Holy Boldness

Let's have a word of prayer, and let's get into

the Bible. Let's pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, give us Jesus boldness to live and

love and share Jesus in our lives. And give us

obedience so that it makes sense. There's a witness that

is consistent. Now we're sinners, sinners by nature, but when

we look at the cross, we don't want to be so,

Lord put the Holy Spirit in us. Thank you for

every one of these young people who let out.

Today in this worship service. May they grow in the

word of God.

Lord, I am so blessed by the fact they're digging

into the Book of Hebrews to discover the sanctuary message,

the covenants, to go deep into the Bible, not shallow.

May they be men and women of God in their

generation in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Sophia Magdalena Shoul died nineteen four standing tall for Jesus Christ.

Both she and her brother were beheaded by the Nazis

for boldly speaking up for Jesus Christ a campus outreach

ministry protesting as collegiates for the cause of Christ in

Nazi Germany. She would not align with those who would

kill the Jews in the Holocaust. She called her nation

her leaders to righteousness. She opposed the Nazi regime, and

she chose to not align with those Christians who would

force the conscience of Christians to go along with Hitler.

When many Christian organizations and churches chose to get along

with Hitler to compromise to force compliance among their members,

Sophia Schouw, as only a teenager, became the voice of

conscience for Germany, the conscience of Christ facing Nazi Germany.

A teenager, she opposed Hitler, She opposed his evil acolytes.

She faced evil in the eye, and she did not flinch.

She died at the age of twenty two. Her life

ministry was in her teens to twenty two. Sophia was

a student protester in the God kind of way, the

good kind of way, not the selfish, arrogant kind of way.

We've seen that in recent years in our country. Lately,

students have protested for social justice causes. Now I'm for

social justice. I am I'm for it in the right way.

I believe Martin Luther King Jr. Left an indelible impression

upon this country for God and good. When we took

the pathfinders, and we stood on the steps of the

Lincoln Memorial. We found the very place where it says

I have a dream, where Martin Luther King Junior stood

there and called our country to its conscience, to its constitution,

to value every person as significant. But Martin Luther King

Junior would not go along with the Marxist revolution that

was actually occurring in other parts of this country, trying

to advocate the same things but for different reason and

to get outcomes that were not of God. So lately

students had protested for social justice causes in our country

that are Marxists based in their ideology. Now many people

don't know what Marxism is, what communism is. The version

that has come to America is deeply rooted in Antonio

Gramsky's version. It was adapted for the West. He was

incarcerated during World War II by Mussolini, and he adapted

Marxism so it would work in America, would work in

inter America. The Jesuits developed liberation theology, which fomented Marxist

revolutions in inter America and in America. The leftist philosophy

of Marxism, also known as communism, has killed well over

one hundred million people in the past one hundred years.

Think about that. It's as a single philosophy. More people

have died because of communism than any other philosophy in

human history. Now that's the left, that's the extreme left.

Let's go to the right. Hitler was the right. Hitler

on the right only killed a few million. But a

few million is still awful, isn't it. Joseph Stalin probably

fifty million. They're saying that Mayo seventy five, so that

one hundred million number is small.

Now, it doesn't matter if you're on the right or

the left. Here's my point.

Oppression in the last one hundred years has come from

both ideologies, from both sides. In Daniel eleven, the right

is the king of the North, the left is the

king of the South, and they duke it out at

the time of the end until they unite as one

persecuting force to bring God's people to an end.

It was both the.

Right and the left, with the left in power, that

crucified the Son of God.

So one thing we should.

Guard against in the church is aligning with political parties,

is aligning with causes that are based on what we

think we can get because someone gets elected, be it

a president we have now or one we will have friends.

I'm telling you it doesn't matter who's in power. When

the time comes, all the forces of left and right

will unite to persecute the people of God. Sophia Shaw

was caught in a storm, in a nightmare where the

left and the right in her country aligned with Hitler,

and she would not, and she stood as a voice

of conscience. She wrote these words of wisdom before she

was martyred at the age of twenty two by the

Nazi regime.

