Unstoppable

Welcome to Verse by Verse. Thank you so much for joining us as we take a look at the book of Acts. We take things nice and slowly as we look and see what God is doing in the big picture of expanding the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea and to Samaria and to the ends of the earth. My name is David Humphrey and I'm the pastoral care and missions pastor here at United City Church in Humboldt, Texas. We're excited to be your church family while you're incarcerated, but we're going to be even more excited when you get out and you can come and be a part of our church in person. We love you very much. Please grab your Bible and a journal, perhaps a pen, and be ready to take some notes and let's learn together through the book of Acts. I was Methodist until I was about 10 and then I became Baptist, but our circles are kind of similar. Neither of those church traditions were church traditions where we experienced any... the only miracle we ever saw was the greatest miracle of all, which is salvation, but beyond that, I can assure you that that was not an experience. Some of you, like Nathan, you know, was telling me about him being a Baptist Apostle because he's one of those Baptist Apostles over there, and so maybe he's... right? You said it! The privileged information. Okay, sorry about that, but I say that because we're not all from the same background, and that's part of the beauty of it, right? We've all had different experiences of what it is to follow Jesus, and maybe some of you have had experiences where miracles and things were taking place. I'm just gonna be honest with you. We talked about, you know, the question, well, why did they see more in Bible times than we do now? I don't think that they did, and generally speaking, there were seasons in the years, hundreds of years, that the Bible spans in which there were a lot of miracles. There were also seasons where there were not a lot of miracles. We're in the book of Acts in a season of a lot of miracles, and I promise you, there's more miracles happening in Acts than we're getting the story of. Luke recorded a few of them, just like he recorded them in the Gospels, and so did Matthew, and so did Mark, and so did John, but we didn't get all the miracles. So we're in a season of a lot of them, but that doesn't need to make us feel like, oh, well

there's not any around here. I've told this story, but guys, Linda Young is sitting right over here. Raise your hand, Linda. And Linda and I experienced a miracle together about, what, three weeks ago, was it? Yeah, when I prayed for her, just a normal prayer. I promise I didn't have anything wild or crazy about it. I just prayed that her blood pressure, that her heart rate would move down from one number to another number, and after I left, the nurse said, while I prayed, it went from one number to that exact number. That's a miracle, just like the miracles we're seeing in the Bible. So that's not for me, that's just for the glory of God, and so there's still more miracles today than we realize. I'm telling you, we're gonna say, yes Greg. Okay. Yes, the Jews back in Israel, right? That's right. So that is a sign. I noticed the other day, we were, some of you have driven up to the woodlands, you know, if you go on 45, there is a church, and their sign says, signs and wonders, and points down to the building. Like, that's their, that's their, that's the main, it's far smaller is the name of the church. They want you to know, this is what you can find over here. So we'll just praise the Lord for what God is doing through them, but guys, we talked about that miracles are still happening. I'm just gonna tell you, I know within the last two weeks of members of this church who have been a part of seeing demons flee from people in our community, I know that I could tell you the stories, I'm not gonna give you the full details, but I promise you guys, we still live in a time in which the Holy Spirit is active and powerful, and one of the things, I think it was Carol that said, we often don't see signs and wonders and miracles because we're not, number one, we're not asking for them, and so therefore, we're not expecting them. So I just want you to remember that. Don't be afraid to ask God to do a miracle. Use the faith that God gives you, and pray for miracles, friends. Pray for God to speak to some family member who is far from God, and for God to send them someone who would speak the truth to them. Guys, that's a miracle when it happens. So I just want to encourage us, because if we're not experiencing... the biblical understanding of Christianity, then we need to line ourselves up with the Bible.

