It Grows With Boldness | You Can't Stop This

Let's get on our feet and worship together this morning. Let's get on our feet and worship together this morning. Let's get on our feet and worship together this morning. I know who I am because I know who You are. The cross of salvation was only the start. Now I am chosen, free and forgiven. I have a future, it's worth living. I wasn't made to be tamed in a grave. I was called by Him, born and raised up to life again. I was made for more. So why would I lay dead in my shame when I found the grace? He's running my way, I know I am His. I was made for more. Hallelujah. You call out my name so I'll sing out Your praise. Hallelujah. You buried my past, I'm not going back. Hallelujah. You call out my name so I'll sing out Your praise. Hallelujah. You buried my past, I'm not going back. I wasn't made to be tamed in a grave. I was called by Him, born and raised up to life again. I was made for more. So why would I lay dead in my shame when I found the grace? He's running my way, I know I am His. I was made for more. I wasn't made to be tamed in a grave. I was called by Him, born and raised up to life again. I was made for more.

So why would I lay dead in my shame when I found the grace? He's running my way, I know I am His. And I was made for more. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You call out my name so I'll sing out Your praise. Hallelujah. You buried my past, I'm not going back. Hallelujah. You call out my name so I'll sing out Your praise. Hallelujah. You buried my past, I'm not going back. I wasn't made to be tamed in a grave. I was called by Him. So why would I make bed in my shame when a fountain of grace is running my way? I know I am born and I was made for more. I was made for more. I was made for more. I was made for more. I was made for more. I was made for more. I was made for more. I was in pain, bleeding and afraid. I was called by name, born and raised up to life again. I was made for more. So why would I make bed in my shame when a fountain of grace is running my way? I know I am yours and I was made for more. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I am a person of exaltation.

And I was born to lift your name above all names. You hear the melody of all creation. But there's a song of praise that only I can bring. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only Jesus. You are the infinite, the God of the angels. Yet you chose to make my heart your dwelling place. You healed my brokenness, showed me your glory. So I have songs and thanks, not even angels sing. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only Jesus. The only one, the only one. When God anointed one, was in his midst found. Sitting on the throne of love, holy, holy. Righteous one, sent to us, proved to us the Father's love. Jesus Christ, we lift it up, holy, holy.

When God anointed one, was in his midst found. Sitting on the throne of love, holy, holy. Righteous one, sent to us, proved to us the Father's love. Jesus Christ, we lift it up, holy, holy. When God anointed one, was in his midst found. Sitting on the throne of love, holy, holy. Righteous one, sent to us, proved to us the Father's love. Jesus Christ, we lift it up. Who else is worthy? There is no one, only You Jesus Who else is worthy, who else is worthy? There is no one, only You Jesus Who else is worthy, who else is worthy? There is no one, only You Jesus There is no one, only You Jesus There is no one, only You Jesus There is no one, only You Jesus There is no one, only You Jesus There is no one, only You Jesus There is no one, only You Jesus There is no one, only You Jesus There is no one, only You Jesus There is no one, only You Jesus There is no one, only You Jesus There is no one, only You Jesus There is no one, only You Jesus There is no one, only You Jesus There is no one, only You Jesus There is no one, only You Jesus There is no one, only You Jesus There is no one, only You Jesus There is no one, only You Jesus There is no one, only You Jesus Your name stands above them all. All crumbs into millions, all powers into positions. Your name stands above them all. Your name, your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above them all. And all love, all crumbs into millions, all powers into positions. Your name stands above them all.

And the angels cry, holy, a creation cry. Holy, you are lifted high. Holy, holy forever. Hear your people, hear your people sing. Holy to the king of kings. Holy, you will always be. Holy, holy forever. Hear your people sing. Holy to the king of kings. Come on, let's sing it out, church. You will always be holy. You are holy, Lord. Holy forever. Come on, there is no power. Let's do that. There is no power greater than you. There is nothing else that is greater than you. Every dominion has to bow. Everything else has to bow to you, because God, you are everything. You are everything. Come on, I want us to declare this out one more time and go back into that part where, yes. Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above them all. There is no dominion. And all love into millions, all powers into positions. They all have to bow, God. Stands above them all.

It's your name, your name. It's the highest, your name. It's the greatest, your name. Stands above them all. And all power, all power. Come on, all power. Into positions. They all have to. Stands above them all. And the angels cry, holy. Make them cry, holy. You are lifted high, holy. Holy forever. Can your people sing holy to the king of kings? Holy. You will always be holy, holy forever. Holy. Always be holy, holy forever. God, let us worship you. Let us honor you this morning in this room. Let us move every distraction in this moment. Let us move everything that we've brought in and carried into this place, God. May it all just be surrendered at your feet this morning, God. Because you are holy. May we worship you. May we worship you, God. There is nothing greater than you. There is no power greater than you. There is no position greater than you. So, God, may we lift our hands in worship to you.