She said, the real damage.

Is done by those millions who want to survive, the

honest man who just want to be left in peace,

Those who don't want their lives disturbed by anything bigger

than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those

who won't take measures of their own strength for fear

of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don't like to

make waves or enemies. Those for whom freedom on her

truth and principles are only literature. Those who live small,

made small, die small. It's the reductionist approach to life.

If you keep it small, if you keep it under control,

if you don't make any noise. The boogeyman won't find you.

But it's all an illusion, because they die too. Those

people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls

so as to be safe, safe from what life is

always on the edge of death. Narrow streets lead to

the same places as white avenues, and a little candle

burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I

choose my own way to burn made profound little girl,

and Sophia Schoul said this about her faith in Jesus Christ.

I will cling to the God has thrown me in

Jesus Christ, even when my numb hands can no longer

feel it. Look, if you're looking for a cause in

your generation, why not make Jesus Christ your cause. Why

not align with the Gospel proclamation in your life, with

sharing Christ to a world that doesn't know him, reaching

out to people on the left, the right, the sinner,

every race, and having no boundaries, no barriers in your

love for the world that Jesus died for.

I will cling to the robe.

God has thrown me in Jesus Christ, even when my

numb hands can no longer feel it. On her way

to death, she said, this, How can we expect righteousness

to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give

himself up individually to a righteous cause. Such a fine

sunny day, and I have to go, But what does

my death matter if through us thousands of people are

awakened and still to action. She also wrote this, the

sun still shines, Oh what a blessed, blessed flower. And

you'll see the flower a symbol of her resistance right

there on her sweater, as she stood against the most

evil powerful men in Europe at that time. Of such

people like Sophia schol were the early apostles of the

Apostolic Church. They were men and women of conscience who

would not compromise with evil and would not force others

to comply with evil. In this way, the early Apostolic

Christians were the antithesis of the modern lateacy and condition

that denies Jesus as the truth that wants to get

along prosper be in the comfort zone, as Sophia said it,

but unwilling to stand as it should when conscience is

on the line.

And acts four.

We see the early Church, led by Jesus, young and

committed apostles fighting against depression in the right way, by

proclaiming the truth, by healing good, by doing good, by

pouring love where darkness is at light and darkness. And

they proclaimed the truth of Jesus Christ, and oppression came.

Look at Acts four, verse one. And as they were

speaking to the people, the priests and the captains of

the temple and the sadducees came upon them, annoyed because

they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the

resurrection for the dead. And they arrested them and put

them in custody until tomorrow, for it was already evening.

They had just healed the man who was laying for

over forty years. He became the walking and leaping and

praising God man instead of the lame man. And in

fact they arrested them all, including the lame man. They

threw him into the clinker until the next day. The

miracle of the healing of.

The man at the Gate Beautiful became a scandal for

the Jews. Jesus was crucified by religious leaders who wanted

to preserve the peace, to ensue security, to placate the

Roman Empire, to remain rich and increase with goods in

need of nothing because they didn't want Jesus.

They wanted the status quo in their life.

Caiaphas deemed it necessary for one man to die then

for the whole nation to perish, so in the collective

he sacrificed Jesus on the cross. That's what many churches

did in Germany, also under fascist rule.

Let the Jews die.

And those who support them, so that we can prosper

and be left alone to enjoy our religious freedom.

Dear heart, no man or a woman is an island

to themselves.

We will either stand with the weak, the oppressed, and

the persecuted, or we will die at the hands of

a righteous God who allows no cowards into the.

Kingdom of Heaven. There is no middle ground. As a Christian.

The matter of courage.

Accring the Book of Revelation, the fearful, the cowards have

their place in the Lake of fire.

That means we must be bold.

Christians in Jesus and not look at the consequences, but

look at the calling of the truth. Cornaback Revelation, No cowards,

no fearful.

In the Lake of fire.

