Acts 4:1-22
All I Did Was Talk About Jesus
Introduction
A. When I was your age, I walked to school
B. Bare foot,
C. 5 feet of snow
D. Up hill
E. Both ways
F. We had to cut down a tree to make our own paper
G. (Reverse sides)
H. Ohh yeah, well you didn’t have to deal with gangs
I. With terrorism threats
J. With kids bringing guns to school
K. With all the drugs that we have to deal with
L. On and on the debate goes
M. Who had it worse who had the hardest time
N. We like to think that the first church, the church in acts, the beginning of the church had an easy time reaching people
O. That they walked around, talked about Christ for a little bit and people were saved
P. No problem, no persecution
Q. They just shared the Gospel and people accepted it
R. Was it really that way?
S. Today we are going to see what happened to Peter and John after they shared about Jesus and we are going to apply it to our lives today
T. The first thing that we see is:
I. Trials (1-12)
A. Explanation
1. Last week we learned about the healing of the lame man
2. When The people saw this they were interested
3. So Peter and John took the opportunity to tell them about Christ
4. When the officials, the chief of police, or temple guard, and the Sadducees, people who were totally opposed to Jesus notice what was going on they tried to arrest the guy
a) The chief of police he thought there were just make an unruly mob, so he had better take care of it
b) The Sadducees wanted them arrested because they kept saying the “J” word = Jesus
5. By this time is late at night, so they simply tossed Peter and John into a holding cell until the morning.
6. Even though Peter was interrupted in the middle of his sermon, about 2000 people were saved that day
7. So Peter and John managed to get some good rest that night
8. The next day, they had to bring their “a” game to the meeting with the Sanhedrin, Israel’s Supreme Court.
a) 71 educated, powerful, and cultured man,
b) Peter and John were about to face them
c) Note they were defiantly prepared they were filled with the Holy Spirit
9. Look what they said (Read 8-11)
10. They did not try and defend themselves
11. They spoke the truth and held nothing back
12. These are very clear word they spoke
13. So peter even takes it a step further
14. He witness to the Sanhedrin in the middle of his own trail
a) Read 12 – Peter tells them were salvation is found
15. Peter makes not apology for telling the truth, he tells them how it is, without backing down one little bit
B. Application
16. Let’s apply all of this to our lives
17. When we speak about Jesus we will face trials
18. Peter and John were not looking for trouble, but they ended up in trouble
19. Notice they never back down
20. The kept on doing their job of testifying about Christ
21. And they did not back down, they did not water down the truth
22. We live in a society that is suppose to be tolerant
23. Tolerance, diversity, sincerity are all the words of the day
24. All roads lead to heaven, if you just live a good life
25. Christians are even getting influenced by this line of thinking
26. Some will say “Jesus is the only source of salvation, but you don’t have to know him in order to benefit from the salvation he offers
a) Behind this is the idea that if you are a faithful Muslim, or Hindu, or Jew, you will be saved by Jesus
b) There is salvation in no one else, but you don’t have to believe on him in order to be saved by him
c) So if you believe in Allah and that Mohammed is the true prophet, as long as your are sincere, you will be saved by Jesus
