Providence Series

Providence

Acts 5:17-42

March 24, 2002

Palm Sunday

Intro:

A. [Scripture Reading]

John 12:12-15, The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna! " "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the King of Israel!" 14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written, 15 "Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt."

1. Today is the day that we celebrate as Palm Sunday and recall the people waving the palm leaves and crying "Hosanna."

2. Today is the day that we celebrate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

B. [Songs of Praise]

"Majesty" "Hosanna, Loud Hosanna" "We Will Glorify the King of Kings"

C. [Lord’s Supper and Offering]

D. [Benjamin Franklin in remarks to the Continental Convention, June 28, 1787, as quoted in America’s God and Country, William J. Federer editor, Fame Publishing, Inc., Coppell, Texas. p.249]

"I have lived, Sir, a long time [81 years-old], and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God Governs in the affairs of men."

1. Now I realize that we have been told that the Founding Fathers of the US were deists and not Christians.

2. I know that we have been told that they just believed that there was a god who created the world, but then just lets it spin.

3. I know they tell us that this god doesn’t involve Himself in the world anymore now that He’s finished creating it.

4. I know that we’ve been told that when the Founding Fathers wrote about "Providence," this is really what they meant.

5. But I guess that Ben Franklin wasn’t told that definition of God.

6. "I have lived, Sir, a long time [81 years-old], and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God Governs in the affairs of men."

7. Oops I guess they didn’t want us to notice that little statement (but of course, this is exactly what the Founding Fathers believed and we have been lied to).

8. So what does it look like to have God Govern our lives?

9. What does it look like to have Christ as King of our lives?

10. Let’s look at the rest of Acts 5 today to find out…

I. Divine Laughter

Acts 5:17-25, 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."

A. In a sense, this a pretty funny story…

B. Let’s review just a little…

1. You may recall that this is similar to something we’ve seen before.

2. Back in Acts 3, Peter and John healed a crippled beggar at the gate called Beautiful.

3. Peter then began to explain to the crowd that they had healed this crippled man by the power and name of Jesus.

4. Jesus had just been crucified a few months before.

5. And Peter told the people that Jesus had risen from the dead and it was He that had healed the cripple.

6. In Acts 4, The Sadducees arrested Peter and John and threw them in jail over night.

7. The Sadducees didn’t know what to do since the people had turned from shouting "Crucify" to really listening to Peter.

8. The Sadducees were afraid to do anything to Peter and John because they were afraid of what the people would do if they did.

9. So they simply threatened Peter and John and "commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus."