Go, Stand, and Speak, pt. 2 Acts 5:17-33
Last week we looked at the “Go” in our outline and saw that it deals with the consistency or the reliability of our witness. Are you the same out there as you are in here?
This is a command BUT you and I should not look at it as a burden or something we have to do, or else. We should see this opportunity to be a testimony for the saving power of Jesus as a privilege. It is something no one can do but you…
Look at verses 19 & 20. If the angel had power to break them out of prison, why didn’t the angel go to the temple and do his own speaking?
The reason is simple. The cross of Jesus and salvation through the blood of the Lamb was not his story to tell!
The greatest story ever told is not for the angels to share but for you and me to declare from the mountain tops, through the prairies and around the globe!
The message the angel delivered from God to those disciples is the very same message given to you and me, today.
That message is, “You’ve been set free, now YOU go, YOU stand, YOU speak…!”
Today we’ll look at, “Stand” which deals with the courage of our witness
We are called or commanded to stand but we need to stand voluntarily not because we feel we have too!
Most people who do things because they have no choice will usually do it with a sour attitude…
It won’t be the easiest thing you’ve ever done because taking a stand for anything takes courage!
The angel told them to go witness to men who had the power and the authority to beat them, but they had more than just the power to beat or imprison them. All they needed was to just say the word, someone was waiting to kill the disciples!
According to verse 33 they actually thought about it!
None of that mattered, however, to these apostles as they witnessed in the face of death!
It is a well-known fact that fear is the #1 reason we don’t witness.
Fear of rejection or embarrassment. Fear of offending someone or being labeled as a fanatic.
It seems to me that the greatest fear is the fear of being made fun of…
A boy went off to camp for summer but he was afraid the others would make fun of him for being a Christian. He asked his pastor to pray and when he got back, his pastor asked if they laughed, made fun of or rejected him for being a Christian? He said “no pastor, they didn’t.” When his pastor asked why, he said “because they never found out!”
This young man kept his salvation a secret all summer long.
Could this be your story today? Are you camouflaged so no one can see that you are a Christian?
I believe that while the gay community, the atheists and radical Islamic fanatics are coming out of the closet and making a bold stand, it’s time for some Christians to step out of their closets and STAND on the Word of God!
Our message to this dark and dying world should be that we are not ashamed of our God or His gospel!
[Rom 1:16 NKJV] “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”
Jesus said in, [Mat 10:32-33 NKJV] “32 "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 "But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”
You might boldly declare that you have NEVER denied Jesus but when you are with your unchurched family and friends; does your life give evidence of the blood of Jesus or do you cuss and drink with the best of them? If so you live the secret life of a believer.
There are those who try hard to blend in and we are seeing this happen today, not only in individuals but the entire body. Rewriting the Word of God to be politically correct is becoming more acceptable in the church today than standing on the truth of God’s Word, as HE wrote it!
But listen to me!
When it comes to witnessing, we ARE to be bold and courageous…NOT obnoxious, arrogant or combative nor are we to have that holier than thou attitude!
As we watched the recent protests and riots in our nation we saw burning and looting… people filled with hate and anger. BUT did you notice those who quietly stood for what they believed? Why not? Was it because our eyes and our thoughts were focused on those who were loud, obnoxious and combative? Has anything been accomplished by the burning and the looting?
Neither will we accomplish our mission by being obnoxious, arrogant and combative. We will accomplish our mission the same way the apostles did; by standing on the Word of God and being DIFFERENT, speaking the truth… being men and women of godly courage.
There are 3 things I want to show you, today about our courage:
1. We need impulsive courage.
In other words, our courage should be instinctive. The kind of courage that we need should be an urge that we can’t stop!
[Look back at Acts 4:18-20NKJV] “18 So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20 "For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
Peter says, we can’t help it…you’re asking us to stop something we don’t have the ability to stop!
When you see a dog burying a bone, you don’t ask why. You know that he can’t help it, burying bones is a natural impulse for a dog.
A cat chasing a mouse is a natural impulse and he can’t help it!
A believer should witness from instinct, by impulse!
And if you have no desire to be a witness…1 of 2 things could be wrong:
1. You’re not saved, in the first place.
2. You’re backslidden to the point of being a camouflaged Christian.
It’s possible for a Christian to suppress their instincts in this area to the point they become comfortable with being a camouflaged Christian.
They ignore their instincts but can’t figure out why their life stinks!
Do you know why some Christians live miserable lives? They have become so backslidden that they refuse to be a witness and yet they are angry at God for not giving them the desires of their heart!
2. We need dedicated courage.
In verse 29 the word “ought” Comes from the word “owe”.