May we bow our hearts. May we bow our spirits. And surrender to you. today and lift you up in Jesus name amen come on can we give a shout of praise this morning come on can we give a shout of praise this morning hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hey turn to one of your neighbors give them a high five give them a fist bump give them a handshake say it is so good to see your beautiful face in the house this morning so I'm so glad that you could make it today amen the champ boy you know I'm just thankful to be able to be a part of what the Lord is wanting to do here and and beyond but through the lives of each one of us that are here this morning and just you know I believe that what God is doing is supernatural I don't think that it's by accident I think it's intentionality just like everything else you don't have a good marriage by accident you go into it and and you do what you need to do you don't have good friendships by accident you don't you do what you need to do because you you honor the things that need honor in your life and in Proverbs 3 it says this it says honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything and then he will fill your barns with grain and your vats will overflow with good wine there's something interesting about the way that we handle money especially as believers because we usually pay what matters most to us when you get paid there are things that that you don't wait till the end of the month to think about your mortgage gets paid hopefully your rent gets paid right the car payment gets paid hopefully the electric bill gets paid why because priority often determines order and I think sometimes we misunderstand tithing we think it's just this five-minute block of time that we set a time or two in the service and and and you know we pass the buckets around and we're supposed to give the pastor some money so he can he can buy some stuff for himself and his family

and and we think that tithing is primarily about the amount that we give but all throughout Scripture God continually emphasizes something deeper and it's not just about what you give it's about where God is placed in your life all right because Proverbs says honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce I mean you want to you want to measure a relationship see if you get the best part or if you just get what's left over or just the crumbs right in other words God says hey don't don't give me what's left put me first give me the best part that's why the tithe in my opinion is so significant because when I receive income and the first thing I do is return the tithe to God notice I didn't say give the tithe I return the tithe because it was his to begin with before it was ever even mine I'm thankful that I get 90% to steward it wasn't a hundred to mine to begin with it was 90% because I'm just honoring God and so when I receive income I return it and when I do I'm making a declaration God you are first in my life you come before my mortgage you come before my groceries you come before Amazon gets its portion and it's and come on somebody amen you come before DoorDash I know it's hefty, but before I decide what I'm gonna do with my money, I acknowledge where it came from first. And here's the beautiful thing about putting God first. God doesn't need our money. His streets are paved with gold. Think He needs your little bit of bronze pennies they don't even make anymore. That's how invaluable those things are. He wants our trust, because money has a way of making us feel secure, and every time we tithe, we're literally saying, hey, my security isn't what I can hold on to. My security is in the God who provided it with to me for the first place. God, I trust you. Think about putting God first as we give this morning, as we as we tithe. It's a declaration of priority and saying, hey God, I place you in the proper position. There's no dominion. There's no power. There's no position that is higher than you, and I personally believe that when I am giving, it's one way that I can cry holy to the Lord. Not because my money's holy, not because any of this, but because I am using something that God has given me to honor Him and saying, God, before anything else, I trust you. Before

anything else, I honor you, and I want to give you this just as just a declaration to say that my priority is you in my life, and I trust you with everything. So as I have some ushers come forward, maybe you didn't come prepared. We did. You can download the app today. I meant to take that image down. That's wrong. We raised a hundred percent of them funds. Amen. Come on, somebody. We're hiring contractors. We're doing all kinds of stuff now. We're getting that building ready. We are going to be a church on the move here soon. God, we thank you. Lord, we honor you with this moment. We honor you with our finances. We honor you with this church, with our families, with all of our relationships, with everything that you have entrusted us. So God, may today you look down upon your people and shine upon us with glory, with blessing. May we walk in the fruit of who you are. In Jesus' name, amen. Hey guys, I'm Pastor Jessie, and I am the Admissions and Outreach Director here at Reach KC, and we're so excited that you have joined us this morning. You know, here at Reach, we love Jesus more than we love ourselves, and one of the ways we do that is by coming to church on Sunday and joining together in community. And maybe for some of you, it's hard to get out and be personable and get to know new people, or to come out of your comfort zones and grow deeper with individuals, and that's okay. But what did Jesus do? He always invites us in, and so you're invited to be a part of the family here, to love Jesus more than yourself, to be a part of the community with fellowship. Another way that we grow in our community with one another and grow deeper in our relationships is during our annual men's and women's retreat that happens every year in September. We're so excited to join together again to grow in our relationship with Jesus while growing more intimately in our relationships with one another as well. If you want to come to a men's or women's retreat this year, make sure and sign up today. Our deadline for registration is Monday morning, August 31st. So get on your apps, sign up for men's and women's retreat, and come and grow with us. Now let's get ready for a great message from Pastor Adam this morning as we dive deeper into Acts. Get out your journals, sit back,

get ready to respond, and let's hear the word today. Come on somebody. How many of us are excited for men's and women's retreat? That's cool. We'll have a couple people there I guess. You know that's all right. Hey. I'll be there. I'll be there. You know. Anyways, hey we are just so glad to have you. We just want to welcome you. Maybe this is your first time first time in a long time We just want to welcome you here and just let you know that hey, we've been praying for you We have been believing for you We believe that God is looking for unlikely people from overlooked places to do extraordinary things And we just believe that we are in the right place. Amen I'm on somebody. Hey, can we welcome those that are on pando this morning? Those that are watching from the prisons and just Believing that God has a word for them and and they don't get to watch like technically this morning It's it's tomorrow that they get to watch and but hey It's still there. So like they're acting we're acting like it's live right now. Come on. Come on somebody And so we just believe that that God is looking for you as well And so we are just excited for all that God is doing We are in a sermon series that is titled it grows with boldness and we're talking about the local church and just how the church is growing through the book of Acts and we've been Going through the book of Acts for a while now and we are in chapter 5 verses 26 through 42 and today I have titled my message you can't stop this And there was a song I don't even remember what song all I know is that part of it? it's like you can't stop this and I wanted that to be like the theme song after the announcement video and I come out like That side door and like beating on my chest and I say you can't stop it but anyways, I didn't do that because I didn't want to make it about me and stuff, but You know, I have learned that it is very easy To look committed When commitment costs you nothing Hey, man, like it is so easy to just change your Facebook status To marry Even though all you did was kiss under a mistletoe

