The Unstoppable God

Good morning again. It's great to be here with you this morning. I want to start out

this morning telling you a story about a man. His name is Desmond Doss. Some of you may have

heard of him. There was a movie made about his life last year called Hacksaw Ridge. He

joined the U.S. Army in 1942, and due to his faith, he believed that it was wrong to carry

a gun, to threaten a life, or to take another person's life. And he made sure that the army

knew about this when he joined, and he figured, because he believed so strongly that it was

wrong to kill someone, that the army would make him a medic on the field. However, when

he joined the army, instead of making him a medic, they put him in an infantry rifle company.

And here you have a man who refuses to pick up and carry a gun in a rifle company.

And his team of soldiers that he was grouped with, understandably, saw him as a liability.

How can you be a part of a rifle troop when you don't carry a rifle? And so these men, because

they saw him as a liability, they did everything that they could to get him taken out of their

squad. They would threaten him, and they told him, if you go out to battle, I'll make sure

you don't come back. They would insult him. They tried to say that he was mentally unfit

for duty. They even tried to have him court-martialed for disobeying the direct order to pick up and

shoot a gun. And nothing that they did worked. He kept sticking around. And eventually, as time

went by, he actually started to turn the soldiers in his squadron to liking him. Because when they

would go on these long marches, they would get blisters on their feet. And he would come

and he would treat their blisters and they would get better. And when they were on these

long marches, it was hot and it was dry. And soldiers would pass out from dehydration.

And he would be the first one at their side every time, offering them water from his own

water bottle to help them recover and be able to get back up and keep going.

Finally, his squadron gets sent into battle. And when they're on the battlefield, he has

his focus on one thing and one thing only. And that is saving lives. On the field, it doesn't

matter how dangerous it is, how many bullets are flying. When someone calls for a medic,

he is there. The story that I read about him said that several times during the fighting,

he was so close to enemy lines that he could hear the Japanese soldiers whispering in their

trenches. And yet he went and he rescued as many people as he possibly could. Early in 1945,

his company was trying to take this area that they referred to as Hacksaw Ridge. It was a big,

very steep hill. And they fought and fought and finally made it to the top. And when they got to

the top, they faced a counterattack from the Japanese soldiers who just started mowing down the American

troops. The American soldiers were commanded to retreat. And only a third of them were actually able to

retreat because so many of them had been injured in this counterattack. And when the command to retreat

came, everyone that was able to retreated except for this man, Desmond Doss. He stayed in the thick of the

battle trying to rescue as many lives as he could. He put together a stretcher at the edge of the cliff and

tied some rope to it. And one by one, he picked up the other soldiers and he carried them over to the

stretcher. He would load them onto the stretcher, lower them over the edge to safety, pull the stretcher

back up, go get another man, and carry him over to rescue him as well. And he said, I'm going to keep

going until I pass out or get shot and die. As long as I am physically able to keep rescuing my fellow

soldiers, I am going to keep saving lives. And on that day, he rescued 75 men from death. Later that

year, he received the Congressional Medal of Honor. And the president, who was Harry Truman at the time,

stood there and he shook his hand. He shook his hand and then throughout the award, he just held his hand.

And the president looked at Desmond Doss and he said, I'm proud of you. You really deserve this.

I consider this a greater honor than being president. Desmond Doss was a man who lived his life with a

single focus, a laser focus on saving lives on the battlefield. I don't know about you, but when I hear a

story like the story of Desmond Doss, it does a couple things inside of me. One, it fills me with

respect for someone who could live so selflessly and sacrificially. I'm impressed by people who live

with such singular focus. For him, it was saving lives. Didn't matter what stood in his way. Could

be threats, could be insults, could be bullets. He was determined as long as he was able to, he was going

to keep moving and keep saving lives. The only thing that was going to stop him was death or

incapacitation. The other thing that stories like this do is they make me want to do something great

with my life. And we've been going the past few couple months through the book of Acts.

