Title Acts 4 Expository Sermon
Contents
Text: Acts 4:1-4
Verse 2 of the text ... I hate the resurrection mission
First, people possessed by the devil hate preaching the gospel of Jesus.
The original word for the devil is diabolus destroyer, opposer... As the name suggests, the devil destroys all orders that God has established, destroys humans, destroys peace, and opposes. If we keep disobeying the Word, who will we follow? It is following the devil. If you follow the devil, you will perish, but if you follow the word of God, you will have eternal life, blessings, the filling of the Holy Spirit, peace, joy, multiplication, recovery, healing, power...
The devil wants to destroy the human soul the most. So, what the devil hates the most is evangelism. Some people know that the master of heaven is God and the master of hell is the devil, but the master of hell is not the devil. Hell is a prison created by God to contain fallen angels... devils and demons. Where do you go if you kill someone or steal? Let's go to jail... Hell is where the sinners and unrepentant people go.
Who can save us from the punishment of hell? There is only Jesus. Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead three days later. Jesus paid the penalty for my sin. That is why anyone who believes in Jesus does not go into the prison of hell by faith and by the grace of God.
Early in the 1960s during the Chinese Cultural Revolution... After a Christian brother was sentenced to death in place of his murderer brother and died, the younger brother took his place of life.
From the point of view of the devil, you too have sin, and I have sin... You are saved because you believe in Jesus and I go to hell... This is unfair. The destroyer, the opposer, the devil, is this when you die and I die. That is why the devil hates preaching to believe in Jesus the most in the world.
On September 3, 1866, missionary Thomas, a 27-year-old young man, was beheaded while preaching the gospel to Koreans on the banks of the Taedong River in Pyongyang. Some were cut with a scythe and died. Some were cut by saws and died. Some were stoned to death. Some fell into the dung bin and died slowly and brutally. From the outside it looks like people are killing people... but who's controlling them behind the scenes? Destroyers and opponents Satan, the devil, and demons are preventing them from preaching the gospel of life.
Because of your faith in Jesus, if you hear bad things from your family, relatives, neighbors, or colleagues while evangelizing, have compassion on those souls and fight against the devil, Satan, and demons who are controlling you in Jesus name so that they leave. Love people and hate the devil. Amen!
Second, rational-minded people hate preaching the gospel of Jesus.
Reasonable thinking... 1 1=2 2 2=4 It's an idea that you can understand in your head, and it makes perfect sense.
Some people say they don't want to go to church because it seems like the church is forcing them to donate. Among them, tithing is the biggest obstacle. I worked hard and earned it... How can you say that a tenth belongs to God? If you think rationally, you're right a hundred or a thousand times. But where did all creation come from? All the world, including the earth, was created by God.
God created the whole world and
Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
So David offers this prayer of thanksgiving to God.
1 Chronicles 29:10 David blessed the LORD before all the congregation, saying, "Blessed be you, O LORD God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
1 Chronicles 29:11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the triumph and the majesty; everything in heaven and earth is Yours. Yours is the sovereignty, O LORD, and you are exalted as Head over all.
1 Chronicles 29:12 Riches and honor come from you, and you are lord over all, and in your hand is power and might; in your hand is the making and strengthening of all.
1 Chronicles 29:13 Now we give thanks to You, our God, and praise Your glorious name.
1 Chronicles 29:14 What are I and my people, that we have the strength to give with such a joyful heart? All things come from you, and what we received from your hand we gave to you.
It is said that David was the richest person who has lived since Adam.
From a human point of view, it is definitely my money that I earned through blood and sweat, but if I receive a little grace and see material things with the eyes of faith, I have earned it... That's why tithing is to be given by faith... It's a waste, but what to do... It's not an unreasonable offering. Don't do it if you don't have the faith to pay tithing. But if you have the faith to pay tithing, do it with thanksgiving.
2 Corinthians 9:6-7 This is the saying, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
The second thing that doesn't make sense is how God can be human.
Why did Jesus have to come as a human?
A sacrifice is needed for sins to be washed away. Someone must die. But no one can die.
Leviticus 1:10 If the offering is a burnt offering of sheep or goats of a flock, it shall be a male without blemish.
