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Welcome to the live big broadcast with Derek Greer. We believe this teaching from God's Word will empower you to live a full, impactful life in Christ. Let's dig in.

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We're going to be in Acts, chapter 5 and verse 12. And through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were done among the people. So the church in the book of Acts was founded on the power of God. But likewise, we need to understand that God intended for it to continue in the power of God. Now, I turn on the radio and I look at stuff on the Internet, and I find preachers, sometimes even theologians, trying to convince me that miracles no longer happen. But they're too late. I've seen it with my own eyes. I've seen it in my own life. God never changes. He'll never leave me nor forsake me. God never fails. And then it says, they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. Now, if you've been in ministry for any length of time, you understand that this may have been even a greater miracle than casting out demons and healing the sick. Because one of the most difficult things you'll ever do is try to help people get along. Because invariably, petty jealousies, unwillingness to share, refusal to check emotions. How many know some folk like that? Yeah, the need to be right, stubbornness, superiority, all those things tend to come into play. And the apostle's job, and in our case a pastor's job, is not always easy. And one of the most spiritual things that a church member can do is go home, be good to your family, and then come back to church and repeat. Skip to verse 14. And in this environment, earlier in the chapter, Ananias and Sapphira died. So there was a level of purity that came. But here we see power and we see unity. And in this environment, believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women. And that's one of the things I love about grace, is we have a high number of both men and women. It's not just the ladies, it's men and women. But one of the reasons this church was growing is, yeah, it had strong leadership. But again, the power of the Holy Spirit combined with the unity of its people resulted in growth. So if you're a pastor listening, stop. Just stop. Stop altogether trying to be big. Stop it. Focus on trying to make your church healthy, and the growth will take care of itself. And even in making your church healthy, first you become healthy and then surround yourself with healthy people. And then, you know, unhealthy people tend to Be unhappy people. How many of y' all know that's true? And people unhappy with themselves are seldom happy with others. And certainly not you. And nobody, especially folks that don't know the Lord, want to be around people who don't like them. So there was an environment of love and togetherness and unity and just a welcoming spirit in this congregation that caused it to increase as it was increasing. Verse 17. Then the high priest rose up. And you know, when something good is happening, there's always going to be a problem somewhere. And all those who were with him, which is of the sect of the Sadducees. The Sadducees, you know, were Sadducees because they didn't believe in the resurrection and they didn't believe in the supernatural power of God. Just like many churches, you know, they just kind of believe in a book, but they don't believe God really does anything today. So. And not only that, they didn't believe in the whole book. They just believed in the first five books of the Bible. And they saw the success of these unlearned apostles, and they were filled with indignation, which is a big word for jealousy. So they got the evil eye, if you will. And when they did that, as soon as they did that, whenever you yield to competition and all the rest, you become a spiritual loser. Because winners focus on winning, losers only focus on the winners. Let me see it. I say it differently. Losers try to fix the blame. Winners try to fix whatever causes the problem. So the disciples were out there fixing lives, healing the sick, raising the dead, changing folk. Families were shifting and adjusting. And people started gravitating toward the disciples. And they stopped listening as much to the Sadducees because they were Sadducees, because they didn't really believe in the power of God. And when they heard it and saw it, instead of changing and repenting, say, well, you know, what? If they're doing that, you know, God loves me, too. If I would just fall in line with Christ, I could do the same thing. But verse 18, they didn't do that. And they laid their hands on the apostles and watch this, and put them in a common prison. Now, here is the paradox of God's power, particularly in the lives of people in which his power shows up. You know, we kind of ask ourselves, how could a congregation, how could these men with such power from God end up so persecuted? But this is really important. Faith that cannot be tested, cannot be trusted. So if you want to continue in the power that God has in your life, you're going to have to go through some tests. You know, the will of God will not take you where the will of God or the grace of God can't keep you. And like the three Hebrew boys. How many? Remember the three Hebrew boys, You know, they were like, well, listen, I don't know what God's going to do, but let me tell you something, Mr. King. I'm not bowing down to you. And they threw the three Hebrew boys in the fire. But as the king watched, they saw a fourth man in the fire. And then over time, the three boys didn't burn. And this is the big point. Sometimes God chooses to protect you from the fire. Other times, he chooses to protect you in the fire. Either way, God is faithful. So we say, lord, if you love me, I would have never went into fire. God said, I love you, and I'm going to keep you while you're in the midst of the fire and flame. And you know, those three boys not only came out alive, they came out not smelling like smoke. Meaning they weren't bitter. They weren't bitter. They