All right, welcome back everyone we were in Acts chapter 5 verse 19 so we will pick up from there but before I go forward just wanted your inputs on you know whether you're receiving something from this or any feedback so then I can you know Taylor the classes as per your requirements is it going okay so far you're able to understand yes it is very wonderful oh praise God thank you thank you brother Manohar glad that you're learning from it I'm just a little concerned because somehow your class is not asking those many questions anymore in the third year so whether that's being overwhelmed by you know all this study or if it is just having grown in wisdom you know you don't have those many questions anymore I don't know so just checking okay so please feel free at any point you can interrupt and ask questions okay good to know thank you good to see your responses and see your names here in the chat thank you so much Susan Nasha okay glad that you're hearing and receiving from this thank you so much Abhishek okay Abhishek says all questions answered while you are teaching us yes thank you thank you so yes say so just trying to you know include the inputs in the explanation itself but if something is missed out then feel free feel free can ask yes thank you Christopher praise God all right so let's move on the book of acts is you know nothing less than exciting at all times something or the other is going on that we can learn from that we can be built up with so we saw how again the authorities have taken note of these believers and them being a threat to the authorities so what are they going to do they put them in the prison this time around the apostles it says so look records the apostles are put in the prison now verse 19 how do they escape this time but at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said go stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life so earlier they escaped with just some threats from the authorities but this time around their escape is through the hands of an angel scripture says an angel of the Lord but at night so you know people can interpret this in all possible ways at night when the darkest moments in the difficult moments when there was so much of opposition God intervenes through an angel at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors how can an angel do this we know from scripture Hebrews 1 14 that angels are supposed to be you know they're supposed to aid the heirs of salvation the believers are the heirs of salvation so their task is that they are delegated to help or aid the people of God so in this situation for rescue what was the purpose rescue of the apostles God sent an angel and the angel would have been commanded go and open the prison doors so the angel does that okay but the angel also carries a message and a mandate and the angel tells these apostles go stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life very unusual very unusual instruction from the angel you know who in their right minds will go back to the place where they were arrested so let's imagine if I was in the city center and then I was preaching about Jesus and I got arrested I'm in the prison the angel opens the prison doors and tells me Nancy go back to the city center that wouldn't make any sense but for the apostles it would have been an encouragement from heaven where God is saying no matter what opposition you face I'm not changing your mandate you are called you are chosen you are appointed to take my good news to the people no authority on the face of the earth can you know stop this mandate that God has for his people so it was a way of God showing the apostles I am with you heaven is with you continue what you are doing so they would have received great encouragement wow we got to rescue but you see the rescue in this case is not like oh okay you know now you're out of the prison you can do what go and do whatever you like but we see that God is a God who brings divine rescue but his his desire is that people will continue in his mandate so it's not for our own you know our own whatever we want to do in life so every time God will rescue God will send his angels we can use the principles of prayer we can claim we can use faith do whatever we like to do use all the spiritual principles just to have you know the kind of life that we desire but in the book of acts when we look at the lives of the apostles and the believers we see that they were truly living for the great commission they were not as you would see they were not living for their own wins and fancies they're very mission-minded, mission-oriented people and such people you will notice that there are interventions divine interventions after interventions divine interventions after interventions because God was assuring them that I am with you as you fulfill the great commission and so this time around in acts five an angel comes to their rescue then quest 21 and when they heard that they entered the temple early in the morning and taught okay so again you see the eagerness just yesterday evening the person is arrested or the people are arrested how would they have the courage to show up in that same spot you know the next day and the angel told them you go back they could have bagged in okay angel we'll go back give us three days very tired now you know need to recover from this trauma of being put in the prison but you see their enthusiasm their excitement for the gospel proclamation of the gospel it says when they heard that they entered the temple early in the morning so they were excited they were eager and taught so back to business okay no compromises that is the spirit which the early believers carried but the high priest and those with him came and called the council together with all the elders of the children of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought so while the apostles are out okay and back to doing what they are called to do by God the human authorities they are doing what they need to do which is