we respond to those 103 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:51,320 feelings of of disappointment and inadequacy in these early 104 00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:54,840 chapters? I think in one hand it is really 105 00:05:54,840 --> 00:05:58,160 good to feel challenged by the picture of the early church we 106 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:00,160 get in the opening chapter of Acts. 107 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:03,240 It's a glorious vision of what a local church should be. 108 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:05,960 And, and I believe that we're meant to learn from it and ask 109 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:09,160 God to grow these things on us. So we're told that the early 110 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:11,160 church was devoted to the apostles teaching. 111 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:13,920 We want to be devoted to the apostles teaching in the word. 112 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:16,200 They're devoted to sharing life together. 113 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:20,000 We want to do that together as a church family, do it to prayer. 114 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:23,600 We want to grow in prayer. They're devoted to proclaiming 115 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:27,280 Jesus to the people around them. We want to grow in those ways. 116 00:06:28,280 --> 00:06:31,040 So in one sense it's meant to encourage us to make us 117 00:06:31,280 --> 00:06:34,960 dissatisfied, to want more from the life of our church. 118 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:40,040 But actually alongside that, it is important not to see the 119 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:44,320 early church in Jerusalem with rose tinted glasses, to think of 120 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:49,840 it as basically a perfect church because heavy shock horror, but 121 00:06:49,840 --> 00:06:53,960 the early church in Jerusalem was not a perfect church. 122 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:58,160 Some examples of it's imperfections that Luke tells us 123 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:01,080 about in Acts we're going to see in a couple of weeks time. 2 124 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:05,640 church members lied about how generous they were and they are 125 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:12,240 struck dead by God as a result. We've got told that one group of 126 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:15,840 widows in the church was consistently overlooked in the 127 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:19,400 daily distribution of food. They were suffering as a result. 128 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:20,760 The church had to do something about it. 129 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:25,960 That's in Acts chapter 6, and arguably the early church was 130 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:30,600 just too slow and reluctant to leave Jerusalem and take the 131 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:34,200 good news of Jesus to Judea and Samaria and the ends of the 132 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:35,360 earth. That actually took the death of 133 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:38,560 Stephen and a great persecution against the early believers to 134 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:43,040 drive them out of Jerusalem and into the rest of the nations. 135 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:47,760 Arguably, they were too settled in Jerusalem to actually be 136 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:50,000 obeying Jesus call on their lives. 137 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:52,880 The church in Jerusalem was not a perfect church. 138 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:56,880 We need to be careful not to idealize it or view it as such. 139 00:07:56,880 --> 00:08:01,200 An addition to these weaknesses that sort of come from within 140 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:03,880 the church. Acts 4 records the first 141 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:08,560 appearance of opposition and persecution from outside the 142 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:10,120 church. I hope you saw that when John 143 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:12,080 was reading. For the first time in Acts, we 144 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:14,600 see the early church experience opposition. 145 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:18,560 We see people rejecting the good news of Jesus. 146 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:21,440 There's an outbreak of persecution that begins in 147 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:24,880 chapter 4 and actually carries on in different ways throughout 148 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:26,760 the book of Acts. Luke's going to keep returning 149 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:30,280 to these themes of opposition, rejection, suffering. 150 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:34,280 So we read Acts and go, what a perfect time to have been a 151 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:35,480 Christian. If only I was alive. 152 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:40,559 Then we're actually missing part of the picture Luke has for us. 153 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:44,640 It's a major theme in the book of Acts and throughout the whole 154 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:47,960 Bible. Old and New Testament is the 155 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:52,280 place of suffering in the Christian life, as the Apostle 156 00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:55,440 Paul puts it later in this book, speaking to churches he had just 157 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:59,000 planted across the Roman world. Acts 1422. 158 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:04,160 We must go through many hardships to enter the Kingdom 159 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:08,480 of God. Look of Acts is open and honest 160 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:14,560 with us as followers of Jesus. We follow a crucified Saviour, a 161 00:09:14,560 --> 00:09:18,280 saviour who suffered and we follow him on the way of the 162 00:09:18,280 --> 00:09:23,040 cross, taking up our cross daily and following Jesus. 163 00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:26,800 So the Christian life isn't meant to be easy all the time. 164 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:29,960 We praise God for periods of growth as the early church did. 165 00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:34,200 But the colonist says, will we be faithful to Jesus even in the 166 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:39,320 harder seasons? And the encouragement Luke gives 167 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:43,520 in Acts chapter 4 and the subsequent chapters is this, 168 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:47,600 that when we are facing hardship, suffering, rejection, 169 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:53,600 persecution, God the Holy Spirit gives us courage to live as 170 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:58,080 witnesses for Jesus. That's the aspect of the 171 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:01,000 Spirit's work that Luke emphasizes in this passage. 172 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:05,720 God the Holy Spirit gives the apostles the words to say when 173 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:08,760 they stand trial. He teaches them how to pray. 174 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:12,080 We're going to see next time. In response to opposition, he 175 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:16,120 gives them courage and boldness to help one another keep living 176 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:18,400 as Jesus witnesses in this world. 177 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:21,680 And it's an amazing reversal, actually, of what you'd expect, 178 00:10:22,680 --> 00:10:25,120 because in our passage this morning, it's the same religious 179 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:28,800 leaders who arrested, tried and condemned Jesus to death just a 180 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:32,280 few months earlier. Now arrest and try Peter and 181 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:33,600 John. And this should have been a 182 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:36,720 terrifying moment for the early apostles. 