And today we're continuing looking at the book of Acts. And we're going to see that God wants to shape us

into this type of person. God wants us to be a church filled with Desmond Doss type people who live

with a singular laser focus on him. And so what we're going to see today as we continue our study in Acts

is that our unstoppable God accomplishes his unstoppable work by transforming the hearts of normal people

like you and me to make us unstoppable forces for his kingdom. Before we start, let's pray.

Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you have spoken to us and that you have in your

word given us the chance to know you. Such an amazing privilege and honor. And I pray that as we

look at your word today that you would speak to us, that the Holy Spirit would make it clear to us

what you want us to do in response. That you would help us to love you more, to love each other more,

and to respond in obedience to what you're calling us to do. In Jesus' name, amen.

So like I said, we've been going through the book of Acts lately. And we've started out saying

that God told his disciples that they would spread his word. They would start in Jerusalem,

which we said for us is kind of like Pak Fulam. And then they would move on to Judea, which is

the wider area, sort of like our Hong Kong island. And then to Samaria, which for us maybe would

include new territories, Kowloon. And then to the ends of the earth, which is the ends of the earth.

In the past several weeks, we've been seeing this pattern where the church experiences God's blessing

and then faces opposition. And then they experience God's blessing and then they face opposition.

And last week we looked at opposition from inside from this couple called Ananias and Sapphira. And

if you want to know more about them, Bernard's sermon is on our website and you can listen to it.

And today they again face blessing and then opposition. But like we said, through them,

our unstoppable God accomplishes his unstoppable work by transforming the hearts of normal people

like you and me and the apostles to make us unstoppable forces for his kingdom. So we're

going to look at three things today. First, the insecurity of the powerful. Second, the courage of

the weak. And then third, the source of unstoppable power. So first up, we have the insecurity of the

powerful. So after last week's sermon, Ananias and Sapphira cause a problem for the church that's

dealt with. And then we pick up today's passage and amazing things are happening with the church.

People are looking at these church leaders with respect and awe and people are becoming Christians.

People are getting healed. And we see this first step of progression of the gospel message going

outside Jerusalem and into Judea, the wider area. It says that people are bringing their friends,

their family members, whoever, whoever's sick, whoever's demon-possessed from these surrounding

towns into Jerusalem so that they can be healed by the apostles. Because this is crazy to me, but it says

that so much healing is happening that even if Peter walks past you and his shadow falls on you at this

time, you will be healed. Is that nuts to anyone else? It's crazy power at work from God. Things are going

great, but not everyone is happy about this. The high priest, the main religious leader in Jerusalem

of that day, steps up and arrests the apostles. All of them, alongside of his political party and

religious party, the Sadducees, they see the apostles as a threat and so they release them. Now who are the

Sadducees and why did they see the apostles as a threat? The Sadducees were a leading religious group

in this day. And in Israel at this time, religion and politics go hand in hand. So a leading religious

group is also the leading political group. They had opponents. There was one group called the Pharisees

that was probably their main opponent. And like opposing political parties in today's world, the

Pharisees and the Sadducees, they would go at each other and attack each other for their different

beliefs. But at the end of the day, both of them were fairly pro-establishment. They wanted things to

stay the way that they were because they were comfortable with the system the way that it was.

And for them, as they looked out on the political and religious landscape of Israel, this new group of

Christians was this new upstart group that they saw as a threat. And they felt the need to shut these

guys down. So the Christians are a threat because people who have been good Jews their entire lives

are all of a sudden now turning away from following the Sadducees and the Pharisees.

And the thing about the Sadducees is they had great worldly power. But the way that they respond

to the apostles in this story shows that in reality, despite their worldly power,

they were radically insecure people. How are they insecure? Well, look at verse 17 with me.

It says,

The high priest rose up, and all who were with him, that is the party of the Sadducees,

and filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles, and they put them in the public prison.

The Sadducees, the great establishment political and religious leaders of their day,

are jealous. And who are they jealous of? A group of street preachers. That's basically what the

apostles are at this time. The establishment religious and political leaders of their day

are jealous of this group of street preachers because they see them as a threat. And why were

they jealous? Because the Sadducees weren't just leaders. They were people who found the core of

their identity in being the leaders. They had built the foundation of their identity around this idea

that I am a leader. We call that making an idol out of leadership. An idol is anything in our lives

that we put as ultimate other than God. And the Sadducees, these religious leaders, had made

being political and religious leaders into an idol. Which means that when this new group of Christians

comes along and seems to be threatening their position of power, they're not just threatening a

position of power, they're threatening the very core of the identity of these Sadducees.

