1 Peter Part 7

 

This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on October 29th 2023  by Navaz. For the audio & video please click here.  For the worship please click here.

THE SUFFERING OF THE SAINTS

1 Peter 3: 8-13

Peter comes back to the theme of suffering. He gives his readers’ perspective by reminding them of who they are – strangers and the elect. He tells them how they ought to live and respond in the face of suffering, how to respond to anyone in authority. And he circles back to this theme because he knows it's something they contend with daily!

OUR RESPONSE IN THE FACE OF TRAILS

V8. Finally, all of you, be like-minded (live in harmony with one another), be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. ⁹ Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

Peter, in the face of suffering, encourages the saints to live in harmony with one another, be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate, and be humble!

FINALLY – Teleos – The principal aim or end goal is the above. Peter tells them to be alert in their minds, to get rid of any double lifestyle, he tells them how to respond to all kinds of authorities with humility and submission. In view of all this (finally) live in harmony (1 Pet 1:22 – love each other deeply from the heart)

LIKE-MINDED/UNITY OF MIND/HARMONY/SINGLE-MINDED

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. (Phil 2:3)

Romans 12:16
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud but enjoy the company of the lowly. Do not be conceited
HARMONY:  One mind – One mind of Christ (1 Cor2:16) To be of one mind we need to know the mind of Christ, to know that we need to know the Word. And a part of that is being of one mind with the body of believers you are united to. We are all unique and we are all a part of one body therefore have the same DNA at the core of each cell.

HOW IS THIS LIKE-MINDEDNESS DEMONSTRATED?

Peter lists out four ways: be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. –

Sympathetic – the more accurate word is Empathy. Sympathy is an emotion where you feel sad for the person. Empathy is to have an accurate understanding of what the person is going through and identify with the pain. Are we aware of what our brothers and sisters are going through? Send them a text, call, do something.

Love as brothers We cannot say we love God and hate our brothers. We are called to love sacrificially and reciprocally. Both are needed. Jn13:35 By this shall all men know you are my disciples if you have love one for another.

Love is also demonstrated in a commitment to our local church. Are you faithful? Can you be counted in and counted upon i.e., do you belong here? And can you be called upon to serve?

Compassionate/tender-hearted

The Greek word for tenderhearted is “good -gut” – the inference is good emotions. Have a good feel for what is going on. We can only have the right emotional response if we know the Father's heart. It is a response of grace.

Humble/courteous

Some translations say “courteous” – humble-mindedness. You can only be courteous if you have a sober judgement of yourself. Only then can you treat others better than yourself. First, realize how much you have been forgiven before judging others. It will make you more patient with other’s shortcomings and failures.

 V9. ⁹ Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

Again, Pete gives a principle of how to respond when you are badly treated by both Christians and non-Christians alike. Do NOT do evil or repay evil with evil. He shows them that the blessing we receive (or walking in favour with God) is contingent upon how we behave. He reminds them of the Torah. (Ps 34:12-16- Keep your tongue from evil, seek peace, the Lord opposes those who do evil. He listens to the righteous) Does this not remind you of someone else saying this? Peter is referring to Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.

“It is not without significance that the disciples are to be known by their love, the world by its hatred.” (Morris)

This is the response of a mature Christian. They will not retaliate when someone does evil to them. This is such a hard thing to follow, and one might feel that people take advantage of it. Peter is referring to being mistreated for the sake of the gospel.

The context is suffering for your faith. Yes, if injustice is done to you at your workplace, you can address it through the proper channels. If someone is physically, or mentally sexually abused you must report it. There are laws in place for your protection. If someone violates your trust, you must forgive but you are not required to entrust them again until they can prove themselves faithful. If someone is trying to manipulate you need to either talk to the person or stand up against it. 

¹³ Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?  Verse 13 is a rhetorical question. Who will harm you if you do good? Meaning if you have done evil and you are harmed you have only got what was coming to you.

¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats^[b]; do not be frightened.” V14 Be ready to suffer even if you have done the right thing. Another translation says – Do not be afraid of their threats but in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. This is in contrast to verse 13. IF you suffer for good you suffer for God. (It sounds like Peter is saying something to these Christians. Were they bringing trouble upon themselves because of the way they were behaving and then saying oh we are being persecuted because of our faith!) Sometimes we can bring it on ourselves for our unwise behaviour (When we argue with relatives over religion, we lose the relationship).

The godly will suffer! This is a sharp contrast to the prosperity preachers who wrongly use Psalm 91 saying no harm will befall them. Jesus never said you will never suffer. In fact, he said if they have persecuted me, they will persecute you as well.