183 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:41,600 Except. Except we see the gift of the 184 00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:45,800 Holy Spirit powerfully at work in Peter and John. 185 00:10:45,800 --> 00:10:48,640 Here verse 8. Peter is filled with the Holy 186 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:51,360 Spirit as he stands trial and the religious leaders are 187 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:55,480 shocked and silenced by Peter's courage. 188 00:10:56,560 --> 00:10:58,920 Instead of Peter and John being frightened of the religious 189 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:02,480 leaders, actually he looked to us as the religious leaders end 190 00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:06,560 up frightened by Peter and John. They don't know what to do with 191 00:11:06,560 --> 00:11:11,280 these men. It's an amazing turn around and 192 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:14,280 it's a picture for us of the difference the Holy Spirit makes 193 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:19,120 when we rely on him and ask him for the courage to live and 194 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:23,400 speak for Jesus. So let's look at this passage 195 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:27,440 together now, Acts 41 to 22. And first of all, the thing we 196 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:30,960 want to see in this first bit is that the enemies of Jesus try to 197 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:34,480 stop the apostles. That's verses one to seven. 198 00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:37,560 The enemies of Jesus try to stop the apostles. 199 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:40,960 So why are the religious leaders happy with what Peter and John 200 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:42,240 are doing? Again, Peter and John say, well, 201 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:44,200 hang on, we just did this great act of kindness. 202 00:11:44,560 --> 00:11:47,040 We heal the lame man. Why are you unhappy with us? 203 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:50,360 But Luke gives the reason in verse 2. 204 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:55,320 He says the apostles were teaching the people and the 205 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:58,040 religious leaders in the temple. They were threatened by that 206 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:00,040 teaching the people. That's our job. 207 00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:03,360 They say they feel threatened by what the apostles are doing, 208 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:07,600 just as they were threatened by Jesus teaching people when he 209 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:10,920 was in Jerusalem. And we all see the religious 210 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:13,560 leaders. They look down on the apostles. 211 00:12:13,560 --> 00:12:16,240 Look at verse 13, they look at them and they say, well, they 212 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:19,080 are unschooled ordinary men. The people shouldn't be 213 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:20,840 listening to them. They should be listening to us. 214 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:22,880 Look at our theological credentials. 215 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:24,600 Look at all the great things we know. 216 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:27,200 Why on earth are they listening to these fishermen instead of 217 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:29,880 us? There's a lot of threatening 218 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:32,000 thing here. They, they, they want to protect 219 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:36,520 their position of par. And the other main reason why 220 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:39,920 the religious leaders weren't happy in verse 2 is we're told 221 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:43,560 by Luke the apostles were proclaiming in Jesus the 222 00:12:43,560 --> 00:12:48,240 resurrection of the dead and the religious leaders were not happy 223 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:53,320 about this. There were busy 2 main groups in 224 00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:56,800 the Sanhedrin of that time, the Sadducees and the Pharisees. 225 00:12:57,680 --> 00:12:59,920 The Sadducees were told elsewhere in the New Testament 226 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:03,240 they rejected the idea of the resurrection of the dead at all. 227 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:04,600 They thought this doesn't happen. 228 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:07,480 So hearing people teach about the resurrection of the dead, we 229 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:10,920 reject that the Pharisees believe in the resurrection of 230 00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:12,120 the dead. They believe the testimony of 231 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:14,160 the prophets. But one day that would happen 232 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:18,000 when God would judge creation, but they rejected Jesus. 233 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:20,400 So their problem isn't the apostles are teaching the 234 00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:23,360 resurrection of the dead. They're saying it's in Jesus the 235 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:25,480 resurrection of the dead takes place. 236 00:13:25,720 --> 00:13:27,640 The Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection. 237 00:13:27,800 --> 00:13:29,440 The Pharisees didn't believe in Jesus. 238 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:33,000 And verse three, they seize Peter and John and put them in 239 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:36,680 jail. The enemies of Jesus are trying 240 00:13:36,680 --> 00:13:42,000 to stop the apostles. And who are these enemies of 241 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:45,560 Jesus? Well, the Jewish ruling council, 242 00:13:45,560 --> 00:13:49,040 the Sanhedrin's made-up of 71 religious leaders at this time, 243 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:54,320 and Luke named some of them. In verse 6 he names Anas, and he 244 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:56,920 was the high priest from 86 to 8015. 245 00:13:56,920 --> 00:14:00,600 He was deposed by the Romans, but he was widely regarded still 246 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:03,680 as high priest by the Jews of that time. 247 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:05,840 Luke even refers to him as the high priest, even though 248 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:07,680 officially that was not his title. 249 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:12,360 He introduces to Caiaphas, who is the son-in-law to Anna. 250 00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:16,080 So keep it in the family. He's high priest 8018 to 8036. 251 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:19,880 He's the high priest who condemned Jesus to death just a 252 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:23,480 few months earlier. And we got other names, John 253 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:25,600 Alexander. They're not mentioned elsewhere, 254 00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:27,480 but these are aristocratic names. 255 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:31,560 This group of men are the great and the good of Jerusalem. 256 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:36,360 That would be massively intimidating for Peter and John 257 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:39,920 to stand in front of them. Verse 7 that even the language 258 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:43,320 look used as they had Peter and John brought before them into a 259 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:46,440 large Amphitheatre where the Sanhedrin met. 260 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:51,840 This is all about shock and awe. This is to terrify 2 northern 261 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:57,440 fishermen into silence. And humanly speaking it would 262 00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:00,560 have worked. But you see, the enemies of 263 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:03,160 Jesus reckoned without something. 264 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:08,560 They reckoned without Jesus gift of the Holy Spirit working in 265 00:15:08,680 --> 00:15:11,840 his disciples. So the enemy of Jesus tried to 266 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:16,280 stop the apostles, but Peter courageously proclaims Jesus in 267 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:20,240 the power of the Spirit. That's verses 8 to 10 here. 268 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:23,840 Let me read that for us again. Verse 8 Luke tells us then Peter 269 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:26,680 filled with the Holy Spirit said to them, rulers and elders of 270 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:28,440 the people. If we're being called to account 271 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:31,720 today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and 272 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:34,160 are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and 273 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:37,880 all the people of Israel, It is by the name of Jesus Christ of 274 00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:41,680 Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the 275 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:44,880 dead that this man stands before you healed. 276 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:49,360 Peter's not backing down here. He's not going to. 277 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:50,680 Oh, we're really sorry we did that. 278 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:53,240 Just let us go. He's going no, you know that 279 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:56,280 Jesus who you crucified Again, this is not the first time 280 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:58,640 Peter's really named the people in Jerusalem. 281 00:15:58,640 --> 00:16:01,040 At that time. This is the guy you crucified. 282 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:03,840 But God raised him from the dead. 283 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:07,800 He's the one who healed this man, and he's the one I want all 284 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:10,360 of Israel to know about, says Peter. 285 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:18,240 How can Peter have so much courage before this terrifying 286 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:22,320 audience? Well, basically it's because 287 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:27,960 Jesus was keeping his promise to Peter and the other disciples. 288 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:33,080 Jesus keeping his promise made before the crucifixion that when 289 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:37,200 they would be standing trial for him, Jesus would give them the 290 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:41,680 words to say. This is from Luke's Gospel, 291 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:43,840 chapter 21. Jesus speaking. 292 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:45,600 They will seize you and persecute you. 293 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:48,440 They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in 294 00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:50,120 prison. You'll be brought before kings 295 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:52,600 and governors, and all on account of my name. 296 00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:54,880 And so you will bear testimony to me. 297 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:59,560 But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will 298 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:04,040 defend yourselves, for I will give you words and wisdom that 299 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:09,200 none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 300 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:14,640 In this moment before the Sanhedrin, Jesus is keeping his 301 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:20,160 promise to his people. And it's so helpful us to see 302 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:23,160 this because a question we're keeping coming back to in this 303 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:27,280 book of Acts is really, what does it look like to receive the 304 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:30,680 power of the Spirit in our lives as individuals, in our life 305 00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:34,160 together, as a church family? And in this passage, the answer 306 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:38,320 is the Holy Spirit gives us courage to live as Jesus 307 00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:41,520 witnesses, even in the face of opposition. 308 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:47,600 And The thing is, we need courage to live for Jesus. 309 00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:50,480 Again, maybe chapters one to three look like it's all going 310 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:53,560 to be plain sealing. Just you say the word Jesus and 311 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:56,200 people start trusting in him. But from this point onwards, we 312 00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:59,280 get that more nuanced picture. There are people who will reject 313 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:02,680 that message, people who will reject Jesus witnesses. 314 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:08,360 It is hard to live for Jesus when the world around us rejects 315 00:18:08,360 --> 00:18:12,640 him. It's hard when the people around 316 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:15,320 us think we're crazy for following Jesus. 317 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:21,560 It's hard when people in power try to silence us, whether 318 00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:25,040 that's people in our families who don't want to know, people 319 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:27,920 in our workplaces, people in wider society. 320 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:31,240 It is hard to live as a witness for Jesus. 321 00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:35,840 But that's why Luke says the Spirit gives us courage, gives 322 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:39,880 courage to any follower of Jesus when we ask him, so that we can 323 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:44,520 live as witnesses for Jesus in this world. 324 00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:48,280 And that's what the Spirit does for Peter here. 325 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:51,760 If you look at what Peter says in the next bit, Peter cannot 326 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:55,600 stop talking about Jesus here. His message is all about Jesus 327 00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:59,480 Christ of Nazareth, a real man who really lived among us with a 328 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:02,520 real hometown. Jesus, that name means the Lord 329 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:06,080 saves, he's a saviour Christ. That means God's special king 330 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:08,680 come to put things right in God's world. 331 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:11,680 And and Peter says, well, this Jesus, he was crucified by you, 332 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:15,600 nailed to a Roman cross by the people Peter is speaking to 333 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:20,560 Jesus died, but then God raised him from the dead. 334 00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:23,560 And what is the proof Peter points to that Jesus alive? 335 00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:26,280 Verse 10, this man stands before you healed. 336 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:30,680 He says that the man we healed in the temple courts, He is a 337 00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:33,600 picture. He's a signpost of the salvation 338 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:41,760 Jesus has won for us if we put our faith in Jesus and then he 339 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:46,680 lands on a verse so powerful and magnificent that it's our 340 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:50,640 memory. Verse for the term verse 12 in 341 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:53,720 the in Peter's response, salvation is found in no one 342 00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:58,320 else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by 343 00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:03,000 which we must be saved. The word Peter uses for saved 344 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:06,720 there in verse 12 is the same word translated back in verse 9 345 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:09,960 as healed. There's so much overlap here. 346 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:13,960 So just as as the lame man was healed in the name of Jesus, so 347 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:17,400 we can be saved by the name of Jesus. 