The Danger Within the Church - Acts 5:1-42

My name is John Whitaker. Tucker is still preaching and

teaching in Italy. So that means it's me today.

So we're going to be in Acts Chapter 5.

Acts 5 · chapter mention

And a week or so ago, I was sitting in my living room and my

granddaughter Briley came up to me.

And I'm not sure what prompted it, but she came up and she

asked, Papa, can can we? Can we look at some pictures in

the photo albums? If you're not familiar with

photo albums because you're young, there are these books

that you put like actual physical, you know, pictures in.

So I busted out some photo albums and we started flipping

through the pictures. And before we knew it, it wasn't

just Briley sitting there, but my grandson Wes crawled up in my

lap. And then a few minutes later, my

grandson Riggan, crawled up in my lap, and I had three little

grandkids around me. And we were looking at these old

pictures in the photo albums from when my wife and I were

younger and when our kids were younger.

Well, Connor, who preached last week, said I should share some

of those pictures with you all just for fun.

So here's the first one. It's a true historical artifact

if we can put this first picture on a screen.

This is my wife and I on our honeymoon May of 1989.

Now, here's what you need to understand about how amazing

this picture is. I mean, this could be the very

first selfie in the history of mankind, and it's a selfie taken

with a film camera. Now, again, if you're young, you

don't know how hard that is 'cause you don't get to see what

it looks like right off the bat. And you can't say I don't like

it. Let's take another one.

You get one shot and that turned out pretty good, right.

So that was a while back. I've been another old picture

that I brought along here. There you go.

There's my son and my daughter. That's actually in May, 10 years

later of 1999. And we're in New Zealand where I

was doing some preaching and teaching that May.

And so we were looking through these old pictures like that in

these photo albums. And the reason I bring that up

is because one of the ways I think of the book of Acts is I

think of Acts sort of like a collection of snapshots, a photo

album from our church family history.

These are, these are family photos, snapshots put here by

the the author of Acts, Luke himself, to remind us where we

came from and to remind us who we are.

And so today in Acts chapter 5, we're going to look at 2

Acts 5 · chapter mention

snapshots, and each snapshot has their own sort of message, their

own story to tell. Just like the snapshots I put up

have their own story to tell. We're going to look at 2, each

with their own story to tell. One, the first one, is a rather

challenging story for us to look at and to think about from our

family history, but Luke included it for a reason.

And then we'll get another one that's a little bit more of an

encouraging, uplifting sort of story.

And when you put those two snapshots side by side, as Luke

does for us in Acts Chapter 5, it's going to really force us.

Acts 5 · chapter mention

I think this is what Luke is doing.

He's forcing us to reflect on a really important question for

what it means to be the church today and throughout time.

All right, so Acts chapter 5, we're going to work our way down

Acts 5 · chapter mention

through this whole chapter, and in order to set up the first few

verses of chapter 5, we have to make sure we don't miss the end

of chapter 4. At the end of chapter 4, Luke

summarizes sort of what's happening in the ministry of the

church and he tells us that the apostles are preaching, teaching

and doing incredible powerful works of miracles and all of

that. And it's leading more and more

people to come to faith. And as they they come to faith,

they're being extremely generous and they're even selling bits of

property that vacation property up in Cascade or McCall.

They're selling that off and they're bringing the money and

they're laying it at the apostles feet so that they can

take care of anyone who has a need.

We even get introduced to one of the major players later in Acts

here, Joseph, a Levite. We know him as Barnabas and

he'll be a traveling companion for the apostle Paul.

He did that. He sold off a piece of property,

brought the money and said here, take care of the needy.

That's the setup for what happens in Chapter 5.

Chapter 5, we meet 2 characters and they're seeing all this

generosity and they're seeing all these people giving money,

selling off property. And they're probably also seeing

some of the the applause and the appreciation and the acclaim

they're getting. Wow.

I can't believe Barnabas was so generous.

Wow. I can't believe that person sold

that property and brought the money.

Wow. And they decide to do the same

thing, except with A twist. So here's what happens in Acts

Acts 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5, one through 11. Now, there was a man named

Ananias with his wife Sapphira. They sold a piece of property

and they kept back some of the money for themselves.

That's not the problem. It's what they do with that now.