Three evil components are singled out, coming after the apostles

number one, the priests number two, the captain of the

temple number three, the Sadducees. Let's look at them and

modern vernacular. The priests were the religious leaders, the captain

of the temple was the police, and the Sadducees were

the unbelieving in this case, secularized sect of Judaism, the

left of center. It was not the right, it was

the left here in crucifying Jesus. I mean, if you

don't realize it, the left was in power when Christ

was crucified. The right worked with them to do it.

I don't know what it will be like at the

end of time. The Bible indicates the right will be

in power, the left will be brought under the power

of the right. It doesn't matter if you're against Jesus,

and on that fact, you're on the wrong side of things.

Caiaphas was a sadducey.

Many of the Pharisees on the right were converted by

the apostles teaching. But to my knowledge and educate me

if I'm wrong. There is no record of a single

sadducey conversion to Jesus.

In New Testament, not one.

So of the two, it's the most dangerous of the

two sects. I was recently meeting with a union president

to have a high respect for, and he was our

union president, Elder Marcellus Robinson. And Ellen Robinson's a keen

social justice, moral sense of justice. It's always guided him

and I respect him highly as a dear friend. But

this last Monday, we're talking about the right and the

left as we were eating at the lunch together, and

we both said, you know, the problem is that if

you're unconverted on the right, you're unconverted on the left,

you'll hurt the cause of God. It takes converted people.

And you know Christians can be a little here, a

little there, but converted people come together to do the

right thing. I'm a right they come together do the

right thing. In modern times, the Sadducees would have made

excellent Marxists, and their desire to build a utopia right

here on earth by persecuting others, by seizing their assets,

and by getting their way.

Through in political intrigue.

The Greek text indicates that they were greatly annoyed and

disturbed the preaching of Jesus Christ got under their skin.

Why because the Sadducees believed there was no resurrection, and

here they were preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ based

on the outpoint of the Holy Spirit. They were irritated,

so they looked at the apostles and they locked them

up to contain the threat. The first thing they do

shut them down. The early Church began with persecution. The

Church of the Last Days will finish out through persecution.

If you aren't willing to put up with persecution in

your life, the Book of Revelation indicates that you will

worship the beast his image and receive the mark of

the Beast at the.

End of time. So let me ask you a question.

Let's say you're a Republican and you align with the

Republican Party more than the Church of Jesus Christ.

What will happen to you at the time of the end.

You'll receive the mark of the beast.

Let's say you're a Democrat you align with the Democratic

Party more than the cause of Jesus Christ, that you

align with political interests, what will happen to you at

the time of the end.

You'll receive the mark of the beast. You see, these

parties aren't intrinsically bad. Well, maybe they are.

But what I'm getting at is that we as Christians

can't go there in our heads. We have to stay focused.

What's the focus of the Christian life. It's Jesus, the

good News, and so we it's healthy to keep stuff

like that out of a church. Sister White has told

us that when we vote, were to keep it to ourselves.

That were to vote our conscience and let God work

out the details. She was active in social causes like

the abolitionist movement. She said that the early Avenist Church

should oppose Lincoln in one area where they were complying

with the mandate to return slavelyes but slaves before the

Emancipation Proclamation. She by all means supported Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.

She was in the Temperance movement. She marched with other

Christians who were not abnous for the sake of alcohol

prohibition and the like, and she wrote alongside of others

in the book A Solemn Appeal who called the conscience

of the country on the issue of abortion. She stood

with them in those publications. Sister White was highly engaged

in causes that would make a difference, but she kept

her eyes on Jesus. What is known for, primarily in

our time, is that little lady who always spoke of Jesus,

who wrote of Jesus, who brought the prophecies to bear.

To lift up Jesus.

My father was converted by her writings of Jesus. I

was converted by reading the book Steps to Christ, which

pointed me to Jesus.

Now.

And so they locked the apostles up in prison because

they were enamored with Jesus. The early Church began with

persecutional in that way, if you aren't willing to put

up with persecution, in the end, you'll give into the

mark of the beast. So in spite of these extreme measures,

the early Church was growing fast. And because of this fact,

the religious leaders dragged Peter and John before their religious

tribunal to shut them down. Look it acts four verse four.