It's not just that they're standing and this position is in threat, but that who I am as a person

is in danger because of that. And that's how idols work. When our idols are threatened,

we feel like not just the idol itself is threatened, but we ourselves are threatened. It works the same

way in our lives today. Whenever we take anything other than God and make it ultimate in our lives.

Here's an example of what this looks like in my life. I like to be right.

Justine can tell you that I like to be right. She's nodding her head now. Yes.

I feel like if I know things and I am right about things, then I can be in control of situations,

maybe in control of people. And so when I'm having a conversation and I say something and I think I'm

right and someone else tells me I'm wrong, that threatens my idol of being right and being in

control. And so when someone says I'm wrong about something, even if I am wrong, even if we can pull

out Google and Google says, Eric, you're wrong, when they say you're wrong, I don't hear you're wrong.

What I hear is you're a worthless human being because you're wrong. And that means that you

cannot have a normal, rational discussion in this situation because I am not focused on the facts

anymore. I'm focused on trying to establish my worth as a person. And in this moment, because I feel like

my worth as a person is threatened, I often lash out by trying to tear down the worth of the other

person. So what started as a simple comment, Eric, you're wrong, can result in personal attacks and

assaults on people from me because I feel like they have threatened me and so I need to threaten them

in response. That's how idols work. They cause us to respond with jealousy, fear, anger, anxiety,

anything except love. And that's exactly what we see happening in this story. The Sadducees see their

idol threatened. They feel like they themselves and the core of their identity is threatened and they

respond in jealousy. And not just jealousy, but also fear. So the Sadducees, they arrest the apostles,

they put the apostles in prison. In the middle of the night, an angel comes and frees the apostles

and says, go preach again in the temple. So they do that. And then in the morning, the Sadducees wake

up and realize, oh no, these guys have escaped from prison. Where are they? Someone tells them where they

are and they go and it says in verse 26 that they go and bring the apostles back again. They arrest them

again. But notice this, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. They were

not just jealous, they were also afraid. Why were they afraid? Because public opinion was turning against

them and they thought that they would be killed by the people for doing what they were doing.

Because they built their identity around idols that were not big enough or strong enough or powerful

enough to sustain the core of who they were. They acted in fear. Even though they thought that they

were doing the right thing, they did it timidly in fear. Which is going to give a stark contrast later

on when we look at the apostles and how they act in this situation, despite the fact that they had far

less worldly power to rely on. And like I said, the way that idols work is the same way today. When we

build our lives and our identities around idols, it leads to jealousy, it leads to fear, it leads to

anxiety, stress, anger, anything except love. So if we want to be Desmond Doss type people who live with

this singular focus on what God wants us to be focused on, step one is identifying and dealing with

the idols in our lives. And if you're sitting here and you're like, I recognize some of these tendencies

that you're describing in myself, but I don't necessarily know what my idols are that I struggle

with, I have some questions I want us to look at that will help us think through what our idols are.

So the first question, what is the first thing I want people to know about me when they meet me?

What's the big thing that if they know nothing else about me, this is the one thing that they need to know?

Second, what do I daydream about?

In those moments where there's nothing particular filling my mind, what is it that just naturally

comes in there and consumes my thoughts?

Third, what causes me the greatest amount of stress and anxiety?

What causes me to lose sleep at night?

Finally, what wish or desire, if I didn't get it, would make me consider walking away from my faith?

Because we look through these questions, if we identify common themes among them, that's probably a sign

that we have idols in our lives.

There's a famous preacher back in the 1500s, he said,

our hearts are idol factories.

They just find things and they idolize them.

We place our hope in them.

And the way that the Sadducees respond in this story

shows us that building our lives around these idols is not sustainable

because it leads to jealousy, it leads to fear, anxiety, anger.

And no matter how much worldly power we may have,

if our lives are built around idols, we will be wildly insecure people.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

Let's look next at the courage of the weak.

