Acts 5:17-25 (NIV)
17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.
18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.
19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out.
20 “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people the full message of this new life.”
21 At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin–the full assembly of the elders of Israel–and sent to the jail for the apostles.
22 But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported,
23 “We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.”
24 On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering what would come of this.
25 Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.”
On verses 17-25: The high priest is jealous of the apostles and the positive attention they were getting from the miracles God had enabled them to perform. The high priest throws the apostles in jail. Yet miraculously God sends an angel to deliver the apostles, taking them out of jail without being noticed. At daybreak the next morning, the high priest finds the apostles in the temple courts telling people “the full message of this life” (v20).
https://ocbf.ca/2019/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/22-0321.jpg300600meilinghttps://ocbf.ca/2019/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/greenlogo-1.pngmeiling2022-03-20 22:00:472022-03-16 21:42:21When It’s Not Politically Correct To Obey God
Acts 5:1-11 (NIV)
1 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.
2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.
3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?
4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.”
5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.
6 Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?” “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”
9 Peter said to her, “How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”
10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
On verses 1-11: What exactly did Ananias and Sapphira do wrong here? Weren’t they generous in giving money to the church? Did God strike them down simply because they kept a bit of the money for themselves? Are we not allowed to keep anything for ourselves when we sell something?
Today’s passage is Acts 4:23-37. There are many powerful lessons we can learn from this passage. Let’s go!
Acts 4:23-36 (NIV)
23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.
25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: “‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.
On verses 24-26: Notice how much the early church relied on two habits: prayer and studying the Scriptures. Before the books of Acts, we see no record of the disciples searching and quoting the Scriptures themselves, but now after seeing the resurrected Jesus and after being filled with the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures become so important and alive to them. They begin to use the Scriptures to preach, to pray and to make decisions. Here in verses 25-26 these Christians are quoting Psalm 2:1-2 in their prayer.
What can we learn from this? The Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures go hand in hand. If you want to grow in your relationship with God, you need to cherish both the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures. When you draw near to the Holy Spirit, He gives you insight to the Scriptures, and your understanding of the Scriptures in turn teaches you how to relate to the Holy Spirit. When you have the Holy Spirit but spend no time in the Holy Scriptures, you blow up. When you spend much in the Holy Scriptures but don’t rely on the Holy Spirit, you dry up. But when you have both the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures working together, you grow up.
https://ocbf.ca/2019/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/22-0318.jpeg300600meilinghttps://ocbf.ca/2019/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/greenlogo-1.pngmeiling2022-03-17 22:00:542022-03-08 22:15:03How Situations Change with Prayer and God’s Word
Acts 4:13 (NIV)
13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
On verse 13: Peter and John did not have any formal education, but they had spent three years with the Word, Jesus Christ. You don’t need to have a formal education or spectacular worldly credentials to be used by God. In the end, all you need is to have been with the Word, Jesus Christ. The more you’ve been with the Word, Jesus Christ, who is wisdom personified, the more He gives you wisdom to live, to do relationships, to pursue God-given dreams and to serve His people.
Acts 4:14 (NIV)
14 But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.
On verse 14: People can try to argue and criticize, but there isn’t much a person can say in response to a life that is changed for the better. The most important proof you can give to someone that Jesus is alive is a life transformed for the better because of Jesus.
https://ocbf.ca/2019/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/22-0317.jpg300600meilinghttps://ocbf.ca/2019/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/greenlogo-1.pngmeiling2022-03-16 22:00:302022-03-16 22:07:00The Most Important Proof that Jesus is Alive
面臨以上種種逼迫,潘霍華不但沒有膽怯和畏懼,反而更進一步,從一個膽敢抵制和譴責法西斯政權的大無畏牧師轉變成直接加入反抗希特勒抵抗運動秘密組織“阿布韋爾”,成為一名“特工”。而在這個“銳變”過程中他的二姐夫漢斯·馮·多納尼(Hans von Dohnányi 1902-1945)起到了不可替代的重要作用。
我們先介紹潘霍華。他加入“阿布韋爾”之後果然不負使命,利用自己在歐美宗教界的社會關係,多次利用出訪挪威、瑞典和瑞士等國機會秘密會見有關人士,向盟國透露德國反抗運動勢力的存在、實力、以及期望在除掉希特勒之後與英美達成和平協議的願景等資訊,以其獲得對方的支持和配合。其中最重要的成果是他在1942年6月在中立國瑞典見到他的密友,英國聖公會的喬治.貝爾主教( George K.A. Bell), 成功地將上述資訊通過貝爾主教轉達到擔任英國外交部長的安東尼·艾登(Anthony Eden)手裏;只因為此時的同盟國已經達成德國必須無條件投降的一致決定,他的努力在客觀上無法成為現實。
我們再看多納尼,他更是了不得,直接參與了一次代號為“閃電”的刺殺希特勒行動。1943年3月德國反抗勢力計畫利用希特勒視察東部戰線的機會除掉他。“阿布韋爾”組織事先設法搞到了一枚英國製造的定時塑膠炸彈,並將其偽裝安放在一個裝有兩瓶白蘭地的禮品盒裏,然後由多納尼親自負責將其帶往達斯摩棱斯克,轉交給了在那裏擔任中央集團軍的參謀長馮·特雷斯科夫(Henning von Tre-sckow)少將。(上圖三人中戴眼鏡的那位軍官就是多納尼)
Acts 4:1-4 (NIV)
1 The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people.
2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.
3 They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day.
4 But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.
On verses 1-4: The Sadducees were a group that did not believe in the idea of resurrection and were big critics of anyone who preached it (see for example Matthew 22:23, Mark 12:18 and Acts 23:8). According to Acts 5:17, the high priest and all his associates were members of the Sadducees. This suggests that the whole priesthood and temple leadership at that time were influenced by the belief that there is no such thing as resurrection. So when word gets around that Peter and John are proclaiming that in Jesus Christ the dead are resurrected, the priests, the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees all come up to Peter and John and use their authority to put Peter and John in jail. But instead of curtailing the Christian movement, these actions only seemed to give it more momentum. The men in the church were now numbering about five thousand, meaning that there conceivably could have been more ten thousand men, women and children professing faith in Jesus by this time.
https://ocbf.ca/2019/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/22-0316.jpg300600meilinghttps://ocbf.ca/2019/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/greenlogo-1.pngmeiling2022-03-15 22:00:452022-03-08 22:04:23The One Name That Saves