27. You might be sincere – but your sincerely wrong
28. When we start to teach Jesus
29. When we start saying that Jesus is the only way
30. We will find ourselves in trouble
31. But Jesus is the name that changed your life and the Only name that can change their life
32. We must speak that name of Jesus
C. Illustration
II. Threat (13-18)
A. Explanation
1. Now that Peter and John boldly stood up to the Sanhedrin they were shocked
2. Then the Sanhedrin realized they were common men, not the educated, not “Professionals”, just common men
3. They would expect this out of a fellow member of the Sanhedrin, but not from these two bozo’s
4. Boy did this really irate the Sanhedrin
5. Unfortunately they could not find any laws that they broke
6. They had to do something they had to find someway to stop them
7. They would be ruin, the jobs would be lost
8. Everything that stood for would crumble
9. Now because they were so powerful, and intimating they used a method that had been used for many of years
10. They bullied them
B. Illustration
11. In “The Christmas Story” Ralphy was always being bullied by that one really big kid
12. Finally in a scene I will never forget, Ralphy fought back
13. He beet up the bully
14. And there is the rest of us, all of us who had ever been bullied, watching it, cheer on Ralphy
C. Application
15. How can we apply all of this to our lives?
16. I want you to key in on a couple of very important words unschooled, ordinary men.
a) If we want to relate that to today, these are the people who did not go to Toccoa Falls
b) Who do not have 90 of 124 hrs in either Bible or Ministry classes
c) People who are not paid to spend more time learning
17. I would make the argument that they were every bit as effective as a person who has had all that training
18. It should be not different with us
19. I am not the only person who can tell others about Jesus
20. We all need to be telling others about Jesus
21. The next things we can apply to our lives is:
22. The world does not care if you’re a Christian or not
23. If you want to be a Christian, hey that fine
24. No problem
25. But just don’t tell anyone, keep it hidden, and will be fine
26. If you start telling people about Jesus, things get ugly
27. Things start to heat up
28. They will begin to threaten you
29. The world will try and bully you around
30. Here is the thing, I’m going let you in on a little secret that I learned a long time ago
31. Romans 8:31 – If God is for us, then who can be against us?
32. Bring it on
33. Peter and John did not back down to the Sanhedrin threat
34. We must not back down to the Worlds threat
III. Trust (19-22)
A. Explanation
1. After receiving this stern warning from the Sanhedrin, Peter and John went away quietly and started and underground newsletter promoting the Gospel
2. No, that is not what happen
3. Peter and John after listening to the threat that was laid down basically said this:
a) WE have a choice here, we can do one of two things
(1) Listen to you guys – who are in this position because man put you there, who have all sinned, and have no real authority
(2) Or we can Listen to God – who is real, who is perfect, and who all authority in the entire world
b) We will side with God
4. God has done so much for us,
5. God has given so much to us
6. God has show so much to us
7. That we can not help but speak what we have seen and experienced
8. We will continue to speak His name, Our trust is in Jesus
B. Application
9. Let’s apply this to our church
10. Bring it on!
11. Go a head
12. Nothing you are going to do is going to stop me from telling other of Jesus
13. I don’t care if I have to eat Lunch by myself
14. I don’t care if you constantly try and call me “Church boy”
15. I don’t care if you wouldn’t talk to me anymore
16. I don’t care if you get upset when I mention Jesus
17. I know what Jesus Has done for me
18. I know what Jesus can do for you
19. There is nothing that you can do to me, there is nothing you can say to me, there is nothing that you can take from me, that will make me stop speaking about Jesus
20. I trust Jesus
21. Bring it on
22. That was Peter and John attitude
23. That needs to be our attitude
C. Illustration
24. I think Christians have developed a phobia. “Sharethefaithphobia”
25. We have succumbed to the wishes of the Sanhedrin, of the world
26. We are quite
27. Let us be quite no longer
28. Let us be like Peter and John
Conclusion
A. Looking Back to move forward
B. “Man I wish we could be like the first church”
C. They had it so easy
D. The early church did not have to deal with governmental laws
E. They did not have to do with the persecution
F. They did not have to be made fun of at work
G. They were allow to go around and freely share there faith”
H. Wrong!
I. The faced as much, more likely a whole lot more, persecution then we do
J. Yet look how they responded
K. They went on trial
L. They were threaten
M. They kept trusting
N. Here is the bottom line
O. There are millions of people lives hanging in the balance because the truth is not spoken
P. We cannot be ignorant and indifferent to their fate
Q. We must make a difference
R. We must speak in the name of Jesus
S. We must speak the truth
T. Speak the truth when trial come – we will run into opposition, we need to realize it, but we must not give in on what we know and what we are convince to be true
U. Speak the truth when threats come, for the Lord is with us, the opposition wants us to be3 quite, but we cant keep quite, the good news about Jesus is too good not to share
V. Speak the truth, because God is worth trusting, he is with us wherever we go, and the results are always his, you see when we obey, he works, it that simple
W. Now that we looked back, let us move forward
X. (Pray)
