Acts Chapter 4:1-11

Often we give more glory to people that, like myself, that have done a lot of stupid things. And to me that's just weird because I'd much rather hear a grandmother stand up who's 85 and say, I came to know the Lord at 8 years old, I've been walking with Him almost 80 years old. Glory to God. I mean it's not my testimony, but I mean that's an awesome testimony.

And sometimes we get that turned around. But let me encourage you as you're talking to people. You can say, you know what, in whatever your situation may be, maybe you have used drugs, maybe you have used alcohol, and God delivered you from those things. Tell people that.

Because they can't argue that. Maybe you didn't struggle with those things. Maybe you struggled with religious pride and legalism.

Tell people that. God set me free. I used to struggle with loneliness. God set me free. I used to struggle with depression. God set me free.

They can't argue those things. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of The Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina.

Well today in the studio we have D.A. Brown, one of David McGee's associate pastors, and we're glad to have him bring us some insight right before David McGee teaches. Bob, we're all looking to see how we can be effective in the world around us. What's our place in the world? Why are we here? God has those answers. He wants to talk about those answers with you directly today. I hope you stay tuned.

Sounds good, brother. Now here's David McGee with his teaching, No Other Name. We're in Acts chapter 4 and verse 1. It says, Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. Now understand, the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. That's why they were sad. You see?

So a little way to remember that. They were sad because they didn't believe in the resurrection. So obviously if you have a man that had been killed publicly and then was walking around and you don't believe in the resurrection, you've got a big problem. And they had a big problem.

And they were trying to figure out, what do we do about this? Now the Sadducees, there was two main parties, Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Sadducees actually were in more power than the Pharisees. At this point, the high priest was a Sadducee. His family, who he kept rotating in and out of the high priest, that at this point was a job that was open for bidding with the Roman government, was a Sadducee. A lot of the leaders were Sadducees. A lot of the Sanhedrin, the upper class, were Sadducees. And they began to get away from the Word of God. In Acts chapter 5 verse 17, we're told the high priest is a Sadducee. It says, then the high priest rose up and all those that were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees, and they were filled with indignation. Now it's interesting that here we have a move of God and who steps up against it? The religious leaders.

How novel and new that is and different. No, it's not. And keep in mind too, at one time the Sanhedrin was, they were godly people. But what happened was they had ceased to lead the people and they had become actually hindrances to God. And understand that that can happen to any leader that's not careful to keep pointing to Jesus and keep being transparent.

You can quit being a spiritual leader and actually become a hindrance. So it makes you feel warm and fuzzy to stand off and point at the Pharisees or point at the Sadducees, but understand that possibility is with all of us. The Sadducees were also very liberal. That's why they denied the resurrection. That's why they denied a lot of the supernatural power. And they were also very materialistic. So it's interesting again as we see those things creeping into the church, liberalism and people denying the resurrection of Jesus Christ and getting involved in all kinds of materialism.

And God's a blessing God, but he doesn't want you focused on material goods. Now let's read verse 3. And they laid hands on them and they put them in custody until the next day for it was already evening. They put them in jail. They put them in jail overnight because the Sanhedrin, it was illegal for them to meet at night. They could not meet at night.

As a matter of fact, they stopped pretty much at 4 o'clock just so they would make sure that they didn't meet at night. Now if you know much about the Bible, you're remembering that the trial of Jesus was held at night. That was an illegal trial.

That trial should never have been held at night. What's more is when somebody was up for a capital punishment, one they could be executed, it had to be a unanimous vote and it had to happen twice. There's a lot of ways that Jesus was railroaded, if you will. Now verse 4. However, many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about 5,000.

It's interesting. We think of the megachurch phenomenon as a modern phenomenon, and obviously it's not. You have the number 5,000 mentioned here. You had the number 3,000 mentioned previously.

So the church in Jerusalem was running about 8,000 people. Now some people say that that's a cumulative total. It's 3,000, now 2,000 more, a total of 5,000.

I don't think that. And also it mentions 5,000 men. So when you had women and children, this is a huge number. It's a big church. I wonder if there were people that were in the church at that moment, it's just gotten too big, I believe, isn't it? Where would they go? There's only one church at this point.

There's no other Christian church to go to. Now what's amazing is look at this. Do you understand what is causing all this? One lame man.