348 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:21,120 That healing is a picture of the healing and and restoration 349 00:20:21,120 --> 00:20:24,840 sorry that Jesus brings about in the lives of everyone who trusts 350 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:26,920 him. It's a trailer for the new 351 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:31,480 creation when when sickness and sin and death will be no more. 352 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:37,760 Salvation has come, says Peter. It has come in the name of 353 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:42,200 Jesus, the Jesus you crucified, who God raised from the dead. 354 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:50,240 You need to be right with this Jesus, Peter is saying, and make 355 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:55,080 no doubt about it, these are exclusive and bold claims Peter 356 00:20:55,080 --> 00:20:58,800 is making. No one else can heal or save 357 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:03,160 like Jesus, says Peter. No other name under heaven can 358 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:06,120 make us right with God and transform us into joyful 359 00:21:06,120 --> 00:21:10,360 worshippers of God. These two negative statements in 360 00:21:10,360 --> 00:21:15,160 this verse point to 1 astonishing positive message. 361 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:20,400 Jesus saves everyone who puts their faith in Him. 362 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:25,680 Jesus saves everyone who puts their faith in Him. 363 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:29,120 The name of Jesus, the power to save and transform and restore 364 00:21:29,120 --> 00:21:31,800 anyone who puts their faith in Him. 365 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:36,880 We need to hear what Peter's telling us in verse 12. 366 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:41,080 Jesus isn't just one savior among many. 367 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:46,840 He's the only savior. He's not just one path to God 368 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:49,920 among many. He's the only path to God. 369 00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:52,320 Again, the religious leaders are very happy to believe that the 370 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:54,040 God of Israel was their only hope. 371 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:57,080 But Peter confronts him, saying, actually, in the God of Israel, 372 00:21:57,200 --> 00:21:59,160 he's revealed himself through Jesus. 373 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:01,640 So now you need to trust in Jesus. 374 00:22:02,120 --> 00:22:04,040 That's what's getting them into trouble here. 375 00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:10,000 And that's a hard claim to hear. It's hard for religious leaders. 376 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:11,800 It's hard for people in our culture. 377 00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:16,320 It's hard for us to grasp the exclusive nature of Jesus here. 378 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:20,560 I think often Christians, we can struggle with this. 379 00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:23,760 We want there to be other ways. We want there to be more wriggle 380 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:27,560 room than Peter says there is. And one fear we have, I think, 381 00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:30,320 is we think that if we really share this message with the 382 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:33,360 people around us, we will just come across as arrogant and 383 00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:37,680 intolerant and unloving. That is a fear we have. 384 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:42,800 We need to remember something. The Holy Spirit's work is to 385 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:48,040 make us more like Jesus. And Jesus wasn't arrogant or 386 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:51,560 intolerant of others. He was compassionate and loving. 387 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:55,720 He treated people with dignity and care and respect. 388 00:22:56,600 --> 00:22:59,040 And so we proclaimed this exclusive message. 389 00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:05,440 Message with the character that Jesus grows in us by his Spirit. 390 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:10,640 Again, the same apostle Peter, many years after this moment 391 00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:13,560 before the Sanhedrin, writing to a group of Christians in Asia, 392 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:15,840 says this. He says to them, In your hearts 393 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:18,880 Revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an 394 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:22,160 answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope 395 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:25,120 that you have. But do this with gentleness and 396 00:23:25,120 --> 00:23:28,680 respect, keeping a clear conscience so those who speak 397 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:31,680 maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be 398 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:35,800 ashamed of their slander. See what Peter is saying here? 399 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:38,400 He says we've got an exclusive gospel to proclaim. 400 00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:41,920 People need to know about Jesus, but we need to proclaim it with 401 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:44,600 gentleness and respect. Why? 402 00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:49,080 Because Jesus is our Lord, and by His Spirit we strive to be 403 00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:57,000 like Jesus in this world. So what does the rest of the 404 00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:58,600 passage have to say this before we finish. 405 00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:03,080 We've seen the enemies of Jesus try to stop the apostles. 406 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:06,120 We see that Peter courageously proclaims Jesus in the power of 407 00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:08,280 the Spirit. And then the great encouragement 408 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:11,360 Luke gives us is that the word of God spreads in spite of 409 00:24:11,360 --> 00:24:14,400 opposition. Again, up to this point, things 410 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:16,880 have looked pretty easy for the early church in Jerusalem. 411 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:19,280 Maybe we think, well, that's why people are joining it, because 412 00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:20,720 the Christian life looks amazing. 413 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:22,840 It's joy, it's peace. There's no opposition. 414 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,600 But the minute opposition comes, surely that's when the growth 415 00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:30,480 stops. But it doesn't look at verse 4. 416 00:24:31,120 --> 00:24:33,840 Earlier on in this passage, Luke tells us. 417 00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:36,760 But many who heard the message believed, so the number of men 418 00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:41,720 who believed grew to about 5000. So he said the early church grew 419 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:45,800 from 3000 believers to at least 5000 believers when this man was 420 00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:47,920 healed. It's unclear whether by saying 421 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:50,560 man he just means literally males or whether that's just a 422 00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:52,120 more generic term, men and women. 423 00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:55,800 But at the very least, 5000 people are now in the early 424 00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:57,800 church. Even with Peter and John in 425 00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:01,200 prison, the word of God is not in prison. 426 00:25:03,120 --> 00:25:06,200 And then you look at the way the religious leaders try to silence 427 00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:08,240 Peter and John, but they can't do it. 428 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:12,760 They can't deny what's happened. They can't deny this healing of 429 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:14,120 this man. So they they release them and 430 00:25:14,120 --> 00:25:17,680 say stop speaking about Jesus. Verse 20, Peter and John can't 431 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:20,240 agree to that. He said we cannot help speaking 432 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:22,440 about what we have seen and heard. 