Our first reading is from the fifth chapter of Acts, and that is the book that's more formally known as the Acts of the Apostles. And so we can see in this book the account of the events that took place in the early church after the resurrection of Jesus. And so we learn about what life was like for the apostles and for the early believers after his resurrection. And we can get a feel for the way the church was set up. Not only, you know, it was established in his earthly ministry, but then it was empowered on the day of Pentecost. And then we see that God worked mightily through the apostles and those that had received the word. And you have to keep in mind that at this time, there was no New Testament scripture. And the way that God demonstrated his power was through miracles and through manifestations of the spirit that were very mighty and very visible. And it was done in such a way to let people know in that day that Jesus truly was the Messiah and that these truly were his people. And so we're gonna read an account from that tonight. From Acts chapter five, we're gonna start with verse 12 and read down a few verses. It says, 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. And of the rest, durst no man join himself to them, but the people magnified them. And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks and them which were vexed with unclean spirits, and they were healed every one. Then the high priest rose up and all they that were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees, and were filled with indignation. Pause there for a moment. They were so upset that sick people were being healed and that people were being healed of their diseases and that people that had troubled spirits were being set free. And this really made them upset. This aggravated these people. I just want you to catch that to the point that it says that they were filled with indignation. They were raging upset about these healings. And they laid their hands on the apostles and they put them in the common prison. And the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors and brought them forth and said, go stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life. And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning and taught. But the high priest came and they that were with him and called the council together and all the Senate of the children of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came and found them not in the prison, they returned and told saying, the prison truly found we shut with all safety and the keeper standing without before the doors. But when we had opened, we found no man within. Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priest heard these things, they doubted of them where into this would grow. Pause. What they really were concerned about was that the message would get out, that something took place, that these people were freed, and they were afraid who might hear this. And if it grew, then they could, the power would be, you know, granted maybe, perhaps, or validity would be ascribed to the message of these apostles. And so they were concerned about word getting out that they had been let out of the prison. We'll keep reading. Then came one and told them, saying, behold, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people. Then went the captain with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council and the high priest asked them, saying, did not we straightly command you that you should not teach in the name, excuse me, that you should not teach in this name? And behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than man. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hang on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things. And so is also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey him. I'm gonna stop reading there. Mainly what I wanted to share from this section was the willingness of the apostles to preach the word when they were asked or when they were told to preach. They were put in prison because of the indignation of the Sadducees and the religious leadership. And the angel of the Lord freed them from prison and gave them command. The reason they went to the temple to teach was because they were commanded by God to do so. So they were given the instruction that that was what they were to do, that they were gonna be set free, but not to run or to protect their life, not to hide, not to escape, but to go to the temple and teach. And that must have been scary. You know, it must have brought anxiety for them because they knew the ones that were filled with indignation would find them easily enough if they were in the temple teaching. But they did what God told them to do. And so when they went and taught, of course, they did catch up to them and brought them before the leaders. And they told them that we straightly commanded you, we very clearly told you not to teach in this name. Now we know that was the name of Jesus. And that was the bottom line. This was the reason why they were filled with indignation. It wasn't necessarily because sick people were healed. It wasn't necessarily because those that were troubled in spirit were set free. It was because they feared the name of Jesus would continue to grow and that somehow people would come to faith in Him as the one and only Messiah. And that made them angry. And I've often wondered about this because, you know, Jesus said that it would come to pass. If you'll remember, you know, Jesus said, they hated