Bible Study: June 2, 2021

Okay, so last week, you'll recall, we got through chapter 4 of Acts, and verse 11 or 12, if I remember correctly. So I thought as we began tonight, I'd just bring us briefly up to speed on where we are, so that we're all mindful of what we talked about, where we are in this story, because the story of the New Testament church and how God worked with them and how they worked with God is very inspiring. It teaches us a lot. You know, in chapter 1, we learned about the disciples who waited for Jesus Christ. You know, they waited, and on the day of Pentecost, as they waited, God gave them the Holy Spirit in dramatic fashion. We saw as the Holy Spirit was given to them, that they went out and preached the word of God boldly, witnessed of who Jesus Christ was, who He was, used the Scriptures to prove that, and many people were convicted because of their preaching, of their boldness, of their word, and using the Scriptures, and of course, God opening their minds. And at the end of chapter 2, we saw how the New Testament church began to operate. They were living together. They wanted to be one. They wanted to continue, as you recall in verse 42 of that chapter. They wanted to continue in the apostles' teaching. They wanted to understand God's word. It was exciting to them to be seeing the things that God had opened their minds to see. They were living together by their own choice, as God had led them to do that. They were getting to know each other because they'd become family. They were bound by the Holy Spirit of God, which makes us brothers and sisters with each other, makes us one with Jesus Christ, makes us family who should participate with each other, get to know each other, love each other, just as much, if not more, than our physical families.

Then we see in chapter 3 where God is very pleased with what's going on with that New Testament church. He begins and works a tremendous miracle as they're going to the temple one day, Peter and John.

It's a miracle that was going to have so many effects that not one of them there that they would have known how many effects it would have. Of course, the man who was healed had a tremendous effect on him. Everyone knew this man. He sat at the temple day in and day out, begging, as it says, for alms.

He'd been lame for birth. Everyone recognized him. And as Peter and John came up to him, they healed him in the name of Jesus Christ. That drew a crowd. And as the crowd gathered, it also drew attention to the Jewish leaders of what was going on. So as we ended last week in chapter 4, we saw where Peter and John were boldly proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ. They gave him the credit as well it should be for the healing of that man. And they used that opportunity that God gave them to witness of Jesus Christ.

Remember that that was their mission. In Acts 1, Jesus Christ said, you will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and unto the ends of the earth. And so he gave them that opportunity, and they did it. They walked right through the door. God opened for them, and they proclaimed boldly the name of Jesus Christ and reminded the people that you, you were the ones who crucified him.

God raised him from the dead, but he is our Savior. So as we move into chapter 4, as this crowd is gathering, as you can imagine, that they would gather when something spectacular and miraculous like this happens, and they're listening to what the disciples, the apostles have to say, you know, word gets back to the power group in Jerusalem. So they come out in chapter 4, and they want to interrupt what is going on. They don't want, you know, anytime a group, they want everyone listening to them, and so they need to go out and see what is it that's being preached?

Why is this crowd gathering? What's all this pure, over-and-excitement about? So we got down to verse 10, but let me pick it up in verse 5 and just read through again to refresh our minds of the setting that we're in as, as we move forward in chapter, as we move forward in chapter 4.

In verse 5, it says, it came to pass, remember that that they, they laid hands on the apostles and locked them up until the next day, and it says, it came to pass on the next day that there are rulers, elders, and scribes, as well as Annas, the High Priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were the family of the High Priest were gathered together at Jerusalem. So they brought out the whole cavalry.

I mean, they had all the leaders assembled there. You know, one thing that I think we mentioned last week is if Peter had wanted to put together an audience to hear Jesus Christ and to preach Jesus Christ to them, none of them would have come. None of them would have paid any attention to him. They would have gone the other way. But here's God, he's bringing all the power in Jerusalem here to face Peter and John.

And so that's what happens as they gather together here, as they hear what's going on. And in verse 7, where they had set them in the midst, a very intimidating prospect for Peter and John, where they had set them in the midst, they asked, by what power or by what name have you done this? And so you can again imagine if we were in this position, if we're set down in the midst of people who don't want to hear what we're saying, and we understand the power that they have.

Peter and John were well aware that this group of men railroaded Pontius Pilate into condemning Jesus Christ to death. They knew that these guys had the power of life and death over them. When they were faced with it before, Peter ran three times. He didn't want anything to do with them. But here they were now sitting down in the middle of them. And it was a very threatening situation.

And they asked them the question, what are you doing? Who gives you the authority to do these things that you're doing? In verse 8, Peter, notice what it says, filled with the Holy Spirit. Last week, remember, we went to Luke 21. Now we compared what happened to Peter and John here with what Christ prophesied for the end times, when he says, when you're called between magistrates and kings.

Don't worry. Don't worry about what you're going to say. I'll give you the words to say in the very hour. That's exactly what happened to Peter here. He gives the perfect response, if you will, for what this gathering is and why God turned this into an occasion to witness to these men that are gathered there. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said, rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man stands here before you whole.

Now, in that one short sentence, Jesus Christ said, and not Jesus Christ, Peter said an awfully lot. In that one short opening line, he told him, Jesus Christ is the Messiah, you condemned him to death. He's been resurrected by God. It's by his power that this man stands before you whole. None of those men wanted to hear. None of those men that were gathered there wanted to hear that. That's exactly what they didn't want to hear.

But he took that opportunity, filled with God's Holy Spirit, to say exactly the right words so that they could never deny what they'd been told that day. In verse 11, then Peter backs it up with Scripture. He backs it up with Psalm 118 verse 22. He says, this man Jesus Christ, this is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. So, you know, just like the Church of God does, just like the disciples of Christ did, just like Jesus Christ did, whatever we teach you back up by Scripture.

That's the Word of God. That's the truth. That's the foundation upon which all of our salvation depends and all our beliefs should be based and our actions and direction in life should be taken. And so he uses that Scripture, and those Jews, those Jewish leaders that were there, they knew exactly what he was talking about. They got exactly what he was doing, that he was comparing Jesus Christ. This is the stone you rejected. He's now the chief cornerstone. He's going to say in the next verse, salvation. Well, let's just take the time to wander back to Psalm 118. Or is it Psalm 118? Yeah, Psalm 118.

It's always helpful to see the words that the New Testament people are validating from the Old Testament, letting us know that, yes, when Jesus Christ said, the law and the prophets are not done away with, they still remain. That's still truth. You still live by those things. In Psalm 118, we see the words that they're quoting from, and a little bit beyond that.

In Psalm 118, verse 22, it says exactly what Peter was saying there. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Now, remember when the Jews heard a verse in the Bible? They knew the Bible so well that they could repeat to you, maybe not verbatim, but they knew what the next verse was. So when they were given this reminder of Psalm 118, verse 22, they knew what the rest of the stands of their said. It says in verse 23, this was the Lord's doing. This was the eternal's doing. He's the one. This is His plan.