It is so easy to change your status to single Even though we all know you still married Ah See It's easy to look committed when commitment costs you nothing See anybody can praise when life is good Right. Anybody can stand when the crowd agrees with them Anybody can speak when there are no consequences to the words that we use but pressure Pressure reveals What comfort conceals Pressure reveals what's really deep down inside of you and in Acts 5 the Apostles are threatened they're arrested beaten and Commanded to stop preaching Jesus and here's the part that I love about this because yet every time The opposition increases in their life, which has been a lot in the last five chapters their commitment Actually becomes more visible See the council thought that the pressure would make them bow if they Inflicted pain if they did these different things, but it didn't they thought that opposition would possibly break the movement But it couldn't See, they thought pain would actually silence the Apostles witness But it wouldn't it didn't have the power to so the question today is not whether pressure will come We all gonna have pressure There there is pressure that's coming. I mean it is just the reality of what it is But the question today is What will it take to stop you? What will it take for you to give up What would it take for you to to say? You know what the pressure isn't worth it. The cost isn't worth the reward What will it take to get you to bow out and possibly say you know what I'm done with this faith I'm not living out loud like this anymore. I don't want to be a part of this. I don't want to have this pressure So today I want to show you three qualities of a faith that pressure can't break

Three qualities of a faith that pressure can't break and the first quality is this pressure don't change our convictions So pressure don't change our convictions acts five. They're now back in the temple preaching right and and and and and the capital the the captain with his temple guards and Went with his temple guards and arrested the Apostles, but without violence For they were afraid that the people would would stone them. Then they brought the apostles before the high council where the high priest confronted them. We gave you strict orders, never again to teach in this man's name. And instead, you have filled all of Jerusalem with your teaching about him and you want to make us responsible for his death. But Peter and the apostles replied, well, we must obey God rather than human authority. For the God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead after you killed him by hanging him on a cross and then God put him in the place of honor at his right hand as Prince and Savior. And he did this so that the people of Israel would repent of their sins and be forgiven. And we are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit who is given by God to those who obey him. See, the apostles have already been arrested. They've already been thrown into prison. Literally during the night, the angel opens the door and instructs them to return to the temple and proclaim the same message that got them incarcerated.

And the Bible says that by morning, which was literally the first opportunity that arised, they ended up back in the temple preaching Jesus. You want to talk about conviction, that's conviction. A conviction that is going to dictate every step of life that you make. Some of us can't adhere the conviction that happens to us when we make a mistake or we make something that we continue to live a lifestyle of sin in. And yet this conviction took them back to the same place that brought pain, that brought agony, that brought physical retribution. And conviction is not proven by what you say when nothing is at stake. Conviction is proven by what you refuse to stop saying when obedience actually starts costing you something. See, one scholar suggests that the officers probably approached the apostles quietly in public, gathered around them and spoke politely rather than creating this public confrontation. I think it's interesting that the same leaders who are careful with the apostles in public will soon have them beaten in private. Isn't that typically how it is, though? People will act cool with you in public, but then do whatever they can to destroy you in private. Come on, somebody. Do whatever they can. But see, the apostles are brought before the Sanhedrin, literally the highest Jewish ruling council.

They are placed in front of men who possess genuine authority and the power to punish them, but the pressure of the room does not change the position of their hearts. See, that's not like a lot of the modern-day church. See, a lot of modern society will adapt like chameleons to whatever room that they're present in and then walk out of that room and switch up and act as if, well, I just had to, I didn't wanna, no, no, no, I will. And the high priest, they're sitting in this room, and the high priest tells them in verse 28, hey, we gave you strict orders never again to teach in this man's name, and I find it interesting that he won't even say the name of Jesus. He doesn't even recognize him. He calls him this man as if Jesus deserved to be called this man, and I think it's also interesting that he avoids discussing how the apostles escaped from prison. You know what I'm saying? Last night, I sent you to prison. I put guards outside the door. I heard them latch. I know you were locked up, and then this morning, I come back into work, and you're standing back in front of me again talking the same message

that I locked you up with last night? Like, how did you even get, but the scriptures never even recognize that they said it, and one scholar notes that the high priest may not have wanted to acknowledge the supernatural nature of their deliverance for a couple reasons. One, because the Sadducees, which they were, did not believe in angels, but two, if they would've confessed the miracle, then they would've confessed the Messiah. That's why religious resistance, this is what it still does. It will ignore what God has done because it does not want to accept what God is saying. See, people are determined not to believe, and it will ignore what God has done because it doesn't want to accept this, and the people who are determined not to believe, guess what? Evidence doesn't even prove it. do surrender sometimes it actually produces a greater resistance I had an apologetics teacher tell me one time you can win the argument and still lose the soul it doesn't matter how much evidence you've got if somebody is determined not to believe they're not gonna believe it could just produce greater resistance and then the high priest goes on and instead and said instead you have filled all Jerusalem with your teaching about him and you know they had to be standing there going thank you thanks I mean what an accusation they're sitting here trying to condemn the Apostles and by default they low-key start describing