433 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:27,880 The word of God spreads in spite of opposition because the Spirit 434 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:31,680 of God, the presence of God himself, is with his people, 435 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:36,440 empowering them for witness. And we'll learn more about the 436 00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:39,440 early church's response to opposition and suffering next 437 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:42,520 week when we look at them at prayer in the next bit of Acts 438 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:46,000 4. But just as we serve wrap up 439 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:49,320 here, what are what are the things this passage has to teach 440 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:53,520 a church family like ours today here at Ave. 441 00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:57,720 The first thing very obviously is to say there will always be 442 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:04,240 people who reject the message of Jesus, and that's just a fact. 443 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:05,600 Luke is honest with us about that. 444 00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:09,920 Even the early church in Jerusalem, with its astonishing, 445 00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:15,560 attractive life together, still had people reject Jesus and live 446 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:19,720 as enemies of Jesus. Amazingly, even miracles, even 447 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:23,760 signs and wonders do not guarantee faith in Jesus. 448 00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:26,600 Again, the religious leaders here, they knew this lame man. 449 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:27,960 They knew him well from the temple. 450 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:31,440 They couldn't deny what had happened to him in the name of 451 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:36,480 Jesus, and yet they still rejected Jesus and the apostles. 452 00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:40,760 It's a sobering picture of the stubbornness and spiritual 453 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:44,640 blindness of so many people. That is why we need God the Holy 454 00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:49,360 Spirit to work and to open our eyes to Jesus, to warm our dead 455 00:26:49,360 --> 00:26:52,440 hearts to Jesus. That's what has to happen for 456 00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:57,000 anyone to follow Jesus. The Spirit has to work in US. 457 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:01,880 The second thing I think we still learn here, we need 458 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:04,560 courage to live as Jesus witnesses. 459 00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:08,760 But the Holy Spirit gives courage to anyone who asks. 460 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:14,320 It was CS Lewis who once wrote that courage, it's not simply 461 00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:17,840 one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue. 462 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:21,480 At the testing point. Basically, you can. 463 00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:23,680 You can say you're loving, but actually, when it's hard to be 464 00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:26,440 loving, do you carry on? You can say you're patient, but 465 00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:28,200 when it's hard to be patient, do you carry on? 466 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:32,520 Do you the courage to carry on? We need courage to live as 467 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:37,200 witnesses for Jesus, but this passage encourages us. 468 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:41,400 God can give us the courage we need if we ask him for that. 469 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:44,400 Some of us maybe naturally feel braver than others. 470 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:47,960 Some of us may have more opportunity to speak of Jesus 471 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:50,440 than others. But we all need the Spirit's 472 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:54,560 help to live as witnesses for Jesus in this world. 473 00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:59,360 I think Luke wants to encourage us with the transforming power 474 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:02,480 of the Spirit. Remember who's speaking in this 475 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:04,160 trial? It's Peter. 476 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:07,680 The same Peter who denied knowing Jesus three times to 477 00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:10,840 save his skin. And he was standing up to the 478 00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:14,160 very man who condemned Jesus to death. 479 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:21,240 The Spirit can give us courage when we ask him, and Luke just 480 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:23,560 wants us to know as well. The Word of God will spread in 481 00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:28,240 spite of opposition. It's pretty fruitless actually 482 00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:30,520 going. If only we lived in those early 483 00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:33,160 days of the church after Pentecost. 484 00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:37,640 Because we don't live there. But as she looks shows us, even 485 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:41,520 when things are hard, even when people oppose us, the Word of 486 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:45,840 God spreads. And the gospel of God has power 487 00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:51,920 because we follow a suffering Savior who walks with us when we 488 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:56,720 suffer, we follow a savour. He was rejected by humanity. 489 00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:00,320 And so when his when his people are rejected, he is with us, 490 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:05,840 helping us, comforting us, bringing his truth to bear on 491 00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:10,120 our struggles, suffering, opposition, rejection. 492 00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:15,200 All these things positively just get us away from self-reliance, 493 00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:18,200 from the belief that we can do it all on our own. 494 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:20,120 The I can be witness to Jesus on my own. 495 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:24,200 No opposition forces us into a life of faith. 496 00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:27,800 It forces us to confess our need to go. 497 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:30,080 Jesus, I need you to be at work here. 498 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:32,960 Holy Spirit, I need the courage. Only you can give. 499 00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:39,800 And so we need to learn that humility and wisdom to ask Jesus 500 00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:42,520 to give us the courage to live for him. 501 00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:48,840 Acts 4 is this new chapter in the life of the Church, a time 502 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:56,240 of persecution, of opposition. But the same Jesus, the same 503 00:29:56,240 --> 00:30:03,080 Spirit, the same gospel, is ours to share with this world around 504 00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:05,160 us. Jesus is with us. 505 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:09,080 He will give us the courage we need to live for him as we come 506 00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:12,880 to Him and ask him to work in US and through US. 507 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:19,680 We finish with verse 12 again, Peter summing up his message to 508 00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:23,160 the Sanhedrin. For salvation is found in no one 509 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:26,040 else. For there is no other name under 510 00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:30,520 heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. 