Inspire Ohio 2012

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Advent HOPE Kettering

Shane Anderson

From Slackers to Supermen: The Difference the Rain Can Make

Well again, good morning and happy Sabbath to each 1 of you.

I'm glad that I didn't have to say good morning to both of you because there's more than 2 of you here, So thank you for doing that.

It's good to see you, and it's an honor for me to be able to be here as part of the weekend.

I was surprised when Isle of the Blue, Stephen, gave me a call, and I'm very pleased to be able to come up here.

On behalf of my family, my daughter was just on the verge of getting to use her leg again when we were walking to the grocery store this week and the center of the aisle was fine but it was freshly waxed on the edges and so just like that and she caught herself and fractured both bones in her arm.

So you know when your kids pass 20 or so pounds, you think you're done carrying them, but at 85 pounds I am carrying her still to get to places around.

I thought we would wake up this morning with 1 of my favorite stories in the New Testament.

If you have a Bible, I hope you brought 1.

Acts chapter 5 beginning with verse 17, and let's see how bad does my head stick, look at that.

You know the world is made for short people, Those of you that are envious of those who are tall you have no idea.

When I fly on planes I'm reminded that engineers are all 5 foot 3 and when I sleep at night in camp bunks I know that they are made by the very same people that make the seats on the plane.

So I'll try to keep my head out of what's going on up there.

In Acts chapter 5 verse 17 the Christian church is in full swing, fresh, young, vibrant, the disciples are doing by the power of God incredible things, there have been, shall we say, a few people that have been added to the Christian church, and as a result of the success that God has sent through his disciples, the Jewish religious leaders are jealous.

Verse 17 says, Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.

They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.

But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out.

Go, stand in the temple courts, he said, and tell the people the full message of this new life.

At daybreak they entered the temple courts as they had been told and began to teach the people.

When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin, the full assembly of the elders of Israel, and sent to the jail for the apostles.

But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there.

So they went back and reported, we found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no 1 inside.

On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering what would come of this.

Then someone came and said, look, the men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.

At that the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles.

They did not use force because they feared that the people would stone them.

Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest.

We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name." They can't even say the name of Jesus, he said.

"'Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood.'" What would you have said in response if you were in the shoes of the apostles that day?

Now be careful, don't answer too quickly.

We don't have much of an equivalent to the situation that the disciples were in at that moment.

But let's see if we can paint the picture.

The Sanhedrin was for Jewish believers was the most powerful religious body on the face of planet earth.

You couldn't just waltz in and become a member of the Sanhedrin, there was extensive training that had to take place and of course most of all you had to prove that you were a Jew among Jews.

You had to be faithful, beyond the faithful.

Very learned men were there and so highly regarded were they that actually King Herod when they built what was known as Herod's Temple, the Jewish temple there, right to the side of it was a special place, I'm sure it was lavishly done, so that the Sanhedrin could meet.

And so when the disciples are standing there before the Sanhedrin, Here are the most high-powered religious theological people that earth could possibly muster and not only that, they also had the ability to kill you.

They'd proven that quite handily about 50 days earlier because Jesus himself had been crucified at the behest of the Jewish religious leaders.

So knowing all of that, with all of that theological and even physical firepower behind them, What would you have said to the Sanhedrin when essentially they told you, you need to keep your mouth shut?

We don't have to wonder what the disciples said.

Peter and the other apostles replied, we must obey God rather than men.

The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead, whom you had killed by hanging him on the tree.

God exalted him to his own right hand as prince and savior, that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.

In verse 33, when they heard this, they were what?

Now at this point, God has his people everywhere.

Gamaliel, a very prized and respected teacher at that time, stands up and tells them, listen, if this is from God, there's nothing we can do about it.

If it's not from God, it's going to fizzle out like so many other movements have done.

And so he says, well, let's just have them flogged and call it a day.

We'll let things work, run their natural course.

They called the apostles in and had them flogged, then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.

My guess is that none of you have been flogged.

There were times when I was little and I got punished that I probably would have said that I had been flogged, but I've never been flogged, not officially.

And I hope that you haven't either, because in those days, there were certain laws that governed flogging.

So lethal could flogging be that you could only be flogged a certain amount of times, Only a certain amount of lashes could be given to you because the assumption was if you passed that point, death was imminent.

And you see, they didn't want you to die.

They wanted to inflict as much pain as bodily possible without you dying because then 2 things would happen.

Number 1, you would remember not to do whatever it was that you got flogged for doing.

And number 2, anybody that saw you would be very impressed that they too should not do whatever it was that got you flogged in the first place.

Flogging was often done by professionals and my guess is, though we don't know for certain from the text, the Sanhedrin obviously had at their disposal some pretty hefty Roman soldiers and they probably had a professional soldier that knew exactly how to cause as much pain as possible, ripping flesh when necessary, even breaking bones during the flogging, but not actually killing the person.

Well all of the disciples here are flogged.

You've just had this showdown, you stood up for what you thought was right, you said the right thing, you stood for God, you said we're going to obey God rather than men.

The result is that you are beaten within an inch of your life, all of you.

My guess is, is that the apostles when they left almost certainly were bleeding profusely from their backs.

Probably some of them had broken bones, some may have even had bones that were exposed because of the flesh being ripped away from their backs.

What do you think their response would have been?

Verse 41, or middle of verse 40, then they ordered them, Sanhedrin ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.

The apostles left the Sanhedrin unbelieving that they had been treated so poorly.

They immediately decided to retire to a small cabana on the beach and sip lemonade and stay out of the line of fire as long as they could and they were never seen or heard from again." Is that what your Bible says?

Yeah, I've been warned about using the New International Version.

Verse 41, the apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name.

Day after day in the temple courts and from house to house they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.

I realize it's early in the morning, but now would be a good time to say amen.

Can you imagine what the Sanhedrin must have thought to see these guys running out there with a trail of blood so pleased at what had just happened?

Everybody that saw them walking down the street that they must have been absolutely amazed.

They probably, most people in Jerusalem probably already knew who the apostles were.

I mean incredible things had been happening already.

Thousands of people had joined the Christian church because of what God was doing through these men and to see them going through the streets, if the Sanhedrin thought that this was going to be a transforming experience in the wrong direction, their direction, they were sadly mistaken.

Because what was intended to snuff out the Christian church actually became just 1 more can of gasoline that was poured on the fire.

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From Slackers to Supermen: The Difference the Rain Can Make

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