This is what was happening here. You guys didn't get one over on Jesus Christ and God. This was His plan all along. Jesus Christ would die. Jesus Christ would be resurrected. He would have died for our sins. He would give us the hope of eternal life. This was God's plan for the beginning of time. This was the Lord's doing. It's marvelous in our eyes. And God's plan is marvelous in our eyes. It's not always pleasant what we go through. It's not always that we understand every single thing that He's doing. But when we do understand and when we have faith in Him that everything that happens is in accordance with His will, that He is in complete control and He will bring His Son back to earth.

He will get us ready if we let Him to do the work that He wants us to do. It's marvelous in our eyes. We're very happy that God is in control and has these things happen. This was the Lord's doing. It's marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made. It's His time. It's exactly what He had orchestrated. We will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day.

And we can say the same thing about today. We face things as we look at prophecy that are ahead of us that aren't so pleasant from a human perspective. But we can be glad in the day. We know that God is in control. We know as we look forward to the Kingdom that all the pain, suffering, and tribulation that might come don't compare to the return of Jesus Christ and Him being able to pour His Spirit out on people.

And the misery that the world endures today will be healed or be resolved when mankind is brought under the control of God's Holy Spirit. So as Peter is saying these words, the Jewish leaders are thinking about these things.

They know what he's saying. We're happy. This is the day that God has made. We're not thrown for a loop at all. We're here boldly telling you what is the truth. We go back to Acts 4 and verse 12. It's a hallmark verse in the New Testament that's attested throughout. In verse 12, Peter goes on after he says, Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone, nor is there salvation in any other.

For there is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved. Now that's a pretty bold statement to make to a group of people who don't want to hear Jesus Christ, who are only looking to cancel Him and to eliminate Him from Jewish minds and from the Jewish history. Then he says, you know, there is no other name by which salvation comes, guys. This is the truth. This is it. Jesus Christ, every need must bow to Jesus Christ. That's a statement, you know, for all of us to recognize and be thankful that, you know, God has called us today and that we bow to Jesus Christ. And bowing to Him just doesn't mean that we acknowledge that He's Savior and that He resurrected from the dead.

But bowing to Him means He's King, He's supreme, and if we love Him and if we follow Him, then we do everything He says. We obey His commands exactly as they are in His words, live our lives as He did, and yield ourselves to Him in His Holy Spirit. We can go back to Philippians. Here's Peter and John saying that as Paul ministers to the Gentile churches, he says the same things to them.

He says the same things to them for Philippians 2. Begin in verse 5. I'm just going to, I want to go down to verse 10 and 11, but you know it's always helpful to read the context and as Paul is writing here to the Philippian church, he says many things we can take note of. He says in verse 5, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Well, the way that mind is in us, the way it is, is the Holy Spirit that God puts in us.

And we read that a little later on. We'll read 1 Corinthians 2 again so that we have that firmly in our mind because it ties into Acts 4 here later. Let, let, and there's a key word, let, right? Let God lead you. Let God direct you. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, didn't consider it robbery to be equal with God. He didn't count it loss to not be God anymore and to take upon himself being born as flesh and blood.

It was part of God's plan. It was for a purpose beyond, beyond him, and he was willing to make that sacrifice. But he made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, that's that Greek word, doulos, slave, taking the form of a slave and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death.

Well, he never sinned, and he was always obedient to God's law. He followed it perfectly, but he was also obedient to the plan of God, the plan of God that wasn't so pleasant for him at the end of his life, between the suffering and the death that he would, that he would endure. But he was obedient to it. He was obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God also has highly esteemed or has highly exalted him and given him the name, which is above every name.

Look at what God has said. Look what he did. Look at the sacrifice he made. Look at how the plan of God, the overall plan of God has been, has been forwarded because of Jesus Christ willing to sacrifice the way he did. And his understanding that God had in mind for mankind something beyond 70, 80, 90, 100 years of physical life, something that he had in mind for man that we are learning now and he is getting us ready for. Getting us ready for. Verse 10, that the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. The Muslims, the Buddhists, the Catholics, all those who were born before Jesus Christ's name was ever heard.

Every single man, woman and child that every, every knee will bow to Jesus Christ and acknowledge him as king and acknowledge him, to follow him exactly as he said to follow him. If eternal life is going to be part of their future. Now for the first fruits, those in the first resurrection, we understand that. Having gone through Pentecost and by the fact that we've been in the church for a while, we know that at the second resurrection, every, the rest of all mankind who has ever lived will be resurrected and they'll have that opportunity at that time to bow to Jesus Christ, to understand and to yield to him the same opportunity that you and I have today.

That the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth. Everyone, the heavenly beings, bow to Jesus Christ, those on earth, bow to Jesus Christ and of those under the earth.

Whatever exactly that means, those who are buried, those who are part of the ground, those who all the rest of humanity, all of them. That every knee, those in heaven, those on earth, and of those under the earth. And we know from Acts 10, for those of us who may be newer, there are no men in heaven.

Jesus Christ specifically said, no man has ascended into heaven except him. And not even David, we read in Acts 2, has ascended into heaven. So no man has ascended into heaven. So when it talks to those in heaven, it's talking about the heavenly beings that we read about in those various visions. The 24 elders, the angels, the seraphim, the caravim, the archangels. Of those under the earth. In verse 11, every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Every single one. Every single religion, no matter what people believe today, they will all come to understand in the time that God determines to open their minds, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. He's the only way to eternal life. He's the only way to the kingdom of God.

There is no other way and there is no other name and there is no other God, just Him. It's a powerful, powerful verse. A powerful, powerful message that Peter was giving to the Jews that day. They didn't want to hear it. There's many people today that don't want to hear it.

But it is simply fact. It is simply truth. There's no way around it in any way, shape, or form. That's simply it. Our job is to yield to God and yield to Jesus Christ and honor His name and follow Him. So check my notes here and see if there's something else I wanted to look at here. No, let's go back to Acts 4 then.

So here it is. Peter makes his opening statement and he says a mouthful. He says a mouthful before the...I'm going to call him the Sanhedrin because that's kind of the governing body that's there. He says a mouthful in those four verses there. Five verses, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Then he speaks. And the Jewish leaders are just sitting back, taking it in. They don't even know how to respond. In verse 13, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, like, who are these guys? Where did they come from? We've never been talked to like this. Don't they know who we are? When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.

So perhaps as they sat there and they watched Peter talk and they watched John with him, they thought back and thought, you know, this is the same guy when we arrested Jesus Christ as Peter, who was lurking around the temple. He kept running away. No one stood up that night. Peter wasn't there to defend Jesus Christ. John wasn't there to defend Jesus Christ. They were all absent. But they were with him. And we'll look at him today. They're so far different. They're so far different than they were. Back just a few short weeks ago.