511 00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:34,720 Let me pray for us. Let's, let's pray. 512 00:30:41,770 --> 00:30:47,050 Lord Jesus, we come before You today as the only one who can 513 00:30:47,050 --> 00:30:50,760 save us. Lord, there may be some of us 514 00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:53,480 very aware of that right now, and we just pray that You would 515 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:57,720 draw near and comfort us with Your steadfast love, Your 516 00:30:57,720 --> 00:30:59,560 faithfulness, Your power to save. 517 00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:04,160 Lord, there may be some of us here today who doubt whether You 518 00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:08,120 really are able to save us or please would you open our eyes 519 00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:11,080 to Your grace and Your presence and Your power. 520 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:15,120 There may be those of us here today who wish there were other 521 00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:20,440 ways of being saved, other ways of life we can live, but I pray 522 00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:24,640 you'd open our eyes to the salvation you offer us, the 523 00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:29,960 salvation you went to a cross to suffer and die and rise again to 524 00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:34,280 win for us. Lord Jesus, help us to see your 525 00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:39,840 uniqueness, your beauty, your goodness, and would we be those 526 00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:42,520 who put our faith in you as a result? 527 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:46,960 For we ask that in your name and in the power of the Spirit, 528 00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:55,080 Amen. I'm conscious of time. 529 00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:58,080 We were going to have a song now, but I think maybe we'll go 530 00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:02,640 straight into Q&A because we've already got some questions 531 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:05,960 rolling in. I think if we put the QR code up 532 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:09,640 again, you can kind of add your own questions to this. 533 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:14,000 You can also like questions that have been asked that pushes them 534 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:17,560 sort of up the up the priority list. 535 00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:20,360 But I'll maybe kind of start with one of the one or two of 536 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:24,520 those we've already got here, and then others can kind of add 537 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:27,320 additional questions. So here's one about the practice 538 00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:31,680 of the early church Richards. Should we celebrate the breaking 539 00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:36,440 of bread more often? I say weekly than we do. 540 00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:42,320 And what about in our homes? So in Acts 246 talks about 541 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:44,520 people breaking bread in homes. That's a. 542 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:48,520 Really good question. Again, we saw in Acts 2 the 543 00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:52,760 breaking of bread is some of the early churches devoted to, and 544 00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:54,560 there's a bit of debate whether the breaking of bread is 545 00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:57,840 primarily talking about sharing meals in people's homes, which 546 00:32:57,840 --> 00:32:59,760 Luke says a bit later is exactly what they did. 547 00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:03,120 But I think I'm largely persuaded that also does bring 548 00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:05,360 with it the idea of the of the breaking of bread, bread and 549 00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:07,520 wine to remember the death of Jesus. 550 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:09,920 So the question is, should we celebrate the Lord's Supper more 551 00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:12,840 regularly? I would definitely see a case 552 00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:15,160 for that. And we, you might remember if 553 00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:19,120 anyone was here during lockdown, just because of the restrictions 554 00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:21,240 on us meeting together, we actually went through a period 555 00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:24,640 of life as a church where I'm going to say for 18 months, we 556 00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:26,840 didn't celebrate the Lord's Supper. 557 00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:30,880 We, we didn't do it online. We just waited until we could do 558 00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:35,120 that in person together. And again, still today, that's 559 00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:37,880 your few years ago now. But that has made me value those 560 00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:40,600 gifts of bread and wine even more than I did before. 561 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:44,160 So our rhythm is we celebrate that once a month on a Sunday 562 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:47,800 morning. And again, that is a sense of we 563 00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:50,880 want to keep remembering Christ's death and resurrection. 564 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:53,920 For us, different traditions. Some will celebrate it weekly 565 00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:56,520 because it's so important. I grew up in a church tradition, 566 00:33:56,520 --> 00:33:58,400 a Presbyterian tradition in Northern Ireland where we 567 00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:01,680 celebrated the Lord's Supper twice a year because it was so 568 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:03,720 important. So it's a funny thing. 569 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:07,240 People have different reasons for why how you honor the Lord's 570 00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:09,800 Supper, but I think it's something we want to honor 571 00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:12,440 regularly. It's a gift from Jesus and about 572 00:34:12,480 --> 00:34:15,199 celebrating people's homes. And I know some of our home 573 00:34:15,199 --> 00:34:18,040 groups have celebrated the Lord's Supper together in homes. 574 00:34:18,159 --> 00:34:20,159 Again, we need to remember in the early church there weren't 575 00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:23,000 church buildings as such. It wasn't you gathered at a 576 00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:24,520 church building to celebrate that. 577 00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:27,000 So it was a slightly different setting than some churches 578 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:29,239 today. And I think again, if there's a 579 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:33,040 real sense of remembering what it is we're doing, that is the 580 00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:34,880 key part. In One Corinthians. 581 00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:38,080 Paul's writing to a church in Corinth that had begun to forget 582 00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:39,400 what that bread and wine was all about. 583 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:40,679 They were treating it as a banquet. 584 00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:44,120 Some were getting drunk, some were going hungry again, Paul 585 00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:45,920 says remember what it is you're doing. 586 00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:48,760 You're the body of Christ remembering the body of Christ 587 00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:52,120 given for you. So and once we've got a lot of 588 00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:54,600 freedom actually, and Christians have interpreted differently how 589 00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:57,160 regular you take the Lord's Supper where we don't have 590 00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:00,920 freedom is you take it thankfully, you take it with 591 00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:04,840 real awe and worship of Jesus for what he's done for us. 592 00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:07,840 So if people would love us to celebrate Lord's Supper more, 593 00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:10,680 please talk to the elders. We can make that happen. 