So in contrast to the Sadducees are the apostles.

These guys are common, uneducated men.

Basically at this point, street preachers.

They're finding places out in public areas,

standing up and talking to people about Jesus.

They don't have huge church buildings like we might picture them having today.

They're literally just finding wherever

and using the opportunity to tell people about Jesus.

By worldly standards, they really have nothing going for them.

But God is doing these incredible and amazing, powerful things through them.

And from their actions, we can see amazing courage.

I mean, look at what they were doing in this story.

In Acts chapter 4, we saw that Peter and James got—no, Peter and John, sorry—got arrested.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

And they were threatened by the religious leaders saying,

don't preach about Jesus anymore.

And yet, at the start of today's passage, what are they doing?

They're preaching about Jesus and healing people.

And loads of people are becoming Christians.

So they get arrested.

And they're put in prison.

And in the middle of the night, the angel comes and says, go preach.

And what do they do?

They go back to the exact same place where they were arrested the day before

and start doing the exact same thing that got them arrested in the first place.

And then, they get arrested again.

And when they come in, and they're standing before the religious leaders,

they don't plead and say, we're sorry, please let us go, we won't do it anymore.

Look at this response that Peter gives to the high priest,

the top religious leader of his day in Israel.

He says, in verse 30, he says, literally, you killed Jesus.

He stands in front of the top religious leaders of his day and accuses them of murder.

And not just of murder, but he says, you killed Jesus by hanging him on a tree,

and God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior.

He says, you murdered Jesus, and God is standing in direct opposition to you.

That's harsh, especially being spoken towards a religious leader.

Not only that, but then he says, in verse 32,

we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit,

whom God has given to those who obey him.

Now, follow this logic.

The Holy Spirit is a witness to the truth about these things of Jesus.

God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey him.

Therefore, if you obey God, you have the Holy Spirit,

and you believe these things about Jesus.

However, you religious leaders do not believe these things about Jesus,

which means you do not have the Holy Spirit,

which means you are disobedient to God.

Peter and the apostles stand before these men who have the power to have them killed

and accuse them of murder,

accuse them of going directly opposed to God in their actions

and disobedience to God as a general pattern of life.

And if you hear this response and you think,

oh, that's probably just how people talked back then.

It's not.

And how do I know that?

Because look at the response of the religious leaders in verse 33.

They heard this.

They were enraged and wanted to kill them.

They're no longer wanting a happy, peaceful, friendly conversation.

They want blood.

They are angry.

And the apostles are standing there incredibly courageous.

Despite their lack of worldly power and lack of worldly authority,

they have this power and this courage

that the religious leaders of their day could only ever dream of.

The Sadducees respond in jealousy and fear

when they feel that their position is in danger.

And yet the apostles respond with amazing courage

when even their lives are on the line.

And it's not that they don't recognize this.

They know that their lives are in danger.

They know that this is a dangerous situation.

But God fills them with this incredible courage.

And this contrast between the Sadducees and the religious leaders

versus the apostles

shows us that worldly power is not where security comes from.

Being the boss, being the CEO, does not make you a secure person.

Having the top position in politics does not mean that you are courageous.

It has to come from somewhere else.

It takes something else for us to live with the type of courage,

the type of single-minded focus that the apostles had,

that Desmond Doss had.

Where does that come from?

Well, let's look at the source of unstoppable power.

As the religious leaders have the apostles on trial,

they all want to kill the apostles,

and one of the religious leaders, a man named Gamaliel,

stands up and says something actually very wise and insightful.

He says,

Hey guys, let's think about this.

If this new Christian movement is from men,

if their power is from men,

it's not going to last.

We've seen plenty of different leaders throughout the years

rise up, start these movements,

and as soon as a leader gets killed,

the movement just falls apart.

If this is from men,

it's just going to be like all the other ones.

Once a couple of key people get killed off,

it's going to stop.

No big deal.

We don't need to do anything actively to oppose them

because it's going to die out on its own.

However,

if this movement is from God,

it doesn't matter what we do to oppose them,

it's not going to work.