Verse 13, you know, kind of tells us the way men think right there. It says, look at these guys in the Sanhedras. These were the ones who would have gone through, you know, the then whatever seminary they had, whatever religious school they had, the scribes, the Pharisees, all the training that they went to. They would look at these guys and say, well, does Peter, did he ever attend our religious school? Was he ever one of us? Does John ever one of those? They're uneducated. They're untrained men. Who are they to be talking like this? But they speak with such authority like they know what they're talking about. You know, they said the same thing about Jesus Christ when he would speak. Right back in Mark 1. Jesus Christ begins his ministry, one of the many several examples of when he would get up and speak and people would marvel at what he had to say. Like, who is this guy? He's not a scribe. He's not a Pharisee. He's not one of the elders. He's not. He doesn't have any of these credentials that we look to and told how great they are. Mark 21 of Mark 1. They went to Capernaum and immediately on the Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and he taught. And they were astonished at his teaching. For he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. What was the difference? What was the difference between the scribes? The scribes, they were the ones who sat, they copied the Old Testament down letter by letter painstakingly. As a point of pride for them, every letter had to be exactly perfect. They knew that Bible by virtue of copying it down, just like you and I would if we wrote down every scripture in the book.

And yet when Jesus Christ stood up and spoke, he spoke to them with authority, not like one of the scribes. What would be the difference? What would be the difference in the way he spoke versus the way the scribe spoke?

Well, they could be very exact in their wording, right? They could speak with all sorts of book knowledge. We can talk to you about this scripture and we can tell you what this scripture says and we can relate it to this other scripture here. And it could be very much a very good content sermon. But when Jesus Christ spoke, they could tell it was coming from his heart. There was more than just the book learning that he knew. It wasn't that he could just recite scripture and knew answers. He spoke from the heart as one who had something to say, and they could perceive the difference. What he's saying, he means. What he's saying, he believes. What he's saying, he says it in a different way than those scribes who have all this book learning. But they couldn't speak the same way that Jesus Christ spoke. Or the apostles spoke.

You know, the same is true for us today. Let's go forward to 1 Corinthians 1. Let's go forward to 1 Corinthians 1 and read through some of 1 Corinthians, the last part of chapter 1 here. It reminds us of who we are. It reminds us of who God has called.

None of us went to the world's famous theological schools. None of us went to this prestigious theological university. None of us have masters of theology or doctorates or anything like that. And yet, the Church of God preaches the Word of God and teaches the truth of God in a way different than what the world calls Christian religions of them. They need to have all these doctorates and all these letters behind their name. And yet, when you look into the Bible, you see they're not teaching what Jesus Christ taught at all.

Not at all. When you look into the Bible and see what Jesus Christ taught, let's look at 1 Corinthians 1.26. And in connection with what we're reading there as the Jewish leaders, you know, we'll look and say, where did these guys come from? Verse 26, 1 Corinthians 1, for you see your calling, brethren. Not many wise, according to the flesh. Not many of those with the PhDs and the masters in theology and the so-called wise and Bible scholars of the world.

Not many of you, not many wise, according to the flesh. Not many 90, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the so-called wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. That was what was going on there in Acts 4. As Peter and John spoke to the wise of that age, we're going to see they had no they had no response. Just who are who are these guys?

Where did they get this authority that they're speaking with? And the base things of this world he has called, and the things which are despised, God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring them in verse 28, if I skipped one here, to bring to nothing the things that are.

That no flesh should glory in his presence. But he says of you and me and everyone that he calls, of him, but of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God. Because he lived, because he lived the perfect life, because he died, because he was resurrected, because the Holy Spirit of God then was able to be given to us and all those who God would call who would respond to him.

Because of that we have the wisdom of God. Not because we're wise and scholarly, but because God put his Holy Spirit in us, which as we recall, gives us understanding, gives us knowledge, leads us into truth, guides us in all things, brings to remembrance all things, comforts us, the whole thing that Jesus Christ talked about when he said the comforter would come to you. But of him, verse 30, you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that as it is written, he who glories let him glory in the Lord. So none of us can look and say, oh, you know, because I'm so wise, look at the college, look at the years I spent studying, look at the prestigious university I went to and all that.

None of us can say that. Everything we have, everything we preach, everything we teach is because God's opened our mind. It was 100% because of him, not one of us found this on our own, not one of us looked into Bible and unlocked the mysteries is because God opened our minds. He goes on in 1 Corinthians 2 to talk exactly about that. Let's drop down into verse chapter 2 here and look, pick it up in verse 6. Paul continuing to write, you know, says, however we speak wisdom, we speak wisdom.

Remember, wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. The wisdom that we know is God's truth, is God's way. However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, those who have God's Holy Spirit, those who God is leading, those who God has allowed, who have allowed God to work in them. We speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, not the wisdom of the Jews, not the wisdom of modern day, the world's Christianity, but the wisdom that comes from God, the wisdom that comes from His Word.

Yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. People hear us and it's like, what are you talking about? How do you see that in the Bible? Why don't we see that in the Bible? Why doesn't the Bible be important to us when we do see it in the Bible? It's because God has given us His Spirit now.

The rest of the world will receive it, but those of us can feel very, very blessed that God has opened our minds now. But we speak the wisdom of God in the mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the ages for our glory. It's exactly the way that He wants it to be. It's exactly the way He intended for it to be. Not because we're wonderful and great, but because He had a purpose for people that He would call first and then the rest of humanity later. Again, which none of the rulers, He goes on to say, of this age knew, for had they known, they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of glory.

Had they known what we knew? No, they wouldn't have done it, but they were blind. They were just following their own human reasoning. They were responding to their carnal nature that said, this man is threatening our position. We don't want Him around. We don't want Him part of us. Same thing that we can see in the world today. Human nature is the same no matter what the setting or no matter what the century, just the times and the settings may occur, but human nature is the same. It always goes to the same thing.

To verse 10, God has revealed what we know. God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the Spirit of the man which is in Him? We talked about that. We talked about that on Sabbath. It's the Spirit of man that allows us to have dominion over the world and to understand the things of the world. We all understand that. We're born with it. But even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. We have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, not looking over there, not saying, hey, you know what, this is what this church over here says, we're going to say the same thing. God says, don't do that. Don't add to, don't take away, preach, and use this Bible, my word, as your base. These things we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Verse 14 explains why the people of the world can't understand what we can understand. The natural man doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God. They're foolishness to him. Nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. Not their fault. Not because they're stupid. God hasn't chosen at this point to open their minds. Verse 16, you know, it says, for who has known the mind of the Lord that may instruct him? We have the mind of Christ. We have the mind of Christ. God, when he puts his Holy Spirit in us, we begin to think like him, react like him, interact with each other like him, interact, and how to develop a relationship with God, the way Jesus Christ developed a relationship with God, all those things as he grows us from infant to adult that become part of our lives. And as Paul is talking here, back in Acts 4, you know, this is what the Jewish leaders don't understand of what's going on. You know, in Acts 4, when they look at Peter and John and say, who are these guys? What college did they go to? What letters are behind their names? What degrees that they have? Why are they speaking so boldly? They don't get it because they don't have the Spirit of God, but it's the Spirit of God that is speaking, you know, here through Peter and John. So we're back in Acts 4. So they sit there and they listen. They listen to Peter and John. And in verse 14, we see they don't even have a retort. They can't even really reply because it's so stunning what they just heard and what they've witnessed. Verse 14 says, and seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. We're taking for a loop. We didn't expect this. This is something that we cannot deny.