me, they're also going to hate you. And this didn't mean that he wanted his disciples to be contrary for the sake of being contrary or to try to drive up a dispute. You know, God's people are to be peacemakers. And there was nothing that these disciples were doing besides preaching the gospel. It wasn't like they were trying to bring a revolt against the religious leadership, but they were merely obeying God at declaring what He had told them to declare, which is that Jesus is the Christ. that He was crucified and that He rose again. And that message brought indignation among the religious establishment. And so they confronted them and they said, we expressly told you not to teach in this name. And I contend that if they would have done everything but teach in the name, that it would have been tolerable for the religious people. But when they began teaching in the name of Jesus and telling people about him and declaring him to be the Messiah, it brought indignation among those people because they hated Jesus. They hated Jesus. And Peter's response is what I want us to think about tonight for our main thought. He said, we ought to obey God rather than men. That's a strong statement that Peter made. And then, of course, he declared that they had been guilty of the blood of Jesus by crucifying Him, and that He rose again, and they shared the gospel with them. And it says, we're witnesses of these things, but so is the Holy Ghost. That's a statement that I had not seen before, that he said, we're witnesses of the fact that Jesus rose from the grave, but so is the Holy Spirit. God witnessed this, and he testifies, the Holy Spirit testifies against this generation, and we declare the things that we saw and heard. But he said, let us obey God rather than men. Now, again, God doesn't want us to be as His disciples to be rebellious people by nature. It's not our desire to make people look bad or to make them angry. That shouldn't be something that we should have as an agenda. But we should be clear in our conscience toward God, especially when it comes to declaring the gospel. And we have been so fortunate to live in a country that has permitted free speech including exercising our freedom of religious speech. And we don't understand what some people around the world go through that they're censored to the point that they could be imprisoned or harmed for speaking in the name of Jesus. But it seems like maybe in the last several years, there's been times in which even in this country, there's been a lack of tolerance for the preaching of the gospel. And not so much that I feel like it's here, but in a way it is here. And by this, I mean, you know, in people in certain positions, and I know even teachers feel this struggle, is they really have to be careful about how they share their faith. And I understand that to some degree because, you know, it's not the role of the public school teacher to proselytize. And if they were of another world religion, I would struggle. If they were trying to proselytize my children, I get it. I completely understand. But yet at the same time, you get the sense of the feeling that I've got to be careful about what I say. And so people in political realm feel that way. I gotta be careful about what I say about my faith. Well, that might be true, except for in this, that we shouldn't be too careful. And what I mean by that is that we shouldn't be too careful to the point that we don't obey God in those things that He wants us to say. I think it's good for us to be thoughtful about how we communicate with others. And not always is it the right time for us to try to share the gospel message. It's not always even helpful because God hasn't opened the door. And we've got to be spiritually sensitive about this. But these men stood in the temple and preached, and the reason they did was because God told them to. And Peter saw him preaching in the temple as an act of obedience to God. And what I really felt like I should get out tonight is that we need to be careful to make sure that we obey God. And that when it comes to either obeying God or suffering some kind of retaliation, we ought to, as God's people, be willing to suffer whatever retaliation that would come our way if we're obedient to the Lord. And that means that sometimes as God's people throughout the years, and it may even be so in the future, that when we stand up for Christ, And when we proclaim our faith, that there are some people that not only don't like it, it makes them angry. But yet we've gotta be, as a church, willing, and I mean that as individuals within the church, not just here when we're in the congregation, but as individuals within the church, that when we go out into our community, and when God calls upon us to speak, We need to be willing to make it public what we believe and not to be ashamed of our profession. It's not always the time, and that's what I'm trying to, but when it is time, and when God leads us or commands us to share, we need to be ready to share. I want to turn to 1 Peter 3, and I want to read some of the words that Peter writes to a church that is going through this, maybe even a little later, going through this persecution, and how do we deal with retaliation? And we've not really faced so much of it, but maybe you have some. It's common that the world has retaliated against the gospel. And so 1 Peter 3 speaks about that some, and I wanna read just a few verses. 