We don't need to wonder why the Bible doesn't fit what we're experiencing, guys. The Holy Spirit of God lives within us. So I'm done preaching. Maybe not, actually. But I just want you to know, if we're looking for them, we're gonna expect and we're gonna see God moving more and more and more. I want to give you one little commercial on my way to that and and that is, some of you guys have heard that our church is participating, it starts today, in something called Awaken Houston. It's happening all over our city. Awaken Houston is a prayer challenge for people of God to prayer walk, or if you need to prayer drive, you just prayer drive. Do whatever you need to do, all around our area, and just ask God to move. Just ask God to awaken Houston. God, ring people from the dead. Let them hear. Let them pursue the church. Let them come to know you. And we as a church are participating in that. Now, there's like gatherings of prayer all around the city, and we're going to keep letting you know when those are. Our church is going to have a prayer gathering in about six weeks here, around that. There is, yeah, at the other end of the lobby, where the little map is, at the bottom of the stairs, there's some flyers that tell you how to prayer walk. It's really simple. You pray while you're going somewhere. That's all it is, guys, okay? We're accustomed to, let's get in our room and hide and pray, and that's a good thing to do. Jesus said to do it, but guys, prayer, when we're moving, we're praying with action. Last week, I was doing that, and so I'm walking through my neighborhood prayer walking, and I'm like, oh, I suddenly saw my neighborhood differently, guys. When I'm praying for, I wonder who lives in that house. I wonder, do they need Jesus? I wonder if this person who's walking towards me, if they are a believer in Christ. So, I'm just going to keep challenging you guys. Every single week, I'm going to challenge you to go out, take a prayer walk. Many of us are recording our prayer walks on a little app called Holy Here, which is free and super easy to use, and it's so neat. Here's why. The people who are participating in Awaken Houston all over the city are using this app,

and since it started on Sunday, the city, whenever you use Holy Here, when you're prayer walking, if you ever use one of those little apps that shows where you've been, it marks that you have prayer walked that area, and so currently, ever since Sunday, the city of Houston is starting to light up with prayer. The goal of Awaken Houston is, as the body of Christ, throughout the city, we will prayer walk 100,000 miles until Easter, and every Thursday, we're going to find out how far has the church in Houston prayed this week. Isn't that exciting? Like, don't you want to be a part of something like that? This is not just some campaign. No, this is calling down heaven over our city. So, join us. Be a part of it. Some people are already doing it. If you need instructions on how, Lane can help you. I can help you. If any of you have already downloaded the app, that part's easy, but I want to encourage you, and then tell the stories. Now, Acts chapter 5. We're going to read through this again, because the story's too good, and we can't miss any of it. Then, we're going to give a few comments, and then we're going to get back to it. We're going to start in verse 17. We're going to make our way down to verse 42. So, let's listen up together. It says, When the high priest came, nope, let's go back, verse 17. But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him, that is the party of the Sadducees, and filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles, and put them in the public prison. But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, and brought them out, and said, Go and stand in the temple, and speak to the people all the words of this life. And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak, and began to teach. Now, when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.

But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, We found the prison securely locked, and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside. Now, when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. Someone came and told them, Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people. Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, not by force though, they were afraid of being stoned by the people. When they had brought them, they set them before the council, and the high priest questioned them, saying, We strictly charge you not to teach in this name. And here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us. But Peter and the apostles answered, We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as leader and Savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins and we are witnesses to these things and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him. When they heard this they were enraged and wanted to kill them. But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. And he said to the men of Israel, take care what you're about to do with these men. For before these days Theodos rose up claiming to be somebody and a number of men about 400 joined him. He was killed and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished and all who followed him were scattered. So in the