What these men have spoken, how do we speak against it? The fact that this man that we all know is standing here healed? How can we deny that? And so they do what what leaders, autocratic leaders do. When they had commanded them to go outside of the council, they conferred among themselves.

So as they dismiss Peter and John, the politicking begins. Okay, okay, Anas, okay, Caiaphas, okay, elders, rulers, scribes. How do we counter this? How do we spend this story? And, you know, we've been faced with facts that we simply cannot deny. What do we do to unwind this that we've gotten ourselves into? And so just like politicians in the world today, let's spend this story to our favor. Let's spend this story against them. It's the politicking that went on back then. It's the same politicking that we see because it's part of human nature. How do we make the story fit what our scenario is? Let's ignore the truth. Let's just spend it in our favor. And that's what the Sanhedrin, the Jewish leaders, are doing when they dismiss him and talk among themselves. What are we going to go back and say? How are we going to handle this? We've got a problem on our hands here. These guys are saying things that we don't even have an answer to what they say. And they're saying it so boldly with conviction. How do we counter? You can tell it's in their heart they really believe this. So in verse 16, it says, they conferred among themselves, saying, what are we going to do to these men? For indeed that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem.

Now we can't deny it. But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them that from now on they speak to no man in this name. Okay? Well, when we don't have the words, when we can't come back with it, you know what? We're just going to threaten them. If you keep speaking of this name, we're going to throw you in jail. We're going to discourage you. We're going to beat you. We're going to do whatever we can. We're going to do whatever we can. We want to scare you into submission. We'll use fear to bring you into submission. That's what man does, right? That's what man trying to have the authority over man does. I'll scare them into submission. I'll use fear as a tactic. Satan uses that fear as a tactic. But look what they want to do. So that's what they're going to do. Not something they're not yielding to God at all. These are the religious leaders. We'll just scare them into submission.

But notice what they're doing, too. That they will no longer speak in this man's name. Again, we see the ancient cancel culture. We don't want to hear the name Jesus Christ. We don't want that name preached. We don't want people hearing it. We thought we had him dead and buried. And we don't want you speaking it anymore. As we look at the world around us today, as you hear that term cancel culture, always remember this is the same thing. It's the same human nature that was trying to do that to Jesus Christ. The same human nature that works in the minds of men today. As you see, let's cancel this. Let's kill this story, this idea, this truth. Everything needs to be just the way we want so that we maintain power, so that we can do the things that we want. It's the same attitude that the Jewish leaders had here as they faced Peter and Peter and John.

So they decided this is the way to go on verse 18. They called them back in. They called them back into the council. And they commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. This is the plan. We're going to threaten them and do this. And so you know that they said many words, and I'm sure they were eloquent and probably detailed in what will happen to them if they continue to speak in this name.

But look at Peter's response in verse 19. It's the perfect response to someone who is saying, obey me rather than God. Right? Peter doesn't come out and just say, no, we're not going to obey you. We're not going to listen to you. He answers it. And you know God gave him these words to give it in just the right way that made the Jewish leaders think.

He answered, whether it's right to the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. Are you going to teach us that we should listen to men more than God? Well, here's again. The Jewish leaders are stymie. They don't have a response to that, but they've been called on exactly what they are trying to force.

What they're trying to force Peter and John into. Verse 20, you know, Peter goes on and he says, for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. They're well aware of the mission. God said, you will be witnesses to me. And this is an opportunity for them to witness that they are doing it very well as God leads them and God directs them to do that. And despite in the face of, you know, to them what it could have been very grave danger because they know the power of these men to even convict them to death. That that's what they what they want to do. Now we, you know, we see this in other places too. We actually, one chapter over in Acts 5 and verse 29, we see Peter again make this statement about obeying God first before men. Acts 5 29 Peter and the other apostles answered and said plainly, again, in the face of them being threatened, don't do this. Don't follow. Don't preach Christ's name. We ought to obey God rather than men. That's simply what God would have us do. Over in Galatians 1, there's Peter and John saying that. Over in Galatians, we see Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, basically saying the same thing here in Galatians 1. In verse 10, you find the unity of the Gospel, Peter, with a spoken Jerusalem. Paul was teaching to the Gentile churches as well. Galatians 1 verse 10, he says, For do I now persuade men, or God? Do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I wouldn't be a bondservant of Christ. That's the thing for us to remember. Who are we seeking to please?

When we have, maybe not in a threatening situation where we may be thrown in jail or beaten or stripes put on us or whatever the threat is, but just in everyday life, who do we obey more? When God gives a command, do we follow that or do we sometimes yield to family, kid, coworker, ourselves?

Paul here, same thing Peter and John, said, If I please men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. Without being a bondservant of Christ, there is no eternal life. So we should keep those things in mind.

Even in times that aren't threatening, the choices that we make, do we do God's will more? Or do we yield to our own desires more or family members or other people who say, Don't need to do that. Don't need to do that. Be here. Be that. No problem. God doesn't care. God cares. He's looking for us to develop. Choose me first. Do what I say first. Please me before you please men when there's a conflict between the two.

You know, Jesus Christ, we don't have to turn back to Matthew 10. You're familiar with the verses there. Jesus Christ said the same thing, right? He said, Don't be afraid of man. How many times did he say, Don't be afraid when you're threatened? Don't be afraid of man. He might be able to take your physical life, but fear him who can take your eternal life.

Right? I mean, that's what God would say. We might at some point in our futures, who knows what God has in store for us. We might be threatened with our very lives. But he says, Don't obey them. Fear instead God. Remember what God sees. This physical life is our preparation time, our training time. He has eternity planned for us. Don't sacrifice at all just to save this skin or to save whatever it is we're looking to save when we might yield to something like that.

Okay, let's go on. Where were we? We were back in Acts 4. And Peter has the, in verse 19-20, that perfect response to the Jewish leaders. We don't even have recorded a response from the Jewish leaders. You know, they did give more threats, verse 21. So when they had further threatened them, like, okay, just so you get the message, this is what's going to happen. They probably stirred the pot a little more and put a little bit more accent marks on everything they said when they had further threatened. They let them go, finding no way of punishing them because of the people.