594 00:35:11,240 --> 00:35:13,840 And again, people want questions about how they might celebrate 595 00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:15,840 that in home groups. Again, please come and talk in 596 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:19,160 ways we can make that happen. But it's a precious, precious 597 00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:20,480 gift. And it probably for me 598 00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:23,480 personally, it took that 18 months where we didn't do it to 599 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:25,720 really see just how precious gift is. 600 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:29,280 Yeah. So there's a clutch of questions 601 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:32,880 around this, the miraculous happenings in the book of Acts, 602 00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:35,560 signs and wonders, speaking in tongues and so on. 603 00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:40,320 And the question is how much we should kind of expect of that in 604 00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:43,960 the present. One questioner puts it, and this 605 00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:47,080 is the most popular question, Tongues, what what's going on 606 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:49,400 there? I mean, all these real languages 607 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:52,240 or is it something different? Which should we expect them now? 608 00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:55,840 You know, are these signs and wonders just something of the 609 00:35:55,840 --> 00:35:59,760 Apostolic age or could they carry on now is Ave. 610 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:03,440 continuationist or cessationist or some Christians think these 611 00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:06,240 absolutely signs have ceased. They were part of the Apostolic 612 00:36:06,240 --> 00:36:08,640 age. Others emphasized continuation 613 00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:10,680 that you know these things could still be expected in the 614 00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:13,240 present. Great questions. 615 00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:15,920 I think as elders we were chatting about it recently and I 616 00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:19,760 think we landed on cautious continuationists. 617 00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:24,160 How how sexy is that? But but yes, in a sense, I think 618 00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:27,720 we're we don't see clear thessalian Scripture that the 619 00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:30,600 the signs of the Spirit and Acts have have ceased. 620 00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:34,280 Some traditions do argue that very strongly, but we don't we 621 00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:36,720 don't we're not convinced of that here at Ave. 622 00:36:36,720 --> 00:36:39,680 But there was a caution to that because again, the great thing 623 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:41,880 we've got scripture speaks with this one Corinthians, 624 00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:44,760 particularly chapter review 12 to 14. 625 00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:48,240 There's a lot of content there with the apostle Paul helping 626 00:36:48,240 --> 00:36:51,200 the Corinthian Christian see how they were abusing the gift of 627 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:54,120 tongues and how they could use it in a way that honors God 628 00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:56,560 more. So the apostle Paul said he had 629 00:36:56,560 --> 00:37:00,600 the gift of tongues, but he primarily used it on his own 630 00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:01,800 with the Lord. He says when he's when he's 631 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:04,800 speaking in tongues, his spirit is speaking to God, but he'd 632 00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:08,040 much rather prophecy in the gathering so other people can 633 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:10,520 understand what's being said and prophesying. 634 00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:13,280 There just seems to be intelligible words about God 635 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:16,560 applying God's word to our lives, which in one sense people 636 00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:18,680 could, you could say a sermon is an act of prophecy. 637 00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:21,920 You could say discussion in Home group and just opening up God's 638 00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:25,560 word together is prophecy. But tongues it seems from 1 639 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:28,160 Corinthians and worse of I would land on this, is that that is a 640 00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:30,640 gift given to particular believers and good friends of 641 00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:34,880 mine have that gift of tongues. But most of the time they use 642 00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:37,040 that on their own in prayer to God. 643 00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:40,280 And Paul says if that is to be used in the gathered assembly, 644 00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:43,800 you then need to stop and ask does anyone have an 645 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:46,160 interpretation? And if there's no 646 00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:48,600 interpretation, you leave that to one side. 647 00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:51,400 If there is an interpretation, then you need to weigh up that 648 00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:54,440 interpretation. So again, I would say it's been 649 00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:57,000 20 years of Ave. We've been here about, I've been 650 00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:00,160 here about 15 years and we've not had instances where someone 651 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:02,840 has shared a word in tongues in a gathering. 652 00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:06,160 If they did that, they would have to feel very confident from 653 00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:08,560 Scripture that someone else could interpret that. 654 00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:12,320 We do have people messaging elders sometimes going, I'm just 655 00:38:12,320 --> 00:38:13,680 thinking about this for our church. 656 00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:16,280 I'm concerned about this. I've had a a picture or just a 657 00:38:16,280 --> 00:38:19,000 thought about this and that's really helpful for us as elders. 658 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:21,840 We then can go away and weigh that up and pray about that and 659 00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:24,560 say is something of what the Lord's saying to us in that 660 00:38:24,680 --> 00:38:29,600 picture or that message. I think in Acts, interestingly, 661 00:38:29,600 --> 00:38:32,440 when we did Pentecost, the gift of tongues at Pentecost does 662 00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:36,480 seem to be intelligible human languages that help the cry 663 00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:39,560 gathered in Jerusalem to hear what the apostles are saying in 664 00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:41,560 their own language. That does seem to be a 665 00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:46,160 particular moment where miraculously God enables these 666 00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:48,600 Galileans to speak lots of different languages. 667 00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:51,840 And that does seem to be a different example of tongues or 668 00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:55,400 languages than what Paul is dealing with in Corinth in One 669 00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:59,120 Corinthians 12 to 14. So I would say, I think I've 670 00:38:59,120 --> 00:39:01,480 known people Ave. have the gift of tongues. 671 00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:05,720 They pray privately with that gift and if that's something you 672 00:39:05,720 --> 00:39:08,080 want to talk about, I'd really happily chat to you about that. 673 00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:12,080 We don't see the gift of tongues on display on Sunday gatherings, 674 00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:15,320 largely because following the apostle Paul and Corinth, that 675 00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:18,200 doesn't seem to be the particular right context for 676 00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:20,200 that. But equally, Paul in 677 00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:24,000 Thessalonians says don't quench the Spirit, test everything. 