present case I tell you keep away from these men and let them alone. For if this plan or this undertaking is of man it will fail. But if it is of God you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God. So they took his advice and when they had called in the Apostles they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name and every day in the temple and from house to house they did not cease teaching and preaching that Christ the Christ is Jesus. Well what a story or two or three right this is just such an amazing thing we obviously if you paid attention you know Peter and the rest of the Apostles had just gotten thrown in jail and then the angel broke him out and said oh no big deal the power of powerful angel of God gave them a charge to go back and keep preaching the gospel in the temple in other words don't run away and hide get right back at it I didn't free you just so that you can go about your way I freed you because you've got something to do God's broken you out so just be bold that's what they did they were supposed to appear in court but they were busy preaching and the religious leaders got hot guys that is an understatement they're getting more and more angry because they can't stop these guys they just won't be quiet no matter what they do there's nothing that they can do so they sent to retrieve them but not by force and I was thinking about that that trek that Peter and the Apostles made as they were on their way to the court I wonder I number one I certainly don't see them stressed about being moved to have a different audience I just wonder can't you see I'm just excited like oh we get to testify the before the religious leaders or or maybe they were praying praying for these guys to be saved maybe maybe the Holy Spirit will come upon them maybe the high priest will get saved who knows what's gonna happen I just could see them full of faith they certainly were not walking with their heads hunched down like oh no we're in trouble guys they're just full of faith they're bold nothing is gonna stop them so they get there and for some reason the high priest cannot seem to believe that these

guys will not stay quiet it seems to be just like boggling him they're perplexed what's going on because guys when you have the power of the Holy Spirit and the boldness that comes from the Holy Spirit where you're unstoppable like like laws are not gonna stop you persecution doesn't stop the people of God it actually fuels the people of God so yeah it only been a week or so since Peter declared to Ananias and Sapphira mm-hmm exactly yeah they probably were scared right they're not only angry but probably afraid you know I mean these guys have got the power of life and death right that's that's a really good point yeah there's just so much emotion and so much drama happening here you know they get there the high priest can't seem to believe that they won't be quiet and then to top it off The high priest sees that Peter and the apostles are actually putting them on trial. Did you notice that? Peter's like, you're the one who killed him. You know who you killed? The Messiah, the one that came from our, the God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and you're the one that killed him. That's why the high priest says, and you're trying to put his blood on us. You see, he's feeling threatened. So he's trying to say, oh, we didn't do anything wrong, but the people are starting to side with Peter and the apostles. So you see, as their numbers grow, it's like the influence of the gospel is starting to change the atmosphere. And so it's a fascinating little conversation. Basically, when he said that, verse 28, you intend to bring this man's blood upon us, that's when Peter restates those charges. And then he says, but you know what God did? What does he say God did? Yeah, God raised him back to life. Not only that, not just back to life. God actually raised him to the Father's right hand,

and that's where the Holy Spirit came. He didn't say that here, but he mentions the Holy Spirit in the very next sentence, right? So he sent him there to the right hand of God to sit as, what are the two titles that he gives him right there? Leader and Savior. And then he said, look, we're witnesses of it. Like, we saw it. We're not just talking about something somebody told us about. We saw him. That was the same Savior that walked with us and broke bread with us and spent time with us. And there he was, risen and glorified. Remember, nail scars. But guys, he was healed. Jesus was fully alive. And he says, look, basically nothing's going to stop us from testifying of what we've seen. So when Jesus got to the right hand, we know he had poured out the Holy Spirit. And he even says here, on all those, look at verse 32, to those who obey him. Those are the ones that get the Holy Spirit. Do you see maybe a subtle jab right there? Or not so subtle, right? It's kind of like, the Holy Spirit that I have, Peter is saying, could be for you too if you would obey, right? Obedience, we see from cover to cover, brings blessing. And disobedience always brings conflict in the scripture. So, guys, they were so furious at their insults, that's the high priest and the whole council here, they wanted to kill them. And right here, I want to give you a quote that is from a second century theologian. So just a few years down the road from this. You might have heard his name, but if you hadn't, you need to hear it tonight because he's one of our brothers in Christ. Tertullian is his name, okay? So you name somebody Tertullian. But listen to what he said. This is a statement. He said, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. I'm going to say that again. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. So what does, when I say