what a healthy church is supposed to do think about it they didn't even have social media campaigns that they run through meta they didn't even have a marketing budget they didn't even have a building yet they didn't even have political influence they had the Holy Spirit and an unwillingness to stop what would happen if a church became more committed committed to filling the city with Jesus than filling its buildings with people see a full building it makes the church feel good it makes a pastor feel good it sucks getting up and nobody's out there you you question everything I get it full buildings feel good but it does not accomplish the mission the mission is bigger than a full room the mission is filling the world with the message of Jesus Christ the one who died rose again and was delivered for our sins so that we could walk in true relationship with the Lord and then Peter goes on and he's like yeah but you must have forgot we must obey God rather than human authority now just for clarification for everybody who took that as a co-stamp for living the way that we live this verse isn't permission for Christians to become rebellious disrespectful or unaccountable this this message the Apostles weren't resisting authority because they disliked authority that they resisted the command because obeying it required him to disobey God just like the relationship that you were involving yourself in come on that required you but he loves you no he don't or he wouldn't ask you to do something that God told you not to do and neither would she neither would she lead you down a road that God already told you not to go down see nobody you can't honor God you cannot not honor God was something and then expect him to bless the very thing that you won't even see that wasn't what they were doing they were actually it was something that was telling them to disobey what God had already instructed him to do one one one scholarly source commentary said that that the central question is not whether an action is convenient even pleasurable or popular but whether it is right before God and consistent with what he desires that's how you and this confronts honestly the modern-day church because we live in a culture driven by approval we count likes you post

something and you automatically in there this evening like nobody even like my pose but they like that gossip one that old girl was posted so I guess I'll just gossip so then I can start getting some likes we read comments and misread comments come on somebody we start we got we got the language of interpretation of how people are reading things delete your social media thus saith the Lord I mean but the church listen it was not called to take a public opinion poll before proclaiming truth if pressure can change what you believe guess what approval has become your God see there will be moments when obeying God actually cost you approval there will be moments when holiness is mocked because you choose to to stand for something and not give over to that you choose to not relate with some inclusive theology and stand for what something really means and what something really stands for and it's going to be mocked guess what there will be moments when the gospel is actually considered offensive but the truth is offensive see there will be moments when culture tells the church that they need to quiet down and and tone it down but our conviction cannot be determined by what gets people's applause see the church doesn't ask in this moment will this make us popular the church asked will this make us faithful and see Peter's boldness is not merely his willingness to confront authority that's not what makes Peter bold his boldness is the refusal to remove Jesus from the message and I want us to notice something right here in this part church is he doesn't preach angry he doesn't preach anger he doesn't get on his his social media and preach politics he doesn't get on on there and in front of these people and preach his personal rights and all of his amendments he preaches Jesus Christ crucified risen exalted and able to save and that I believe is so important for today's church because boldness is not being the loudest person in the room it isn't trying to offend people boldness is not posting angry opinions online come on somebody biblical boldness is a spirit given courage to speak the truth about Jesus when silence would be safer when it doesn't cost as much see Peter says in verse 32 that that God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey him this

doesn't mean that we earn the Holy Spirit through perfect behavior it means that genuine faith produces a surrendered life one commentary said that we cannot continually walk in the Spirit's power while refusing Christ's worship in our life see everybody wants the power of the Spirit but nobody wants the authority of a Savior empower me God give me power but I don't want to actually have to reflect that you saved me from the old me because I kind of like the old me see we want anointing but we want it without obedience see we want the gifts of the Spirit and we want them without governance but see the Spirit is very particular of how he flows he'll use a donkey don't get it twisted yeah it's my eeyore we want power but we want it without full submission to God see we want Jesus to empower our plans without actually allowing him to direct our lives that's why we pray for him to change things but then we never put in our own footwork but see the Holy Spirit wasn't given merely to just make us emotional in church he was given to impure empower us to obey God outside of the church as well the baptism of the Spirit is evident through the fruit of the Spirit you can't manifest the gifts of the Spirit without having the fruit of the Spirit see the evidence of a spirit filled life is not only how loud we worship but how faithfully we obey see the Sanhedrin applied pressure but pressure did not produce compromise it produced and revealed conviction see that's what pressure does pressure doesn't create what's inside of you pressure exposes what's been inside of you all this time see when pressure comes will we obey God when we obey God when when it cost us popularity huh will we stand on the on the biblical position even when we know other pastors might not agree with that position if we know that it's really scriptural because there are some that will condone things I I was driving through Rosedale for all my KCK cats and and there is a church over there that was called um rainbow Methodist and I thought God we've lost sight what where have we went wrong will we proclaim Jesus when silence would be easier will we stand on truth when culture demands compromise and will we remain faithful even when obedience becomes painful in our life because see

a church that changes its conviction every time the culture applies pressure will never possess the power to change its culture if you just blend in see pressure cannot change our convictions when obedience to God has already settled the issue when I know what the Bible says and I know what scripture says about it I can't be deterred no scripture says this how are you going to get well it didn't mean that God wants you to be happy no we don't Show me the scripture that says that. I'm not saying he don't want you blessed, he don't want you filled with joy, but joy is different than happiness. You can be filled with joy and completely miserable in your life. Because things can be happening that is so painful but yet at the same time, I just have this peace. It doesn't make sense. So pressure cannot change our conviction. The second quality is this, opposition can't break what God builds. Opposition cannot break what God builds. Acts 5.33 it says, when they heard this, the Sanhedrin, the Sadducees, the high priest and all of these people, when they heard Peter's rebuttal, it said that the high council was furious and had decided to kill him. See their response shows us how dangerous unchecked conviction can become. See these were religious men. These were people that were defending a religious system. These were the ones that would have been standing on a theology or a doctrine or Calvinism or Arminianism or Baptist theology or Pentecostal theology or whatever doctrine it is that you believe. They were so adherent to the once saved always saved or filled with the Holy Spirit or this or you get filled at this moment. They were these people. They were the religious leaders of this time and yet they are literally discussing the murder of God's servants.