One lame man. This is an amazing thing. Do you understand the potential for you to impact the world? I think a lot of times we think, well, I can't really impact the world.

I don't see a lot of people. Well, studies would suggest that you can impact around 200 people yourself. But what if you chose to one day a week impact one other person intentionally that's not within the 200? Guess what begins to happen?

You begin to impact about 10,000 people a year. Think about that. Because, guys, as you encourage people, as you speak to people, as you talk to them about their faith, you never know what's going to happen. You never know. And the life lesson here, never underestimate how God can use you. Never underestimate how God can use you. You could be talking to, sharing with, the next fill in the blank, Billy Graham, the next Michael W. Smith, the next Greg Laurie.

You just never know. But the thing is that you have to begin to share and to encourage one another. At this point, the population in Jerusalem was somewhere between 40 and about 100,000. Now, it got real big at Passover and the other feast. We think as big as 2 million people during those times. But think about this. There's a church of 8,000 in a town of possibly as small as 40,000 people.

They're having a serious impact. I don't understand how we think of something as small and stagnant that it's spiritual. I don't buy that. See, living things grow.

That's what living things do. Verse 5, and it came to pass on the next day that the rulers, elders, and scribes, as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. And when they had sent them in the midst, they asked, by what power or by what name have you done this? Now, please allow your mind to picture this. This is Peter.

This is Peter that struggled just about 55 days, 60 days ago. And not only do they put him in this interrogation process, but these, at this point, these are some of the most powerful religious leaders in the world, if not the most powerful religious leaders in the world. And notice what it says, set them in the midst.

You understand what I'm saying? They surrounded them. They met in a circle, and they put them in the middle. And then they begin to question them and understand again. The Sanhedrin, when we think of it as we read the New Testament, we go, oh, it's bad people, evil, evil, evil, evil. It didn't start out that way.

The roots of the Sanhedrin were in the 70 elders that were appointed back in the day of Moses. It started out as a good thing, but what happened? Again, they quit leading, and they began to be hindrances to people knowing the Lord and discovering the Lord. And I think that's a lesson that can happen to any people. It can happen to anybody that's willing to get out of God's Word and get off track. And that's why we have to be careful to stay in the Word.

Knees on the ground, nose in the book. Now, again, notice something. Who was it that moved against the ministry of Jesus more than any other people, religious leaders, to the point that he was railroaded and then executed? Who was after him? Religious leaders. Now that the church is coming forth, who is most adamantly and strongly against the church? Religious leaders. Well, you know the same is true now. Religion has gotten in the way.

So much damage has been done by people naming religion and putting people in their bondage and telling them they've got to do this, they've got to do that, they've got to do this, that, and the other before they can be saved. And you know what I've noticed? A lot of times these people are involved in what looks like noble endeavors.

I'm probably getting ready to step on some toes here, but that's okay. I do it in love. The Lord calls us fishers of men, fishers of people. He never told us that we were supposed to be keepers of the aquarium.

And he never told us that we were supposed to go clean up the fish pond. But some Christians think that's what we're here to do. You know, paint picket signs and stand up and do this and do that and do this. And you know what?

I'm sorry. I'm not sure that's ever changed a life. But sharing Jesus with people, giving them the good news has changed many lives. And if our enemy can distract us from fishing to cleaning up the fish pond, don't you think he's going to do that? Meanwhile, you know, there's fishing. Maybe even a fisher's like, oh, tell me about Jesus.

I can't tell you about Jesus. I'm going to clean the fish pond. And we've missed an opportunity to do what we're really supposed to be doing. God never told us to clean up the fish pond. Does that mean that we're never involved civilly or politics or anything like that?

It doesn't mean that. But it means the priority has to be telling people about Jesus. Telling people about Jesus.

We need to be involved in things that are going to have an eternal impact. We can pray for them as well just by simply going to CrossTheBridge.com and click on the Pray for the Lost button. All you need to do is put in the first names of the people you love that need to know Jesus as Savior, click on Submit, and immediately hundreds of people will begin praying for your lost loved ones. And what an awesome way to bring your loved ones to Jesus. Here's a word from Associate Pastor D.A.

Brown. I want to take just a couple of minutes to pray for some cities in our listening audience, specifically, Chickasha, Durant, Edmond, Oklahoma City, Worcester, and Woodward, Oklahoma. Lord, thank you for the people in these cities.