martyr, what's a martyr? Yes, they're dying, and we would say specifically for the cause of Christ. Now, in this moment, make no mistake, the high priest and the council had all the power that they wanted to in the natural that they could have put these men to death. They just got finished putting the Savior to death. But guys, for God's own purposes, it was not their time. You probably know this, but there's not much information in the book of Acts about the deaths of the apostles. But in church tradition, almost every one of the apostles were known to have died as martyrs. So they lived their season, some of them longer seasons than others. John was the last one left. If you know that, the book of Revelation was when he was in his old age, and he was exiled, okay? So he was experiencing persecution for his faith. But guys, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. What do you think that means? It's what makes it grow. Seed is what's a living thing. grows from. Guys, what Tertullian was saying is you can even kill them, and it just fertilizes the soil, and the church just keeps growing and growing and growing. The church is unstoppable. And so if you have a faith in the Lord Jesus Christ like these guys, then you are unstoppable. And so when he said that, it wasn't their time to die, but I believe Peter and these guys were ready to do so if it was. That's why they're standing up saying, put me in jail, do whatever you want to. I'm gonna obey God, I'm not gonna obey you. I belong to him, and he is the one that I stand for. So they were ready, and I can promise you this, even if they had died on this day, it wouldn't have stopped the growth of the church. God had different purposes for them, and so now we can see that the church is expanding and growing and so much, and then we enter this interesting character in the story, Gamaliel. That's how I'm gonna say his name, but probably none of us are gonna pronounce it right, so I'm just gonna say Gamaliel. Gamaliel is a

fascinating little character. I know you heard, I read it last week, I read it again tonight. Gamaliel was a Pharisee. Now when you hear the word Pharisee, if you've grown up in church or been in church for very long at all, you've heard of those people, and do you usually have a positive view of them or negative? Negative. Why do you have a negative view of the Pharisees? They're legalistic, okay? Yeah, they were involved in the crucifixion, Jesus condemned the Pharisees a lot, Jesus would speak against, you know, whitewashed tombs and the whole bit, you remember that? Yes, very proud. So the Pharisees are known to be, they've got a bad rap and they've earned it, okay, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. But a couple of things that I think are helpful for you to know about the difference between Pharisees and Sadducees. You see, although they conspired together a lot, they were not, that's not the same group of people. They had some different beliefs. The Pharisees believed in the oral traditions, and the Pharisees believed in resurrection, where the Sadducees didn't. The Pharisees believed in demons, where the Sadducees didn't, and the Pharisees believed in the sovereignty of God. And you'll start to see this, but you're seeing it tonight, in the book of Acts, Luke shows Pharisees in a better light than Sadducees, okay? Do you hear Camalio tonight? He's actually speaking with wisdom, okay? But now, here's a little piece of Bible trivia, who else were famous Pharisees in the Bible who actually spoke with wisdom? Nicodemus! John chapter 3, Nicodemus was a Pharisee. One of my favorite characters in The Chosen is Nicodemus. I just love the story and the way that they build that one out, it is so, so good. Nicodemus was a much older, elder Pharisee, like top of the heap Pharisees. Who's the other most famous Pharisee? Paul! Paul was a Pharisee. We're gonna get to know him very well in the book of Acts. He's not on the scene yet, but he's just a few chapters away, okay? We're gonna get to know Paul, but Paul was a Pharisee, he said, a Pharisee of Pharisees, like, you know, just like the pedigree, he had it all. But Camalio is speaking up here with a lot of mature wisdom, and not to mention a very cool head. So it's interesting to me that Camalio, I can't say with absolute certainty, and I don't