Since they all glorified God for what had been done. This time the people weren't for what Caiaphas and his troops were doing. This time the people saw the miracle of God. This time the people who heard Peter speak and as God led them, it's like, we're glorifying God. What has happened here is nothing short of a miracle. You can't find anything wrong in that. And so, like politicians do, you know, they give up. The will of the people is this. So let's just go away for now. We'll threaten them, but there's nothing more we can do. Now, verse 22. Because they knew what they were up against.

The man was over 40 years old, on whom this miracle of healing had been performed. And everyone knew him. He wasn't some obscure guy. Everyone knew you couldn't deny the miracle that God had done. But look, look at what had happened through that miracle. The man was healed. But look at the opportunities. Look what God has taught us just in going through the verses that we have recorded of that there.

What God has taught us. Look what Peter and John did. Look what the Sanhedrin, look at the witness that went on to them from one miracle that God did. He orchestrated. He made all this happen. This was an opportunity beyond just the miracle of healing that man. And there was more to come because Peter and John were going to go back and report to the church what had happened. Verse 23. And being let go, they went to their own and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.

So in the church, the disciples that were gathered there in Jerusalem, when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one of those themes of Acts with one accord. They're all there with one accord. They all believe the same thing.

They're all of one mind. After they've been baptized and received the Holy Spirit, when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, you are God who made heaven and earth and the sea, and that all is in them. Who by the mouth of your servant David has said, why do the nations rage and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ.

So as Peter and John came back and said these things to the people that were assembled there, they weren't like frightful like, oh no, now tribulation is going to come upon us. Oh no, now the Sanhedrin is going to really be mad at us. We're going to have to watch what we're doing. No, they were excited.

They were filled with zeal. The work of God was getting done. That witness that they had been called to do was going out in ways they never had anticipated. God had assembled all the powers that be in Jerusalem. They heard the message and they could never deny what they had heard and the scripture that backed it.

And as they sit there and as they praise God and they talk about it with one another, look what happens in verse 25 and 26. A scripture comes to mind. The Holy Spirit leads them to think of this scripture that's back there that David is writing in Psalm 2. Why did the nations rage?

And they see prophecy and they recognize there's prophecy that's been fulfilled. What David wrote about, and let's turn back to Psalm 2 and read his words. They were prophetic for them then and they're prophetic for us now as well. But here God brings to remembrance. You know what happens to them happens to you and me. Sometimes we'll be thinking about some things and something happens and all of a sudden the scripture will pop into our minds. And we know, oh, that's God leading us.

That's the answer we were looking for. That's what God's will is. That's how we do it. Or now we get it. Now we know what that means. And that's what happened to them in this aha moment as they're praising God for what has happened. In Psalm 2, verse 1, it says exactly what they said. Why do the nations rage? And the people plot a vain thing. That the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed.

They're in opposition to God. How can this be? How can someone be in opposition to God and to his anointed one? Saying, let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us. These nations are saying we don't want anything to do with God. We don't want his law. We don't want his way. We don't even want to hear his name. We want to just bury it and forget it ever existed. We want to do things our own way. We want our own government. We want our own laws.

We want our own reasoning to dictate how we do things and how life is. And as the apostle or the disciples are sitting there and exploring, they're realizing they just lived through that. Even the Jewish nation, they were against God. They fought against him. They put the Messiah to death. They said, we don't want what he has to offer. They were seeing Jesus Christ as a Messiah. And here is the Jewish leadership, the religion of their day. We don't want what he has to offer. We don't want any part of that. And so we can look at, again, the day and age we look in today and how many in power today or even in power in the Christian religions of the world would ever say, Well, we want what Jesus Christ taught.

We want to do what Jesus Christ said. We want to hear and observe all things he commanded. No, we don't want to hear any of that. We want to do things our way. This is the Sabbath. This is the days we'll observe. This is the way we'll do things. This must be what God meant, even though his word clearly shows that isn't what his will is. That isn't the way to love him. That isn't the way into eternal life.

Certainly, as we look ahead of us, when we think about nations raging and warring against God, our mind should go to Revelation 19, where the nations are gathered together at Armageddon to fight against God. That's just human nature. That's human nature under the influence of Satan. That's human nature that Paul says in Romans 8-7 can't be subject to the law, to God, or his law, and neither indeed can be, only with God's Holy Spirit. Can we do that? Mankind, under the sway of Satan, as the Bible says, is always going to depart from God.

Here in Acts 4, the people that are gathered in Jerusalem, the true Christians who have believed, who've got minds, God has opened, they've been baptized, they've received the Holy Spirit, and these things are coming to them and it energizes them. It doesn't scare them at all. The work of God is getting done. This is what we've been called to do. Look what God has done. If we go back to Acts 4 and verse 27, we continue on with what they say. As they're reciting this verse and understanding, again, notice how much God let David understand about prophecy.

Buried in those Psalms, there's a lot of wisdom, an awfully lot of wisdom, but there's an awfully lot of prophecy. God let David know a lot of the details of what Jesus Christ would do in his first coming and in his second coming, leading up to his second coming. And as we live through it, and as these people are saying, there's more to David than just melodic songs, there's a lot of prophecy and detail in there that is clear that God was writing these things through a very submissive and subservient David who had his heart completely yielded to God.

So anyway, in verse 27, people of the church there say, For truly against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together. They all stood against him. Pontius Pilate may not have been willing, but he still sentenced him to death. But the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done.

They weren't, they weren't, it was like, look, God, you're the one who predicted this. You said this would happen. You said the Messiah would be put together. We see that in your scriptures now. It's all been fulfilled. Jesus Christ is certainly the Messiah. Everything you said about the Messiah, now we understand. His life is exactly the way you said. His death was exactly the way you said. The way he sacrificed himself is exactly the way you said. And all the world, just as you said, was lined up against him. It's exactly as you said. It's your will.

This is the day which the Lord has made, we read back in Psalm 118. We should rejoice and be glad in it. And they were. They were living and understanding God's plan and happy and joyous and grateful to God to see it happen. Then in verse 29, in verse 29, look what they did. You know, they have all these threats. The apostles came back and they said, you know, they threatened this and they threatened that. They probably threatened the people that were gathered together that had sold their homes and all moved to Jerusalem to be in one accord and one body in one place.

And then they take these threats to God. They weren't stymied by them. They didn't say, oh, wow, what are we going to do? Boy, if the Sanhedrin comes down, they're a lot more powerful than us. I mean, they could wipe us out. They could kill us all. They could bring an army here. They could bring the Romans in here. They could make our lives miserable. They took a page out of the Bible. Remember when, I might have the king's name wrong, I think it was King Hezekiah, maybe a different king, remember when the king of Assyria sent all these threatening letters to them and told Israel, you know, if you don't, or Judah, if you don't do this and this and this, I'm going to tear you from one limb to another.