weren't angry about the situation. Let's move on because of time. But at night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them, what? Out. This is important. God cannot get you out unless he first let you go in pain. Doesn't mean God has failed. It just means he's not done yet. And the angel said, listen, guys, I'm sorry that, you know, following God has put you in this very, very difficult situation. I'm sorry that God didn't show himself strong. I really want to apologize to you for the difficult situation your faith has put you in. No, what the angel said is, go stand in the temple and go back to doing what you were doing before and speak to the people all the words of this life. Here's a question. What would you think of a football player who, you know, got on the football field, lined up, and then he saw 11 players on the other side, and he fell down and started weeping because he knew that those 11 men were going to try to do everything in their power to stop him from getting to where he wanted to go. Likewise. Sometimes in the faith, we just think that earth's supposed to be heaven, but God said, thy will, we're to pray God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven. If it was already done, we wouldn't have to pray. Do you hear what I'm saying? In this life, we're gonna deal with stuff in opposition. And what would you think of that football player, it's like, man, you are not ready. I don't care how gifted, how talented you are, you are not ready. I want you to imagine a boxer, a boxer going into the ring and, you know, he. You know, on his toes and jabs and all the rest. And then the other guy in the ring punches him back right in the mouth. Imagine if that boxer just threw. Oh, God, I don't know how this. God, how could. It's boxing. We are fighting the good fight of faith. There's a conflict. They're supposed to be opposition. Does that make sense to you? Somebody said if God didn't let bad things happen, we would already be in heaven. How can we expect to do big things, good things, in a fallen world without facing some opposition? And when they heard it, they entered the temple early in the morning and taught, I love these guys. Despite the conflict that it created, they kept doing what God called them to do. In fact, one thing I respect about these men so much is they knew how to take a punch. How many of y' all are old enough to remember Ali's rope? A dope. Yeah. You see, sometimes in God's strategy and in God's plan, he lets our adversaries punch out before we could go on the offensive. You see, I don't always know how long I am necessarily going to be on the ropes. But Scripture says, having done all to stand, stand. Therefore, yeah, I may be taking some blows and some hits, and it may hurt. And each time it hurts, you know, I feel it. But here's the deal. If I continue to stand for God, God will continue to stand for me. But we at times have to learn to stand. We are dealing. Listen, this is a race where there are opponents and there are things in our way. But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together with the elders of the children of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. Now, Peter and John had already been put in prison, but this was the first time that all 12 apostles were in prison or incarcerated at the same time. But their commitment, their unity to the Gospel was so strong that not one of them flinched under pressure. But when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported saying, indeed, we found the prison shut, secretly or securely, and the guards standing outside before the doors. But when we opened them, we found no one inside. This was a bona fide miracle. But God did this to show the Sanhedrin that as powerful as they were, as respected as they were amongst the People, God remained in ultimate control. But the second reason I believe God did this was to show us God has no shortage of power to get us out of any prison we may find ourselves in. We will suffer at times, but not because God has a lack of power to stop it, but often because God is working out a higher purpose. Ali was on the ropes, taking those hits. I mean, pounding and this way, that way, flinching. It hurt. And his hands wanted to come down, but he stood there because he knew at the right time this thing would turn around. And sometimes, in God's wisdom, he sets it up where we got to learn to take a punch before God will show himself strong. Sometimes God saves you from the fire. Other times he keeps you and preserves you while you're in the fire. Now, when the high priest, the captain of the temple, and the chief priests heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be. And when God is really at work, it will make you wonder. And those watching wonder. Somebody said, every time I try to put God in a box, I end up sweeping up pieces of broken cardboard. How many of you know that's true about what God will do with your particular box? So one came and told them, saying, look, the men whom you've put in prison are standing in the temple defying you and teaching the people. Always keep in mind, God set you free so you can set others free. Even your freedom has a purpose, so don't take it from granted. You say, well, I'm not free. I got all these problems. Let me tell you something. You better be grateful for the problem you had, because there was a much bigger problem that was on your way. But God said, I'm not going to let that happen, but I will let this happen. And in his mercy, you only have the problems you have. Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. Now, again, you would think that if God had miraculously brought them out the last time, that, you know, he would keep them from being arrested again, that he, you know, no harm would ever happen to them again. But again, God reserves the right to protect us from the problem or to protect us in the problem. Either way, he's faithful. And. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, saying, did we not strictly command you? Another attempt to intimidate the apostles not to teach in this name. The only reason our adversary tries to intimidate us is because it usually works. Most of us, not you, but some Other people, the first flash of trouble, we throw our hands up and we begin to run. But these guys were confident in their God and had a fiery love for God's people. So much so, they refused to back down. And then the high priest continues. You gotta understand, he's in all his regalia. The Sanhedrin had 70 individuals that were a part of it. And you just have these 12 men looking at these very learned, powerful individuals. All of Rome back the Sanhedrin, Sanhedrin. And they said, look, you fill Jerusalem with your doctrine. And by the way, this is what we're trying to do each and every week. Fill the earth, fill our region, fill our communities with the message of God's love and God's grace. And you intend to bring this man's blood, watch this on us. They recognize that it really wasn't the Romans that killed Jesus as much as they did. They put the Romans up to it. And here's the deal. Christ's blood only judges those who reject his mercy. You see, this is really important. Rejecting Jesus is not about rejecting a religion. It's about rejecting God's only way for forgiveness. You see, no mercy was shown to Jesus on the cross. So all of God's mercy could be shown to you and to me. But Peter and the other apostles were made of something. And they answered and said. Again they looked this council of 70 again, these guys, many of them memorized much of the Old Testament. I mean, they went to the Harvards, the Princefords, the Princetons, the Yales, the Oxfords. I mean, these were the guys they, you know, hobnobbed with royalty. And it was the whole thing. But Peter, these fishermen looked him in the eye and said, we ought to obey God rather than man. You see, the fear of God is not being afraid of him. It's being afraid of being away from him. And, you know, life can be scary, and people can be scary. Frankly, even as a pastor, y' all can at times be a little bit scary. But as scary as life may be and people may be, as much as I love you, you don't have a hell to put me in. And as much as I care about you and don't want to hurt your feelings or all the rest, sometimes you have to make a choice. Well, am I more concerned about hurting your feelings and you kind of pushing me back or me hurting God's feelings and him pushing me away? You see, the fear of God is not being afraid of him. As I said, it's being afraid of being away from him. And even with the concept of sin, I don't even hate sin as much as always. I ought to. But I'll tell you one thing I do hate is being away from him. And if there's anything in my life that gets in the way of being with him, that thing is gone. That thing goes on the shelf. And when you love him, when you really love him, that's the way you approach it. But Peter and other apostles answered and said, again, we ought to obey God rather than fear. But Skip to verse 40 and you could read Gamael's speech on your own. Verse 40, it says, and they agreed with him. And when they had called for the apostles, watch this. And had beaten them, didn't God just miraculously get them out of prison? Couldn't God have used that same power to stop the beating? You see, sometimes God protects us from the fire. Other times he protects us in the fire. But we pray, lord, thy will be done on earth. Not my Thy will be done. And at times we gotta. We say he's Lord, but for him to be Lord, we have to accept whatever path, whatever road he chooses to take us through. Sometimes he keeps you out of the fire, protects you from the fire. But other times he keeps you while you're in the fire. Either way, God remains faithful. The ultimate proof of God's faithfulness is not necessarily always keeping bad things from happening. It's the promise that he will be with us even if bad things happen. And they commanded these 12 fishermen who had been with Jesus that they should not speak in the name of Jesus anymore. Stop preaching the way you preach. Leave certain subjects off the table. Don't talk about that. Don't say that. You could be somewhat religious, but just leave certain things alone. Commanded them to no longer speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. So they departed from the presence of the council. Watch this though, rejoicing. Now, these were men of good reputation. Now, you know Christ was crucified, but he was a very, very famous rabbi. And these men were very, very well known and known by this chapter. Already miracles had started to happen through these men. And nothing was more disgraceful than a public whipping. But I want you to understand that these men took it. You know, when you're beaten, I mean, really beaten, the way these men were beaten. Matter of fact, the term translated beaten from the Greek literally means to be skinned. The 39 stripes that were given to these men was not only just to humiliate them, it caused tremendous pain. In fact, it was so painful that many People died just from the beating. And often when you were beating, you'd relieve yourself, you'd be shaking and quivering and it's not something you ever want. You'd almost want to plead and you're going through tremendous pain. Not only are you doing that in front of the public, you're doing this in front of your family, your children. See, Peter had a wife by the way, his wife saw. But the Bible says they departed from the presence of the council. Watch this rejoicing. Did they rejoice because they were sadistic and they're into pain and you know, that's the thing. No watch the reason they rejoiced, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer. They rejoiced because they were honored that the devil saw them as so much of a threat that they were reduced to Sanhedrin to stoop to this level. They also recognize that on a Friday night Christ was beaten above any other man. But on the third day he came back again. And as I often say to you, the worst day of your life doesn't have to be the last day of your life. But what I want you to understand is Ali did not invent