And many of those who heard the word what does

it say in your Bible?

Believed?

And the number of the men came to about how

many five thousand. On the morrow their rulers and elders

and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annis the

high Priest, and Caiaphas, and John and Alexander, and all

who were of the high priestly family, and when they

had set them in the midst they inquired, by what

power or by what name did you do this? I

mean they're at it now. They're focused on these obstinate

preachers and teachers of God's word. These were the very

men who had crucified Jesus a few months before.

Think of this.

Peter was standing before Jesus murders now on trial for

the gospel of Jesus death is buried in his resurrection,

on trial for Christ, standing before a high priest didn't

even believe in the resurrection, and yet he was proclaiming

the resurrection. Caiaphas's name in Hebrew means basket man.

Did you know that? Well? It does and I in.

Abraham dash Publications, one of the best word study sites

I think in the world. It carried the sense of cryptographer.

It was a it was a person in cryptography. My

brother used to work at the NSA and he was

into that. He was into signal analysis. Another thing doesn't

tell them anything other than that one thing. Caiaphas was

the modern equivalent of a politician who wields power by

obscuring the truth, by using code language, working with covert

agents and virtue signaling and.

Corruption to get his way.

He was the cryptographer, the basket man, the man who

was only concerned with power. Got to the heart of

his concern with a forthright question to these men, Peter

and John. He says, by what power mean an authority,

or by what name meaning approval?

Did you do this?

This unseemly deed for Caiaphas was the act of healing

that lame man at the gate beautiful Imagine that being

a crime. They healed the man in the name of

Jesus of Nazareth, and now they were on trial for

what had happened at the beautiful gate.

Who gave you the right to heal this man?

Whose power did you steal to do it before the people?

What right do you have to make a difference in

this man's life without our approval, without coming to us

our control over you. He's implying that they work this

miracle illegitimately. Therefore the miracle should be ignored and they're

in trouble. Any church can act that way, any group

of church leaders can act that way. When God's Holy

Spirit is moving the church, we don't need to shut

it down. We need to encourage it. Peter's answer is

forthright and certain. Look at verse eight, asked four. Then Peter,

filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of

the people and elders.

I wish I just a fly on the wall.

When he said this, if we are being examined today,

he's acting like a lawyer concerning a good deed done

to a cripple, by what means this man has been healed?

Now he's quoting Jesus. Jesus said, for which good deed

do you now crucify? Do you now stone me? Remember

that in John So he learned how to respond to

the mob and respond in a quasi legal setting. He says,

all right, what's the good deed that we did and

healing this cripple that has brought us before?

Now look at verse ten.

Be it 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 is standing before you. Well,

now this is the man who had denied Jesus a

few months before, and now he's confessing Jesus. And they

may very well kill him, and he is proclaiming the

name of Jesus Christ. Can God change a man or

woman in a few short days? Yes?

Or no?

Can He redirect their life so they're dynamically engaged making

the difference?

Yes.

Caiaphus had ripped his garments when Jesus answered his question

whether or not he was the Messiah. The trial, Caiaphus

had asked Christ forthrightly who he was. He said, are

you the Messiah, the Christ, the son of the Living God?

He asked Jesus boldly, and Jesus said, after saying nothing

at his trial, he spoke up, I Am, meaning I

am God, I am the Massiae. The ancient Jews knew

the Son of God was equal to God because he

was God.

That was understood in Judaism.

And Jesus told Caiaphas that he would see him once

again in the future, sitting at the right hand of

Power and coming in the clouds of glory. Caiaphas and

the others asked the apostles by what power and in

whose name this miracle had been wrought, and they answered

in clear and unambiguous terms, for the man whose name

means cryptography, the basket man, you know you hide things

in a basket. Peter said, in the name of Jesus Christ,

whom you crucified. Is that boldness, yes or no? That's

boldness full of the Holy Spirit. I mean, the Holy

Spirit does not inspire us to not share our faith.

The Holy Spirit does not inspire us to just do nothing.