See they believe that they are protecting God while actually actively resisting Him. Which tells me this, that you can possibly know scripture by heart and still resist the God of scripture. You can know the Bible like the back of your hand, you can have a scripture for everything, you can quote it for this, quote it for that and still resist the God of scripture. It is possible to defend traditions while fighting true transformation. It's literally possible to sit in a religious room and be threatened by a genuine move of God. The greatest opposition to a move of God doesn't always come from people who hate God. Sometimes it comes from people who are convinced that God can't move through certain people or can only move through certain people in certain methods. But in the middle of their murderous anger, a Pharisee named Gamal stands up and orders the apostles to be removed from the room and Gamal isn't just some insignificant man. We actually find out here in a few chapters that Paul was actually his protege and was his mentor and so he wasn't just some insignificant man. Luke describes him as an expert in religious law who is respected by all the people and Gamal doesn't stand because he accepted Jesus as Messiah. He isn't defending the gospel, he's urging the council to slow down before they do something they cannot undo. So they said kill him and Gamal says hey you had better determine who you're fighting first. See I believe that's a word for today's church as well because not everything unfamiliar is unbiblical. Just because a church is doing something one way doesn't mean that every other church has to do it that way. Not everything different is dangerous. Listen not everything God does will look like what he did in your last season nor your last church nor the church of the 60s. Like we love it, I love watching Jesus Revolution, I love watching, I love the moral standard of Christian conduct that society accepted in those times but that's not where we're at.

And as bad as we want a time bomb to just go back in a time machine and take us back to the future and live back in those days, we can't. And it's a fallacy to believe that we can't so we have to be creative which just so happens we serve the creator so when we are being creative we are actually walking in the image of God and so if we are using methods that actually open the door for people to be able to want to come in, guess what, it's okay, God is a creator. We can use creative arts, we can, guess what, church people, we can use hip hop. You know the boom booms? stuff. We can use that to see people saved. We can open it up. I mean, guess what? God can use creative ways. I'm not even going to get into all the ways because I'm going to offend some people, but we must judge every movement of God by scripture, by its confession of Jesus, and for heaven's sake, by its spiritual fruit. That's why we preach holiness. That's why we preach what we preach, not to condemn people, but to raise the standard so that we can say, hey, here's what, why? Because when people are talking about reach, which they are, I want them to see a people that's life looks different than the ones that are outside of here so that it's attractive, not condemning, but it's attractive. And not that I want to have an attractional, seeker-friendly church. I want to have a church that attracts people but holds them accountable. I know it seems like an oxymoron statement, but it's not because when people see the conduct in your life and how you walk, they're like, man, what are you doing different? Man, hey, listen, here's what I'm doing. I'm glad you asked. It don't even matter where you work. They just asked you what you did. Now you got a full opportunity to present the gospel. But see, we must also be careful not to attack something simply because we do not understand it or we didn't initiate it. See, don't allow your personal preferences to convince you that you're protecting God when you actually may be resisting him. See, Gamal reminds the council of two movements from Israel and their history, and the first involved a man named Thutis, is what I'm going to call him. That looks like what it sounds like. I don't know. But in Acts 5.36, it says, some time ago, there was some fellow Thutis, this is Gamal approaching the Sanhedrin, and he said, who pretended to be someone great. Come on, we all got some of those people in our lives, amen? Don't look next to you and say, see, he's talking to you this morning. He

said there was this fellow Thutis who pretended to be someone great, and about 400 others joined him. So he had a pretty good movement. It's around where Reach is at on a typical Sunday, so I mean a little bit more, but he was moving. He was doing some things. He was making some noise, but he was killed, and all his followers went their various ways. The whole movement came to nothing. See, Thutis promoted himself. He gathered a following, died, and then the movement died with him, which literally confronts every leader in every ministry, because it is possible to gather a crowd without building the kingdom, which means that it is possible to attract followers while not making disciples. It's possible to become known without actually making Jesus famous. Ministry is not about convincing people that we are somebody. Ministry is about showing people that Jesus is literally everything, and throughout time, in my little short 10 years, 12 years of ministry, we have seen ministries rise up quickly because people were maybe gifted with personality or whatever the case may be, but then when that personality fell, guess what? The entire movement goes, like, have you heard about? Just wait. Wait. See, this is what happens when people are attached more deeply to a leader than they are to Jesus, which convicts me, because I frequently get, hey, are you preaching today? Like, why? I just leave my arm red. Why? Like, well, you know, because nobody else do it like you do. I'm like, bruh, only my wife should be able to tell me that. Like, I told them I was going to clean it up second service. Here we go. See, but it is a problem because I literally have thought, what if God called me somewhere? What if God called me somewhere? I want this thing to continue to grow. I'm not saying I'm called anywhere, just for reference, but what if? You know how hard it would be for that next pastor? I would feel sorry for that person. We'll see the way Pastor Adam used to do it and he'd eventually say, well I'm not Pastor Adam. You want Pastor Adam, go wherever Pastor Adam's at and I'm gonna say, Pastor Adam, you have reached a disconnected number. But see if everything depends on your presence, your gifting, your charisma, your platform, you've not built a ministry, you've built a monument. And God cannot bless who you pretend to be. See, God doesn't need us to manufacture some fake image before people. This is why church hurt happens. See, people blame church hurt, but you was praising the pastor, not Jesus. Because if the pastor fell, God