think you can either, but it looks to me like evidence would say that Camalio may have believed that Jesus was the Christ. At least he's taking a more open stance which says, you better let God judge on that, guys. You better be careful casting your judgment. We're gonna wait and see, but perhaps he's even part of the remnant, right? Part of the people of God from within the Pharisees. Yes, sir. It looks like he's standing up for these Christians, at least in a kind of a, you know, I'm not declaring I'm a Christian, but, you know, you need to think about what you're doing. Yeah. So I did some research. couldn't find anything other than later on we'll see yeah whatever his name is mr. G interesting yeah yeah we don't know so we but it's that's remember how we talked about we need to read the Bible imaginatively right we need to we need to look behind the scenes as best we can and think and I think there's very good biblical evidence here just in his statement he's at least open right he's at least like at least the jury's out like he's not gonna condemn him what were you gonna say yeah evidently he was that's right that's right so you know you have to wonder was he a Pharisee of Pharisees that just knew the law up here right or was there some stirring in his heart that's what I see some evidence that Paul interesting okay okay Kamaliel's grandfather okay and then as these guys said Paul tutored under Kamaliel and again this is me thinking imaginatively. With Paul, with Saul's bias against the Christian church, I can't help but think that some of that bias might have come from his teaching. That would be a very likely likely scenario so so at least we can say he's at least open and interested in what's going on here and and he's speaking from reason but I like his approach in verse 34 he basically says let's just put these guys outside for a little while and everybody calm down and let's talk for a minute he's at least being reasonable right you know what it's like when when the tempers start to flare in a room if somebody can just kind of bring the tone down that's what I see him doing he's like okay everybody just calm down and let's think here because if you don't think we could have a riot on our hands right that's what he's that's what he's alluding to because if they're afraid to even bring Peter and the Apostles by force through the crowds that means the

crowds as I've said are starting to turn and they're starting to favor them so that's what happens basically these men are sharing this and he kind of says well let's just be careful now and then he says let me give you a couple of stories let me tell you a couple of stories of people that had something similar well there's Theodos like that guy had hundreds of followers and came to nothing you know something you guys know this we've all been around long enough to know people come and people go right people are popular for a season people are people are in the midst of all of things and they're gathering a crowd and it just comes to nothing you know popularity wanes then he says there was Judas the Galilean kind of you know clarifying not Judas the you know the the disciple of Jesus he drew some followers and then he came to nothing too I think what he's also saying here is hey guys have you noticed this Jesus guy he's got a following that keeps growing and growing and growing I again at the very least Gamaliel saying jury's out for me I'm waiting to see if this thing's gonna die down yeah which of course it did not and I I just, maybe I'm hearing it through the lens I want to, but it just sounds to me like he's thinking, I'm not so sure it's gonna die down. So, he gives really good advice. He says, stay away, and just let God handle it. That's basically the advice, guys. It's just, just let it play out. If it's real, you better not stand against it if God is involved in it. Well, 39 almost sounds like a good fit. Let's look at it. 39, if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them, and you might be found opposing God. You think about the history, because these guys, of course, Gamaliel,

would have been great in the law, in the Old Testament, in this first two-thirds of the Bible, and there are plenty of stories of people opposing God, and that did not go well for any of them, guys. They're drowned in the sea. I mean, they die in the wilderness. There's a lot of bad things that happen to them. God calls down fire from heaven. I mean, bad things happen to those who boldly oppose God, and so he's speaking up and saying, hey, listen, if it's of man, it's going to fail, but if it's of God, it is futile to oppose it. So I think he is kind of saying here, be careful. I also would say, similarly, but not with this exact same scenario, if you got a situation in your life, and you probably do, that you kind of feel like you want to handle it, you know something? Just let God handle it, because you know something? The Bible says God will not be mobbed. What a man sows, that he will also reap. That is why God says vengeance is mine. It's not yours. So if you got a situation in your life, just let God handle it. I promise he's going to do a much better job handling it than you are, okay? Maybe he's going to give more grace than you do, and maybe that's what's needed,

or maybe he's going to bring down a different kind of experience on them, a different kind of judgment on them. He doesn't need your help. I promise God's going to handle it. Denise? I just want you to know, up until this point, this is the first church that dares to even bring up the vengeance. It couldn't be just God. Yeah, because Nicodemus was quiet. Nicodemus, we know he was a believer. There's no doubt that Nicodemus came in, and he became radically saved and believed in Jesus, but he stayed quiet. He came at night, and, of course, toward the end, we know that he was a part of the burial party at the end. That's the most public thing that Nicodemus ever did, but we can see Gamaliel is saying, basically, you better slow down, and they basically say, I think that's a really good point. I think we're just going to kind of, you know, do a little bit of this, let's tap them on the hand, and they did that by beating them, and I know that sounds graphic, and it was, but they are trying to walk the line. You see it? We need to show some power. We need to show them that we're in charge here, and when you do bad things and you oppose us,