The Holy Spirit inspires us to engage for the cause

of Christ. Peter accused the accusers of Christ. Peter brought

those who judged Jesus before the judgment bar of Jesus Jesus,

and then Peter spoke right there. He indicted the indicters.

He had spoke those words that struck fear into the

heart of Caiaphas. He said, that God, that God raised

Jesus from the dead, and is by this living man

that you killed the resurrection that you deny in your theology.

That God has made alive this living man, who is Lord,

who healed this man that you arrested with me, It

is because of Jesus this has happened. I guarantee you

had struck fear in the spines of those religious leaders.

They had arrested the lame man also because he was

standing there. His crime was the crime of being healed

and walking and leaping and praising God. Evil church leaders

who work to destroy others rather than heal people are

the same in every age. It was that way in

Nazi Germany. It was that way in communist countries as well.

They are threatened when God's works makes a difference in

the world for Jesus. They are challenged and nervous when

the miracle working power of the Holy Spirit gets out

of control and changes the landscape of religion and faith

in ways they don't plan. What will bring the mark

of the Beast to this country will be an engaged

Christianity that proclaims the truth of the Three Angels messages,

the Everlasting Gospel. Bablin has fallen in the Third Angel's message,

the warning of the mark of the Beast, which is

a call to obedience to keep the commandments of God

and the faith of Jesus.

That is what brings the mark of the Beast.

Many religious leaders in many churches oppressed their own people

in Hitler's day. Will happen in America when you make

a pragmatic choice to survive under the rule of an

evil oppressor rather than accept the rule of Jesus. Christ

in your life so that you will share the truth

under any circumstance. Don't be surprised if evil sets in

and you become just like the regime you have rendered to.

Caiaphas and Annis and the rest of the priests were

no different than the emperor, Tiberius, Caesar and Ponscious Pilot,

who were dictators. I mean, it doesn't matter if you're

a dictator in the left, a dictator on the right,

if you're following dictators because it just makes you feel

good as a Christian, you've aligned with the wrong leader

in your life. They also murdered these dictators to get

their way, and they will stand together on the last

day facing Jesus, the judge of all the earth. At

this point, Peter appeals to them. Does God love dictators?

Yes or no?

Someone said no, Okay, well, all right, that's pallid. I

ask for honest responses, not unhonest responses. I'm not going

to go after you because you said that. But it's

a good question to ask, would you say, it's a

good question to ask, does God care about the EDII

means the.

Well, you know who he is.

He's an old dictator. Saddam Hussein. He's another old dictator,

but we get I'm not going to name modern dictators

because you may like him.

Well, it's true.

But here Peter appeals to Jesus murderers Caiaphas and Annis

and all the rest except Jesus and be saved. Isn't

that beautiful God? In Christ prayed at the cross, Father,

forgive them.

They know not what they do.

And those men right there that had Peter and John

in front of them had heard that prayer. And now

Peter is appealing again for these men to be saved.

And through Peter, who had denied Jesus, but then who

had been restored by Jesus, Jesus here offers his murder.

Is the offer of salvation of being restored, even though

they had murdered him. Does God love his enemies absolutely?

Let's look at verse eleven of XKED four. Peter said,

this is the stone which was rejected by you builders,

by which has become the head of a corner. And

then verse twelve is the awesome part. And there is

salvation and no one else, For there is no other

name under Heaven given among men by which we must

be saved. The Holy Spirit pushed these words through Peter's

mouth holy boldness. If you want salvation in your life

and you're trying to get it through any person or

means or politician other than Jesus Christ, you will not

be saved by them or it. The world religions are

not valid roads of truth that lead to salvation.

I'm sorry. The Bible does not teach that.

Philosophy will not save you with its intricate ideas, So

don't try to look smart.

To be saved.

The Church can't and won't save you either. That's the

latest sea and problem thinks the Church is somehow.

Going to save us.

Doing good to be noticed by God or others will

not save you. So virtue signaling is out as a

Christian trying to appease God by proving yourself will not

save you or anyone else either. Friend, the name of

Jesus Christ means his character. God's name is this character.