Mt. 5:11, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.”

WHAT IS OUR RESPONSE?

But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. ‘And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.’” 1Pet 3:14

Do not be afraid. We need to remind ourselves that God is with us during our troubles. When we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil.

 

CH4:12 -19

 Peter tells his readers not to be alarmed that they are suffering and are being persecuted. We are to embrace suffering as a part of God’s eternal plan. 

1 Pet 2:20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. ²¹ To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

Peter uses the word “strange was happening to you”. He tells them that they are strangers in the world, strangers to this culture but they should not be strangers to suffering.

¹³ But rejoice in as much as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. ¹⁴ If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. ¹⁵ If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.

Peter is not saying that they should rejoice for being persecuted or for suffering. He is saying rejoice that you get the honour to suffer for the sake of Christ. Rejoice in.

See the apostle's response to suffering.

Acts 5:40, “And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. ^{41 So} they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.”

God has called us to be partakers of His divine nature, to be partakers of His inheritance. If we are partakers of this, we cannot exclude suffering. (Colin and I were beaten in Goa, and the sharp reactions to us by the Society for standing for justice, and slander from disgruntled church people)

Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 2Pet1:4

Paul also talks about suffering as being light and momentary compared to the glory that we will partake of when Jesus is revealed. Brothers and sisters let us have an eternity perspective. Let living for eternity be that guiding star that keeps us from being distracted or discouraged.

CONCLUSION

 1 Pet 4:17-19 ⁽ READ)

What a strange set of words to tag at the end of a passage on suffering. Christians will not face the Great white throne of judgement (our faith will not be judged; our works will be). However here on earth, God will discipline us if we do not mend our wayward ways. And that ought to make us think soberly about our lives. So many Christian leaders in the last few years have given in to moral failure. This happens when we lose the fear of God and become casual about His love and Grace to the point of abuse and neglect. Let us be careful about how we live.

Once again, He reminds us that if we are suffering for our faith, we need to trust God with our lives and not stop doing good.

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English-speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.   

How to live in terrible times

 

This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on August 20th 2023  by Colin D Cruz. For the audio & video please click here.  For the worship please click here.

How to live in terrible times?

 These days, every time we read news, we get depressed. There’s so much going on. So many terrible things are going around us. When we see these, we wonder how to live with these things going on. In the west, there are terrible things going on which are different from what’s going on here in India.

How do we, as followers of Christ live?

2 Tim 3:1-5 - But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

Paul was writing to Timothy. Whatever is happening now is not new. It was written long back.

2 Tim 3: 12-13 - 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 

So, how do we live?

2 Tim 3:14-17 - 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Even when terrible things are going on all around us, we are called to continue living our lives by reading God’s Word and equipping us.

2 Tim 4:1-5 - In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Let us look into the questions – Who was writing this letter? To whom was this letter being written? At what time was it written?

1.      Paul writing to his spiritual son Timothy

Paul was writing this letter to Timothy when he was close to death. Paul was in the prison and was close to death.

2 Tim 4:6 - 6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near.

Who was Paul to Timothy? Paul was the spiritual father to Timothy and Timothy was his spiritual son.

1 Tim 1:1-2 - Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, 2 To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

2 Tim 1:1-2 - Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, 2 To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

In Church, we have 5 kinds of people –

                           i.          Unbelievers – who do not know Jesus

                          ii.          Spiritual Infants – Accepted Jesus but haven’t grown spiritually

                         iii.          Spiritual Children – Do a few things to help themselves grow and also serve others

                         iv.          Spiritual Young Adults – Manage themselves and also serve in many ways in a greater way

                          v.          Spiritual Fathers and Mothers – Produce new Christians or disciple the Christians and help them grow spiritually

This is the progression of a Christian life. It is not automatic but a progression. The question is are you a spiritual father/mother? One way is to give birth where you meet an unbeliever and help them come to faith in Jesus and the other is to adopt a new believer and help them grow spiritually.

The Kingdom advances in our nation and other nations. As it happens, more and more spiritual parents are producing spiritual children, not in 9 months but in just a few months. They produce not just 1 spiritual child but many.

2.      Know your teacher / Be a teacher who is known

2 Tim 3:14 - But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 

It is very important who we are getting our teaching from. Timothy had a godly background.

2 Tim 1:5 - I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

2 Tim 1:10 - but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 

As we’re learning from people, we need to know them and their lives.

1 Thess 2:8 -  so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.

The way to progress is to demonstrate love, sharing lives, joys, sorrows, victories etc.