They kept back some of the price for himself with his wife's full

knowledge. They brought a portion of it and

they laid it at the apostles feet, just as the people at the

end of chapter 4 had been doing. But Peter said to Ananias, why

has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to

keep back some of the price of the land?

And then we get verse 4, which makes it really clear it's not

just keeping back some of the price, it's that they were

dishonest about it. They kept back some of the price

of the land and said they gave 100%.

They wanted to look good like everyone else.

They wanted to to get the benefit of being generous and

having everyone appreciate it while at the same time being

self-serving and self seeking. So verse 4 says while it remains

your own own, Peter says didn't it remain your own to do what

you wanted with after it was sold wasn't under your control.

In other words, it was your money, it was your property.

You you could have done whatever you wanted.

If you wanted to keep back some of the price of the land, great.

Just be honest about that. We we kept 50% for ourselves,

gave 50% to the church. No big deal after it was sold.

Wasn't it under your control? Why is it that you've conceived

this deed in your heart? You haven't lied to men, you've

lied to God. Why?

Because God was the one that was at work in the church through

His Spirit inspiring these works of generosity.

God was the one that was stirring at people's heart to

sell their land and be generous to the church.

And now you're doing it. And you're doing it with self

seeking, self-serving motivations.

You haven't lied to men, you've lied to God.

And as Peter said these words, verse 5, Ananias fell down and

died, breathed his last right there in church.

That would be a rough Sunday morning, and great fear came

over all who heard of it. The young men got up, covered

him up, carried him out and buried him, put him in a stone

tomb. Now, 3 hours later, verse 7, his

wife comes back. I don't know where she was at.

Maybe she was at the mall spending some of this newfound

wealth. But she comes back three hours

later, not knowing what had happened.

So her husband's dead. They've already put him in the

tomb. She doesn't know what's gone on

in the last few hours. She comes back and Peter

responded to her. Tell me whether you sold the

land for such a such a price. He wants to know if she's in on

it. Is this the full amount?

And she said, Oh yeah, that's the amount that we sold the land

for. And so verse 9 then Peter said

to her, why is it that you've agreed together with your

husband to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test?

Again, it was the Spirit's work. God had moved into the church.

He's now dwelling among them. He's the one that's inspiring

all this generosity. Why have you agreed with your

husband to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test?

Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at

the door, and they will carry you out as well.

And immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last

as well. And the young men came in, found

her dead, carried her out, took her to the same tomb where her

husband was at, buried her as well.

And great fear came upon the whole church and over all who

heard these things. Now that's the first snapshot.

And like I said, that's a challenging story.

This is like a snapshot you don't normally put in your

family photo album, right? But Luke put it here because

he's not trying to whitewash the story.

He's not trying to make the church look better and say it

was all perfect. Even from the beginning, there

was difficult things that happened in the church.

And in this case, you have this couple who, who they want the

benefit of holy actions and also they want the the self benefit,

the self seeking out of it as well.

In other words, this couple, they, they are trying to mask

over cloak over self-serving and self seeking with holy behavior.

And the church is brand new. We're six months, maybe Max a

year into the church and God's like we, no, we're not going to

do that. They're making a mockery of

God's work in the church, and God's like, we need to actually

protect this thing so that it doesn't just get ruined right

from the start. In fact, we see God doing this

sort of thing in other places in the Scriptures as well, way back

in the Old Testament, like opening week of the Tabernacle,

the book of Leviticus, it's the tabernacle's just been built,

it's opening week of the Tabernacle.

And Aaron's two sons, Nadab and Abaihu, they decide to go rogue

and do their own thing with the incense offering.

And instead of following God's instructions, so they it says in

the Old Testament, they offer strange fire, whatever that

means, go rogue, do their own thing, and God does the same

thing. They die right there on the spot

in the Tabernacle. Why?

Because it's the very beginnings, and little babies

are way more vulnerable, right? And so God is protecting His

Tabernacle, and in this case His church.

And Nadab and Abiah who died, and Ananias and Sapphira died.

And what's the refrain in five one through 11?

Did you hear it? Great fear came upon all those

who heard these things. Great fear came upon the church.

Luke has included the snapshot to teach us a lesson about

fearing the Lord, the God, that if the holy King, the high King

of heaven, has moved in among his people, that he is to be

treated with the utmost respect. You don't just trifle with God.