Christ's name is this holy character. Jesus' name means in

Hebrew Yahweh saves.

The Lord saves. So what will save us? The Lord

not us.

And when you call on the God of Love to

forgive you, who has a character of love that is

good and kind?

Even to his enemies and well able to save you.

Don't disbelieve his name, don't reject his character. Believe that

God's love was poured out for you. And I guarantee

you that God in Jesus Christ, will answer your sincere

prayer on your knees in brokenness to be saved, and

you will be saved. We come home to God when

we call on the character the name of Jesus Christ

to save us, because his name and his character is

the greatest name in the universe. What did these murders

of Jesus' notice in Peter and John when they engage

them in this way? Look at verse thirteen. Now, when

they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceive

that they were uneducated common men, they wondered, and they

recognized that they had been with Jesus. It was evident

to the religious leaders that Peter and John were not

educated men. They didn't quote the rabbi theologians, the school

of Helale and the school of Shamad.

Or any other school of rabbinical thought.

They didn't rattle off some pat answer the Church provides

for questions that are hard to answer. They didn't appeal

to their religious pedigree. To make a point, I got

this degree here, there, and so on. They were common men,

the text says, in my translation enamored with Jesus. The

Greek word for common here used with men is idiot

tastes in the Greek. What does that sound like the

English word? It's the word for idiot. They were idiot men,

common men. Idiot means in ancient Greek coin a Greek

a layman or a non specialist.

She was describe an unskilled or untrained person.

Yet the religious leaders marveled at these idiot men because

they were speaking like Jesus would if he were there,

and it was not idiotic stuff coming out of their mouth.

They had a mastery of the scriptures at their disposal.

They could reason with boldness on the spot. They could

quote Jesus and integrate it into their defense. That is

why these religious politicians could discern the character of Jesus

in these common men. Friend, education is helpful, but only

if you have been with Jesus. Jesus is the greatest

teacher this world has ever known. If you have never

had the opportunity of attending university, if you have no

advanced degree, and I have a master's degree at the seminary.

And I value that degree.

But I tell you most of what I have learned

that I preach and teaching the pulpit has come from

my devotional time in the Bible and the spirit of prophecy.

You can keep all the nonsense ideas the philosopher, king,

theologian types, self appointed healers to yourself. As for me,

just give me Jesus in my life so I can

grow in the knowledge of God and share it with others.

Spending time with Jesus is what qualifies us to serve God.

The religious leaders couldn't answer Peter and John, so they

sent them out of the council to allow themselves to

confer with each other. And a committee is if that

would help them do the right thing. Inside the council

with the apostles on the outside, the lame man who

had been healed on the outside now a leaping and

walking and praising God men, they asked themselves, what can

we do with these men? Think about that, they just

hurt the gospel. They just had another appeal of mercy

and grace from God come into their lives. And what

are they concerned with?

These guys? Causing trouble, not the truth, not Jesus. The people.

These common idiot men obviously performed a miracle. They could

figure that, and all of Jerusalem knows they did, and

they've admitted it because they couldn't deny it. Paradoxically, they

show no interest in letting Jesus into their lives to

work the miracle of saving them or healing them. They

didn't feel they needed Jesus saving them. They had set

themselves up to save the people from Jesus. When you

resist Jesus long enough in life, hear me, it's possible

for anyone in the church to act just like these

religious leaders did. Thus, they decided in a committee to

command them to no longer speak in Jesus' name. Look

at Acts four eighteen. So they called them and charged

them not to speak or teach at all in the

name of Jesus, Holy spirit filled men and women. Don't

obey this kind of command, am I right? There should

be a lot more amens to that. Look at verse nineteen.

But Peter, and by the way, in the Reformation they

had a doctrine called the teaching or doctrine of the

Lesser Magistrate. It was derived directly from Acts four in

other parts of Scripture that when a high our magistrate's

tyrannical and they order you to violate your conscience, it

is the duty of the lesser magistrate to resist them.

