Living Daily For Christ

MAY 8, 2022 STUDY NOTES ACTS 5:41-42 BIBLE TEACHER: CLIFTON JONES LIVING DAILY FOR CHRIST INTRODUCTION The day is fast approaching in America when Christians are going to have to make a choice The choice that the Apostles had to make, Act 5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. They said, “We ought to obey God rather than men,” referring to the daily decisions of their life The choice will not be easy for us because of worldly influence and Satan’s temptations to disobey God Obedience to God will come through prayer, the Holy Spirit, Bible study, and Christian fellowship You must know your Bible, pay attention to the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, Mat 5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. They were persecuted for righteousness sake, which is a daily life for Christ, Mat 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Jesus said the persecution will be on account of me, “for my sake,” living daily for Christ, Mat 5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. There is a promise, “great is your reward in Heaven” Those words still apply to the faithful Christian of today, 2Ti 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. According to Paul, all who claim to be Christians will not suffer persecution But “all that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” To live a Godly life is to “live daily for Christ,” the choice is not that difficult when you understand, Mat 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. The choice is ours, the “Three Hebrew Children” made a choice (Daniel 3:16-18) Read of their miraculous deliverance and the change in King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 3:19-30) Daniel himself is another example of obeying God rather than men (Daniel 6) The daily life of the early church is the example that we must follow today, 1Th 1:6 And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: The Thessalonians experienced the same joy the Apostles did--Act 5:41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. “And they departed from the presence of the council,” who had threatened them and beat them, Act 5:40 And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. (Where did they go?) Their experience with the Sanhedrin Court does not sound like a time to be rejoicing But the Apostles departed from the presence of the council “rejoicing,” we are told why They had a good reason for rejoicing, “they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name” Page 1 of 5 The rejoicing face of the Apostles did not reveal the pain in their backs from their being beaten But it did reveal the joy that was in their heart because they were “Living Daily For Christ” Their rejoicing in the Lord was not a natural experience, but a supernatural work of the Spirit in them The world in which we live today doesn’t give us much to rejoice about, but God does every day “Joy” is probably one of the most important subjects for us to study in this present day The world’s current conditions of life offer very little to rejoice over day by day Read the book of Philippians, the book of “Joy,” Paul wants us to understand the truth of joy The word joy is found 5 times in Philippians, and the word rejoice is found 9 times You cannot go to a dictionary and get the true meaning of “joy” you must go to the Bible According to the dictionary, both joy and happiness are dependent upon what happens According to the Bible, Biblical joy can be ours regardless of what happens In fact, the time of Christian joy may be the greatest when the circumstances are the most painful The true experience of joy can only be through the Person and Work of Jesus within us Joy is the results of knowing Jesus, trusting His decisions for our life, and living “daily” for Jesus Joy begins with Jesus and continues to be ours throughout life because Jesus is with us Joy is more than knowing who Jesus is, it is experienced when we let Jesus be who He is in us Which is exactly what we find in Acts 5 concerning Peter and the Apostles Later, Peter wrote about rejoicing in time of suffering for the name of Jesus, 1Pe 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. The “rest” of God is upon the one who is being persecuted for “Living Daily For Christ” That which rest upon them is a special touch of the Holy Spirit during their time of persecution The Christian does not have to die and go to heaven before they experience the “Spirit of Glory” This glory of the Holy Spirit is for now, for the Christian who remains faithful during persecution Scripture often speaks of our “daily”” duties as a Christian, Christianity is a “daily” lifestyle Satan is telling the world that Christianity is a thing of the past, in some churches it may be Too many churches today are living in the past, still talking about what they once did People are concerned about their daily physical life, what must we do to stay physically strong? Christians must be concerned about their spiritual life, what must we do to stay spiritually strong? Scripture has much to say about “LIVING DAILY FOR CHRIST” Act 5:42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. The Apostles were rejoicing, but because of this verse the Sanhedrin Council was not rejoicing The Sanhedrin told the Apostles not to go anywhere and speak in Jesus’ name, they went everywhere Act 8:4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word. In our study of Acts, we recently talked about how the church has lost its influence in America today There was a day when school boards would not allow after school activities on Wednesdays Because Wednesday night was church night, they expected people to go to church on Wednesday night City councils and commissioner courts planned no social activities for the public on Sundays Because Sunday was church day, the family was to be in church on Sunday Stores were closed on Sunday because you did not shop on Sunday, you were to go to church Church was a meaningful place, for a meaningful experience, to meet with God and God’s people Why is it that the meeting of the church is not considered in the plans of the world’s activities today? Sunday is now a day filled with all kinds of worldly events and activities for the entire family What happened to the respect, reverence, and importance of the church for today? We cannot blame it on the present decisions of school boards, city councils, or commissioner courts Page 2 of 5 The church of today must look at its calendar of activities and the daily schedule of Christians Before we do that let’s look at the daily life of the early church, “daily” was an important point for them “Daily” there was desire, determination, zeal, commitment, and perseverance for Christ This is the last time we read of the ministry of the Apostles “in the temple,” why? It appears that the Holy Spirit was guiding their ministry