Under Pressure. Series

SERMON OUTLINE:

(1). Joy in the Jail (vs 18-20)

(2). Teaching in the Temple (vs 21-26)

(3). Courage before the Court (vs 27-40)

(4). House to House (vs 41-42)

SERMON BODY:

We use the word, ‘pressure’ in a variety of ways.

• e.g., We put air in our tires and check the pressure.

• e.g., You go to the doctors only to be told, “You have high blood pressure”.

• e.g., In sport athletes often say, “I work better under pressure.”

• e.g., When life is busy, we say, “I am under so much pressure.”

• e.g., At school or at work we can often face, peer pressure.

• Pressure can either work for us or against us.

• In our Bible passage today, the Church will be put ‘under pressure’.

• But it will be a different type of pressure to the one we saw in our last study.

• Last week we looked at verses 1-16:

• Where we saw opposition or ‘pressure’ to the Church from within.

• As we looked at the sad story of Ananias and Sapphira

• Today in verses 17-42:

• We will see opposition or ‘pressure’ to the Church from outside forces.

• This pressure will come from the religious authorities.

Note: Did you notice during the Bible reading that Acts chapter 5 is a series of places?

Ill:

• Joke - talking of places – I like the story of the man who went to a restaurant,

• On the menu it said, ‘They served breakfast at any time’.

• So, he ordered an English breakfast during the Reign of Charles 2nd!

• Now if you scan through Acts chapter 5 with me,

• You will see that a variety of places are mentioned.

(A). The Places:

• We noted last week that these Christians met in Solomon's Colonnade (vs 12).

• This was a long porch:

• Stretching along, the eastern side of the temple courtyard.

• It sounds grand and the architecture was magnificent,

• But if you were actually there,

• It would have felt anything but a dignified religious sight.

• Because it was full of the sick and the feeble, the diseased, the afflicted and the disabled.

• It was full of beggars, the unfortunates of society.

• All over the world you find beggars outside religious buildings,

• Because they know that those worshippers who enter these places,

• Are often generous towards them.

• So, this grand colonnade,

• Looked more like a cross between a card-board city and a General Hospital.

• Now the first place in today’s study is…

Place #1. The Jail (vs 18-20):

“They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail”.

Ill:

• Joke – talking of jail – I like the story of…

• The woman who was in court for stealing a tin of pineapples.

• The judge said he was going to send her to jail for every pineapple-chunk in the tin.

• At that point her husband shouted out; “She also stole a tin of peas!”

Okay, back to the serious stuff:

• Now what a contrast,

• The grand architecture of the colonnade to the grey depressing walls of a “Public Jail".

Ill:

• Now I have been to prison on many occasions,

• (don’t panic not as a prisoner but as a visiting speaker taking prison chapel services)

• Every prison I have ever been into is a depressing sight,

• Every prisoner wears a depressing uniform,

• Even today prisons are not very pleasant places, they leave you feeling despondent.

Notice another contrast between the prison and the colonnade,

• In the colonnade they had freedom to mix and mingle.

• Freedom and the opportunity to practice their faith and to use their spiritual gifts.

• In contrast, now in prison they are confined in a secure cell,

• Now their opportunities to serve God are limited, virtually zero!

• Now it seems to the casual reader,

• That someone has put the brakes on their mission!

• Or have they?

• Even though they are confined in a public jail,

• We are going to see that God's will is still being done!

• God is able to use ‘all things’ for his purposes and glory!

Ill:

• Alfred Hitchcock the famous film director always appeared in each one of his films,

• Normally it was just for a few seconds or minute (play ‘spot the Hitchcock’)

• In contrast Shakespeare never appears in any of his plays.

• Yet his presence is pervasive, in every act, in every line of dialogue,

• Bears the imprint of his pen,

• Shakespeare is the hidden genius behind all the characters,

• The genius behind each twist of the plot, the genius behind every poignant ending.