In the book Great Controversy, we have the picture of

the protests of the princes where they stood before the Segeesemun,

the Holy Roman Emperor, and they resisted him on the

basis of conscience. And that is our Protestant heritage, as

our Protestant heritage in our church and others Verse nineteen.

But Peter and John answer them, whether it is right

in the side of God to listen to you rather

than to God. You must judge, for we cannot but

speak of what we have seen and heard. They left

no doubt at all as to what they, as followers

of Jesus, were going to do in the future. Peter

and John were compelled to share the good news of Jesus.

I ask you the question, are you of like mine

with Peter and John in your personal life, in your

commitment to Jesus, are you, like them compelled to share

your testimony Christ Scripture as you can with others who

Jesus brings into your life. Are you compelled to share

the goodness of the Lord with those you mean at work,

or in your neighborhood, or in your family, or in

your practice with people who do.

Not know that the Lord is good? You're the only

Jesus they may ever see Verse twenty one.

And when they had further threatened them, these guys, as

they never give up, do they When they had further

threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to

punish them.

Why because of.

The people they are politicians For all men praise God

for what had happened. For the man on whom the

sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.

And the evidence and the good will of the people

prevented those religious politicians from getting rid of Peter and

John right there. And furthermore, the walking and leaping and

praising God Man was over forty years old. You couldn't

deny the evidence. How does a man who never walked

do that in a single day at the gate beautiful

without God performing a special sign that is beautiful. Immediately,

Peter and John and I assumed the walking and leaping

and praising God Man, who was no longer the lame

man went to their friends and told them everything that

they had told them.

That's why it's in our New Testament.

They told them what the religious leaders had said and

how they had threatened them so they would stop sharing

the Gospel of Jesus. At this point, the apostles chose

to pray, as they invoke the Word of God in

psalms too, and their prayer to God. You see, when

you have overcome a massive challenge, you've prayed through that challenge.

Don't think you need to stop praying. You need to

end the experience by praying and seeking God's will and

thanking God.

That's what they do.

Look at verse twenty four, and when they heard it,

they lifted their voices together to God and said, so

the apostles are leading the people in prayer, Sovereign Lord,

who DIDs make the heaven and the earth to see

and everything in them. They're quoting the Sabbath, the fourth Commandment.

There verse twenty five, who by the mouth of our Father,

David thy servant, did say, by the Holy Spirit, why

do the gentiles rage? And the people's imagine vain things?

The kings of the earth set themselves in array, and

the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and.

Against his anointed.

And now they seized on that scripture they're quoting in

their prayer Psalms two one and two.

Psalms two seven, according to Hebrews.

Five five and Acts thirteen, is a direct prophecy of

the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

God has sworn and will not change his mind.

He says today I've begotten you, since today I've begotten you,

And it's paraphrased again in Hebrews one ten Psalms one ten,

verse four and three. Really, they were enamored with Psalms

two in Psalms one hundred and ten because it was

resurrection imagery. They focus on the fact that these religious

leaders who are opposing the word of God are not

any different than the Romans and ponscious pilot who crucified Jesus.

And they see it right there in their Bible. And

they confess in prayer that these Jewish leaders, their leaders

who crucified Jesus, who persecuted them, had become unbelieving gentiles.

Why because they would not stop conspiring against God's anointing

his messiah, Jesus and those who followed Jesus. In verse

twenty seven, they affirmed that Jerusalem is no longer the

holy city that promotes truth and righteousness as it once did.

Look at verse twenty seven. For truly, in this city

there were gathered together against thy holy Servant, Jesus, whom

thou didst anoint both herod and ponscious pilot, with the

Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever thy

hand in thy plan had predestined to take place. In

this prayer, they're making direct reference to the seventy week

prophecy of Daniel nine that promised the coming of the

Messiah the probationary time for the Holy City of Jerusalem.

In Dale nine twenty four.

Daniel had prophesied that the people of the Prince who

is to come will destroy the city and the sainctuaries.

Not talking about Jesus primarily here at all, I mean

in a secondary sense. Only could you see it that way.