And if we try to make it stop,

and it is from God,

then what we're doing is we're actually opposing God,

which is probably not a good idea.

So we should stand back,

we should let these guys go,

we shouldn't cause any trouble for them,

that's all.

And the other religious leaders listen to him,

they decide to just beat the apostles

instead of killing them,

and then they let them go.

But notice what happens with Gamaliel here.

He has really good insights.

He speaks truth to a certain degree,

and yet he still has the wrong response

to what God is doing.

Because as he speaks these words,

look where he's standing.

He's not standing saying,

hey guys,

God is working here,

let's join him in what he's doing

and be a part of it.

He's standing there

as one of the religious leaders,

still in opposition to what God is doing,

saying,

uh,

maybe we shouldn't fight against this,

I don't know.

If you think about the story of Desmond Doss,

Gamaliel's response is the equivalent

of sitting at home on your couch.

Yeah,

I guess it's better than joining the wrong side

in the war

and fighting against the good guys.

But at the end of the day,

it's an active choice

not to fight for what is right.

Gamaliel,

who's one of the top religious leaders in Israel,

looks at the situation

of this growing movement of Christianity,

he says,

I think God might be at work here,

and then he stops,

and he doesn't say,

but I want to be a part of it.

So what does Gamaliel teach us?

It teaches us that recognizing

that there is a God

and recognizing that that God is at work

is not enough.

It's not enough to give us

this unstoppable power

like the apostles and Desmond Doss have.

For our lives to be transformed

in such a way

that we can live

with this singular laser focus

and unstoppable power,

it takes something more.

What is that something more?

Well, let's look at

how the apostles respond here.

They get beaten,

which back in those days,

getting beaten

was not just like,

you're done.

They would hit you

with these specially designed whips,

and they limited by law

the number of times

that they could whip you

because if they whipped you

too many times,

you would die.

And even within the legal limits,

people would sometimes die

from the impact

that your body took

while being beaten.

So these apostles

are whipped

to within an inch

of their lives.

And look at their response

as they leave

in verse 41.

They left the presence

of the council,

rejoicing.

Rejoicing about what?

Rejoicing that they were

counted worthy

to suffer dishonor

for the name.

There's something weird

about these guys.

Something different

about them.

Rejoicing that they were

counted worthy

to suffer dishonor

for the name.

has anyone here ever

like been wildly mistreated

and then walked away

from it saying,

yay!

That's not a normal

human response.

Something has happened

to these guys

that has changed them.

There is a power

at work in their lives

that is not a normal

human response.

They are now part

of this upside down

inside out kingdom

that finds honor

in shame

and rejoices

in suffering.

And how is this response

possible?

It's only possible

if the gospel

grips the depths

of your heart

and is allowed

to shape

and mold

the person

that you are becoming.

See,

until we

look

at who God is

and understand

how big

and amazing

and powerful

he is

and understand

the fact

that we have

chosen to rebel

against him

and cut ourselves

off from any

access to him,

from any type

of relationship

with him,

we're not going

to understand

how big

of a deal

a relationship

with him

really is.

but once

we see that

and once

we see

what he has

done

to make

a relationship

with him

possible for us,

that cannot help

but change us.

When we look

and we see

the God

who spoke

the universe

into existence

by speaking

and we recognize

that he became

a human being

like you

and me

so he could

have a relationship

with us,

that changes

us.

When we recognize

that Jesus,

this God

man,

didn't just

come to the

earth as a human

and live as a king

but came

to suffer

and die

because that

was the price

that it cost

for us

to be restored

to a relationship

with God

and that he

was willing

to do that

because he

loved us,

that changes

us.

Hebrews chapter

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

12

says that

Jesus

endured

the shame

of the cross

for joy

because he

loves us

and he wanted

to honor his

father and he

knew that us

having a relationship

with God

would be

something that

would result

in joy.