to prepare for the trial of these 12 apostles but little do they know that these men have already escaped and they've gone back to the spot where they were originally caught so the officers they go they check up the prison over there they're not able to find the apostles they come back and they report it to these high priests and that entire team so they they tell them verse 23 indeed we found the prison shut securely and the guards standing outside before the doors but when we opened them we found no one inside okay so if this is miraculous now if you ask the question angel open the door is what the earlier scripture says these people saw the door closed there were guards standing out how is it that the guards did not notice the apostles walking out of the prison I don't know okay I can only say it is miraculous so it all happened and the apostles are not in the prison Luke is reporting this and this is being now this information is being reported to the high priest verse 24 when the high priest the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things they wondered what the outcome would be so they had every right to wonder because their master went missing or at least so you know the disciples have been stating that he rose from the dead then you know all those reports of the disciples so now they are wondering what did these disciples do they have also disappeared from the prison so what's going on with these men you know who are they what is their agenda so there's a lot of you know tension confusion and speculation among the authorities so they wondered what the outcome would be verse 25 so one came and told them saying look the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people you know as if the headache was not you know sharp enough it's worse now because you can't understand they these men escaped who escapes and goes back to a place where they can be caught what is wrong with these men right so the authorities are really wondering what do we do okay what do we do what is the agenda of these men verse 26 then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence for they feared the people as they should be stoned so we've read earlier that the apostles gained gained gained great esteem among the people so obviously the high priest the commander the captain of the temple all the all these people they cannot persecute the apostles in an outright way okay now noticeable way otherwise what will happen their political standing their reputation with the people will go down and and so they didn't want that so quietly without violence quietly they brought them from the from the you know temple area and verse 27 when they had brought them they sent them before the council and the high priest asked them so they were able to continue with the interrogation they had gathered for the interrogation and isn't it strange apostles escaped but they have now again been brought into the interrogation so what is going to take place now how will they escape now you know they're back in the hands of the authorities so they are questioned so the high priest asked them verse 28 did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name and look you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and indeed to bring this man's blood on us so there is question there is accusation there is also a compliment okay in what the high priest is saying so the question is you remember the last time your men were caught what did we tell them we told you do not strictly you know teach in this name and we told you that is it it so they are being questioned because they do not follow the instruction of the authorities second the high priest says look you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine just think about this it's all too funny you have the great men of the city who are threatened by the unlearned you know the untaught the Galileans who don't have any sort of social standing in the society but they are threatening the authorities and high priest is saying you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine in those days no you don't have social media you have nothing and these 12 men are being accused of filling Jerusalem with their doctrine so they had done a fabulous job of preaching the name of Jesus they had done a fabulous job of demonstrating the power and the glory of God in that city that everyone had taken notice okay I'm saying everyone because the high priest is saying you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine so it was noticeable this the the church cannot hide the believer cannot hide no matter what we try to do and what I mean by that is see we are called to be salt and light and you cannot put a lamp under a bushel right you cannot put a flame under a bushel so we are a city on the hill noticeable and that is the kind of life that God has given every believer we are supposed to arise and shine so the light of the church of Jerusalem the light of the apostles were shining so powerfully that the high priest captures it as you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine so they had preached Jesus that much and now is the accusation he says and intend to bring this man's blood on us so he is making an accusation about the intention of the apostles okay so that's quite painful now if he were to comment on what the men were doing which is he said it earlier we told you not to preach in the name of Jesus so if he was commenting on their actions that's easier to handle but what he's saying is he's questioning their intention and he's accusing them of you know inciting some sort of an uncomfortable situation basically he says this man's blood on us you intend to bring this man's blood who is this man this man is the Lord Jesus okay so he was saying that the apostles after Jesus had died they were continuing to create chaos and they somehow wanted the authorities to you know face the consequences of crucifying Jesus all right so this is what the high priest says now Peter okay Peter and the