the rope a dope. Jesus was beaten. Matter of fact he looked defeated before the comeback. And if you are a follower of Christ, at times you're going to be beaten, at times you're going to look defeated before the comeback. But if you follow Christ and keep doing the thing God assigned you to do until you could say like Jesus said, it is finished, God will turn around and get you back up again. This is very, very important. These men did not believe in gold crusted Christianity. We wear crosses as jewelry and style. Even people that don't love Jesus wear crosses. But a cross was a disgrace. It was the worst form of suffering known at that time. And in that day it was humiliating. And you know, the Babylonians and the Medes, you know, impaled people and that was awful. You know, stick a stick through people and just let them die. But the Romans, like we gonna do one better when impaling, they die too quickly. We're gonna just nail em so they can suffer as long as possible in the pain. So the cross is not a small thing. But Jesus went through the cross. He took the blows. He took it, took it, took it, took it, took it. And here's the deal. He didn't take those blows because God couldn't get them out or he couldn't stop it. He said listen, if I call a legion of angels, Pilate I stopped this whole thing. But he took it for you and for me. And he just took it. He laid on the ropes and it looked like he was down and out. Can Jesus ever come back? But the disciples had faith in the cross. They recognized with every cross there'll be a crown. With every bad Friday there will be a Sunday. So as bad as they were beating, they recognized God is somehow up to something. He gonna work this out for good. And if you're going through trouble, recognize God might be working on something. Just hold your ground, stay there, keep the right attitude, stay strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Just keep standing. And eventually God will turn it around. He'll go on the offensive and do what you could never ever, ever do in your own strength. Give God a hallelujah for being a God. Bigger than any problem, bigger than any situation, God is a breakthrough turnaround. You gotta sit down, just say you gotta remember. Remember in the Bible the way the whole book starts is darkness covered the earth and the Holy Spirit was moving in your darkest hour. That's when the Holy Spirit wants to move upon the face of the water and create something new and fresh in your life. It started with darkness, then came day. You know, weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Hang on to the morning, keep taking the hits until morning comes. The sun will rise, you will get back up again. He's a good God, faithful God. And the same God that raised Jesus from the dead will turn your situation around. Yes he will. Yes he will. Yes he will. Verse 42. And I'm done. And daily in the temple and in every house. Now most of the miracles were done at the temple, but now the miracles are done from house to house. You see, because they face their pain with the right attitude, Jesus forgave from the cross. When you're in your pain, can you forgive and let people go like he did? They face the pain of this terrible beating and you say, well, what good could come out of getting beat? Well what it did is it increased the disciples credibility. You see so many people, they want to preach and teach until it costs them something. And if anyone knew whether or not the crucifixion and the resurrection was real, it was these men. And when they were willing to suffer for that which they proclaimed to be true, their credibility increased. And that person you're trying to reach, they not gonna believe you often till they see you suffer. Until you go through some pain and some inconvenience and you still lifting your hands to God talking about Jesus loves you, God is for you and I love you and we gonna work this out. Do you understand what I'm saying? Just because you can rhyme well and stand up and talk well don't make you a Christian. You gotta be able to live this thing, wake up and go to sleep and deal with difficulty and forgive and let go and then watch God do what only God can do. So the disciples here were living out their faith and because of it, their credibility went to a whole other level. And in fact, they became so popular that the Sanhedrin wouldn't even touch them for a season. Because they were so popular and people so trusted and respected them because they were willing to put their lives behind the things they preached. And daily in the temple and in every house, they did not cease teaching, preaching Jesus as the Christ. It seems today that we have different doctrine than these apostles. We believe if God is for us, everything is always going to be hunky dory. The sun is always going to be shining bright, not too hot, not too cold. Everything is going to just be perfect. But the disciples recognized they followed a gritty Jesus. A Jesus that walked through difficult times, even the worst of times, and got up again. And if you're going to really be a follower of Christ, you got to let God put that same grit in your heart. These men continued where many today stop and there are people listening. And I think this is why I preached this message today. Who stopped running their race because someone hurt you. You stop running the race because something unfair happened to you. Say, where was was God? You stop running your race because things didn't go the way you thought they should in the time you thought they should. And if God could do that, why didn't he do this? But last I checked, God is God. He's wiser, he's been around longer. He knows the best thing for every situation in our lives. And sometimes God not only wants to make us free, he's as interested in making us strong. And they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. They stayed at it. They didn't walk away, they took it. And God did what only God could do and turned it around. No mercy was shown to Jesus on the cross so all of God's mercy could be shown to you and to me.