there are penalties, but you and I both know when they charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, they did not think, surely, they did not think that these men were going to go out and be quiet. I just don't think they did. I just think they had to say that because they knew that's just, this is just, we got to save a little face here. If they do it, it's not because we told them that they could, it's because they're defying us, but I can see the tension is just building in everybody. These guys, it's getting to a fevered pitch, and we're going to see it, guys. We're early in the book of Acts, okay? There's 23 more chapters. You understand this, guys? It's going to be a long story, okay? And there's just a lot more that's going to happen with the religious councils and all these people getting involved. So let's take a look at verses 41 and 42. They left, and as we could have all predicted, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name, and then every day in the temple and from house to house, not just in the temple, guys. They're like, we're going to go public. We're going to go house to house. We're going to go everywhere. Anybody that's got an ear, we want you to hear it.

They did not. sees teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. Now I don't want us to skip over verse 41 because I think that's one of the most beautiful verses in the whole passage. They left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. Now I don't think probably any of us could say that we have suffered this kind of dishonor for the name, but I bet some of us have suffered dishonor for the name of Jesus. Is there anybody here who has suffered dishonor for the name of Jesus? In other words, someone has looked down on you, someone has made fun of you. Has anybody else experienced that, guys? I love their attitude towards it. They rejoiced. Why? They were counted what? Worthy. Like, to say you're worthy of something, that means you have earned an honorable position, right? You know, we have big award shows, right, and we give people awards, and they win the award because someone thinks they're worthy of an award. And these guys are seeing it. I just got the greatest honor. I was worthy of suffering for the name. Who do you think they're thinking is counting them worthy? Jesus himself is considering them, these guys are worthy of suffering for my name. Isn't that, it's almost, it's just kind of hard to get your mind around, isn't it? Because it feels like in the natural, it would be a disgrace, right, you know, to be publicly ridiculed, or to be put down. But these men, they just hold their heads up high. What an honor. I get to suffer for the name. That is the name of Jesus. Exactly. By his grace. Exactly. I want us to look at a few verses in Paul's writings in Philippians chapter 3 to end our study tonight, because Paul basically had the same attitude as the other apostles towards suffering, and suffering specifically in the name of Jesus, or for the cause of Christ. I love the idea, it's a very biblical idea that we need to remember, that of course we remember that Jesus was the suffering servant. And if we are following the suffering servant, who would we be to think that we wouldn't suffer? Like, are we greater than our master? We also should consider ourselves great, we should be grateful to God if we have the privilege of making enough of a ripple that someone would look down upon us, and we were considered worthy of that. So we're going to look at Philippians 3, verses 7 through

11. Yes, please. That's right, that's exactly right. And if you look at that whole passage in Philippians chapter 4, it's about, I've learned the secret of being content, right? Whether well-fed or hungry, and all those things, I've learned I can do anything through Jesus Christ, who gives me strength to do it. And so look at chapter 3, so just a chapter back from chapter 4 that she brought up, verses 7 through 11, and I would love for someone to read that for us. Philippians 3, 7 through 11. 11. righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to His death, in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Wow. Guys, those are really powerful words. And if you've read much about Paul, and we will as we go along, he suffered greatly for the name. I don't know of anyone else in the biblical story that suffered more for the name than Paul. And yet, he could say, almost in the same tone, right, as what the apostles, the other apostles were saying, I'm just grateful I've been counted worthy to suffer. What an honor to suffer for Christ. Look at what he says, everything that I've gained, I counted as a loss for the sake of Christ, and everything, everything is lost, he says, compared to the knowledge of Christ, that is, of surpassing worth. In other words, knowing Christ is worth more than anything else I've ever experienced in my life, he says. The surpassing worth. For His sake, I have suffered the loss of all things. For His sake. So you see, sometimes it is for the Lord's sake that we experience a hardship, or a trial, or a persecution. And he says, I've counted all the, I've suffered the loss of all those things, and they're just rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.

