{"id":31945,"date":"2024-07-21T22:00:31","date_gmt":"2024-07-22T05:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/acts-5_1-16-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-07-21T22:00:58","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T05:00:58","slug":"acts-5_17-32","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/acts-5_17-32\/","title":{"rendered":"When It\u2019s Not Politically Correct To Obey God"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acts 5:17-32\u00a0 \u00a0(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is\u00a0Acts\u00a05:17-32.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Acts 5:17-25 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people the full message of this new life.”
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0At 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.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported,
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.”
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering what would come of this.
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 17-25:\u00a0 The high priest is jealous of the apostles and the positive attention they were getting from the miracles God had enabled them to perform.\u00a0 The high priest throws the apostles in jail.\u00a0 Yet miraculously God sends an angel to deliver the apostles, taking them out of jail without being noticed.\u00a0 At daybreak the next morning, the high priest finds the apostles in the temple courts telling people \u201cthe full message of this life\u201d (v20).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0God is a mighty deliverer and nothing is impossible with Him.<\/strong>\u00a0 Also, the apostles\u2019 miraculous rescue from jail reminds us that we too were once prisoners to sin, but God by His power set us free and brought us into the courts of His presence, that we might proclaim all that He has done for us.<\/p>\n

Acts 5:26-32 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest.
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men!
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead–whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.
\n32\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 26-32:\u00a0 Questioned by the high priest as to why they disobeyed his orders not to preach the name of Jesus publicly, Peter and the apostles insist that they must obey God rather than men (v29) and they continue to point the high priest and all those in attendance to Jesus (v30-32).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 Generally speaking we must respect and submit to those in authority over us, believing that God has sovereignly chosen them to lead us.\u00a0 But\u00a0when human authorities command us to do something that is contrary to what God commands us to do, we must submit to God rather than submitting to those human authorities<\/strong>.\u00a0 As Peter says in verse 29, \u201cWe must obey God rather than men!\u201d<\/p>\n

That is why we see numerous examples of civil disobedience in the Bible. For example,<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 In Exodus 1, when Pharaoh told the midwives of Egypt to kill every newborn Jewish boy, the midwives refuse and God honours them with families of their own.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 In Joshua 2, Rahab hides the Jews from the authorities in Jericho, and God blesses Rahab, making her a progenitor of Jesus.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 In Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to obey King Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s command to bow down and worship his image, and God rescues them, standing by their side when they are thrown into the fiery furnace.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 In Daniel 6, Daniel continues to pray to the LORD in violation of King Darius\u2019 command to pray to no one except Darius himself, and God delivers Daniel from the lions\u2019 den.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 In the Gospels, Jesus refuses to submit to the rules laid down by the high priest, Pharisees and teachers of the law concerning matters like the Sabbath day and washing hands before eating.<\/p>\n

If ever we do practice civil disobedience, we must be careful that the stance we take has the strong and clear support of Scripture and is not simply based on how we feel.\u00a0 Also we must push for our stance humbly and peacefully, not arrogantly or violently.<\/p>\n

Father, thank You for being my mighty deliverer who rescued me when I was in chains by sending Jesus Christ to save me.\u00a0 Thank You that You are the One I am called to obey.\u00a0 Please give me the courage and wisdom to obey You even when it is not popular or politically correct to do so.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is\u00a0Acts\u00a05:17-32.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Acts 5:17-25 (NIV)
\n17\u00a0\u00a0Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.
\n18\u00a0\u00a0They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.
\n19\u00a0\u00a0But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out.
\n20\u00a0\u00a0“Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people the full message of this new life.”<\/p>\n

On verses 17-25:\u00a0 The high priest is jealous of the apostles and the positive attention they were getting from the miracles God had enabled them to perform.\u00a0 The high priest throws the apostles in jail.\u00a0 Yet miraculously God sends an angel to deliver the apostles, taking them out of jail without being noticed.\u00a0 At daybreak the next morning, the high priest finds the apostles in the temple courts telling people \u201cthe full message of this life\u201d (v20).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31949,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31945"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31950,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31945\/revisions\/31950"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}