3.      The Scripture has great power

2 Tim 3:15 -  and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

As you read God’s Word, the Holy Scriptures are making you wise for salvation.

God’s Word is the most powerful thing which is living and active.

1 Cor 1:9 -  God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

As we proclaim God’s Word, we can change the destiny of people.

1 Pet 1:23 - For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 

When we look at people who do evil things, we wonder if they could ever change. Gospel is the only through which they can change.

4.      All Scripture is God-breathed

2 Tim 3:16 - All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness

The Bible is not an ordinary book. It is God-breathed. There’s power behind the words written in it.

These scriptures are used for –

·        Teaching and rebuking (content)

These are for what you need to understand and believe and where you are going wrong in your doing.

·        Correcting and training (conduct)

These are to conduct yourselves according to the Word

As we read the scriptures, we realize what is right and what is wrong. Be a people who are immersed in the scriptures. It is a battle. We have time for everything but when it comes to reading the Word of God, we don’t have time. Let us be consistent in reading God’s Word every day.

5.      Scriptures will help is get equipped to serve God

2 Tim 4:13 - When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.

The scriptures are so important that Paul gave special instruction to Timothy to bring the scrolls and parchments.

The scriptures equip us to serve God

2 Tim 3:16-17 - All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

As we read the scriptures, God equips us to serve Him in a greater way and also to do good works which we are called to do.

6.      A Solemn Charge – from God, before God

2 Tim 4:1-2a - In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the word; 

Why is it written, “who will judge the living and the dead” ?

When Jesus returns, He’s going to come as a judge and judge everyone. It is very important to share the gospel, and preach the Word.

In the olden days, when the King made a law, it was taken to the people of the kingdom through a messenger. He goes and reads out the law. Harold – Messenger.

We’re called to be messengers. We go out and tell people about what God has done so that they can be saved.

How do we do that?

When you invite people for a meal, that’s an opportunity. We share the gospel and we fast and pray for them. We must do it sensitively and pray that God would touch their hearts.

Show love to people. Spend time with people who need Jesus. That’s how Kingdom advances.

2 Tim 4:2 - Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 

We must always be ready to preach in every season.

7.      How should we do it?

                           i.          Be prepared. Get equipped

                          ii.          Careful instruction

                         iii.          With great patience (process)

                         iv.          In season and out of season (when times are favourable and when they are not)

                          v.          Correct, rebuke and encourage – different strokes for different folks

8.      Why should we do it?

2 Tim 4:8 - Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

As we share the gospel, there’s a crown of righteousness in store for us. God is going to reward us for all the good works.

Paul could endure all kinds of suffering, persecution and difficulties because he could see ahead of his life. He could see Jesus.

Moses was able to turn his back on all the treasures of Egypt because he saw God ahead of his life.

Stephen was able to face death because he saw heaven ahead of him.

Our life on earth is short. One day, we will all die. Only what we do for Jesus remains.

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English-speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.  

Gifts of the Holy Spirit Part 6

 

This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on February 27th 2022  by Colin D Cruz via zoom. For the audio & video please click here.  To listen to the worship please click here.

Gifts of the Holy Spirit - Part 6

We have explored and dived into spiritual gifts. If you are a born-again spirit-filled believer, you have a gift. It is your responsibility to discover it, develop it and deploy it for the benefit of the church.

We have been doing the gifts assessment tests in the GYM. So find out what your gifts are.

There are 78 organs in the body. We don’t know all the organs, but we need all of them. There are 2 muscles that hold the retina together without which we will not be able to focus on the objects that are far away and near. We don’t know them, but we really need them.

We are going to look at 4 gifts

1.     Gift of Singleness / Celibacy – 1 Cor 7:7 “

1 Corinthians 7 “Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 I say this as a concession, not as a command. I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.”

Why does Paul want people to be single? Why is it a gift? He says if you are single, your focus is on pleasing God. But if you’re married your focus is on pleasing God and your spouse. In V. 28 he says “But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.” In fact he goes on to say in v. 40 “In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is—and I think that I too have the Spirit of God.”

When we are single we have the gift of singleness. All of us have this gift for some time. But some people have this gift for all time. Even married people when your spouse dies you will need the gift of singleness again. As a single person, you have more time to serve God that married people with children might not have. This gift should not be made compulsory, it must be a choice.

2.     Gift of Hospitality - 1 Peter 4:9-10 “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” Heb 13 also speaks about this gift of hospitality.

Over time the meanings of words change. Hospitality means to having your friends over, eating some good food etc. But hospitality is derived from 2 greek words – Xenos and Philos – means being friends with strangers. Rom 12:13 “Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” It does not have to do with how much money you have. The poorest people are extremely hospitality. It is more a matter of the heart than the matter of the purse. Abraham and so many others in the Old Testament are hospitable.