If it's white, it's white, if it's black, it's black. No sick sheep, no limping sheep... Only sheep and cattle that were literally flawless could be sacrificed. Do you feel good when you eat at a restaurant and when cockroaches come out of the soup and flies come out? Pottery makers break everything and re-create it even if the porcelain has scratches the size of an eyebrow. If there is a flaw, the product branches will fall off. Why is the price of a used car so much lower than a new car? A new car has never been driven before... But a used car has a lot of flaws... It's been worn a lot... It'll cost 20 million won... For three or five hundred It's selling at a bargain price. The worship that God accepts is without blemish. It is not the worship offered by sinners, but the worship of the righteous without sin. But who among us is not guilty? We are all flawed. There are too many sins. Even though they sin, they do not know that they are sinners, they sin and sin again.
A drowning man cannot save himself. Only those out of the water can save the dying. Who in this world does not fall into sin? There is no one but God. All humans sin.
Only God, the Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is without sin. Only God can save a person who is dying from drowning. Only God can shed blood as a sacrifice for man so that this sin can be forgiven. But God is spirit. You can't bleed. That is why Jesus, who is called God the Son, came as a perfect human being through the body of Mary by the great power of God.
Romans 11:33 Deep, the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, His judgments are beyond measure, His ways are beyond finding.
In Philippians 2:5-8 about Jesus, who is God, becoming a human being...
Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 2:6 Although he was in the form of God, he did not consider equality with God to be robbery.
Philippians 2:7 Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.
Philippians 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of a cross.
It is Jesus who loved me and you so much and gave up his place as God and came as a perfect human being. Praise Jesus for giving His all to save me and you.
Text Verse 3 While preaching the gospel of Jesus, the apostles were imprisoned.
If you go to church well and have a good life of faith, won't difficult things happen?
God allows suffering sometimes. The reason God sometimes allows suffering is to refine us with a stronger faith in that suffering. Has anyone achieved a great dream without suffering? There is not.
Because of the jealousy of his brothers, Joseph was sold into slavery without knowing the English language. If God is alive, why is he looking at me to be sold into slavery? It is possible to blame God... But Joseph always relied on God for everything. The owner's wife was falsely accused of not sleeping with him and went to jail. There were too many hardships for Joseph that he could not comprehend. Still, Joseph remained silent and depended on God. Joseph, who later became the prime minister of Egypt, confesses to his brothers who sold him into slavery.
Genesis 50:20 You intended to harm me, but God turned it for good, to save the lives of many people as it is today.
Genesis 50:21 Do not be afraid, I will feed you and your children. And he comforted them with earnest words.
As time passed, and his faith grew more and more, Joseph saw that God's good will was clearly hidden in his sufferings! It is God who blesses you through suffering! You make a life like gold through hardship! I bless you all for having such a confession. Hallelujah!
Praise minister, Deacon Baek Mi-kyung.... Her husband is an alcoholic and her second child is a disabled child...
I also complained about why God would give me such trials, and everyone in the world hated me.
However, I got down on my knees and prayed to God in tears. Help.!
Now, it has become a channel of blessing by visiting dying patients, comforting them with praise and giving them grace. My husband, who had been drinking and assaulting all his life, began to change. Not only that, I don't know how many good things I do as the president of the disabled parents.
Treasures of salvation, treasures of blessings, treasures of success, and treasures of gratitude are hidden in suffering.
I pray that you do not become a prisoner of suffering and that you boldly overcome hardships while holding on to the name of Jesus and praying.
Second, most of the suffering and difficulties that occur around us are caused by human error.
War, famine, earthquake, typhoon, death from disease...
World War I in the early 20th century claimed the lives of approximately 15 million people. World War II in the mid-20th century claimed the lives of more than 50 million people. If you add up the total number of soldiers, civilians and Jews, it is estimated that about 100 million people died. Did God make war? It is a war waged by some political leaders blinded by money and power. Most of the pain and difficulties that occur around us are caused by human greed and strife.
James 4:1 From where do strife arise among you? Is it not from the lusts that fight among your members?
James 4:2 You lust and have not, and you murder; you envy, but cannot get, so you quarrel and fight; you do not have because you do not ask.
James 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask erroneously, to spend it on your lusts.