apostles answered and said we ought to obey God rather than men the God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree him God has exalted to his right hand to be prince and savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins and we are his witnesses to these things and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him so Peter gives an explanation the explanation is more the gospel being shared with the authorities than a defense because what is Peter saying he is letting the people know that we are going by God's mandate we ought to obey God rather than men so there are times when those scriptures tell us you know obey your authorities submit to the authorities there are times when the authorities go against the purpose of God when we have to surrender to an authority which is greater than the human authority okay so again this is this not always in general we are called to submit to the authorities that God has put over us and we read about it you know the same apostle Peter writes about it in his episodes but in this situation because they were being forbidden to fulfill the mandate of God the great commission to not preach in the name of Jesus Peter knew hey I can defy this because they are asking me to do something you know which is not pleasing in God's sight so that's why he says we ought to obey God rather than men and then he goes on to describe the sermon short sermon here he says God our fathers raised up Jesus whom he murdered by hanging on a tree sounds like an accusation but not so him God has exalted to his right hand to be prince and savior so what does he say Jesus is deity he is God his prince he is already connected to our fathers so you know through the Jewish understanding he is bringing in Jesus into the picture and saying that approved by this God that you serve Jesus is deity and he introduces Jesus as what he says savior savior so those who's in the years were open the spiritual years were open hopefully we don't know okay we look does not write about how many became believers after this sermon but my take is that there must have been some people who responded to this gospel message so he introduces Jesus as deity as savior and he places so wisely he places a call to repentance in between what he said he says savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins so while the high priest is accusing the apostles you want to bring the you know this man's blood on us that is your intention but what is the real intention of the apostles and a true child of God that people should come to repentance move from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light you must be born again so that is the intention with which Peter speaks and this is not so much of a defense as much as it is the sharing of the gospel so he says Jesus he's the savior of Israel okay so he brought repentance to Israel which means he brought repentance to you high priest he brought repentance to you captain of the temple he brought repentance to you sect of the Sadducees so he's encouraging them to repent actually and they never miss an occasion you know to speak the truth of Jesus or to demonstrate the power of God so they take even this occasion of the trial to speak about Jesus and say that he brought repentance to Israel forgiveness of sins so you have forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ verse 32 and he says we are witnesses to these things and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him so he is just saying look we are obeying God you do what you want okay we are not going to stop you from what you feel is right so it's quite funny like God made them escape but he told them to go back and preach now they're against stuck so like what is God's plan does is he intentional about rescuing his people from persecution so as we look at the lives of these apostles what we observe is there are times when they escaped and there are times when they did not escape okay so as you study each one's life nearly all of them were martyred and you know you might ask the question God why didn't you command the angel to go and you know unlock the prison doors we don't know okay we don't know we're going by God's mandate but one thing we know that even if we get into trouble for righteous reasons of proclaiming the gospel or if there's martyred we'll see later about the life of Stephen it's precious in the sight of God it's precious in the sight of God and God is with us the way he encouraged the apostles and said you go you preach okay your mandate has not changed I am with you I'm sending you heavenly help so we move with God's help we move with God's you know his assurance his encouragement okay so the apostles are now again caught in the situation what are they going to do how are they going to escape so we see that when Peter spoke like this the authorities became very angry so verse 33 says they were furious they were very angry and plotted to kill them so the opposition was becoming worse earlier threatened now plotting to kill okay just like what happened to Jesus so now plotting to kill there they are thinking how they can get rid of all these guys verse 34 then one in the council stood up Pharisee named Gamalian the teacher of the law held in respect by all the people and commanded them to put the apostles outside for a little while so every now and then this this team meeting is happening so they have to make space for it so they say okay okay leave them aside come on let's get together earlier also they comfort they they came together they discuss together to see what shall we do about Peter and John again they are meeting together to come up with a good idea and a good plan to deal with these 12 men and one particular person okay stands up in the crowd his name is Gamaliel who is his Gamaliel it says he was a teacher right he was a teacher of the law and he's a wonderful repetition held in respect by all the people so he is an influential figure in his times influential enough to instruct the high