didn't. God is still God. God did not change his throne. He did not change his position. He doesn't need us to exaggerate our influence and brag and and hide our weaknesses. That's why I'm super transparent, like probably too much. You know, like some people's like, yes he is. He's definitely too much. We're not coming back next week. Or pretend that our ministry is actually healthier than it really is. Like people may be attracted to a version of you that you manufactured, but only the real you can be corrected by God. See, the goal is not become somebody great. The goal is to build something that honors the Lord and helps people find a Savior. A crowd is not proof that God is in it. Gamal goes on and mentions another guy, which I'm gonna hurry and talk about. His name was Judas, which was a Galilean. Not Judas that betrayed Jesus, but a different one. And Judas, it says, actually one scholar said about Judas, just for context, that he arose around a time of Roman census and persuaded some people to go against Caesar. And he attracted a considerable following. And it's funny because Judas had about 400 followers. Judas had a considerable crowd. But numbers doesn't sustain a movement. They never sustained either one of those, which is an important warning because our culture can be obsessed with whatever is growing fast. See, oftentimes if it's growing, we assume God must be blessing it. Man, dude, it blew up. Man, God must be all over it. But if people are following, we assume that the leader is also faithful. And if the room is full, we assume that the ministry must be healthy. But a crowd is not the same thing as God's approval, church. See, Judas had a crowd. Judas had a crowd. False teachers can gather a crowd. Guess what? Controversy can gather a crowd. Numbers can tell us how many people showed up, but they cannot tell us how many people Jesus or how much Jesus was honored. See, growth matters because people matter. We should want to reach more people. We should want to disciple more families. But we cannot measure spiritual health by attendance alone. It's just not a viable metric. See, the question is not, well, how large is it? The question is, is Scripture being honored? Are people repenting? Are lives being transformed? Are disciples being formed? Is the fruit of the Spirit

becoming visible in people's life? The success of a ministry is not measured by only what it gathers, but by what it produces. You can't produce what you want. You can't reproduce what you want. You reproduce who you are. That's why... Anyways. Here we go. See, that's why monkeys see monkey do. You know, you can't be one person on Sunday and another person on Monday. Your kids see that fruit, and they will reap that fruit. They will reproduce that fruit, and then you can't be frustrated when they're walking in the fruit of your labor. See, after presenting these examples, Gamal gives them this recommendation. He says, hey, leave these men alone. Let them go. Let them go. And there's a genuine truth behind Gamal's warning. Like, what has God determined to accomplish cannot ultimately be defeated by human opposition. If God is in something, if God is building something, it cannot be... See, something is not automatically from God merely because it survives. Something isn't automatically false simply because it struggles either. Like, something isn't automatically anointed just because it grows quickly. Gamal says, just make sure before you... something that you're not actually fighting against God think about this contrast I mean that he's given Judas died and his followers scattered Judas died and his followers scattered Jesus died and they filled Jerusalem I mean Judas stayed dead Judas stayed dead Jesus got back up baby there is a difference Christianity didn't survive because the Apostles were charismatic to hold this movement that survived because the founder was no longer in the grave the tomb was empty the Holy Spirit has been poured out lives are being changed Jerusalem is filled with the name of Jesus why because you cannot kill a message whose sinner is a resurrected Savior the church doesn't survive because its enemies are weak a church survives because its foundation is strong the Apostles aren't surviving because the opposition had disappeared in fact the opposition was intensifying I mean that the council had moved from threats of imprisonment now to imprisonment now the thoughts of murder and yet the church keeps growing sometimes I think we assume that if God is in something there should be no resistance but actually the Bible

teaches us the opposite specifically in Acts see the work can be from God and still be fiercely opposed open doors does not always mean the absence of opposition God's favor doesn't always mean public approval hello faithfulness doesn't always produce an easy path and resistance does not mean that God has abandoned the work sometimes resistance reveals how much the work actually threatens the kingdom of darkness so you need to press in and keep moving and keep going because you're building a resistance and a resilience to things that are coming against you because if you can't handle resistance now listen I'm telling you there have been many nights where you contemplate if you should just quit the further you go they say bigger levels bigger that bigger devils I don't know if that's theologically correct but it's relative because the higher you climb in terms of ministry or society or jobs or whatever it is it just comes with bigger problems I mean Puff Daddy said it more money more problems or Biggie whoever it was I don't know who it was we probably shouldn't quote Puffy just saying I take that back there was a lot of oil in that brother's ministry too sheesh point three what's wrong with this guy Ed I'm telling you my wife will not let me go a fourth week without her at church I'm just letting you know right now she will be on the front row she'll be correcting me she's gonna be praying over me casting out demons all kinds of anyways yes opposition cannot stop what God builds it just can't if God is building it it will stand that's why you got to make sure your foundation is strong you got to make sure that something is happening I was we was at the holy place Andy's last night and the Spirit of the Lord drove us there I wasn't sure whether I was in a trance or I was not but I had I had the the anointed peach cobbler concrete shabba ki handa basho I feel the Lord right now who wants to bless me but as we was driving as we was pulling into their they're building a Wally's at the most inconvenient place in independence by the way not sure if they actually drew blue pants or just wrote it in crayon and said yeah this is big tax dollars

