“Faith and Obedience” or “The Power of God in Us”                                    Calvary 041110
Text: Acts 5:27-42
Intro:
There is a great fascination with the supernatural in our day. Go to a bookstore, visit a movie theater, watch television: we are bombarded with images of the supernatural. The most popular movies are ones like Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Avatar. Popular TV shows are "Crossing Over" and “Ghost Whisperer” Where people are using their psychic powers to talk to the dead.

There is much intrigue with the supernatural. There is a sense that we humans realize that there is something much greater and "powerful" out there that we can experience. Maybe we were created with a hunger for something "greater than ourselves." But as people of faith/ as Christians, we must make sure that we maintain a Christ like/a Godly, a biblical perspective when it comes with tackling these issues.

That’s why I love the book of Acts. Because it is an account of what happens when the power of the living God comes in contact with ordinary people like you and I.

Scripture makes it very clear that our God is a powerful God. For instance, 1Chronicles 29:11 says, "Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours O Lord is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all." Job 36:22 says, "God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him? Revelation 1:19 says, "Hallelujah!" Salvation and glory and power belong to our God." And I won’t even start on the Psalms which are filled with images of God’s power.

When we think about the power of God it is no small subject. Remember, God had the power to create the world, to forgive and defeat sin,
to love you and I unconditionally,
to resurrect Jesus from the grave,
to make all things new.         And He has the power to mold us more and more into his image.

We’ve just celebrated Easter, were God’s love and God’s compassion, as well as God’s power is seen in the death and resurrection of Christ.
I tried really hard this Easter to place myself in the actual events of Holy Week …. To live in the power of these moments, as people grieved as they saw Jesus beaten, dragged through the streets, and hung on that Cross. I wondered how people felt on that Saturday that was supposed to be their Sabbath, a day of rest. And then on Easter morning when the tomb is found empty, and later on When the Risen Christ appears in their midst. It must have been so incredible to just go through all that in those short few days.

It is amazing to think about how God’s power in our lives today, comes from the same source that God used and uses to do those incredible things in our world.

But [So], what happens when God’s power is unleashed? That is what happens in the book of Acts.

1. I think what took place in the heart of Jesus’ followers, was wholehearted obedience,
1st among believers, like the disciples who said in vs 29, “we must obey God more than any human authority.”
He was speaking about the authority of the leaders he stood before.

And also among those on the margins who maybe weren’t really sure like Gamaliel, who was one of the highest respected leaders in the group. He said,
“keep away from these men and let them along, because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail, but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them, in that case you may even be found fighting against God!”

It’s as if he was saying that we should make sure that we’re not disobeying God.

I want us to keep in mind that when we choose to live wholeheartedly, that there WILL be opposition. But the challenge is to allow God to use that opposition for his glory for his witness. Acts 5:28 & 40-41
When we believe something we do it regardless of what others think. How come we don’t do the same when it couple to our faith. Instead we try to downplay it so that no one would notice.

Example: Praying at a restaurant with EliJ
Peoples looks of “why?” or “that’s nice”

2. We must make it our life mission to seek the Father’s will. [5:38-39]
People complain all the time that they don’t hear God. But are they listening for him?
I think God sometimes feels as parents feel with their teenage children. They complain that parents aren’t listening to them and when you say ok, I’m listening what ‘s going on with you, they say, Awwee not now dad I’m kind of busy with my friends or…. J

Tim’s Story: Man in parking lot, Tim offers to pray for
3. We will live consistently when the power of God is unleashed in our lives. 5:42
What I mean by Living consistently, is to always be living in our faith of God. That our faith journey would be continuous not just when things are good or when things are bad, so that it wouldn’t be in this swing of up’s and down’s all the time.

The last sentence in our text says (Vs42) “And every day in the temple and at home they did not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.”

From the Temple (place of worship) to their homes the apostles never stopped preaching and proclaiming Jesus. He’s not talking about preaching sermons, but living sermons, living faith. Everything they did reflected their faith.
God wants us to be consistent in our walk with him. Our world needs to see consistent living followers of Christ.

4. People around us will be changed when the power of God is unleashed in our lives.

CONCLUSION:
I do not want to live a powerless life.
I do not want you to live a powerless life.
I do not want our church to be a powerless church.

God desires for our faith to become a priority in our lives and in our church.
Not just at Easter and Christmas, the joy that we celebrated last week, is it all gone? Are we done with Easter like we’re done with Christmas? A high church event but now it’s past and we’re back to whatever else we do the rest of the year? I fear that for many people. Easter comes and there is this incredible highJ, but as they weeks and months go by we slop downhill in our faith, some of us even hit rock bottom, until we approach November ….

Friends our faith must become more of a reality in our life if we want to see the power of God demonstrated.
Ask yourself, is my faith visible to those around me? Not by what I say but by how I am living my life?

I pray that we live each day in the power and obedience of Christ’s resurrection. In the power of Easter, not just during Holy Week, but every week, all our lives.  Amen.