In other words, those things were just in the way of me, of me knowing Christ better anyway. All of it is just rubbish, compared to the surpassing greatness. Can't you even see, in light of what we've been learning on Sunday mornings about giving our things, right, just holding our things, like, guys, everything, all of it, all of our 401Ks and 5013s and all the stuff that we've got, guys, it's just all rubbish compared to knowing Jesus Christ. It's all His, that's right, Peggy, He's just given it to us and entrusted it to us. He says, in order that I may gain Christ, be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, the righteousness that comes from God and depends on faith, and then here's this last verse here, these last two, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death. Do you understand the analogy he's saying here is, I cannot experience His resurrection until I have been brought down, right, in suffering. And so it is in that low place of suffering, for His name, that He can become like Him also, attaining the resurrection from the dead, not just the resurrection of our earthly bodies, although certainly we know that after our earthly body dies, we will experience the resurrection just as Jesus did, but he's saying there is the power of His resurrection that is related to sharing His sufferings. Guys, those three words together, share His sufferings. So as His followers, it is normal for us to suffer for His name. That is normal. Do you understand? That is normal Christianity. It is not normal Christianity that we just blend in with the crowd and don't make any waves and just don't take it too far. That's not normal biblical Christianity, people. Biblical Christianity is willing to sacrifice, is willing to die, is willing to suffer the loss of all things because we have the greatest prize that there is. The greatest prize is knowing Jesus.

There is no greater prize. I love one of my favorite songs, and we've sung it a few times here, it's kind of a modern hymn that talks about, all I once thought gain, I have counted loss for the sake of knowing you. It says, knowing you, Jesus, there is no greater thing. Knowing you, Jesus. All I once thought gain, I've counted loss. Spent and worthless now compared to this. So that's the attitude that Paul had. It's the attitude that Peter had. It is the attitude that... says, whatever you take from me, you can't take my greatest prize. Right? That's the thing about Christianity, guys. The greatest, everything that we have, the best that we've got, it's not our stuff. It's not our stuff, guys. It's not our houses. It's not our not our clothes. It's not our cars. It's not even the families that we love, guys. It's not even them. They're not even the best we've got. It is Jesus Christ alone, and He's worthy. Guys, He is worthy, and may we be counted worthy of suffering for His name as He calls us to it. Let's close in prayer tonight. Father in heaven, we love you and we thank you so much for your beautiful Son, Jesus, who suffered for us. And God, none of us in this room wants to ask you, oh, bring on the sufferings, God. That's what we want. None of us. We don't want it. We don't. But God, if we ever were to suffer for your name, we would be honored because you are worthy, Jesus, and we want to learn from the example of the apostles and these who've gone before and who were left as examples for us. God, you left these stories in your book for us to know how they stood and what it looked like

to treasure you above all else. God, we bless you, and we thank you, and we love you. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for joining us. Thanks again for joining us verse by verse through the book of Acts. I hope that you have learned a lot. More importantly, I hope that you'll apply these things to your life this week. Share it with a friend. Great thing for you to just have some discussion with the other people around you. Share the things that God is doing in your life. Again, remember the Bible is a book about God, far more than it is a book about us. So let's learn about him. Let's grow to love him more and more. Here at United City, this is not the only thing that we have on the Pando app. We would love for you to follow some of our other content, watch some of our worship services, along with music and the messages, as well as podcasts. We've got a lot of great content. We would love for you to to follow that. Also, if you would like to be in touch with us here at United City, the best way to do that is by writing us a letter. You can address that to prison ministry at United City Church, 19901 Townsend Boulevard, Humble, Texas 77338. We'll read that, we'll pray for you, and somebody will write you back. God bless you, and we'll see you in the Word.