Momentum - Week 8
I have always been a late bloomer, and I am okay with that.
Immediately after I graduated from High School, I began working in construction and spent just over three years working as a laborer on a Brick-Laying crew. We laid brick and block on houses all over Middle Tennessee. During that time, I surrendered my life to Jesus and realized that God was leading me to pursue higher education. So, I scheduled an appointment with my former High School counselor to help me know what I needed to do to enroll at Austin Peay State University.
Now, this guidance counselor knew how I used to live very well. She knew I had been suspended for fighting, expelled for going to school drunk, and basically, she knew I was a jerk. So I began by explaining to her that I had accepted Jesus as my Savior a couple of months after I graduated from High School, and I had been radically changed from the inside out. I explained that I had been attending church and involved in the youth ministry, and that I knew God was prompting me to pursue higher education. I explained that I needed her guidance on the next steps I should take to enroll at Austin Peay State University.
Instead of ENCOURAGING me, she pulled her glasses off her face, placed them at the desk, looked me square in the eyes, and said, “Joe – some people weren’t meant to go to college.”
Roughly five years later, I walked across the stage, received my diploma, and I even made the Dean’s List a few times along the way. Can you believe that?
Finish this phrase for me. “When the going gets tough, the tough (let them finish)
Sometimes, as we seek to string together wins and generate Momentum in our lives, people will discourage us. And that is exactly what happened to the Apostles in today’s passage of scripture. Let’s read what happened when they pushed through the discouragements and threats and kept telling others about Jesus:
Acts 5:12-25 (NLT2)
The apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers were meeting regularly at the Temple in the area known as Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 But no one else dared to join them, even though all the people had high regard for them. 14 Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and women. 15 As a result of the apostles’ work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by. 16 Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits, and they were all healed. 17 The high priest and his officials, who were Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19 But an angel of the Lord came at night, opened the gates of the jail, and brought them out. Then he told them, 20 “Go to the Temple and give the people this message of life!” 21 So at daybreak the apostles entered the Temple, as they were told, and immediately began teaching. When the high priest and his officials arrived, they convened the high council—the full assembly of the elders of Israel. Then they sent for the apostles to be brought from the jail for trial. 22 But when the Temple guards went to the jail, the men were gone. So they returned to the council and reported, 23 “The jail was securely locked, with the guards standing outside, but when we opened the gates, no one was there!” 24 When the captain of the Temple guard and the leading priests heard this, they were perplexed, wondering where it would all end. 25 Then someone arrived with startling news: “The men you put in jail are standing in the Temple, teaching the people!”
My first point is this:
WHEN MOMENTUM IS BUILDING, EXPECT OPPOSITION
Thousands of people were becoming born-again through the teaching of the Apostles. Miracles were happening just as they had when Jesus walked the earth. Sick people are being drug out to the streets with the hope that Peter’s shadow would fall on them and they would be healed.
God was working. The Holy Spirit was moving. Lives were being changed. People were being healed. An explosion of joy and faith was erupting in Jerusalem…And while all this excitement was taking place, a group of people was not happy.
They were JEALOUS because the Jewish people were beginning to look at the Apostles as the leaders of their faith. This time, they arrested all the Apostles, not just Peter and John, and threw them into a public prison. They wanted to smear the Apostles' reputation and stop the work that God was doing. As God builds momentum in your life, expect opposition to come.
You probably won’t be thrown in jail for your faith in Jesus here in America…but it could happen. (Remember Covid?) Maybe your opposition is a spouse who ridicules your faith and says, “I don’t know why you believe that nonsense…”
Expect opposition…but…don’t create opposition. Sometimes, people who have been hurt in the past will generate “enemies” and will move forward in life with a victim mentality. They create opposition and leverage resentment to move forward. They imagine that people who give advice they do not want to hear are their enemies. Don’t let that be you! Opposition will come, but don’t create opposition because of your hurt from the past.
So, the apostles are thrown into a public prison. And while the apostles were in prison, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors to set them free. But the Angel did not instruct them or command them to run away. They were not told to retreat or to back down. Instead, the Angel told them to go back to the very same place they were arrested and do the very same thing that made the Jewish leaders jealous; TEACH the word of God to the people.