We owe our witness to the Lord!
Listen to these words, found in the old hymn; “At The Cross” “but drops of grief can ne’er repay the debt of love I owe: Here Lord I give myself away tis all that I can do.”
Jesus said if you love me keep my commandments. He also said, and I paraphrase it “Why do you call me Lord when you won’t even do the things that I say!?
As believers we should be so consecrated [set apart], so dedicated that our witness becomes:
• Intentional: Maybe you would say you don’t witness because you don’t know how. I can assure you, that excuse will not hold water and God will not overlook it on the basis of ignorance.
God will hold each of us accountable not only for what we know but for what we should have known if we had taken some initiative to find out what we don’t know! It’s called BIBLE STUDY and we do it every Sunday morning at 10am and Sunday evenings at 5pm. But you should be doing it DAILY...
There is nothing that would please me more than to help someone learn how to witness!
As believers we should be so consecrated [set apart], so dedicated that our witness is:
• Immediate: I want you to notice something here.
Look in verses 29-32. What we see is that while the high priest is telling him not to witness, Peter is doing just that! He just opens his mouth, blurts it out!
Did you know that procrastination or putting off what you know God would have you do, is a form of disobedience?
I wonder, who have you been putting off witnessing to?
3. We need compassionate courage.
You’ll never really witness to your lost family and friends until you put them before yourself.
Until it becomes a reality that, without a personal relationship with Jesus YOUR FAMILY WILL go to hell means more to you than you being embarrassed or talked about, you’ll never make progress!
It’s ok for us to be afraid, but if we love people, then that love will overcome our fear to the point that we’re “afraid NOT to tell them!”
God’s perfect love will cast out fear every time!
[1Jo 4:18a NKJV] “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear…”
A doctor was driving down country road when a group of teenagers flagged him down and said, “Our friend fell in the lake!” They told the doctor they had gotten him out but can’t get him to breathe. They said “we’re afraid he’s dying!” The doctor ran to the boy lying face down, reached around his neck, felt for pulse and said “I’m sorry, he’s already dead.” When they flipped the boy over in moonlight the doctor could see it was his own son!
When he saw his own son, lying there, he dropped to his knees he began pounding on his chest, giving mouth to mouth, doing CPR until he revived the boy…
What made the difference? Pure Compassion! The doctor saw his own son lying there and he refused to let him die.
What about your sons, your daughters, your wives, your husbands? Are they dead, without Jesus? Do they need some spiritual CPR? Or will you just sit back, do nothing and let them die without Jesus?
What about those outside of your own family?
I had a dream, Monday night that made this message come to life for me.
I was standing in the back of pickup, occupied by complete strangers, in the neighborhood I grew up in. I was watching girl down the street, when a pair of lions suddenly appeared. The male jumped up in a tree that looked much like the fig tree in the back of my childhood yard. The female pounced on the girl and I remember saying, “Please don’t kill her right there. Don’t kill her in front of these children.” Now I have no clue who the couple in the truck were or if the kids even belonged to them. I am focused on the girl and the lion.
Then the girl turned and looked at me and I realized she was my baby sister! I jumped from the back of the truck and ran to my sister, instead of having the driver carry me to her. I killed both lions and saved my sister from a horrible death. What made the difference? Why was I was willing to let a perfect stranger die as long as we didn’t have to watch but I would not let my sister die without a fight?
Here’s something I learned from this crazy dream. [1Pe 5:8 NIV] “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” This lion is not just looking for you but for those around you.
Maybe it’s about time we start loving the lost around us as if they were our own family. Maybe it’s time we stop waiting for someone else to do it.
We need to do something, even if everyone else stays in the truck.
That is when our fears will be set aside and we’ll become the witness that we ought to be!
[Jude 22-23 NKJV] “22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction; 23 but others save with fear, pulling [them] out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.”
Joseph Song, was a Baptist missionary in Romania, years ago when communism was strong. We are told that when the state asked him to sign a license to preach, he said “I can’t do that, I answer to God and the state is not sovereign.”
They said if you don’t sign it, we will kill you. To which, he said something so powerful. He said, “your greatest weapon is killing me, my greatest weapon is dying, for all who know what I have preached will know it was worth dying for, and as a result, even more people are going to get saved…your greatest weapon is to kill me, my greatest weapon is dying…I must warn you that if you use your weapon, I will be forced to use mine!”
They went and told their leaders, leave that guy alone, he’s crazy!
Because this one man took a stand, the gospel is now powerful in that part of Romania!
Ladies and gentlemen you are not being asked to die, just to go, stand, and speak!