let's send it no a Wally's yeah it's exactly it's like Bucky's but it's like it's it's it's it's meth out cousin and so I never heard of Wally's I'm just letting you know I thought Walmart too but no it is not Walmart it is Wally's it has this weird figurine anyways it's not Bucky's so don't think it is when you go there and we'll minimize some of the traffic to the holy place But as I'm pulling out of the Andes, eating the goodness of God, and we're pulling out and my oldest daughter, Bella, she looks over and she's like, Dad, they're not even doing anything there. When are they going to build something? And I said, Well, baby, they've actually been working there for weeks, because it's what you have to do is there's a process to excavating and you have to make sure that the surface is good and able to withstand the structure that is going to be built upon it. Because if you build something that is shifting, then it will collapse everything. And so you have to build something on something that is right. And I said, You see how that ground is really nice and level and squared off in a certain Yeah, well, that's why baby, because that's where the building is going to be built. And I said, It's just like in the Bible, when the Bible says that you don't want to build something on shifting sand, because if the foundation isn't strong, then the house will fall. And so we need to make sure that the foundation is strong, so that it will withstand. And that is what this means. If God is building something, we need to make sure that the foundation is strong, so that it can withstand when opposition comes, because opposition is coming. Okay. And I have four minutes for 12 pages. So let's let's go. And then we have baptisms afterwards. And so the third and final quality is this is pain shouldn't silence our witness. Pain shouldn't silence our witness. Acts five says that 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. And I think in Western civilization, we can kind of read past that word like it doesn't hold much bearing to it, the word flogged, because we don't really know what that means in our society. But this wasn't just a warning church. If you have not been familiar with the term, I would encourage you to go back and watch the passion of Christ and and watch when Jesus gets to this point, fast forward to the point I mean, watch the whole movie, but you can fast forward to the point where Jesus was tied and chained to this wood post in the middle of this public scene. And then they was hit with a cat of nine tails, which is a whip that had pieces of metal that was intended to grip you. And then when they would pull it away, it would rip your skin wide open and blood would begin to seep out. And they said that you were only allowed publicly to take 39 latches, because if you took 40, you could possibly die and it would be public humiliation. And they were worried about giving you 40, but they'll give you 39. And so that these these apostles were in there and they got flogged. This was not some petty fine. This wasn't an angry social media post that somebody posted about you. This was a physical suffering inflicted because they would not stop preaching Jesus. And when the enemy comes, when the enemy cannot change your convictions, he will try to make your convictions costly. See, they wanted Peter to associate the name of Jesus with the physical pain in his back. They wanted every wound to become a warning. They wanted every scar to begin to produce silence in him because they were tired of this. They wanted the memory of the beating to make the apostles reconsider their calling. And I believe that the enemy still operates this way in the church today because he wants you to associate obedience with what it costs you. See, you trusted God and somebody still betrayed you that you love.

See, you stepped into ministry and you thought that it was all going to be good because you got to work with all Christian people. And then you found out that sheep bite and somebody started criticizing you. And you thought, well, Christian, listen, don't fantasize about something that it is not. You opened your heart and somebody wounded you that you had been committed to. You tried to help and somebody still misunderstood you. You literally started walking in your calling and resistance began to intensify. And now every time that God calls you forward, the enemy points back to your pain. And he reminds you, he says, hey, don't forget what it cost you the last time that you did that. Don't, don't, don't, don't forget how those people treated. Don't forget about those mean Christians that said that stuff about you when you served in ministry the last time. Don't forget about those people. See, don't, don't forget. I want you to remember what it cost you. And then we will place the remembrance of that cross as of that. us as accountability and good stewardship and then we just won't allow ourself to go through it again but see the enemy wants yesterday's wounds to become today's boundaries so that you won't step out and do something bold again see Acts 5 shows us people who refuse to allow the pain to make their decisions that's why in verse 41 it says that the Apostles left the High Council they just got beat almost to death I'm talking skin off of their back bleeding I don't even know if they put a shirt back on but it says that the Apostles left the High Council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus they walked in preaching and walked out praising I mean they literally entered with conviction and left with wounds but they still had joy you know the flogging hurt them but it didn't offend them away from Jesus this is mature faith see immature faith says if God loves me