You don't just mock God's work. God is somebody to be treated

with the utmost respect. That's what the snapshot is here

for. Whenever I read this, I always

think about that famous scene in The Lion, the Witch and the

Wardrobe by CS Lewis where the Pavenci children have entered

into Narnia and they have met with the Beavers and the Beavers

are going to go take them to see Aslan.

Aslan as the Christ figure in the book.

And they learn from the Beavers that Aslan is a he's a lion.

He's a lion. And all of a sudden they get a

little scared. A lion, really a lion.

And this is what Mr. Beaver says to the Provinci children, if we

can put this quote up on screen. Safe.

Who said anything about Safe? Course he isn't safe, but he's

the king. He's good, I tell you.

Now, we need to make sure we hear that the way CS Lewis meant

it. We live in a time and place

where we talk about safe people and safe places.

But CS Lewis wrote this long before that phrase was ever

used, and he's not referencing that.

What he's trying to say is as land is large and powerful and

majestic and mighty, and he deserves to be treated with

honor and respect. And it's the same that's true of

the Spirit of Christ who's now come to live among his people,

live in US and among us and is at work within us.

And the whole reason Ananias and Sapphira met the faith they did

is because they're they're making a mockery of God and his

work. They lied to the Holy Spirit,

they're testing the Lord God, and they're mocking his work.

If the High King of Heaven, the Holy King himself is at work

within us, if he's moved in among us, and he's the one

stirring up our lives to do good works, if that's true, then

purity and holiness and absolute loyalty is our highest priority.

That's why this snapshot is here.

That's snapshot number one. God deserves to be honored and

treated with the utmost respect. And the best way we can do that

is with lives of holy obedience and loyalty.

Now snapshot #2 picks up a little bit later after telling

about Ananias and Sapphira. What Luke does is he gives

another little summary of all these miracles being take taken

place by the hands of the apostles and people coming to

faith in Jesus in droves. And then all of a sudden in that

context, here's what happens because so many people are

coming to faith in Jesus. Verse 17 says, now the high

priest, that's the Jewish high priest who's in charge of the

temple in Jerusalem, and all these people in Jerusalem and in

the temple are hearing about Jesus and putting their faith in

Jesus. So the high priest rose up along

with his associates. That's the other priest.

And Luke tells us they're Sadducees.

That's one particular group of Jews sect among the Jews.

They were the wealthy priest who ran the temple and had power

over the temple. So these guys rise up and

they're filled with jealousy. These ordinary apostles are

preaching Jesus as the king, the Messiah, and everyone's

believing them, and they feel like their power base is being

undermined by the preaching of Jesus.

So they're jealous. Verse 18.

So they laid hands on the apostles and they put them in

jail. And then what Luke does is

telling the story is it's actually quite humorous.

It seems like these guys who are supposed to be in charge of the

temple have lost all power to control and stop the message

about Jesus. So look what happens.

The apostles are in jail. Verse 19.

Now during the night, an Angel comes and breaks the apostles

out of jail, an angelic jailbreak.

It's not the last one we'll see in the book of Acts either.

We'll see another one in chapter 12.

During the night, an Angel of the Lord opened the gates of the

prisons, led the apostles out, and then says this to them.

Verse 20, go stand and speak to the people in the temple.

The whole message of this life. Here's the guys who are in

charge of the temple trying to stop the preaching of Jesus in

the temple and in Jerusalem. The Angel breaks him out.

Jail says go first thing in the morning, keep on preaching.

So guess what they did upon hearing this, verse 21?

They obeyed. Verse 21 says they entered into

the temple at Daybreak and they began to teach.

Now morning shows up. The authority figures have no

idea that an Angel broke them out of jail.

They don't even have any idea at this point that they're in the

temple preaching, because they seem completely helpless to stop

this thing. And so they gather together.

So when the high priest and his associates came, they called in

the whole council. This is the Supreme Court of the

Jews. They gather the entire Supreme

Court of the Jews together, even all the Senate of the Sons of

Israel, and then sent orders to the prison, go fetch those guys,

bring them here because we want to have a trial.

But they're not there. So the officers came, didn't

find the apostles in prison, returned and reported back,

verse 23 saying we found the prison door securely locked.

We found the guards standing in front of the doors.

We open the doors, but no one was there.

I mean, like, I don't know how the Angel did.

I would have loved to seen the video of how the Angel broke

these guys out of jail. But however he did it, it was

like, these are not the apostles you're looking for, right?