1 Peter 3, verse 13. And who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good? But and if you suffer for righteousness sake, happy are ye. And be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. having a good conscience, that wherein they speak evil of you as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that you suffer for well-doing rather than for evil doing." And I'll stop reading there. So I just want to kind of walk through some of his arguments and this is the same subject. Being willing to speak up for what we believe in the midst of a people that may very well retaliate and to do so with a clean conscience because we know that we're obeying God. The first thing he asks is a question. He said, who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good? Now, it's possible that someone would harm us and even gets into that here in a little bit for doing good. But ultimately, the first argument is, if you want to have a clean conscience, and if you want to be able to stand before accusers, make sure you're doing the right thing. Make sure that you're doing good. You know, I think sometimes we lose our boldness in our profession because our lives don't match our testimony. And sometimes we're ashamed of being able to speak up because we're harboring some sin or we're involved in something that makes us ashamed of our own life. And so then we're ashamed to speak up on behalf of Christ because maybe we're afraid of what that might look like knowing that we've not been doing good. I want to say, you know, to have boldness, to have a clean conscience is to do that which is good. And I think that's what Peter is saying is that who's going to harm you if you're doing the right thing? Generally speaking, that if you do the right thing, it's going to go well for you. It's going to be better than if you had done evil. And that's what he kind of says here is that it'd be better if you had to suffer, that you suffered knowing that you've done the right thing. I've, I think it was brother Steve Skinner that spoke about how that, I heard him speak in a sermon one time where he was saying, you know, you can't control what people say about you. And especially if they say evil things about you, you can't do anything about that. But what you can do is make sure that what they say is not true. And I thought, you know, that's really something to consider that people may malign your good name, but you need to know that those things that they might say aren't true. And if they're not true and you're doing good, then you don't have anything to be ashamed about. And sometimes people say things about us that just aren't true. And I've considered why people would do that, and I suppose I don't fully understand that, but we can go to sleep with a clean conscience and peaceful if we know that the things that they're saying against us aren't true, that we're doing that which is good. And that's the first thing, is just that in our life, we ought to set about to do good, and to be honest, and to be upright, to be someone that can be respected, so that when evil speaking comes, we can say, well, that's not even true, and just be at peace. And you know, God's people throughout the centuries have often received false accusations. And churches get that. I've heard things about this church. And I said, that's not even true. That's not even right. I don't know. So it shouldn't bother us to the point that we're always concerned about, well, I wonder what people are saying and that we're looking to see what people are saying, or we're asking what people would say. You just almost got to get rid of that and say, if you're followers of doing what's good, who is he that'll harm you? I think the answer is, generally speaking, not. But he says, Now, that's contrary to our human emotions. So if you suffer for what's right, and this isn't just about falsely suffering for something they say is wrong, but something that you're doing in response to an obedience to God and to response to God's command, if you do what's right and you suffer for it, it actually brings joy. Because you know that you're doing what God wants you to do, and so he says, really happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled." And I believe that has to be the grace of God that does that in our life. That if we do what's right and we're troubled by our accusers or those, if we suffer when we do right, that there's a sense of joy that comes along with that, maybe like the apostles faced. You know, they were preaching in the temple, and they were suffering for it, but it seems like they had a great deal of joy about their life, that they felt good about obeying God, and that, you know, they hated Jesus before, and we're doing what God wants us to do, and they're angry at us. We shouldn't be having a Christian pity party. I guess that's what I'm saying. We shouldn't be disturbed or unsettled or wondering why that people hate the gospel. The fact is, is that unbelievers, they might shield it today, but they can't stand Jesus. And you know, to me, I love Jesus. So I have a hard time understanding. Why would you, this man did nothing but do good. It's kind of like the religious leaders. They were so angry that people were being healed. It's madness. Christians, if they're following the Lord, go about doing good. It should be promoted. It should be encouraged. It should be celebrated. But many times it's maligned. Why? Because somewhere deep within, there's a hatred for Jesus. And there's a lot of people that feel like the problem with our country right now is religious people. And if we