priest you know the sect of the sad disease whoever had gathered and they are willing to listen to him that really shows us that this person is a great person a little bit more about Gamaliel so Gamaliel was the grandson of an esteemed leader of Israel his name was Hillel and Hillel was the founder of Israel's strongest school of religion and Gamaliel was given a title known as Rabban which means our teacher and you know he was he was somebody who had taught men great men great Pharisees during this time and later we will we will see that Apostle Paul was one of the students of Gamaliel so then it just shows us what kind of training Apostle Paul would have had you know as a Pharisee how he would have kept the law because his teacher is somebody who is of great repetition also okay so these are all very notable men in Jewish history so Gamaliel suddenly begins to speak what can God do through the opinion of an unbelieving man of influence let's see so he gives a piece of advice 35 verse 35 men of Israel take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men so Gamaliel is advising and he's saying for some time ago Theodos rose up claiming to be somebody a number of men about 400 joined him he was slain and all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing after this man Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away many people after him he also perished and all who obeyed him were dispersed and now I say to you keep away from these men and let them alone for if this plan or this work is of men it will come to nothing but if it is of God you cannot overthrow it lest you even be found to fight against God so one might look at what Gamaliel said and think that was Gamaliel a believer or why is what he's saying give some space some opportunity some leeway to the apostles because he's talking like a fan sitter he's saying okay don't take action right now let's wait and watch but in a way it was an escape for the apostles because they could get out of this situation through the words of Gamaliel okay so was it God working through Gamaliel he could say that you know God has his own ways of working in different situations and obviously I don't think Gamaliel was a believer because he did not confess Christ or say anything directly you know about Jesus Christ but what he said had the wisdom of God in it so he points to two people Theodos one particular gentleman who led others you know he led a mob against the authorities and it didn't work so he said look you remember this man Theodos 400 people followed him but what happened you know suddenly they all got scattered his movement came to nothing so it was useless what Theodos did and he points to another man called Judas of Galilee he also perished and all obeyed in the dispersed so he was saying that if these men are like Theodos and Judas there'll be an uproar there'll be this excitement in the air about Jesus of Nazareth but it'll all come down just let it you know let it take its own course let it die its own natural death let's let it be don't bother but he adds something there verse 39 he says but if it is of God you cannot overthrow it lest you even be found to fight against God so somewhere in this thinking he probably had questions whether this could be God what about the miracles what about the the signs what about that lame man you know what about these men escaping from the prison what about that Jesus we don't know you don't know what he was thinking again you know whether he was searching we don't know but he made this statement and said look there are two possibilities what these men are doing is a worldly effort if it is so it will die a natural death just like all the other efforts did but if this is supernatural if it is of God don't be the one standing in the way of the tide you will drown okay you cannot stop the work of God but if it is of God you cannot overthrow it now we are all witnesses of things that have happened in history here we are we know about times when there the there were dark times when the dark ages where people did not know about God there were times when truth of scripture about salvation about water baptism about Holy Spirit all this was hidden people did not know it people could not apply it so there have been times like that that when many forces stopped the work of God stopped the truth of God but we also know that nothing that the authorities did could stop what you know this gospel is about because we're talking about what you know times like 67 AD is around when Luke actually wrote this book of Acts and he described you know what happened in like 30 decades sorry three decades of after Jesus but today we are roughly 2000 years after these incidents and we can tell that what the authorities tried to do in Jerusalem that day and what Gamaliel said there was wisdom in it because obviously they could not overthrow it here we are today you know on this Google Google Meet Google Classroom video call learning about the same Jesus and his power and his glory so even earthly authorities over these years have not been able to stop what Gamaliel at that point you know he had this inclination it could be the work of God lest we be found to fight against God we can testify that hey Gamaliel you were right this is the work of God and it could not be stopped you know with the just with the apostles and their times okay so this was the advice of Gamaliel thank God for this advice now what happens after that so now after their small meeting group meeting they call back the apostles so was 40 and they agreed with him others agreed with him when they had called for the apostles and his scripture say and beaten them why because the authorities are doing their best to intimidate the followers of Jesus so after they called them they had beaten them they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go so threatened to the you know best capacity possible and then send these apostles of at least they learn a lesson from it and they'll stop preaching