Somehow he got them out without the guards ever knowing and

they're not there. Now it gets even better than

this. While they're getting this

report and wondering what in the world has happened to the

apostles, Verse 25, someone comes into the council chambers

and reported to them. Guys, the men you put in jail

yesterday, they're in the temple teaching and preaching.

Well, at that point they're like, OK, that's not what we had

in mind. So verse 26, the captain of the

temple guard along with some police officers, this is like

the temple security team. They proceeded out into the

temple to bring the apostles back without violence because

they were afraid of the people. So they, they, they got to do it

kind of real subtly, not be too over the top.

Why? Because they don't, they don't

want the people to turn on them and attack them, so they bring

them back. Verse 27, when they brought them

in, they stand them in the council chambers.

So here's the entire Supreme Court.

They meet in this semicircle and they're in their semicircle, and

here comes the 12 apostles. These guys that, you know, not

long before were just fishermen and tax collectors and ordinary

people that have been transformed by the message of

Jesus. They're standing before the

Supreme Court. And the high priest questioned

them saying, verse 28, we gave you strict orders not to

continue teaching this name, and yet you fill Jerusalem with your

teaching. Now, last week when Connor

preached, he talked about how Peter and John were brought

before the council, right? And in that case, they just

threatened them. And what they did was they

issued an official court order, no more teaching or preaching

Jesus. So now they've got like some

legal teeth to, you know, to deal with the apostles, right?

Because they violated an official court order by teaching

and preaching. So we gave you official orders

and yet you keep doing it. You keep teaching in this man's

and not only that, he says and you intend to bring this man's

blood upon us, which I always find a little ironic because

back at the trial of Jesus, they said let this man's blood be

upon us and our children. But now they want to distance

themselves from things are getting out of hand.

There clearly seems to be some spiritual power going on.

It's not our fault he's dead. Peter replies, verse 29, this

famous statement and you should mark this, highlight this note

this right, Peter replied in this moment to them, we must

obey God rather than men. You gave us a strict order, but

guess what? God's orders are higher than

your orders. God deserves our allegiance more

than you. We must obey God rather than

men. And then he preaches a little

mini sermon. The God of our fathers

resurrected Jesus raised him up whom you crucified.

His blood is on your hands. You crucified Him whom you put

to death on a cross. He is the one whom God not only

raised up, but exalted to His right hand as Prince and Savior.

He is God's right hand man seated in the heavens, Messiah

ruler over all to grant repentance to Israel and

forgiveness of sins. And, and the apostles saying,

and we're witnesses of these things.

That's our job. Our job is to tell people about

Jesus and the resurrection. We're witnesses of these things.

And then he says, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given

to those who obey him. Remember who Peter's talking to

and the apostles are talking to the people who run the temple.

And what did Peter just say? God gives the Spirit to people

who obey him. Since we have it and you don't,

what does that say about you? Maybe you're on the outs with

God right now. When they heard this,

understandably, since, you know, Peter just accused them of

killing the Messiah, when they heard this, they were cut to the

quick. In our language, we would say

they were pissed off, they were ticked off, right?

And they intended to kill them. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a

teacher of the law, respected by all the people, This is not

just, this is not just any rabbi or any Pharisee.

This is Gamaliel the Elder. This is Gamaliel number 1.

He, he was one of the greatest rabbis of the 1st century.

In fact, when he died, the reports went out through

Jerusalem that the glory of the law has departed, that, you

know, honor for God's teaching died with Gamaliel.

He was that highly held in respect.

He was the apostle Paul's rabbi and teacher as well.

He stands up in the middle of the council and gives orders to

put the apostles out for a little bit.

And then he says in verse 36, I, I suggest that you take care

what you do with these men. For some time ago a man named

Thudus rose up claiming to be somebody important, and a group

of about 400 people join him. He was killed.

All who followed were dispersed, came to nothing, right?

And then he says there was another one, a guy named Judas

from Galilee. He rose up in days of the

census. He drew some people after him,

gathered some followers. He too perished.

And all those who followed him were scattered.

Fact, in the decades around Jesus's life, there were, there

were numerous claims to be messiahs, numerous revolts

against the Romans. Gamaliel highlights 2 of those

and basically says, and guess what?

They've all kind of petered out and come to nothing.

And then Gamaliel says this verse 38, he says, So in the

present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and leave

them alone. Why?