Thank you that we get to broadcast in these areas. God, I pray that you would plug people in Bible-believing churches. Lord, I pray if people haven't put their trust in you yet, that today would be the day. Lord, we pray for the city leaders, the mayor, the police chief, the fire marshal, Father, all those in government. Lord, we ask that you give them wisdom and discernment, and that they would look to your word for advice on how to lead and how to serve the people in their communities. And God, we pray that your Holy Spirit would be poured out on these cities, and that many people would be changed forever. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Verse 8, then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well? Now, this is cool, because Peter kind of begins to turn it. He respectfully says, you guys are the leaders, but then he says, okay, you know, here we are, we're being judged for a good deed done to a helpless man.

Now, you know what's cool? Is this man was standing in the midst. And he's saying, you know what, look what happened.

What happened was a good thing. The thing that you have me on trial for is a good thing, and it points out the irony of it. And in part, you know, Peter's going to turn the tide on him, and he, in reality, is not the one on trial. It's these people that are accusing him. You understand sometimes when you go to share your faith, you may feel like you're on trial.

You're not. If you know Jesus, if you've accepted Jesus, if you're finished with your trial, you've been declared innocent. Jesus is now representing you. But as you share your faith, the person that's on trial is not you. It's the person you're sharing with.

So you can walk in the boldness and the assurance of that. Not that you're on trial, but that this person, in part, is on trial. Now, what part do you play? Well, you're really more their defense attorney than anything else. Not necessarily their judge, not necessarily prosecuting attorney, but you're trying to get them to allow you and Jesus to represent them before the Lord. It changes the dynamics of it, because sometimes we feel like we need to be the judge. We get, you know, the weird wig and the robe and the gavel.

It's going to hit somebody, you know? And God said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not your place.

That's not your place. Verse 10, Peter continues, Let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man stands here before you whole. Peter continues to give God the glory.

This is so important. As God uses you, as God uses us, that we keep giving God the glory and not taking bowels for ourself and, well, you know, I studied for many years and did this and did that. And we do this so subtly sometimes. Somebody can come up and go, oh, did you hear so-and-so God say? Well, praise the Lord, I've been praying for them. Now, what did we just tell that person that just shared with us? You hear how subtle it is? Well, they got saved because I've been praying for them. Is that giving God the glory? No. We need to be careful in this area.

Why? Because the glory belongs to God. Notice again, Peter mentions, and he says, this man stands here before you whole. See, this is, boy, in terms of the trial, Peter's got some serious evidence, doesn't he?

Hey, here's the guy that was laying, and he's standing here. Next life lesson. A changed life is one of the best proofs of the Gospel. A changed life is one of the best proofs of the Gospel. My life has been changed.

Many lives here have been changed. And those things verify and validate the power of the Gospel. And oftentimes when you're talking to somebody, you begin to share your testimony. Let's take the flip side. You begin to argue about historical facts or scriptural facts.

And oftentimes that's not the thing to do. The thing to do is share your testimony. Now, let me share about the word testimony. Now, the Greek word used for testimony is matura. It means evidence given. That's what testimony means in the Greek. Evidence given. It's not the way we've twisted the word.

We've really kind of twisted the word. See, your testimony is that you walk with God today. And this is so important. Because, you know, my testimony, I was an idiot and used drugs and alcohol and did all these things and been in jail and da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

No, wait, come back, don't leave. No, I'm kidding. That's not my testimony.

And why is this important? Because especially if you're a young person in this church and you hear something like that, you may think, oh, oh, I've got to go out and get me a testimony. I've got to go out and do some stupid things.

No, no, no. The most beautiful testimony is that somebody came to the Lord at a young age, six, seven, or eight, and has been walking with the Lord and loving the Lord all their lives. That's a beautiful testimony. And often we give more glory to people like myself that have done a lot of stupid things. And to me, that's just weird, because I'd much rather hear a grandmother stand up who's 85 and say, I came to know the Lord at eight years old.

I've been walking with Him almost 80 years. Glory to God. I mean, it's not my testimony, but I mean, that's an awesome testimony.

