Defending Our Faith and Our Lives

Defending Our Faith and Our Lives Contending For The Faith Acts 4.1-31 This was the first adversity the early Christians faced, as a group. However there were already economic problems some widows were facing as we will discover soon. Let the Spirit work and there will be problems… Jesus warned us about this. Let God move in an extraordinary way and there will be conflict. Miracles, Signs and Wonders cause controversy… a the controversy is usually from the Religious Leaders.. John 16. 33 “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” The LORD is our Defender We work with Him in defending our faith It is Christ Jesus we have peace. Not in this world, whatever it has to offer. In Him: No silver and gold Living by faith Freedom Love We think “trouble” is financial stress or time constraints. That is NOT what Jesus meant. Read the context. It is spiritual. There are other promises for those other things. Financial stress can trouble us. Look at the promises of God to meet all our needs. I do not mean at all to disparage real concerns. I know some of you are facing an uncertainty humanly speaking. Family dynamics play a role in this. Those of us who are parents realize sooner or later we are in this for life. Grief cripples some. Living with the consequences of choices can be a heavy weight. Christ Jesus in our yoke fellow. His yoke is easy and his burden light Even Peter’s denial was transformed and he was used by the LORD to preach on Pentecost and in Scripture we just read, before the Sanhedrin, the ones as he said put Jesus to death. In our passage this morning… He is talking about dire straits because of the Gospel. Opposition to our faith. Acts 4. 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Whom you crucified but Whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.” (seemed like he may appeared with Peter and John at the interrogation. Jesus Christ, the Nazarene is the focus of this hearing. He promised those followers of His that when they brought before rulers He would give them the words at that time. an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame Persecuted for righteousness sake This is what every true servant of God goes through. People ask me regularly, “How can you believe the Bible?”… until they need prayer! Because of my beliefs, even among some pastors, I have been challenged and some professors have told me that my view of the Scriptures won’t fly in the Scientific Community. Interestingly I am seeing an acceptance as I minister to those! Pastor Marcos, Pastor Linton and I have wrestled through some reactions to the LORD working among us. Here, in our loved ones and over in Bangladesh and India God has brought us through. I remember the first verbal persecution I faced at 12. I walked with my Pastor and made some visits with him one Sunday afternoon in Bellmore. My friends saw me. They said that their mother said we were out looking for new members for our church. We were visiting sick people, families from the church. Not true. Then when I turned 17, working in the grocery store, I was made fun of because instead of going to the company picnic, I went to church. Later when I left for Bible College there were a few coworkers that mocked me. Some however believed, others respected me. These were verbal minor persecutions. The persecution we face still is. Hebrews 12.4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. That is true in the USA, not in Egypt, China, Nepal, Sudan Some have been beheaded in recent days because if their faith. Pastors of House Churches in China face constant danger. That one dear elderly pastor with a House Church of over 400 souls… ever time he got arrested his church grew. Matthew 5. 10  Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. This was beginning of 2,000 years of persecution against God’s people, the Church around the world. They killed Jesus. He told us, “If the world hates Me, it will hate you as well.” There are pronounced blessings on those who suffer persecution. Rejoicing Great Rewards in Heaven Look at the result. Their number grew to 5,000! Look at the places today! Iran and China. They are growing. We are learning from them. “Love Christ Chinese people.” Simple truths of the Scriptures. Intervals in track One of the things, for the most part, that the church has been “protected” from in the USA is persecution. This has been pleasant but has made us fat and lazy, prayerless and wandering. This is where the church in America is at: 1 Timothy 6:12. Fight the good fight of the faith. Jude 1:3. Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Persecution Persecution cleanses the church! No one is going to hang around if they do not love Jesus! Persecution refines believers. Not too many theological debates when they are coming for you. Petty things are swallowed up in persecution. How did Peter defend himself? Remember he failed the night Jesus was arrested. The Spirit had not been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified. Now after Pentecost the Spirit is gushing from his inner most being. 7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people!” You defend your faith by Be filled with the Spirit. Be filled and keep on being filled. Ephesians 5:18 Have you been filled with the Spirit? Are you now filled? Notice at the conclusion they prayed for boldness in proclaiming the Word They were all filled a refilling Be respectful Peter, Jesus and Paul was before this group He did not say, “You bunch of yo yo’s” He addressed them by their positions. Give them Jesus 9-12 When we are defending our faith or contending for it we can get very personal. for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. It may be new to us but not new. 1,000’s of years of this was taking place Peter and John were good representatives of Jesus. Matthew 5 . 14-16 “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. If you suffer… We are not contending with humanity. This is a spiritual battle. We are not debating. Many who persecute us know down deep in their hearts they are wrong. We are not only in a time when we must defend our faith but also earnestly contend for it. Jude 3 Be strong in the LORD, in His Word We prepare every day for this battle. Have courage That comes from a strong faith and clear understanding of who we are in Christ Pray 23-30 Not for the threats to stop. You can look at a map in the foyer on the prayer desk. It show the places where persecution of Christians is the greatest. Pray for the nations the 1040 window, Cuba, China, For God to keep working For us to speak the Word with great boldness For us to keep doing what got us in trouble in the first place. 31 God answered their prayer He will answer ours! May we speak the Word of God with great boldness. If we do we will be persecuted.