So even as he

was going to the

cross,

he was suffering,

there was anguish,

it was his darkest

moment and yet

he was still

motivated by

joy.

and when we

recognize

that this

God

who became

a man

so that he

could suffer

for us

so that we

could be

restored to

a relationship

with him

that we

in no way

shape or

form deserve

was also

raised from

the dead

and that his

resurrection

assures us

that there is

nothing,

not even

death,

that can

separate us

from this

relationship

with him,

that

changes us.

and when

he sends

his Holy Spirit

to live in our

lives and

guide us

as a part

of our

day-to-day

life,

shaping us

and making

us more

like him,

that

changes us

into these

type of

singular-focused,

laser-focused,

inside-out,

upside-down

people who

God will

use as

unstoppable

forces in

the world

for him.

When we

understand

the power

and the

amazingness

of these

truths,

we can

become the

type of

people who

stand up

for God

even when

it costs

us.

We can

become the

type of

people who

rejoice even

when we're

mistreated.

We can

become the

type of

people who

consider it

a joy

to be

mistreated

for God.

And when

we believe

the gospel

on this

level,

God makes

us into

unstoppable

forces for

his kingdom

that our

unstoppable

God uses

to spread

his

unstoppable

kingdom

in the

world.

You know,

I think

looking back

at the

story of

Desmond

Doss,

it's easy

to listen

to that

story and

think,

oh,

that was

great for

him and

I'm really

glad that

there's not

a war going

on right

now that

I would

have to

do that

in.

Anyone

else feel

that way?

You know,

the Bible

says that

life is

a war.

There's a

pastor and

preacher named

Paul Tripp,

and he says

it this way.

He says,

there's a war

for our

hearts that

takes place

in every

situation,

every location,

and every

relationship of

daily life.

This war is

fought on the

turf of our

hearts and

is fought for

control of

our souls.

every decision,

every action,

and every word

in our lives

reflects this

war.

It is the

great conflict

of human

life.

This war

is the

reason for

all the

other wars

fought between

people.

You know,

here in

Hong Kong,

it can be so

easy to be

consumed by

comfort and

not want to

think about

the fact that

we are living

in a war

on our

day-to-day

life.

every moment

that we

choose to

spend focusing

on our

comfort or

our advancement

or our

idols is a

moment that

we're losing

ground in

this fight

on the side

of our

unstoppable

God.

And God

wants us to

approach this

battle in

life with a

singular focus

on him.

Just like

Desmond

Doss,

each of our

lives we live

surrounded by

people who

need,

to be

rescued.

Now that

doesn't mean

throwing them

over our

shoulders and

walking them

to the edge

of a cliff,

but it

means pointing

them to

the source

of life,

the God

who loves

them and

who wants

to save

and rescue

people.

And for us

to be effective

in the role

that God

has called

us to,

we need to

live our

lives with

a singular

focus.

That doesn't

come from

just recognizing

there's a God

or recognizing

that he's at

work,

but from

trusting in

him and

joining him

in the work

that he's

doing.

And as long

as our lives

are built

around things

other than

God,

we're going

to be

ineffective.

But when we

build our

lives around

God and

shape them

around the

gospel,

it will

become fuel

that changes

us into

these unstoppable

forces for

God's kingdom.

And at the

end of the

battle,

it's not going

to be

President

Truman or

Trump,

standing there

congratulating

us,

but it's

going to be

God looking

at us and

saying,

well done,

good and

faithful servant.

Let's pray.

Father,

we thank you

that you are

a good God.

We thank you

that you are

a God who

rescues,

that you are

a God who

empowers us

to be these

unstoppable

forces for

you.

As I think

about this

idea of being

unstoppable

forces for

God, I'm

reminded of a

verse in

Hebrews chapter

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

11 where it

talks about

Abel.

And it

says that

even though

he is dead,

he still

speaks.

Not even

death could

stop him

from showing

the world how

great and

amazing our

God is.

And God,

I pray that

you would

shape us into

those types of

people today.

People who

are unstoppable,

not even death,

can stop us

from showing

the world how

great you are

because you

are worth it.

I pray that

you would show

us what the

idols are that

we're relying on

in our lives

and that you

would help us

to fight against

those continuously

even when it's

hard.

That you would

give us joy in

knowing you and

trusting you.

And that you

would spread your

kingdom here on

earth.

through us.

God, we love

you.

We thank you

that you love

us.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.