could just get rid of their religion, maybe we'd be set free. But they don't understand that that wouldn't help at all. The problem is with sin. And religious people can be a problem. I'm not saying that. But that's not the problem that we're facing. It's a problem of sin. that needs to be addressed. So, this is where I wanna maybe focus for 15. But he says, don't be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. So really quickly, I just wanna kinda walk through that. First of all, we have to have the frame of heart that we set apart the Lord as holy in our heart. If we're going to be able to give an answer about those things that we believe and be able to speak up for God, we need to have in our heart a heart set that sets apart the Lord as holy. that we respect and fear Him, and that we reverence Him above all things. That's where it starts. If we talk about, you know, I want to be bold in the faith. I want to be willing to share about my testimony. Or I want to be able to share about how that Jesus saves. I want to be able to preach the gospel and not worry about what men think. Then we have to set aside the Lord as holy in our hearts and revere Him above all others. I think it starts down here. I think the reason we get timid is because we're not prepared in our heart and set Him aside as holy. So that's the first thing. If we're gonna give an answer or obey God rather than men, we have to desire to obey Him above all things in our heart. And oftentimes, isn't that where the issues lie? It's deep inside of our heart. I mean, it's not necessarily in the things that we do. The things that we do come from what we believe. What we believe comes from inside of our heart. And so if we set Him aside as holy and we reverence Him above all things, then we're willing to do what He says for us to do. And so Peter says, hey, if you get into a situation where you're suffering for righteousness sake, then you'll be filled with joy and be ready to give an answer. But first, make sure that you have the Lord set aside as holy in your heart. And then secondly, be ready always. And that word always sticks out to me. Be ready always to give an answer. And that word answer is where we get the word apologetics, to give a defense. To every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you. And so we have so much opportunity as God's people. We have so much opportunity to give God a good name through our testimony or through sharing with other people about the love of God or the salvation that comes through Christ. Not all of us are preachers per se, and that's okay. But yet we all have a responsibility to give a defense of the reason for the hope that's within us. There are a lot of people out there that look at you in your life and they wonder why it is that you are the way that you are. And they wanna know, how is it that you have joy when this world is so filled with hate? Why is it that it seems like they're so kind when I don't even hardly know them? We, We have a little tradition, our family does, that we go to Fast and Friendly after church on Sunday. I mean, 52 Sundays in a year, I bet 50 of the Sundays we go to Fast and Friendly. And we get a soda. And all of us get something to drink, not always a soda. Emeril gets a bug juice. But we all, kind of at the end of church, we all do that as a tradition, and we get something to drink. And I get peanuts, anyway. But we always go in the same store, and so the same people are always working at the store at that time. And one of the ladies is Tina, and I've just really come to enjoy her. And we always go in and say hi, and the kids can't wait to see Tina, because that's our Sunday tradition. And little Emeril came in today and she's just, you know, cute as a button. And she walked in and said, is that your youngest? And I said, yeah, it's like, man, she's really grown up quickly. It shows how long I've been here. The last I saw her, she was a baby. And I overheard Tina say something to the worker. She said, watch the way these people smile. And she didn't mean for me to hear that, but it kind of caught me. I'm sorry. I have a lot of reason to smile. And actually it doesn't have anything to do with my external circumstances. The reason I'm happy is because God's been so good to me. I have hope in my heart that comes out because God's been good to me. Jesus is a wonderful Savior. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. And the reason my kids can smile is because God's been good to us. And that's not a brag. I mean, we didn't do anything, we were just there, but. We'd be ready to give an answer. we need to give a defense. And see, sometimes it's not even about something that we're trying to debate. Sometimes it's just giving an answer for what God's done in our life. And so when we have that, it's good for us to give a defense and be ready to share about the hope that's in us. Because the world is looking for hope. Now, I don't know that I feel like the Lord is looking for Jesus. It doesn't seem like the Bible indicates that there's just a whole bunch of people out there that are searching for Jesus and can't find him. But I do believe that the world is seeking for satisfaction for what they have missing down inside their heart. And they're searching many times in the wrong places. But there's a group of people right here. And there's an on-looking world that looks upon our lives and is wondering about why do these people have hope? Why is it that they are kind and long-suffering and peaceful and all the