So, as a follower of Jesus, when you feel discouraged. When you feel overwhelmed. When life doesn’t go the way you want it to…
KEEP DOING WHAT IS RIGHT
If your marriage gets hard, keep on being faithful. If parenting gets hard, keep being present and being there. If relationships become confusing, keep demonstrating grace. By doing that, you will keep returning to the foundation of your life to Jesus.
Keep living transparently. Keep serving others selflessly. Keep allowing the Life-changing truth of God’s Word to change you. When life gets hard, keep doing what you know is right.
So, the Jewish leaders discovered that the prison was empty and learned that the Apostles had returned to the temple, where they were still teaching the life-changing news of Jesus. They were now FURIOUS. Once again, they had the apostles arrested, and the high priest told them:
“Didn’t we tell you to stop teaching in the name of Jesus” Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than any other Human authority.” In other words, they kept doing what was right, even when it got hard. And, it was about to get a lot more difficult.
The religious leaders decided to Kill the Apostles. But before they could, a respected man who was an expert in the religious law, disagreed. He sent the apostles outside, and said to the rest of the religious leaders:
Acts 5:35b-41 (NLT2)
“Men of Israel, take care what you are planning to do to these men! 36 Some time ago there was that fellow Theudas, who pretended to be someone great. About 400 others joined him, but he was killed, and all his followers went their various ways. The whole movement came to nothing. 37 After him, at the time of the census, there was Judas of Galilee. He got people to follow him, but he was killed, too, and all his followers were scattered. 38 “So my advice is, leave these men alone. Let them go. If they are planning and doing these things merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God!”
As a Pastor who is wired to think outside the box, as a Pastor surrendered to God’s call on my life to preach the Good News of Jesus and lead people to a life-changing relationship with Jesus, this passage inspires me! Let this truth and encouragement help shape your life for the next few years:
GOD’S PLANS CANNOT BE STOPPED, SO HOP ON BOARD!
God is building incredible momentum here at Beach Church, and there is still so many more great things He is going to do.
Exactly two years ago, we had 958 people in worship. Last week, we had roughly 1,600.
Two years ago, we had 118 children in our Kids Ministry. Now, we are running nearly 200 each weekend.
Two years ago, we owed almost $800,000 on our mortgage. Today, we owe $26,000.
What is happening at Beach Church?
GOD is happening at Beach Church! God is showing up in a similar way to the way he did in the Book of Acts. He keeps on saving people. He keeps on changing people's lives. He keeps on working miracles – and he ain’t done yet! It is no accident that God has placed you here at Beach Church to get involved with His mission to seek and save the lost.
So, sign up to be a LifeGroup leader. Sign up to serve in a place of ministry. Sign up to get baptized as a follower of Jesus. Saturate your life in the movement of the Gospel, but understand it may come at a steep price.
The religious leaders listened to Gamaliel and chose to punish the Apostles by having them flogged.
Acts 5:40-42 (NLT2)
40 The others accepted his advice. They called in the apostles and had them flogged. Then they ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go. 41 The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus. 42 And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: “Jesus is the Messiah.”
Now remember, FLOGGING is what they did to Jesus before they crucified him. The religious leaders stripped the flesh off the backs of the Apostles. They used whips that had sharp bones and rocks tied to the ends. The apostles' backs were ripped up – shredded – and looked more like hamburger meat than human.
And in a world so hesitant to suffer for the Gospel, their response is refreshing. So, as you sign up to get involved in the movement of God here at Beach Church, understand you may endure suffering. It may not always be easy. It may cost you physically, emotionally, spiritually, and financially. And if it does, REJOICE and CELEBRATE. Celebrate the fact that you are worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus. Rejoice and be Glad because you are part of a long line of followers of Jesus who have suffered for the last 2,000 years.
Nothing can stop the life-changing movement of the Gospel as long as God’s people remain faithful to Him in the face of opposition.
So, let’s keep living for Jesus and flexing the Gospel together.