What Is Blocking You From Believing?

What Is Blocking You From Believing?

Ice breakers

It’s January! We got snow! Yay! Did anyone go out and make a snowman?! Our neighbor across the street managed to roll three big snow balls and made a snowman about chest high! Can you believe it? I didn’t want to go out there for more than just a few seconds to take some pictures of the snow! So, when do you decide it’s OK to go out in the cold? When you have to take pictures, or need to make a snowman, or when you have to do plumbing because it goes out, or need to go to church. Otherwise, do you go out in the cold?

For the last couple of months we’ve had Turkey, and cookies, cake, and candy, and you name it. Not the healthiest for you stuff! Wasn’t it awesome?!!! It’s too bad that gluttony is a sin, right? Shhhh! Do we get a pass in November and December? When you go to see the doc they give you a pass, right? It’s time to try Defying Calories. Do you listen to your sweet tooth, or do you listen to the doc? Sadly, we often listen to our sweet tooth! Sometimes, we’re good and we hold ourselves back?

A compulsive liar

I once worked as a security job. A friend of mine told me if you can’t ever find a job, there’s always security jobs out there but you won’t like it. So anyway I was desperate so I took the security job. Yeah, it’s weird but security guards, the ones you trust to guard stuff, are usually the dregs of society! It’s really weird, right!? So, right away there was this lady that worked there and she was a compulsive liar. It really got to be where you knew she was lying when her lips were moving. She could be really convincing tho, so if you didn’t know better, you would think she was telling you the truth. How do you even deal with someone like that? If they actually tell you the truth, you’ll think they are lying. Do yourself a favor and if find a person like that, get away from them, and certainly don’t believe them, or do anything they say! I’m a terrible judge of character, but even I could figure her out. I hope you have at least some skill at being a good judge of character!

What happened before this chapter

In Acts chapter 3, Peter and John were going to the temple and when they got to the gate called Beautiful, they found a beggar who couldn’t walk and they took hold of him and the man began to walk. Everyone around was amazed and ran up to them and they tried to explain that it wasn’t by their own power that the man was healed, but it was the faith in Jesus that strengthened the man and they were very clear that it wasn’t by their own power. He sort of chided them for disowning and rejecting Jesus and it was by Jesus that it happened!

Now with such a bold public display, you can guess that this caused quite a stir! The people were talking! So much talking in fact, that it got up to the leaders, the Sadducees! This was, of course, a challenge to their beliefs and religion! How do you think it’s going to go? So, if you can imagine, we enter chapter four with this situation: Peter, John, this healed person, all of the amazed people around, and here come the Sadducees! We gotta put a stop to this preaching and miracle stuff right now!

Peter, John, and a healed man jailed for preaching and healing!

Acts 4:1-22

4:1 As they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them, 2 being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 But many of those who had heard the message believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

They were greatly disturbed because Peter and John were teaching people and proclaiming Jesus and the resurrection from the dead! What was wrong with that? The Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection. Obligatory: they were Sad-you-see!

So were the Sadducees warm and fuzzy, easy to get along with people? It sure doesn’t seem like it! They were cruel and mean it appears and didn’t take kindly to non-Jewish-preaching!

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been thrown in jail - just kidding - don’t raise your hand!

If you have, you know it’s very stressful and not a fun thing - they don’t treat you nicely I’m sure!