Because if this action or plan is from men, it'll be

overthrown. But if it's from God, you won't

be able to overthrow them. Now his advice is good advice,

but it's only partially true. We know of plenty things that

are of men that have stuck around for a long time.

Other false religions and other ideas that acclaim divine

sponsorship, Buddhism, Hinduism, right?

All sorts of false ideas that have been around for a long

time, but have, and they're purely from men and they've

stuck around. But the second-half, totally

true. If it's from God, you won't be

able to stop it. If it's from God, you won't be

able to overthrow it. Completely true, right?

So that's his advice. In fact, he says, in fact, if

you continue down this course, you might even find yourself

fighting against God. Like if this really is from God,

and if God really is here and God really is working through

them, then you might even find yourself not only disobeying

God, but opposing God, fighting against God.

Well, his advice made sense. So verse 40, they took his

advice after calling the apostles back in, they flogged

them. That is, they whipped them.

By Jewish law, you could whip somebody up to 40 times.

Frequently they just did 39 in case they miscounted so they

wouldn't break the law, right? So they whipped them, flogged

them and ordered them again. Don't speak in the name of

Jesus, and they let them go. So the apostles, verse 41, you

got to hear what what's said. This is so powerful.

So the apostles went on their way from the presence of the

council, rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer

shame for the name of Jesus. They just got whipped.

They they just got beaten and ordered again.

And they they go back home rejoicing.

Why? Because we got to be treated

with disgrace for the name of Jesus, we got to be dishonored

for the name of Jesus. Jesus who suffered the ultimate

disgrace of crucifixion for us. Well, we got to suffer a little

taste of disgrace and dishonor for him.

And so they go home rejoicing because they've been counted

worthy to suffer shame for his name.

And then the story ends by saying, and every day in the

temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and

preaching the name of Jesus. Like, it didn't matter how many

orders, It didn't matter that they had been whipped.

It didn't matter that they told them not to do it.

They're like, we got to obey God rather than you.

So sorry, we're going to keep preaching and teaching Jesus.

And they just kept doing it. And the leaders in Jerusalem

helpless to stop it no matter what they did.

And so in this snapshot, what we have is this real, major message

that men can't stop God's work. If the high King of heaven is

moved in among his people, and if he's the one that's working

through US and in US, if he's the one empowering us to teach

and preach the name of Jesus, then it doesn't matter what

people do and how much opposition they give and how

much they mock it on social media or in the halls of power,

if they issue edicts and orders to try to stop it, men can't

stop God's work. They can't stop it.

They'll be fighting against God. And guess what?

Here we are, nearly 2000 years after this event happened, and

we're sitting here on a Sunday morning, thousands of miles

removed from Jerusalem. Why 'cause it's true.

If God raised Jesus from the dead and Jesus is King and Lord,

well, men aren't going to stop his work as he promised.

The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

Men can't stop God's work. So snapshot #2 so you have

snapshot number one. If the High King of Heaven is

moved in among us, then holiness and purity and absolute loyalty,

that is our ultimate priority. And snapshot #2 and if we're

loyal to Jesus and we're obeying him and following him, then

nobody can stop his work in and through us.

And when you put those two snapshots together side by side,

like Luke has done here in Chapter 5, it forces us, I

think, to really reflect on and ask a really important question.

And that question is this, What's the greatest threat to

the progress and the power of the church?

What's the greatest threat to the progress and power of the

church? In fact, if you look at that

Ananiasis of fire story, it's like sandwiched between

persecution, persecution, Ananias and Sapphira.

In the middle, God didn't strike down dead the members of the

Sanhedrin. God didn't strike down, you know

in chapter 5, the members of the Sanhedrin, but in the middle he

struck down two people who made a mockery of his work, even

claiming his name and cloaking over their own greed and self

seeking with holy acts. What's the greatest threat from

God's vantage point to the progress of the church?

It's not opposition from the outside, it's sin and disloyalty

and unfaithfulness on the inside.

That's the greatest threat to the progress of the Church, that

that with all the opposition. And it just seems like in the

last five or six years in our country, I've seen more people

in the news and on social media and more Christians expressing

their concern. But they're going to come and

take our freedom. We're not going to be allowed to

meet. We're going to lose our

nonprofit status. We're right there.

They're going to try to close us down.

And we're all worried about opposition from the outside.