By rejecting Jesus, both the Jewish leaders and the Romans

united under the Prince, that would destroy the city, the sanctuary,

and the Messiah, who is the true temple of God.

Jesus had destroyed this temple three days, I'll build it

up Jesus said in John fourteen thirty that the ruler

or prince of this world is coming, and he has

no power over me. They were aware of Bible prophecy

in the Early Church. They were engaging their adversaries with

the seventy week prophecy of Daniel nine and Acts two.

In other places, both the.

Romans and the Jewish leaders have become agents of Satan.

It was the Prince that had gained control of their

lives and hearts. And at this point they're both gentiles

as followers. The Early Church's concerned. If you're going to

follow the prince of this world, you're a gentile. That's

how they looked at it. Based on Psalms too. What

does that mean for us today? For the implications, Friend,

if we oppose the truth of Jesus in our time,

and we oppose men and women coming to Jesus, the

book Revelation says that such believers become a synagogue of Satan,

and they will receive the mark of the Beast. It

doesn't matter if what day of the week you keep.

If you don't have Jesus, you get the mark of

the Beast. They continued their prayer in verse twenty nine.

And now, Lord, isn't that a great place to come

to grips in your prayer with? And now Lord look

upon their threats and granted thy servants to speak the word.

And what does it say in the Bible? Help me

with this with all boldness? That's right, Katie? Did you

say that boldness? Is Katie bold about her profession of

Jesus Christ in our church?

Isn't she?

Amen Verse thirty, While thou stretchest out thy hand to heal,

and signs and wonders are performed through the name of

thy holy servant, Jesus. Sophia Shoul got it right when

she said, I will cling to the rope God has

thrown me in Jesus Christ, even when my numb hand

can no longer feel it. Friend, when our hands are numb,

Jesus Christ is the one who can stretch out his

Holy Spirit hand to heal us and to strengthen us,

to give us courage. Jesus has the power, through the

Holy Spirit hand to perform signs and wonders. Jesus is

not irrelevant in our lives just because evil men and

evil women oppose the work of God in our time.

The apostles prayed for boldness from thy holy servant, Jesus.

What was the.

Outcome of holy boldness in that day? The Jesus kind

of holy boldness in this prayer? What was the outcome

of that? You may have a lot of opposition in

your life. I mean, the whole world may be coming

down on you. But if you speak in the name

of Jesus, you get on your knees, you call on

His name to be your sustaining power.

God will get you through it.

But He'll get you through it in an attitude of boldness,

of strength, not of weakness. You're not a victim if

you're in the cause of Christ and friend, don't ever

apologize for lifting up the name of Jesus with a humble,

sincere heart to share Jesus with other people. How did

God respond to this humble and sincere prayer for holy

boldness to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ dear heart?

God responded with a second outpouring of the Holy Spirit

as a second blessing of Pentecost that shook the place

to share Jesus boldly. The Holy Spirit shook the place

to affirm that they would go forth with greater Holy

Spirit power in their life Verse thirty one. And when

they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered

together was shaken, and they were filled with the Holy

Spirit and spoke the Word of God with boldness. Dear Father,

help us to get our minds off ourselves as all

that significant. We're not powerful, our ideas are not profound.

Our influence doesn't make a difference unless we are surrendered

to Jesus, unless the Holy Spirit is in our lives,

unless we pray. And so Father, we pray to you

right now as a church family for love and kindness,

for truth telling, to protect the vulnerable, and care and

love the world that's in our sphere, in Laurel, in Lord,

the world. And I pray for every person here.

Father. They're broken people here.

They don't need to be broken a long It didn't

take but an act of faith and grace to make

that broken lay man walk.

May they hold on to Jesus, claim Jesus.

In their life, not look back, not look back, and

watch you work in their life to take common people

who've come from them horrible places some of us, and

see God do great things that's not of us. And

so the Lord lift up Jesus here. May our young

people lift up Jesus. May the older people lift up Jesus.

And may Jesus dwell here through the Holy Spirit in

Jesus' name, Amen,