No one can stand against me. Your lives will be miserable. You don't even know the meaning of torture. Unless you do what I say, this is what's going to happen to you. Remember what the king did? He went and he laid it before God and he said, you know, he knew we're powerless against him. I mean, the king of Assyria, they're powerful. They've got an army that we can't possibly physically stand up against. It was Hezekiah. It was Hezekiah. Okay, very good.

Thanks, Rupert. Yeah, so I mean, they took it to God. We can't possibly physically, we can't rely on ourselves. We can't beat that army. That's what the church is saying here in verse 29.

You know, these Jews, they're more numerous than us. We may have 3,000, 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 people in our membership now, but we're nothing compared to them. They can command the Roman armies. They can come. They can wipe us off. They can torture us. They can do whatever they want. So they take it to God because He's the only one that can protect us and see us through.

So they do the same thing, Lord. Look on their threats and grant to your servants that with all boldness, they may speak your word. And they didn't say, well, God protect us. God, you know, maybe there's another way that we can kind of do these things. Maybe we don't want to irritate the powers that be in this way. No. You know, you know, look at their threats. We know that you called us to boldly speak your word to this group of people, to everywhere that you will send us. And verse 30, they say, by stretching out your hand to heal, that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

You know, they saw the power of that miracle. They saw what they were able, what God opened the door for them to be able to do and the way to witness to that one miracle. They said, God, be with us. Continue to work with us that we may do your will, that may we do your work the way that you want us to do, you know, your work. It's a very notable thing, you know, that they said there. I want to turn... Let me look at my notes here. I got a star here in verse 30.

Verse 29. Oh, yeah, Psalm 5. Let's go turn back to Psalm 5. You know, they just wanted to do God's work, and they were trusting in Him. You don't see any sense of we're scared. Protect us. No, God, propel the work forward. Psalm 5, if I ever get there, Psalm 5 verse 11. Here's what David says. You can see the attitude of that church that was there, is there praising God for what has taken place. Let all those who rejoice, let all those rejoice, who put their trust in you. That's what that church was doing.

That's what Hezekiah did. He put his trust in God. Sometimes when we're faced with insurmountable odds that we would think, we can't overcome this, we can't do that, there's no way we can deal with this, we have to simply learn to trust and rely on God and know what His will will be done. Let all those rejoice who put their trust in you. Let them ever shout for joy. That's what that church was doing. Because you defend them. They weren't looking to their own might. They weren't looking to their own power. They were looking to God. It would be God who would defend them.

And He will defend us. His will will be done when we completely trust in Him and allow Him to do His will. Let those also who love your name be joyful in you. No matter what you cast our way, let's be joyful in you, your God, your eternity, your our Father. You love us. You want us to be in your kingdom. Jesus Christ gave Himself and you resurrected Him that we could have that hope of eternal life that we don't deserve. But you gave it to us, God. So we can have that same attitude as we look at things and as we face things in the future.

Let's make sure that we have our faith completely and totally in God. It's not something that probably any one of us are there today. But as I have said, and probably will say many times again, God will give us opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to continue to do His will, to build trust in Him, to build faith in Him, to become the people that He wants us to become, individually and collectively. We just have to be mindful of those opportunities and take advantage of them, always keeping in mind that God has us in school.

God has us and He's preparing us to be the people He wants us to be, that we may serve Him in the way He wants to be served and serve the people in the millennium and for whatever His He has in mind for us beyond them. Learn to trust in Him. So we go back to verse 30 here in or 31. And you can see the attitude.

I mean, what a tremendous attitude this church has. And they're all of one accord. They're all together. They're all saying this together. There is no naysayer saying, Wait a minute, wait a minute. I think we need to water down the words a little bit. I don't know what you're doing, Peter. You're going to bring down the wrath of Judah on us. None of them. They were all in one accord. Let's do this. God will defend us.

God even opened up more opportunities and door doors for us to witness of your way of life. Verse 31, they did what every church of God should do and what every one of us should do. When we see God work and when we're energized by what He's doing and by the calling He's given us and His work, they prayed. They prayed. Remember in Acts 2.42, that was one of the four things that church did. They continued in the fellowship. They continued in the apostles' teaching.

They broke bread. They got to know each other. And they continued in prayers to God. He is our leader. Jesus Christ is our brother. He is the head of the church. We stay in contact with Him and seek His will and let Him guide and lead us. When they had prayed, we can tell that God was very pleased with the attitude of this church. The place where they were assembled together was shaken. It was shaken. How many times when God is pleased with something, does He mark His pleasure and His approval of what people have done by earthquake and get their attention?

Some of the commentaries will say that when that was shaken would indicate there was a tremor there, whether it was felt by other people outside or just the people in that room, only God knows. But they knew something had happened. They knew that God was with them and they knew God was there. And they knew that He was pleased, as we'll see here in a minute, with what they were saying.

Now here in the same book of Acts, back forward in chapter 16. In verse 26, we see a God using, again, that hallmark of the earthquake, the shaking that, you know, when people are pleasing Him. As we pick it up here in chapter 16, as you look down through the chapter, and we're going to go to verse 26, but leading up to see that, we see Paul and Silas in prison. They could be bemoaning themselves.

They could be complaining. They could be thinking this isn't fair. They could be challenging the courts. They could be trying to file an appeal and everything. But they knew they were there for God's, you know, this is God's will that was they were there. You know, verse 25 says at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. They weren't in distress. They weren't miserable. They weren't causing any kind of mayhem. They weren't screaming aloud from themselves. They were praying and singing hymns to God.

They were perfectly content. This is where they knew that God knew where they were. And the prisoners were listening to them. Verse 26, suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed. And so, you know, God was pleased with the attitude that he saw with Paul and Silas. He answered their prayers and away they didn't expect that they would be released by an earthquake that would come their way.

Now we can go back to the Old Testament and see at the base of Mount Sinai that Mount was shaken as God appeared to those people. And at Jesus Christ's death, we remember that an earthquake shook the earth. God was very pleased with what his son had done that he accomplished, what he had come to earth to do, and that is to suffer and die after living a perfect life for all of us.

So here these people back in Acts 4 are gathered together. They've got a beautiful attitude. All in one accord is they're praising God and not looking to run away from the threats that are given to them, but they're eager to do the will of God, eager to do the work of God.

And God responds to their prayers and to their words and the heart that he sees in them because it says, verse 31, When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

Well, they already had the Holy Spirit. They all had been baptized. They had laid hands on them.

But here God is filling them more with His Holy Spirit. He sees the attitude. He sees where they are, just like he looks at you and me.