It is a gift that needs to be cultivated in us. Some have the gift of hospitality, but all of us are called to do this. Hebrews 13:2 “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” Relationships spanning continents and decades were built through this simple act of hospitality.

3.     Gift of martyrdom and gift of suffering for the gospel - 1 Corinthians 13:3 “If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast” Here Paul is referring to the practice at the time when Christians were burnt at the stake for believing in Jesus. Acts 7:59- 60 “While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.” This is not normal behavior, it is supernatural and spirit led.

Matt 5:11 -12 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” Romans 12:14 “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” You might think you do not have it, but the grace of God will come to empower you to respond in a Godly way. Paul himself talks about his life of persecution. 2 Corinthians 11:23 – 29 “Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” Paul endured all this for the sake of the gospel.

4.     Gift of voluntary poverty: 1 Corinthians 13:3 “If I give all I possess to the poor”. These are people who are saying I have no worldly possessions. In 2 Corinthians 8: 9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” Jesus could’ve been born in the kings family and be very rich, but he chose to be in a poor family.

It is not Godly to be poor. God want us to be blessed. But some people who choose to live poor for the sake of the kingdom. Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China. He chose to live simply so that he can give what he has to the poor. We need to make sure we’re not just increasing our standard of living, but increasing our standard of giving.

So we’ve looked at 4 unique gifts – the gift of singleness, hospitality, martyrdom and voluntary poverty.

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is a part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.  

When Persecution Strikes| Lessons From The Early Church

This message was shared by  Shoma P at Word Of Grace via zoom on July 5th 2020. to listen to the audio please click here.

When persecution strikes

In our Christian walk, we will face different kinds of persecutions. We may be mocked by our friends, taunted by our own family, the promotion might be withheld etc because of our faith in Jesus. What should be our response in such circumstances?

Recently a man named Kanthe Mudu was attacked and murdered by a group of armed men for his faith in Jesus. He and his family had faced threats to their lives and had survived one violent attack on their home two years ago.  After hearing the men at the front door, Mudu knew that their lives were in danger and that the men had bad intentions. Mudu then told his wife, that he might be killed but encouraged her to remain strong and never to give up her faith in Jesus even if they killed him.

This was the response of Mudu when he was about to be persecuted. Even at the last minute of his life, he encouraged his family to hold on to their faith in Jesus.  Now let us see how the apostles responded when they faced persecution.

 Our Scripture for today is Acts 5:17-42

The high priest and the council became jealous of the apostles who did many mighty miracles in the name of Jesus and so got them arrested. The apostles were set free by the angel of the Lord and were instructed to continue to preach in the temple courts. In this passage, we see the response of apostles in the time of persecution.

1. Always Obey God

      Acts 4:19

In every circumstance, we should obey God and not men.

Acts 5:20-21 NIV

20 “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”
21   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.

Acts 5:28-29 NIV

28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”
29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!

The High priest had strictly commanded the apostles not to teach in the name of Jesus. But what did the apostles do? They obeyed God and not men.

Acts 4:19 NIV

But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges!

We should always obey our leaders, parents and people in authority. But not when they ask you to do something which is displeasing in the eyes of the Lord.

2. Always seek to preach the gospel

Acts 5:28 NIV

“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

Even after being strictly warned not to preach, the apostles preached the gospel in the temple courts and filled Jerusalem with the true doctrine. They did so because they knew that this is their main purpose in life.

Matthew 28:18-20 NIV

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Jesus before ascending instructed the apostles to preach the gospel and make disciples in His name. We too are supposed to seek every opportunity to preach His love to whoever we meet, to our colleagues, to our neighbours, relatives, milkman etc.

      As a homemaker, I don't get to meet much people in the week but before going down for a walk I pray for an opportunity to preach and God has always been faithful and brought me, people, to whom I could share His love.

3. Always rejoice in the suffering for Christ.

Acts 5:40-41 NIV

40 His speech persuaded them. 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.
41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.     

  

The apostles after beaten up rejoiced for the suffering in the name of Jesus.

James 1:2 NIV

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

God's word says we should always rejoice in every circumstance.

In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were arrested, beaten with a rod and kept in jail with feet tied. But even under these challenging circumstances, they chose to pray and sing hymns to God as they counted it all joy to suffer for His name.

To conclude, in our Christian walk we will have many kinds of persecution. But we should always obey God and take every opportunity to preach the new life and rejoice in the suffering for His name.

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is a part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.