Born Again? I Know I Am. Obeying God, Rather Than Men

"Peter and the apostles answered, “It’s necessary to obey God rather than men. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, the One you killed by hanging him on a cross. God set him on high at his side, Prince and Savior, to give Israel the gift of a changed life and sins forgiven. And we are witnesses to these things. The Holy Spirit, whom God gives to those who obey him, corroborates every detail.”

When they heard that, they were furious and wanted to kill them on the spot. But one of the council members stood up, a Pharisee by the name of Gamaliel, a teacher of God’s Law who was honored by everyone. He ordered the men taken out of the room for a short time, then said, “Fellow Israelites, be careful what you do to these men. Not long ago Theudas made something of a splash, claiming to be somebody, and got about four hundred men to join him. He was killed, his followers dispersed, and nothing came of it. A little later, at the time of the census, Judas the Galilean appeared and acquired a following. He also fizzled out and the people following him were scattered to the four winds.

“So I am telling you: Hands off these men! Let them alone. If this program or this work is merely human, it will fall apart, but if it is of God, there is nothing you can do about it—and you better not be found fighting against God!” Acts 5:29-39

This is the 15th message in this series, in case you missed any of the previous messages, all the links are at the end of this message.

[Note: It could be a little hard to see where we are for those who jumped ahead to this message without reading through all or most the first 14].

The (historical) backdrop to the passage above is that this happened after Jesus of Nazareth was put to death, was buried, rose again, breathed his spirit into his followers (spiritually born again) before ascending back to heaven.

Jesus left behind his group of merry men (and women) who walked up and down the Judean countryside with Him, for over three years in the first century. Jesus left them to carry on without Him in the flesh, although with them in spirit

There are at least three things we need to take away from this narrative.

1. Peter and the other followers have gone against the norm, against their tradition and against their people. Peter and the others, who once feared for their lives were now miraculously inclined to face imprisonment, torture and even death.

They became fearless and ready to fight the good fight of their faith.

2. They have in their hearts decided that it was far better to fear and follow God than to fear and follow human rules and regulations (when they contradict).

3. It would be wise to leave these people alone because for sure if what they are doing are of human origin, made up or fake then they will fail. Now if it is truly from God, no human will be able to stop them. I mean how is anybody going to win a fight against God? If this was any ball game, God will win hands down and the score will not be even close.

And all these happened after these people were born again.

Kanye West

This brings me to Kanye West, one of the most polarizing personalities of our time. I don't follow him, I don't listen to him, but lately, apparently he is back in the news not as a bad man and a mad man (as he is known to be) but as a "bad" man and a "mad" man.

Because apparently he is now a "changed" man. His work (his music) is now solely about Jesus and he is now talking about and even "preaching" about Jesus.

Bad Example

Why do I bring this up? All the early believers (and up to now) were people who you either like or hate (no in betweens). Many were really bad people who have done terrible things. A good number are really not good examples of what a Christian should be like.

But guess what, and we have already talked about this before, it is not the healthy and the good who Jesus came for. Jesus came for the sick, sinful and hurting.

Lastly, if this is really of God, then whatever we do, we cannot stop it. If it is from man, it will die a natural death. Either way, it is will be wise to leave this man alone.

Church Of The Lost Sheep

Born Again? I Know I Am. Obeying God, Rather Than Men

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