How to Handle Persecution part 2
Notes
Transcript
Last week we look at the first time the chruch faced persecution.
Today we are looking at how they handled it.
We are looking at this as a way to learn how to face Persecution in our lives.
Be Submissive (vv 5-7)
Be Submissive (vv 5-7)
This does not sound like it should go with being arrested for breaking the law but it does.
When we are confronted about our faith and when we face formal reprimand, it is not only us who is on trial, Jesus and His message is as well.
Peter and John quietly submitted knowing that God controlled their circumstances.
This gave them an opportunity they would never otherwise have had.
They got to preach to the Sanhedrin.
The make up of the Sanhedrin
The make up of the Sanhedrin
Its made up of 71 members: during this time largely controlled by Sadducees.
“The Rulers”- represented the 24 priestly orders.
“Elders”- Family heads and heads of Tribes
“Scribes”- Experts of the Law (mostly all Pharisees)
This was the ruling body of the Jews.
Annas was not the Ruling High Priest but His Son-in-law Caiaphas was.
Why They were put before the court
Why They were put before the court
1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
The Sanhedrin demanded to know by what power, or in what name the apostles had healed the lame man.
A name represented authority.
The question implied Peter and John were rebels, since the Sanhedrin had not granted them authority to act.
Whatever their motive for asking, the question provided an opening for Peter to preach to them.
It was the power and authority of Jesus that these men preached.
Be Filled with the Spirit (4:8a)
Be Filled with the Spirit (4:8a)
When we come up against persecution we must be filled with the Holy Spirit.
11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
Because we are not the ones being put on trial it is the one that we follow.
We must allow Christ to speak through us. We must be His mouth piece.
Yielding to Christs control releases His power in the believers life.
Yielding to the Holy Spirit is the Key to successfully handling persecution.
A Spirit-filled, uncompromising church will be uncomfortable in the world, since it will be a rebuke to it.
It will, however, be a powerful, victorious church.
Peter and John confronted the world head on, with a boldness and eloquence that caused their opponents to marvel (cf. v. 13).
They were victorious because they were Spirit-filled.
Everything we do we must be lead by the Spirit.
Be Aggressive in Seizing Opportunities (vv 8-13)
Be Aggressive in Seizing Opportunities (vv 8-13)
Peter stood and boldly preached the Gospel to the men who needed to hear it.
They were blinded by their own beliefs and systems of worship.
Here Peter tells them, “why was it wrong to heal this man”? We did it in the name of the Christ which you killed.
Peter and John boldly stood in the same spot where Jesus had stood, they boldly proclaimed His name to the people who knew all about Him but did not know Him.
They were standing there using the OT to show that Christ was the Messiah and that they had killed Him.
The attempt by the Sanhedrin to suppress the apostles’ teaching had given them a priceless opportunity.
They boldly seized it and proclaimed the gospel to the highest officials of the nation.
That is how to handle persecution—face it with the boldest proclamation of the truth.