through the order that God had given (Acts 1:8) The gospel was to be presented to the Jews first, the “Temple” is where the Jews worshipped The gospel was then to be preached in Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth In-order to fulfill their mission, there must be a “daily” commitment which we find in the early church There is to be a “daily death,” 1Co 15:31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. Paul did not mean that he ceased to think or act, but that he was living daily for the Lord His life was a self-sacrificing ministry for Christ, he committed his life daily to living for Christ Which is what Jesus referred to as a “daily cross,” Luk 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross “daily,” and follow me. Our daily cross is our denial of self, day by day, to the daily commitment of living for Christ Which requires “daily prayer,” Act 3:1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. Day by day, three times a day was a specific time for prayer, living daily for Christ requires daily prayer, Rom 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; How quick are we to we pray, right now? When do we pray, daily, today and every day? We are to remain in an attitude of prayer at-all times, 1Th 5:17 Pray without ceasing. Paul prayed daily because he was totally dependent upon God and desired God’s will for his life “daily” Praying daily is a daily concentration upon Christ, making Christ the center of your life Unless you pray daily, you will not pray without ceasing, Col 4:2 Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; The word “continue” means to be devoted to prayer, which means you will not be distracted from prayer You will allow nothing to interfere with your daily prayer time, which was the policy of the early church, Act 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. Act 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Act 6:4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. The early church “continued” to pray, they prayed day by day, they prayed every day for one another There must be “daily care” for one another among Christians, Heb 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Christians are to be concerned about one another and continually encouraging one another We must understand how important it is to encourage one another, we all need it today How important is it? It is not an occasional duty, not once a week on Sunday, it is a daily responsibility While it is called “today,” the emphasis is strong, now is your chance to do it, do it right now, “today” Today is the day to live for Christ and defeat Satan, the day to live for Christ and encourage others In-order to live daily for Christ there must be a “daily study” of God’s Word, Act 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. They not only took time to read the Bible “daily” they also studied the Bible “daily” Regular reading of the Bible will discipline you to study the Bible, you will desire to learn more Bible Bible Study is a search for the unanswered questions and research of what you have read Bible Study is the means of putting Bible Truths together, comparing Scripture with Scripture Page 3 of 5 The same Bible truths are taught over-and over again in the Bible, especially in the NT letters God knows that we must read them again and again, repetition is an important learning process Always make a personal application from your time of study, what does this verse say to me? We are to “Learn” Scripture “daily” in order that we may “Live” Scripture “daily” The early church had a daily schedule, which they day by day continued to keep, Act 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, There was a daily communication and a time of fellowship with other Christians They desired to come together daily in the Temple, which was for a prayer time And they were “breaking bread from house to house,” they were eating meals together In those days sharing meals with friends was a meaningful experience Among Christians it was even more meaningful, there was a stronger relationship They met together in fellowship, sharing together their relationship in Christ, talking about Jesus “Gladness,” is a heartfelt experience, knowing that God’s grace has been bestowed upon you “Singleness of heart” actually means “sincerity,” the absence of hypocrisy The hypocrites didn’t fit in, they were weeded out by the “daily” commitment of the early church Hypocrisy was not a part of the fellowship of those who were “Living Daily for Christ” From house to house the Apostles “ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ” Teaching and preaching Jesus was their habitual way of life, their daily life, their lifestyle They were doing exactly what the Sanhedrin had told them not to do, Act 4:18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. Then we read, Act 4:33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Act 5:12 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. The Sanhedrin had them arrested and put in prison, Act 5:18 And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison. But God miraculously delivered them from prison, Act 5:19 But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Act 5:20 Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life. The Apostles obeyed God rather than men, “they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ” In the early days of my ministry, I realized that there was a great need of teaching the Bible in churches Many church members today know little about the Bible, Heb 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. (Spiritually immature, babes in-Christ) How true that verse is today, there had been enough time for them to have learned basic spiritual truths Learning God’s Word is necessary for every Christian throughout their life All Christians have the responsibility of learning the Word of God All Christians have the responsibility of sharing the Word of God with others To “preach Jesus Christ” is the responsibility of every Christian and not just the preacher You don’t pay the preacher to do that for you, all Christians are to preach the gospel of salvation, Act 15:35 Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also. Today we need “many others” teaching and preaching the word of the Lord We need Christians who are “Living Daily For Christ” teaching and preaching the word of the Lord Which is our “daily” Christian responsibility, God will do His part, Act 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. Why should we “Live Daily For Christ?” Do you remember when you were saved? Page 4 of 5 You learned that Jesus loved you, even you, just as you were, He loved you and died for you Jesus saved us, He gave us life to live “daily,” living for Christ today, living with Christ through eternity Consider the question, “should I “Live Daily For Christ?” Listen to the song Page 5 of 5