Morning Message Text: Acts 5: 27-32
27 The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest.
28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”
29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!
30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross.
31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins.
32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
Morning Message
I always marvel at the early church. They seemed to be so bold in their faith, unafraid of the world around them, and willing to put their very lives on the line for what they believed. Many times, I wonder why things are so different today. Where has the boldness gone? Why does the church seem so weak? No one likes to hear the answer to these questions, and I am even a little uncomfortable asking them. The answer is: we are spoiled. Yes, I will point to myself; I am spoiled. This is not something that has happened overnight. We are not the first generation of the church that find ourselves soft and less willing to serve as we have been called. The softening of the church has been taking place for hundreds of years. We have slowly but surely bought into the world’s point of view that life should be easy. If something is difficult, we are told to give up and move on to something else. Don’t think that this attitude doesn’t exist in the church. Over the years I have seen people leave the church for all kinds of reasons, none of them really good ones. They leave mostly because they disagree with something or someone. Some people simply can’t stand to not get their own way. I ask myself: Where is the Christian love? Where is the forgiveness? Where is the Holy Spirit?
What ever happened to persistence? We want things right now, and we want them as soon as we ask. This is why prayer has become so difficult for us; our expectation is that results should immediately follow our requests. Many times we treat God more like a magic genie than a loving parent who knows what’s best for our lives. To persist means to continue steadily in some purpose or course of action despite opposition. It means to endure tenaciously. Now there’s a word that we don’t often hear, and a concept that seems to have disappeared from our modern lives. It makes me think of times in my life when I really wanted something and really went after it. To be truly passionate about something, so much so that you would overcome every obstacle and be willing to struggle and stand up for what you wanted. Where is that fire when it comes to our faith. We have become so passive about who we are and what we stand for. Our generation has become the perfect example of what Jesus talked about when he said, “When salt loses its saltiness, it is worthless.”
The apostles were beaten, tortured, and thrown in jail for their faith. They were warned to stop preaching and teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. They were persecuted for their faith daily, and yet, they went right back out in public and preached. I want to know this morning, if the police came to your house last night and told you not to come to church this morning, how many of you would have come anyhow? I would like to know, if the authorities came into this church right now and said you all have to stop worshiping and leave because we don’t agree with what you are doing, would anyone stay? We need to ask ourselves, if Jesus were here today, and you knew him as Savior of the world, and the government jailed him and executed him, would you look them in the eye and tell them that they executed God. The day is coming when we might have to stand up for our faith, and to be honest with you, we are not strong enough.
What’s missing in the church today? Why are we at risk of extinction? We have become spoiled. We have allowed the world to convince us that we our self-sufficient. That is the lie that has been perpetrated upon society and the church for hundreds of years, and there is only one solution to the problem. There is one big difference between the church today and the church in Israel right after the resurrection. They were not distracted by possessions because they had none, and they were fully dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit for their lives and their ministry. Jesus wasn’t just a hobby to them; he was the reason that they were alive. Because they walked closely with God the Holy Spirit gave them strength to overcome. When they witnessed to the religious leaders, the very ones who put Jesus to death, the Holy Spirit spoke through them. Why do we not have the full power of the Holy Spirit in us? Because, we have not made Him important in our daily lives, we are too busy living and trying to make it on our own.
Our world needs Holy Spirit witnesses. Christians with the power of the Holy Spirit running through them so strongly, that they will spread the truth of the gospel no matter what comes against them. Some of us, maybe all of us, will face persecution. Will we overcome, or will we turn our backs on Jesus? One day he is coming in the clouds for all to see. All people, those who have passed and those who are still here. When that happens, many will mourn because they rejected the truth, and now the truth will judge them. That verse is there to remind all of us who claim Jesus as our Savior that we have important work to do. We need Holy Spirit witnesses to preach to the unsaved. Will you be a witness?
In Christ’s Love and Peace
Pastor Bob
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