And sometimes we get that turned around. But let me encourage you as you're talking to people. You can say, you know what, in whatever your situation, maybe you have used drugs, maybe you have used alcohol, and God delivered you from those things. Tell people that, because they can't argue that. Maybe you didn't struggle with those things. Maybe you struggled with religious pride and legalism.

Tell people that. I used to struggle with religious pride. God set me free. I used to struggle with loneliness. God set me free. I used to struggle with depression.

God set me free of that. They can't argue those things. And that's why it's so important to share those things with others. Now, Peter points out, you know what, you crucified this guy. And again, he mentions that, you know, he's not being what you would term seeker sensitive. Because let me remind you again, most of the audience is Sadducees who don't believe in the resurrection. So let's read verse 10 again. Let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, in case you missed it the first time, Mr. Sadducee, he says it again. The resurrection is an important element of Christianity.

It's important. In order for somebody to die, nothing supernaturally needs to occur. People die every day involving natural events, old age, accidents, those sort of things. But for somebody to not be dead after three days, that involves some serious supernatural power. And it's interesting because in this day and age, some of the churches, they're moving away from this. Well, we don't talk about the resurrection. Why? Well, it's hard to believe. It's hard for people to swallow. It's a supernatural event that happened.

We can't back away from that. 2 Timothy 3.5 says, having a form of godliness but denying its power, and from such people turn away. What happens often in a church is they begin to back off of the resurrection, and then they begin to back off of the inerrancy of Scripture. Then they begin to back off that Jesus is the only way, and pretty soon they're powerless.

They don't have anything, and they're babbling from the pulpits. They're not saying anything of any spiritual significance. In verse 11, this is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.

Peter points out that in the Hebrew Scriptures, it was predicted and prophesied about the Messiah. That's interesting. Tradition, historic tradition, suggests that when they were building the temple, that they got ready to lay the foundation, and they couldn't find the cornerstone. Then later they found it in the valley of Gehenna, because nobody could figure out what to do with this cornerstone, and they actually rejected the cornerstone. It's a neat story.

I don't know if it's true, but it's a neat story. Why? Because they rejected Jesus, who is that rock. This is Peter. I've got to give Peter some credit here.

Why? Because I gave him such a hard time in the Gospels. He was a fairly easy target, to be honest. But Peter in the Gospels, I always referred to him as ready, fire, aim Peter, because he was always saying stuff that wasn't a good thing to say. You remember, Jesus starts talking about his crucifixion, and Peter took him to the side and began to rebuke him. Oh, not so, Jesus. And Jesus said, you know what?

Get behind me, Satan. And then in the upper room, Jesus goes, I'm going to wash your feet. And Peter says, not so, Lord. Can't wash my feet. And Jesus says, well, then you're no part of me. Wash my whole body.

Don't want to wash your whole body. Wash your feet, Peter, you know. But now, look at this Peter.

Look at this Peter. Man, God changes people, doesn't he? God can give us a boldness to share our faith. I was reading this morning, Paul talking about ministering in 2 Corinthians, and he said on the outside there was fighting and on the inside were fears. And I just read over that verse a couple of times, because when I think of Paul, I don't think of Paul being afraid. But yet in the Bible, Paul says, you know, there was fear inside. But see, again, that fear didn't control his actions. He felt afraid, but he did it anyway. A lot of times we think, well, I'll share my faith if I'm not afraid.

You know what? If you're not afraid, there's something wrong with you, probably. There's a fear. I encourage you to share, even if you're afraid. Don't let that hold you back.

Why? Well, I don't know if you can see them. There's trusses that are in the ceiling here, and they join together. I think every church has them. I don't know. You probably can't see them in some of them. But they join together. Why? To hold the weight.

Because if there's just a single truss, it hardly holds anything at all. And as we join together, we hold more weight. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned.

And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at PO Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27117, and share how God is working in your life.

You know, the Bible tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But it does cost for us to come and bring that message to you and to others in your neighborhood through radio, through the internet, and through the mobile technologies that God has gifted us to be able to use. So if you'd like to support this ministry, please go to crossthebridge.com, click on the donate button, and ask God how much he would have you give, either on a one-time basis or a continuing basis each month to help ensure that the teaching of God's word continues to go out through Cross the Bridge. Thank you so much. Well, DA, before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. Those are terrific, and it's easy and it's free. So folks, sign up today at crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the book of Acts.