about Jesus so was 41 so they departed from the presence of the council they were beaten right so what they departed from the presence of the council crying is that what the bible say it says rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name so the council would have been like give us a break what is wrong with these people you know nothing that we are doing is actually affecting them the first time we saw in Acts 4 when they are threatened they go back reported to their friends and they pray and they ask God God give us more boldness let more signs and wonders be done through the hands of the apostles now second time they were threatened you had all the big guys of Jerusalem show up there's Gamaliel and you know high priests and all they threatened they beat them up what is the effect of that verse 41 they departed rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name so it's amazing okay I have nothing more to say it's just amazing the way the early church knew their God they knew their faith they had given in to the mandate of taking the gospel out you know they were committed to the mission they were filled with the spirit it's awesome the amazing response that they had second time that they were threatened verse 42 and daily in the temple and in every house they did not see stitching and preaching Jesus as the Christ so full whatever was done by the authorities is a big you know it wasn't a deterrent why verse 42 it says daily in the temple so these people have not stopped doing what they know and they have that figure and energy to do daily daily they are eating daily they are you know learning the word of God they're learning about God they're also going and preaching it to others so wow what a community what a community this is so let's move on let's see what happens so external issues we saw one internal issues with Ananas and Sapphira now coming to chapter 6 of the book of Acts says now in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplying okay so wow it's church is still thriving so number of disciples is multiplying there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution so in the Jewish culture they had this practice of feeding the poor feeding the needy the widows fall under the needy category so that was a common practice so when people became believers and they came into the church you obviously had Jews who were Hebrew speaking and there were also Jews because of their regional differences there were some who were Greek speaking so the Greek speaking Jews are called as the Hellenists now what happened in the church in the church all these ethnic groups are growing you know different communities are growing and they have noticed a discrepancy what is that there is a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists so the Greeks are saying they are complaining that our widows are being neglected in the daily distribution so there is probably and we don't know if it was intentional like one community intentionally not giving to the widows of another community we don't know that it was intentional but sounds more like an administrative issue we know that the numbers were multiplying so maybe they did not have enough volunteers resources obviously they seem to have had because people are giving they brought it to the feet of the apostles the feet of the apostles so resources they probably had but distributing the resources was not efficient so the Greek people Jews are feeling that we are being neglected now again we don't know if it was the way they took it you know sometimes they have it in their own minds isn't it that oh we are being neglected they were probably not being neglected intentionally but there is an issue in the church of Jerusalem food is not being distributed you know impartially equally to all the widows so what to do now was to then the 12 summoned the multitude of the disciples and said so what's happened now in the church of Jerusalem the apostles have gained a place of great honor among the believers so there are the apostles there are the disciples so all the believers are known as disciples so they call the disciples and they try to bring a solution for the problem so they say it is desirable that we shouldn't it is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables so the apostles are recognizing that they have too much work on their hands which they cannot neglect and step into solving this problem so they're saying we cannot leave the word of God meaning you know doctrine related things like teaching studying understanding the the word of God why because they have this call on their lives to teach preach so how are they going to teach preach if they don't invest that kind of time in the word so that's what they're telling the people look we're not able to leave the word of God and serve tables so there is the pastoral you know or the teaching ministry we can't leave the teaching ministry to do more of a like a service acts of service kind of a ministry okay so but were they high and mighty were they saying that oh it's too small for us to serve people and you know we won't do that we know from their behavior and you know from the way the community of the early church was that they were not such men so they sincerely were saying we are busy with spiritual matters of studying the word ministering the word and therefore we are not able to take on this additional responsibility of looking into food distribution okay so now what to do the wisdom of God upon the leaders of the church that they choose to delegate the responsibility to others now there's great wisdom in that imagine the apostles say okay we will teach the word we will serve we will do the distribution we will do the arrangements we will do the member care we will do the you know first time visitor calls we will do how much can they do they will wear themselves out and they will not be in a position to do what God has called them to do well so they recognize okay it's a time to grow our team it's a time to