And he thinks, look, are their hearts really committed to me? Are they doing what I want them to do? Are they trying to become who I want? Are they making choices to sacrifice self and deny self to become who they want?

Do they praise me or do they run back to their old ways of doing things whenever a little bit of pressure comes their way? Or do they follow me? Do they cling to me? Do they look to me? How close are they to me?

And when God sees our hearts, He'll give us more spirit. Jesus Christ says we should ask for His Holy Spirit.

But He's going to give His Holy Spirit when He sees it's being used, as people want, genuinely want to draw closer to Him. And that's what was happening here. He saw their hearts.

And so He gives them more Holy Spirit, that they were even closer to God and they felt that aliveness and that zeal that you and I have all felt when we're close to God.

And that we want to feel closer and closer and to do His way.

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the Word of God with boldness. They weren't afraid. They weren't ashamed of the Word of God. They weren't worried about their own well-being. They were just there to do what God had called them to do and the job He had given them to do.

So we see, as we end chapter 31, we see that's the result of all that miracle. Look what all that happened as a result of that. Look what happened to the church. Look what happened to the Sanhedrin. Look what happened to Peter and John. Look what happened to you and me as we've read these things.

And as we see the attitudes that we should be emulating in our lives, it should become part of our hearts as we go forward.

You know, I know as I was reading verse 31 about praying, these people were praying for God's work to be done. They were excited about it. I have to wonder how much do I pray for God's work? How much do I pray for His will to be done?

You know, I think I do, but not in the way they did. Are our minds and hearts and God's work beyond just what we are, our little church area or the greater work that the commission that God, that Jesus Christ gave us to preach the gospel to all nations.

Command everyone to observe all things. Baptize them in the name of the Son, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Make disciples. Go out and boldly preach His Word. Are we doing that? Are we doing what God wants? Can we ask Him to give us the power and the strength and the will to do that so we can have the same attitude that this early New Testament church has?

Or had? He will. He will. I mean, in His time, we will get there, but we can be looking at those things and seeing how we should be as we live in an increasingly hostile time where people don't want to hear the Word of God, where they don't want to hear the truth.

You know, they're going to want to not hear what we have to say either, and there may be threats made. There may be who knows what comes on, but will we march forward and strengthen boldness as the church did here?

So that's what happened. You know, we go into verse 32. We go into verse 32 and we come back to the church, and we see what the church is doing. These 3000 people that have grown to, I think it's grown to 5000 by this time, or maybe it grows to 5000 later. But the several people who have sold houses, moved to Jerusalem, they're all in one accord in one place. They become one body, part of the fellowship of God. In verse 32, it says, the multitude of those who believed, notice they were of one heart and one soul.

Over and over again, they were in one accord, they believed the same thing. They were together. The Holy Spirit bound them together.

They were of one heart and one soul. Neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.

And so it was something that the apostles didn't command them to do. It's something that they wanted to do. It's an attitude that you and I have. God doesn't tell us, you know, when you come into the church, sell everything you have, give it to the church, we'll distribute it to everyone that has need, as we see happening in chapters 5 and 6, and we get to it. That isn't the way it operates today. That isn't what God told them to do. They wanted to be together.

They wanted everyone to be provided for. And so today we would look, and as we know, our fellow brethren, when we see a need, God says, and we have the means to help them or provide, do it.

Do it. Don't just run away and say, someone else will do it. If we can do it, do it. Provide what they need. Share what we have. Doesn't mean sell everything and give it all to us. That's not what God asked to do. That's not what they were asked to do here. They did it. And that was what they wanted to do, as they were excited about the life they had been called to, and they wanted to be together. Verse 33 says, with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. With great power. They went out and preached that word, and look what happened. Great grace was upon them all.

We want God's grace. We do His will. We want Him with us. We want His Holy Spirit. We want to be living under His and pleasing Him. That's the way to do it. Do His job the way He wants it done. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked. It says in verse 31, For all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold. And they laid them at the apostles' feet, and they distributed to each as anyone had need.

That was a big job for the apostles to have that responsibility. Later, when we get into chapter 6, we see it's just too much for them to do. They're not being able to dedicate the time and study and prayer that they need to, as they have all these physical things that they have to attend to. We see God leading with the administration of the church, and all these things that need to be done as part of the church family get done, that the help that needs to be there. But the apostles were initially responsible for all this. If you can imagine the responsibility that they had to do all this. And Joseph, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles, which is translated Son of Accurjments, who were introduced to Barnabas, who will become an important figure later on here in the chapters, a levi to the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. So the church is doing God's will. God is pleased with everything he sees the church doing as we end chapter four. You know, he hasn't asked them to sell everything like we say, but we see everything in one accord. There's no division. There's no strife. Everyone is continuing in the apostles' doctrine. It's exactly the way God wants. Human reason, human logic, human nature hasn't entered the church, but when we come to chapter five, we see humanity and human nature begin to enter. And God takes swift action against what he sees is going to happen as the church. So I'm going to read in just a few minutes here the first 11 or 12 verses of chapter five. It's a story, you know, well, of Ananias and Sapphira, and they conspire among themselves to make themselves look like something they're not. They see all this that's going on in Jerusalem. They want to be part of the congregation. They see everyone selling lands, bringing everything, giving it to the apostles' feet. They're just not ready to do that yet. They're willing to sell their land, but they're not willing to give everything to God just yet. And they were never commanded to do that, as Peter will let them know. They were never commanded to do that. But they do something that God says won't happen in my church. I won't have human reasoning, human nature, and the deceit that comes in to be part of it. So in chapter 5, verse 1, he makes a pretty firm example of this couple so that the people fear and they think, no, we can't lie to God, we can't deceive God, we can't deceive ourselves, we have to be who we are. A certain man, verse chapter 5, verse 1, named Ananias, with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession, and he kept back part of the proceeds.

His wife also being aware of it and brought a certain part and laid it at the Apostle's feet. Now, we aren't asked to do that, but you know what we are asked to do? We are asked of God to give all our heart, all our minds, and all our souls to Him. None of us are there yet. None of us have given 100% of everything we are to God. You know, even in 2 Corinthians 6, Paul says, what's holding you back? It's your own affections. There are things you don't want to give up yet to God. We have yet to learn that. We have yet to be that. And more and more as we grow in God's Spirit and the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ as He leads us, we'll be willing to give up all of us. Ananias and Sapphira weren't there yet. It takes time, you know, for some, and God is patient with us as we are willing to give it all to Him. Ananias and Sapphira aren't ready, and God doesn't condemn them that they aren't ready. He condemns them for lying.

So He keeps back part of the proceeds. Peter, you know, God let him know exactly what the attitude was. He, you know, sometimes God gives us the insight into this is what you're thinking, you know, and you kind of know what is in someone's heart even before they do. When they make mistakes and do things apart from God's way and you shake your head and think, why, well, whatever. Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?