fruit of the spirit? Why do they have that protruding from their life? What is that? Well, we know it's not something special about us. It's God's spirit that lives in us, that shows outwardly to an onlooking world. So we'll be ready always to give a defense for the reason, for the hope within us. And God will open doors for you. Times where it's time to share. And the great thing about it is that we're followers of the Spirit. And so, you know, we don't always know where that's gonna be, but then the door opens and He lets us know that it's time to speak. Be obedient to that. Because, you know, we could try and try and try to do something, but if we pray about it and God opens up the door of utterance and then we share within that space, God does mighty things with that. And many times we'll use that to even bring about the salvation of an unbeliever to where they become a believer. Just never know, but be ready to give an answer. And then lastly, it talks about the way that we should give that answer. And it says, with meekness and fear, and probably that doesn't describe well enough to us what that means, Meekness means gentleness. That when we give an answer, we ought to do it with gentleness. That we ought to be respectful of the other person. Now that could mean, you know, gentle words, but I read about that with Peter, and I thought, man, his words were strong. You know, maybe he used strong words, but still had a sense of gentleness about him and the way he shared those strong words. That he, you know, because he said, Well, just go back. I mean, I read that and I thought, boy, that must have been from the Lord because that was not how he described in his letter. It didn't feel like he was supposed to respond. What does it say? Yeah, he said, the God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree. Those are strong words. And they were true words. They were strong words. Him have God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior. for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins, and we're his witnesses of these things. But here in 1 Peter 3, he says, with meekness and fear, and the word fear there means respect. So when we speak to others, we ought to have a sense of respect about us for them as people and not belittling them for what they believe, but speaking to them where they are with respect for where they're coming from and realizing that we're both made in the image of God. We've lost that a lot in our generation today. The ability to have a discussion with respect for each other and gentleness and know that we can say two opposing things and not hate each other. You know, oftentimes when you debate, the purpose is to evoke thought and truth prevails. That's really what debate's about. It's not to say I won. Debate is to evoke thought and let truth prevail. I wish we could get back to that, where we could both speak facts, let truth prevail, think on that. It's not about who scored points. It's about two ideas. Which one holds up? I know that the gospel will hold up. The Bible holds up. Jesus holds up. So if we could just talk about things, if we could just get it out in the open instead of hiding it, if we could just say, you know, you gotta hush that down because it might offend somebody. Stop. Speak it out there. Truth will prevail. And if it's not true, it'll be shown for what it is. If it is true, it'll hold up to scrutiny. So we ought to be ready to be able to speak. And I think that's true even among us when we have disagreements. Prove all things, test all things, hold fast to that which is good. We can be wrong and still love each other. We don't want to stay wrong. If it's been exposed that we're wrong, we want to get on the right side. But if we're wrong, it doesn't mean that we're a bad person, it just means that we were mistaken and we need to come to the truth. But we ought to be able to do that with each other, to strengthen each other and make each other stronger. And then lastly, it just says, having a good conscience, that whereas they speak evil of you as evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation. That word means lifestyle, that you're living for God and they speak evil about you you know, just have a good conscience, and eventually it'll come out what's right. And it says, for it's better, and this is kind of where we'll close here, but it's better if the will of God be so that you suffer for well-doing than for evil doing. And I hate to think that we would have to suffer for well-doing, but it seems like it's apparent that sometimes we will. And that we need to be willing for the cause of Christ to do that. And in the end, I think God will prove it out. But while we're going through it, it's tough. But if we depend on the Lord, he'll provide a joy to sustain us through those things. So I know I said a lot of different things tonight, but Be ready to give an answer for the hope that's in us. Be prepared, because there's a whole world out there that needs to know about Jesus. And it's not gonna be one in mass all at once. Probably, God could do that. But most likely, the cause is going to advance through individual relationships and one-on-one conversations and people sharing and God using those things, not from one man, but from all of us to share about the good news that people will be saved. That's our message tonight. I pray God blesses you. Why don't we get a song, Sister Guyana, stand together and sing. If anybody has anything on your heart, we just say, follow the Lord tonight.