also help people find their calling maybe there are people in our congregation whom God has called and equipped for this ministry which is serving tables so come on let's do this he was three therefore brethren seek out from among you seven men of good reputation full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom whom we may appoint over this business so they're saying okay disciples how about we select some volunteers okay some volunteers now what should be their qualification obviously they should be equipped in the task which is for distribution they should they should know how to do it may I mean prior experience would help so basically you know you can imagine something like a you know job description being given to the disciples said okay they should have practical skills to serve food but something that is more important for a volunteer in the churches their spiritual qualification okay what what is part of that good reputation full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom so they are asking for spiritual men and they're saying even if it is a small task like serving tables we want spiritual men so look for spiritual men okay who have a good testimony also such people you introduce them to us okay from the crowd you will probably know who they are let us know and we may appoint over this business so they are leaders okay they are leaders and they are you know very keen on the health of the church the functioning of the church so they want to be very sure that they have the right leaders in place so they take responsibility for that you tell us who these people are and we will appoint them over this ministry of food distribution and while others can handle this matter verse 4 but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word so you see how important it is for people who are called in the apostolic in the spiritual sort of you know ministry areas teaching preaching we have to invest time in the word of God we have to invest time in prayer so we cannot compromise on that and try to run God's ministry it will not work okay and we see that seriousness in the apostles of the early church that they were keen they were trying to safeguard their time in the word their time in prayer so everything else we do as ministry is over and above and we must keep it that way so they were committed to what God called them and they brought in other volunteers to serve in areas you know apart from the spiritual ministry so then verse 5 it says and the saying please the whole multitude so you see how they are functioning together though they said that we will appoint these men people liked it they liked the idea so they were in unity in of heart and they chose there's a list of people they chose Stephen a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit and Philip and Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicholas, a proselyte from Antioch whom they said before the apostles and when they had prayed they laid hands on them so these men were brought and they were commissioned what is laid hands on them so you see a practice in the early church of the leadership laying hands on the next line of leadership why they were praying they were commissioning you know they like sort of before God before the people they were assigning these next line of leaders to their tasks and also to be read in what Paul writes to Timothy I think it's the first Timothy 3 so he writes and he says you know laying hands so the the deposit of the things of God in the leader it can be imparted to the next line of leadership by laying hands on them so there is this practice we see in the in the early church of laying hands on the upcoming leaders while commissioning them so basically it's like a commissioning service they commission these people for what for serving tables volunteers and verse 7 then the word of God spread and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith okay so I'll just wrap it up with this statement there was an issue in the church of Jerusalem and the apostles could have said oh you Greeks because you're too sensitive okay nothing like this is happening just you know deal with it or hey this is a very small issue food distribution we're sorry we cannot look into food distribution but when issues arise in the church family it takes the wisdom of God to resolve those matters however small they are okay so this may have been a small matter but you see how the apostles dealt with it so you got to deal with it and when they dealt with it the beautiful verse that we just closed off with verse 7 it says then the word of God spread and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem so the God has given the leadership responsibility to keep the work growing and to keep the work going and these leaders did it okay and they did not you know let God's word stop because of a minor issue and sometimes minor issues can become the major issue in a church being split or you know a ministry being stopped so that should never happen okay I'm going to close off with a word of prayer we don't have time to discuss but let's see if we can have some discussion in the next class or please post on your Google Classroom stream page let's bring Heavenly Father we thank you for Lord what you have Lord recorded for us Lord from the lives of Lord your your people in the early days Lord we pray that it will not just be a story for us to hear and applaud but Lord what you did back then thank you that Lord we are still living in those times of the promise of the greater works help us Lord to walk in them and help us to be bold help us to rejoice in the in the mandate which you have given us Lord we bless and honor you in Jesus name we pray amen amen so thank you class thank you for joining God bless you you can carry on to your next class and we'll stay connected okay please feel free to post on Google Classroom thank you bye thank you pastor okay thank you thank you bye thank you God bless bye bye thank you ma'am thank you thank you bye