You know, Peter's making the point. You're lying. You're lying to me, but you know beyond that you're lying to God. You're lying to Him. Do you recognize what you're doing? While it remained, he says, wasn't it your own? And after it was sold, wasn't it in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You know, you could have said, you know, I sold lands. Here's the contribution that I want to make. I want to put XX money in half of it to that. But I'm not ready yet, but I'm willing to do that. That would have been okay. Just be truthful. Just be honest. Don't try to fool God. Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God. And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So rightfully so, great fear came upon all those who heard these things, and the young men arose and wrapped them up, carried them out, and buried them. Now, that's a pretty immediate punishment by God. You lied to me, you die. It didn't happen. It doesn't happen to us, right? Every time we do something to God, every time we say to Him, He doesn't kill us or none of us would be here tonight. But He was given an example to the church. My way is the way. Don't lie to me. Don't deceive me. Don't think you're going to fool me. I want you to give me eventually as you work. And as I put my Holy Spirit in you, all of you to me.

But we grow, and we become that as God leads us to it, and as we mature, and as we get ready, and it's okay as we progress. Not all of us are at the same level. And we're patient with each other, just like God is patient with us. We can think back to the Old Testament. You remember the times in the Old Testament, where God would give pronouncements, and then Israel would go out and they'd find someone, and God said, stone them to death.

Stone them. They had one shot. They broke a commandment, death. A horrible death, right? It happened to Achan, even when they went into the Promised Land. Stone them. You know, he disregarded God. He took the things of Jericho. He hid them and kept them for himself and disregarded my command. Kill him. What God was showing is, that puts the sin away from you. It'll always be in your mind. Don't you can't fool God. We need to yield to him and be truthful and honest with him.

So he did this as an example to this New Testament church before this idea could enter into there and the human nature could become a part of the church. Be aware. God knows what's going on.

You know, and be truthful. Be truthful to him. Remember what he says, what he wants in us is truth. That's what he desires on the inward parts of us.

And so Ananias died, and it was an example to the people that were there. They got their attention for sure. Verse 7, about three hours later, when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened, Peter asked her, Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.

She followed the script that she and Ananias had contrived, yes, for so much. Peter said to her, How is it that you agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out. Immediately she fell down her estate and breathed her last. The young man came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband.

So, rightfully so, if that happened among us today, great fear came upon all the church and upon all those who heard these things.

It was God's church, one accord, one body, one fellowship, and through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were done among the people. There's the theme again, one of the themes. They were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. So let's stop there for tonight, and we'll pick it up in verse 13 next week. Let me just open it up here for any comments, discussion, questions on anything at all that's on your mind, any observations, doesn't have to be a question, anything that you want to talk about.

You've all been very quiet tonight, so I apologize for dominating this, but...

Very good. Go ahead. Thank you very much.

Yeah, Xavier. I think you're muted, Xavier. Okay. Can you hear me now? Now we can, yes. Okay, sorry, I wasn't far. My bad. You were highlighting from the Psalms how many prophecies our God graciously showed King David in regards to what they had planned to do and the things they have done.

And there's a verse in 1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 11, that says, search in the prophets were certain in what way and what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, was indicating, testifying beforehand, the sufferings and the glories. I didn't quote it exactly. The sufferings that would happen and the glories that would follow. Yeah, yeah. Very good. Yeah, Peter says that searching out was, yeah.

Yeah, and first down, this salvation, the prophets have inquired and searched carefully. Yeah, okay, very good. Yeah, they're all there. God will bring them to mind and certainly let David know what his plan was.

One more thought. One more thought, sure.

One more thought. All right. Going back to what you were saying when the apostles were facing the authorities.

When we go to John, chapter 5, Christ makes two statements to the public. In 1, he says, you don't have the love of God in you. That's verse 38. And then in verse 42, he says, you don't have the word of God in you, even though they knew the word of God.

They didn't love, they didn't have the love of God, or the love of the truth.

Has all we ought to have it with God's help. They had much knowledge.

They had much knowledge. That's what the scribes had, right? A lot of it. They didn't have the love of God or the truth. Yeah, very, very good.

Same thing that says in 1 Thessalonians, they must have loved the truth. I think there was recently a sermon, right, in Orlando. Yes, Brother David did that. Yeah, the love of the truth, yeah.

Okay.

Mr. Shabri, when I was very quiet, as you know, I like to talk.

But, I mean, everything was very straightforward. So there was no need to interject.

But reading all of the chapters and what you read tonight, you know, it always strikes me with Peter is that he was so full of the Spirit.

We saw his first sermon. He didn't have a script or anything.

And then when both husband and wife came in, again, full of the Spirit, that Spirit of discernment, and he was able to tell that they were lying.

He just knew God let him know and he couldn't deny it.

So when we're full of the Spirit, we will have that Spirit of discernment.

Exactly. Exactly. God gives us abilities and discernment we can't even understand until it happens.

And also the ability to speak. And he puts everything in our thoughts and minds. So that always has amazed me.

It does. And it's fulfillment of what it says in Luke 21 that we talked about last week, right? That we all need to remember as we get into that time.

God will give us the words. We don't have to have them prepared and memorized ahead of time.

And then they'll come from the heart as opposed to just something that we wrote down.

One of the things that I pray for is that my mouth would be the pen of a ready writer. Because it comes from the Spirit, you know?

Well, you can see how yielded the authors of these books were, right? They were all inspired by God.

They simply completely yielded to God and he just let the words flow.

He just let the words flow and they were just completely yielded.

And by doing so, we know everything is from him and not from our own wisdom. Because our wisdom is nonsense to him, right?

Exactly.

So that's what I took out from this study tonight. The power of the Spirit to give us that remembrance, to give us the abilities that just is unspeakable.

That we couldn't even imagine or think of.

Yep. And we see it. The same thing God did for them, he will do for us.

Yes, he will.

Okay. Anything else, anyone?

Let me let you know. I still don't have an official starting time for Orlando or Jacksonville yet. I'm still waiting for some direction from Arc Welch.

I'll have that by tomorrow night. So be watching your email. Be watching your email. My guess is we're going to do Orlando at 1.30 and add a webcast at 1.30 to Jacksonville.

But that might not be what the decision is, Will. But I'll let you know that by Friday morning. By Friday morning, we'll have that.

And if I don't hear from Mark tomorrow, I'll be calling him and asking, what is your preference? What do you want to do? So stay on hold. Be looking at your emails. And we all know it's the place to be. It's just it's just what it will be for right now. So, okay.

Well, thanks, everyone. Stay safe and stay blessed, everyone.

Okay. You too, everyone. Take care. We may see many of you on Sabbath. The rest, I hope we don't see. I hope we see you back here next Wednesday.

Thank you. Thank you for joining in.

See all of you. Okay. Take care.

Thank you.