nothing bad should happen to me but see mature faith says even when something painful happens to me there is nothing that can separate me from the love of God because there is no weapon formed against me that will prosper there is if you are not for me then you are for against me and if this is it if I am walking with the Lord this is just what it is see they weren't rejoicing because the beating felt good they were rejoicing because they remembered the words of Jesus whenever he said hey God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil stuff about you on Facebook and Instagram even though it isn't true but blessed are you because you are my followers I want you to be happy about it because there is a great reward that that awaits you in heaven see they did not interpret their suffering as proof that God had abandoned them they interpret their suffering as evidence that they belong to him see some believers can only praise when the report is good when that big check arrives you've been waiting on oh God is good all the time and all the time God is good ha ha brother I'm too blessed to be stressed and I had a guy you know talk to me about that he said yeah I just sold a house made 60 grand and I said so we should see a check for six grand this weekend he said well I don't know if I'm there I said oh you ain't too blessed then 10% adds up all the way like if you got a $60 check or a $60,000 check I don't care about your money you do whatever you want with it but if you anyways but what happens when your obedience leads to resistance see it's a little bit different see can you still worship when the door stays closed see can you worship when the report is painful can you still worship when the prayer seems unanswered can you still worship when the people you helped turn against you and and treat you like you ain't never did nothing for him can you still worship when following Jesus cost you more than you expected it would see if my praise depends on my circumstances then my circumstances actually control my worship but when I praise when I'm hurting I'm declaring that Jesus is worth more than just my comfort because here's the truth see the Apostles had

every reason I'm hurrying I still got eight pages I know I'm gonna skip some of them it's okay but I gotta make this point because the Apostles had every reason to make the next season about what happened to him see they could have spent the next several months talking about this unfair treatment the corrupt council the corrupt church leaders at their previous church and what all they did to him and the pain that they endured but see acts does not say that they built their ministry around their wounds it says that they built it around Jesus and it's what's what's interesting to me is in verse 42 it says every day in the temple from house to house they continue to teach and preach this message that Jesus is the Messiah occasionally not when they felt inspired not when the environment was safe not when the wounds had completely healed one scholar made this note that they said that it was very possible that they didn't even allow their wounds to heal think about that you just got flogged beat I mean bloody dripping skin hanging off of you and you said ain't nothing gonna stop me God told me to go I'm gonna keep on moving I know ministry sucks but I'm gonna keep on moving I know people have hurt me but I'm gonna keep on moving I know things have done me the way that they've done me but I'm gonna keep on moving it doesn't matter if I'm gonna bleed I'm just not gonna bleed on people I'm gonna make sure that I allow myself a little bit of distance so that I can heal but I'm still preaching Jesus I'm still giving them the juice I'm still telling them that Jesus is the only way and the only way to get to heaven and this is who it is and you may have killed him but I'm still gonna let you know that there is room for grace for you even if you hurt me even if you hurt my friends no matter what it is that you have done there is still room for grace because I never want to worship my problem so much that it steals my praise I never want to worship the things that I went through so much that it steals my worship for God because if my circumstances are controlling the one who I worshiped in my circumstances have become my worship and I've actually created idolatry out of the stuff that I'm going through so I don't know what you came in here

carrying today maybe you got some weight that you've been hanging on to maybe you've got some inner wounds that you haven't released maybe you've just been going through this season and I just believe that God wants to say hey you can bring your pain today you can bring your your two double-sided two-faced friends you can don't bring them I mean not like dragging them by their hair but bring the hurt amen it's a come to the altar and make it right with your brother before you go so what what are you struggling with today if I can have everybody stand with me for just a moment I believe that there are some in the house today right now that may not have a confessing relationship with Jesus and you want to do that you say hey I want to I want to surrender my life again today for the first time or maybe for the first time in a long time and you just want to say hey I've never given my life to the Lord before anybody moves and you just say hey you know what I felt this pull this unction in my spirit while you was speaking today and and I just I don't know what it is but I know that I need to make a decision right now maybe that's you you've never done it or you've done it and you just ain't been walking like you're supposed to be walking and you want to do that today could I just get you to slip up your hand if you want to have that relationship with the Lord today so that we can pray with you come on go ahead you can hold up your hand real high come on I see those I see those hands come on anybody else hey if that's you maybe you didn't raise your hand can I just ask something bold of you real quick can I just get you to step out and just come down here real quick we want to pray with you hey I know it's bold I know it's I know it's not normal but hey we just want to see I know there was a couple of you just if that was you just come on down come on come on come on come on come on come on come on you should be running this is a moment you don't want to miss if somebody isn't walking down here it's because they've already walked down here or they need to walk down here too so so do you that's okay come on let's just give hey I want you to come right down over here we're gonna pray with you maybe you're in here today and you say hey you know what man

life has been life in people have been people in ministry has been ministry in you say man I've let the pain get in the way of the calling and I want to get back to what God has called me to and be rightful witness for who he has called me to be hey who else is worthy of our praise who else is worthy of our worship church who else could do it who else is worthy of all of that and if that's you today I want you to just either come down here to the altar and I want you to just lift your hands and worship maybe you're in your seat wherever you're at I just want us to just begin to worship for just a moment and just believe that God is a God is of a healer and he can bring restoration come on let's just worship for just a moment church who else who else is worthy Oh ♪ Holy, righteous one, Jennifer ♪ ♪ Prove to us the Father's love ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, we lift it up ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, Lamb of God, anointed one ♪ ♪ Worship Him, to His become ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne above ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, righteous one, Jennifer ♪ ♪ Prove to us the Father's love ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, we lift it up ♪ ♪ You're holy, holy, Lamb of God, anointed one ♪ ♪ Worship Him, to His become ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne above ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, righteous one, Jennifer ♪ ♪ Prove to us the Father's love ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, we lift it up ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? ♪