Acts 5:26-32<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people\u00a0would stone them.\u00a0 27\u00a0The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin\u00a0to be questioned by the high priest.\u00a028\u00a0\u201cWe gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,\u201d\u00a0he said. \u201cYet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man\u2019s blood.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
29\u00a0Peter and the other apostles replied: \u201cWe must obey God rather than human beings!\u00a030\u00a0The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead\u2014whom you killed by hanging him on a cross.\u00a031\u00a0God exalted him to his own right hand\u00a0as Prince and Savior\u00a0that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins.\u00a032\u00a0We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit,\u00a0whom God has given to those who obey him.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cAt that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people\u00a0would stone them. 27\u00a0The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin\u00a0to be questioned by the high priest.\u00a028\u00a0\u201cWe gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,\u201d\u00a0he said. \u201cYet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man\u2019s blood.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 At this time the captain and his officers were sent to bring in the Apostles.\u00a0 Remember, these officers were men following orders.\u00a0 While it is never the excuse of men to do evil because they were following orders,\u00a0\u00a0 these men probably did not know what the intentions of the Sanhedrin.\u00a0 They were bringing the Apostles in just as they had been ordered to do and the men were to appear before the magistrates and be judged by them.\u00a0 These officers, whether they were brutes or not, were not going to anger the crowd and mistreat the Apostles.\u00a0 Their number one job was, at the end of their shift, to go home and be with their families. The Apostles were treated with \u201ckid-gloves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Right off the top the High Priest told the Apostles that they had been given strict orders not to preach in \u201cthis name<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0 The name of Jesus was such an anathema to them that they would not even say His name.\u00a0 Their contempt for Jesus is further revealed in that they did not say \u201chis name\u201d but \u201cthis name.\u201d\u00a0 They would not make any reference to the man Jesus Christ, but only to an inanimate name that they would not utter or even allow that the name was attached to a man.<\/p>\n
The reason the guards were careful with the Apostles is seen in\u00a0V28<\/b>.\u00a0 The High Priest himself, along with the Sanhedrin, were well aware that the Gospel had already spread through Jerusalem, and the converts were adding up fast.<\/p>\n
It is amazing what people will deny and how they will deny it.\u00a0 There is video of a person committing a crime and being shown the video.\u00a0 The person will admit the person in the video is them, that the person in the video completed all elements of the crime, but then will deny that they committed a crime!\u00a0 Everyone there knew these religious officials had been the cause of the death of Jesus.\u00a0 They were not only guilty but they had persuaded or coerced many of them to also do so. In fact their own words are recorded in\u00a0Matthew 27:25<\/b>\u00a0\u201cAll the people answered, \u201cHis blood is on us and on our children!<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 (These words, are to me, some of the most chilling in the Bible.)\u00a0 So it is most amazing that they could deny their culpability in the murder of Jesus.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeter and the other apostles replied: \u201cWe must obey God rather than human beings!\u00a030\u00a0The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead\u2014whom you killed by hanging him on a cross.\u00a031\u00a0God exalted him to his own right hand\u00a0as Prince and Savior\u00a0that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins.\u00a032\u00a0We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit,\u00a0whom God has given to those who obey him.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 Peter\u2019s reply to their repeated demand that they stop talking about Jesus and stop blaming them is the same as his reply in\u00a0Acts 4:19-20<\/b>.\u00a0 They would not shut up.\u00a0 They could not shut up.\u00a0 They were first hand witnesses to what had occurred and they could not bottle up the Truth within themselves.\u00a0 Furthermore, the Holy Spirit within them bore witness of the Truth to them.\u00a0 What the Jews were guilty of was manifest to all the Jews, the Romans, the Apostles and to God the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 They may say they were innocent, but their lies fell putrefying on the ground.\u00a0 The Apostles could not be shut up as Jesus lived within them and their love for Him was the greatest truth they knew.\u00a0 The authority of man demanded that they disobey God but they adamantly refused.\u00a0 They would obey God before men.\u00a0 They would share the Gospel as Jesus had told them to do (Matthew 28:18-20<\/b>).<\/p>\n
Family, today the world wants to shut us up.\u00a0 They tell us not to share the Gospel.\u00a0 It is not politically correct.\u00a0 It goes against the morals of the world.\u00a0 It is not all-inclusive.\u00a0 The Bible definitely calls all religions and philosophies that deny Jesus as Savior, Lord and God, a lie from the devil.\u00a0 Family they tell us we can\u2019t talk about Jesus in the school.\u00a0 They tell preach separation of church and state.\u00a0 Whether that is actual or contrived, I don\u2019t see it in the Bible.\u00a0 \u201cBut what of our jobs?\u00a0 How will we live?\u201d\u00a0 In reply \u201cWhat of our love of God?\u00a0 What of our faith in Him?\u00a0 What of what Jesus said \u2018For whoever wants to save their lives will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.<\/i>\u201d (Luke 9:24<\/strong>)\u00a0Family who will we obey, God or man?\u00a0 Is God able to provide and keep us if we still share the Gospel in spite of company policy or law?\u00a0 Family, how much will we bend before we realize that our stand for God has already bent so much that we slid right off the other side?\u00a0 Family let us be found to be loving God, having faith in Him and to be loving all people with the life-passion that though all people will not be saved they will, at least to the best of our abilities, have heard the Gospel and have the choice.\u00a0 May we praise God by first obeying Him!\u00a0 Praise God! Praise God!\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Acts 5:26-32\u00a0–\u00a0At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people\u00a0would stone them.\u00a0 27\u00a0The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin\u00a0to be questioned by the high priest.\u00a028\u00a0\u201cWe gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,\u201d\u00a0he said.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,106,101,94,17],"class_list":["post-1457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-luke","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1457"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1458,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457\/revisions\/1458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}