What Acts chapter 5 tells us is those may be some real concerns,

Acts 5 · chapter mention

but they can't stop God's work. Opposition from the outside, in

whatever form it comes, can't stop the resurrected king from

getting his work done. But you know what can threaten

it? Our own laziness and disloyalty

and disobedience and unfaithfulness and purity.

Those of us who claim the name of Jesus.

If we're marked by those things, that's a far greater threat to

the work of God than what happens on the outside.

I was fishing and a number of years ago with a friend of mine

who had become a Christian in Communist China in a house

church. And he he talked about his house

church being the kind of place where 100 and 5200 people would

gather on a Sunday morning under threat that at any moment some

Chinese agent might infiltrate their church and they might not

know it or might just barge in on a Sunday morning and arrest

them all. In fact, his pastor had been in

prison multiple times, totaling up to almost 15 years in prison

by the Communist government. And I'm, I'm fishing with this

guy. And this is what he says to me,

startled me. He said, you know, now that I'm

in America, it's a whole lot harder to be a Christian in

America than in China. I was struck by that.

Like, you had real persecution. You had government opposition.

Your pastor had been in jail. It's harder to be a Christian

here than there. Why?

And here's what he said. He looked at me and said, well,

because in America you have so much stuff that it's easy to be

distracted. It's easy to go your own way.

It's easy to show up in church and and somewhat claim

allegiance to Jesus. But there's no real cost to it.

There's no real cost. You can look Christian, you can

play Christian, you can pretend to be Christian, but there's no

real cost. In China there's a cost and

there's not as much stuff. So you're either in or you're

out. The church.

Father Tertullian famously said about 150 years after the events

of Acts 5, he said this about the opposition and the threat

and the killing of Christians. He said kill us, torture us,

condemn us, grind us to dust. The more you mow us down, the

more we grow The seed is the blood of Christians.

Opposition from the outside will never stop the work of the King

of heaven. But our laziness, our

disobedience, our disloyalty, our unfaithfulness, now that's a

real threat to the progress and the power of the church.

And so here's here's like, So what do we do with that?

Here's what I would say based on what's said in Acts chapter 5.

Acts 5 · chapter mention

I would say just obey. Just obey.

Be like Peter and the apostles. We must obey God rather than

men. Just obey Jesus.

When you read something in scripture where Jesus says do

this, just start doing it to the best of your ability.

If you stumble and you fall down, pick yourself up, dust

yourself off. Remember that Jesus is full of

grace and mercy. Confess it and get back to

obeying Him and just obey. And the more you obey, guess

what? It gets easier to obey.

So just obey. When you read something from

Jesus, pray without ceasing. Just begin to pray more often

and more frequently pray. When you read something from

Jesus, like love your neighbor as yourself, just begin to do

it. Whoever you're around, treat him

as a neighbor and love him like Jesus tells you to.

When Jesus says that love your enemies and pray for those who

persecute you, Guess what? Just do it.

Those people who don't like you, who oppose Christianity, just

love him. Just love him like Jesus says.

Don't worry about the outcomes. Jesus can take care of the

outcomes. He's He's protected his church

for 2000 years. He'll keep doing it.

You just obey. Just obey.

Why? Because the high King of heaven

lives here. He's in you, He's among us, and

he deserves the highest honor. And the best way to honor Him is

by doing what He says. Acts chapter 5 says to you and

Acts 5 · chapter mention

me that King Jesus, this is his work, it's about him.

And our responsibility is let's just obey him.

Let's just obey Him. Why?

Because men can't stop his work and sin and disloyalty on the

inside. Well, that's a real threat.

So let's be as loyal and holy and pure and faithful and

obedient as we can by the power of the Spirit who lives among

us. Jesus is the one who laid down

his life to make this thing called church happen.

It's not about you, it's not about me.

It's not about how how much advantages our life or makes our

life better. It's not about, you know, how

good it is for us. Ultimately, ultimately, this is

about Jesus, about his honor, about his name.

And when we believe that, we can walk away from ridicule,

mocking, opposition, rejoicing because we look a little bit

like Jesus and we can be treated with shame for his name.

So let's honor Jesus with our life and just obey.

Just obey like Peter and the Apostles.

Thanks for joining us today. If you would like to watch the

full service, check out the link in the description.

For next steps and to learn more, visit calvaryboise.com.