678 00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:26,960 And that's we want to be. That's why we're cautious 679 00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:30,400 continuation as I guess is that pretty rubbish phrase. 680 00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:32,680 But then but yeah, we say actually, yeah, there there 681 00:39:32,680 --> 00:39:35,840 isn't a a big definitive that is all stopped. 682 00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:38,920 Now we're not convinced of that, but there's caution and we don't 683 00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:41,600 want that to be abused. And Paul, certainly in Corinth, 684 00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:44,240 sees that being abused and challenges it, and we want to 685 00:39:44,240 --> 00:39:46,440 follow the lead of Scripture on that. 686 00:39:48,080 --> 00:39:50,440 I think one more question and that's sort of by the 687 00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:54,800 expectations of, of sharing life together in the early church, 688 00:39:54,800 --> 00:39:57,240 you know, so the people are in each other's homes, are sharing 689 00:39:57,240 --> 00:40:00,320 their lives together, even sharing their possessions, some 690 00:40:00,320 --> 00:40:02,920 people giving everything away. You know, somebody asks, should 691 00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:05,440 I sell my house to give to the poor? 692 00:40:05,760 --> 00:40:08,120 It's quite radical, isn't it? The kind of the, the vision of 693 00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:09,800 fellowship. So what? 694 00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:11,720 What does that say to us today? I suppose. 695 00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:16,840 No, it is really radical, challenging, deeply convicting 696 00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:18,240 when you read about the early church. 697 00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:20,840 And some comedies have said actually in some ways those 698 00:40:20,840 --> 00:40:23,960 early chapters when it's the church just in Jerusalem, Luke 699 00:40:23,960 --> 00:40:26,880 is trying to show that this church is finally a restored 700 00:40:26,880 --> 00:40:28,800 Israel. They are doing what Israel in 701 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:31,720 the Old Testament should have been doing in terms of 702 00:40:31,720 --> 00:40:34,280 generosity and sharing with one another. 703 00:40:34,840 --> 00:40:37,200 So there is that call to be generous, to share a life 704 00:40:37,200 --> 00:40:38,760 together, to give to those in need. 705 00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:42,600 Those are, those are really strong and challenging cause 706 00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:45,320 again, different church traditions have dealt with this 707 00:40:45,320 --> 00:40:46,880 differently. So there have been some 708 00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:49,560 traditions who've said there really should be when someone 709 00:40:49,560 --> 00:40:53,360 trusts in Jesus, they should then sell everything they have 710 00:40:53,720 --> 00:40:57,200 and all the possessions should be held centrally by that church 711 00:40:57,440 --> 00:41:01,760 to distribute as they see fit. So if my son was here, he'd say 712 00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:03,720 that's communism. But you know, that's, that's 713 00:41:03,720 --> 00:41:06,200 kind of what, what some people would argue. 714 00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:10,520 It does seem in the early church and Acts that actually believers 715 00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:14,600 still had the freedom to either keep or give away their 716 00:41:14,600 --> 00:41:16,320 belongings. So some people read bits and 717 00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:20,000 say, well clearly that was church policy, no one owned 718 00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:23,040 anything. But spoiler for a few weeks time 719 00:41:23,040 --> 00:41:26,600 when I mentioned the two church members who lied about being 720 00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:30,120 generous, Ananias and Safari, they said they sell some some 721 00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:33,160 property and they claim that they've given all the money to 722 00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:35,080 the church to look really generous. 723 00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:38,280 And Peter challenges them about it when he knows that they've 724 00:41:38,280 --> 00:41:40,480 lied, he says. And then I ask, how is it that 725 00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:43,480 Satan so filled your heart that you've lied to the Holy Spirit 726 00:41:43,640 --> 00:41:45,960 and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for 727 00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:48,400 the land? Didn't it belong to you before 728 00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:50,720 it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't 729 00:41:50,720 --> 00:41:53,640 the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing 730 00:41:53,640 --> 00:41:55,360 such a thing? You've not just lied to people, 731 00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:57,240 but to God. So basically Peter's really 732 00:41:57,240 --> 00:41:59,640 clear and I survived, didn't have to give all the money to 733 00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:02,000 the church. The problem was they claimed 734 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:03,880 they had done that. They were trying to look more 735 00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:07,040 generous than they actually were and that is why God judges them. 736 00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:10,240 And again, historically, very recent times, people might have 737 00:42:10,240 --> 00:42:14,240 seen a recent documentary about a group called the Jesus Army. 738 00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:18,720 They took from Acts that sense of you need to sell everything 739 00:42:18,720 --> 00:42:22,640 and and put all your property at the disposal of the church 740 00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:25,000 leaders to distribute as they see fit. 741 00:42:25,720 --> 00:42:28,920 And of course the big challenge always with that as the leaders 742 00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:32,560 are fallen human beings are sinners themselves and there was 743 00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:36,880 abuse and with people exploiting that privilege of being given 744 00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:40,720 money by other believers. So I think I'm not convinced 745 00:42:40,720 --> 00:42:44,720 that the the book of Acts says we should we are commanded sorry 746 00:42:44,720 --> 00:42:47,160 to sell all our property and that should be sell held 747 00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:50,680 centrally, but equally. The problem is we kind of go 748 00:42:50,680 --> 00:42:52,800 off. I don't have to do that then 749 00:42:53,320 --> 00:42:55,960 actually the call is to be generous with what the Lord has 750 00:42:55,960 --> 00:42:59,520 given us again that that that's that sentence in in chapter 2 751 00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:03,120 about they they sold property, possessions to give to anyone 752 00:43:03,320 --> 00:43:06,480 who had need. That generosity of the early 753 00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:10,280 Christians transformed the Roman world and all too often 754 00:43:10,280 --> 00:43:13,760 Christians today we play it so safe and we just want to live 755 00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:17,480 very like our neighbors that we don't actually want to be 756 00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:20,800 generous of what we have. So even though I do not think 757 00:43:20,800 --> 00:43:24,520 it's a command for all churches everywhere to sell everything, 758 00:43:25,360 --> 00:43:29,000 actually we need to go as at least the the the commander to 759 00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:32,720 be generous with what we have. And how generous am I really? 760 00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:35,560 And that is very convicting. We should, some of we should be 761 00:43:35,560 --> 00:43:37,720 praying about and talking about with each other. 762 00:43:38,360 --> 00:43:39,960 What, what are levels of giving right? 763 00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:43,680 What, what are the needs we see around us, whether globally or 764 00:43:43,680 --> 00:43:46,920 more locally? How could we together meet those 765 00:43:46,920 --> 00:43:47,400 needs?