My Favorite Bible Verse

Okay, why don't you guys, do you want to sit on the ground or sit at the table? What would you like to do? Ground. Okay. Arthur, do you want a chair or something? I got one in my trunk.

It's up to you? Okay, okay. Why don't you guys come over here a little more, because Grandpa Arthur wants to be a part of our group. Well, or I told him to be, one or the other is true. Okay. Okay.

Okay, so what did we talk about last week? Does anybody remember two weeks ago, Diara? Languages and how it was really like something that we couldn't speak. Yeah, it was a curse, right? How special it was. Yep, Clark?

The only thing I remember was... That's not your fault, man. You said something about the Tower of Babel? Yeah, we did talk about the Tower of Babel. That's right. Can you guys go on that side so you're facing me?

Jack and Jace. And then we talked about that spider. And that way I can look you in the eyes and get real serious every once in a while. Yeah, and there was a spider. I even listened to the recording. You guys really distracted the whole thing with that spider.

Were you recording that? I did, yeah. Yep. I didn't see you guys. Yep, you guys are being recorded. I didn't see that recording.

Yeah, it's recording you guys right now. So when you're older and you're a decent human being, I'll play what you sounded like when you were a kid. You'll be like, ugh. But when you're complaining about your kids being bad, I'll remind you how you guys acted. How's that sound? I'm a little angel.

Good. What'd you say? I'm a little angel. Yeah, well, you know, Satan's an angel, right? Yeah. So there's two kinds of angels.

Well, we won't get into that tonight. All right, so listen. This week, your study was from Acts chapter 4 and 5, right? And it had nothing to do with an accordion, so we don't even need to worry about that. It's distracting to me, too. I'm totally with you guys, okay?

I'm going to do that next week. Instead of the spiders, we can do the accordion. Yeah, we're going to end up doing it over there or something. We can do it on the backup fail. Yeah, you'd think I'd have some experience. How long do I have all this break?

That's fine. Thank you. so what what happened in acts four and five that you guys remember from your studies anybody did raise your hand did everybody do their study at home did you guys do it so what's something you remember from acts four or five did anything it could be little or small or big or whatever jace do you remember like the the guys got arrested and then they were in jail and they preaching like yeah yeah do you remember anything no Jack do you remember anything not really Clark you remember something yeah I mean it was like 80 verses so you guys can pick like anything you want to tell me yeah that's pretty exciting And then the priest, the leader priest, came and there was a crowd. Peter started preaching.

Yeah, and Peter was preaching. And then he got arrested. He did get arrested. Wesley, do you remember anything? No? It's okay.

Edison? I think it's kind of funny when, like, the priest tried to arrest the disciple, but it always turns out and makes it easier for the disciples to preach. That's a neat irony of it all, isn't it? Tiara? One of the things I thought that was really funny is that when they forbid them to teach in Jesus' name, that they were so well and how they weren't able to see their sin and they were so prideful that when they were telling them what they did to Jesus, they were so prideful that they would even hurt them.

Yeah, there are some people that don't want people talking about Jesus, right? And that's always been true, and it's true today. What if I told you that the neatest verse in the whole Bible is in this section? What if I told you that? that actually one of the main points of the entire Bible is in Acts chapter 5. What if I told you that? Would that be exciting?

Would you want me to tell you what it is? You don't want me to tell you? Nope, I don't. Okay, hold on a minute. The resurrection of Jesus. No, that's not what I'm talking about.

That's certainly important. That's why I said one of the neatest verses. He said two. I'm going to tell you. You don't have to guess. I'm not telling you you have to guess it.

I was just asking if you think that would be kind of cool. Wesley, do you have something to say? I want to hear the verse. Okay, I'm going to tell you, but I'm going to save it to the end. So you have to listen the whole time to find out what the neatest verse in the Bible is, okay? Yeah, well, Mr.

Roberts will kill it if it tries to attack me. No, just leave it alone. Leave it alone. Okay, so there's a lot of stuff in these two chapters. and we could talk about a lot of different things right there was the two people who died at church right right because they lied and they remember Ananias and Sapphira yeah so that was exciting I not even gonna talk about that like most people would just go right there and be like Look kids don lie right And I not going to do that You shouldn lie anyway But listen this is what I want you to understand In Acts chapter 4, verse 24, the apostles are praying.

Okay, so praying is when we talk to God, right? And we tell God things that we know about Him, and we tell Him what we want Him to do for us, and we exalt his name. And it says here, they lifted their voices together to God and said, Sovereign Lord. Anybody know what sovereign means? Like, uh, merciful? No, it doesn't mean merciful.

Powerful? In fact, because God's sovereign, he has to be merciful or we'd be in a lot of trouble. Powerful is a really good one. Sovereign means he's in total control. He's in charge. We actually say things like a sovereign nation is a country that is in control of its own people.

And other people can't tell them what to do. So like Arkansas can't tell Ohio what to do. Because Ohio is in charge of Ohio. But God is sovereign. He's sovereign over all. Listen to how they address him.

And they say, Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. So they first start when they talk to God by telling back to God things he already knows. But they talk about his wonderful works, right? They're acknowledging that he's the one that created. And if you acknowledge that someone else created everything, then you're also saying that you're not the creator, right? because they're not saying sovereign god who watched us make the earth right so in a way they're reminding themselves too hey god's in charge here by calling him sovereign and by singing the praise of his creation and then they say who through the mouth of our father david your servant uh said some things that they said in psalm 2 so they quote david the prophet it and I'm going to skip that.

But then they say, for truly in this city, there were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles, the people of Israel. So there were people gathered, they said. So that's, that's the subject. People gathered. Look at me. They're just talking to God.

They're just praying and they say to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. Who were the people they were just talking about? Herod and Pontius Pilate. Were those good people? They're talking about how they delivered. Yeah, these were the people that did bad things, but they said they were put there to do whatever God had predestined would take place.

They're acknowledging that God's sovereign, that he is in charge, right? And that even people that do bad things, right, Edison? You do bad things, right? Even people who do bad things, although they're being disobedient to God, they're actually carrying out his plan and purposes. And that's what you said earlier. you said that when the people tried to tell him not to speak about Jesus, it actually gave him more opportunity to speak about Jesus, right?

It's almost like everyone's attempt to thwart God's plans, to stop God's plans, just totally fail, and in fact, are part of his plan. Isn't that crazy? Like the Titanic. Like the Titanic. They were kind of like the Tower of Babel. Yeah, when they did the Tower of...

Yeah, everything that man tries to do when they think they're actually acting against God, they're actually being used by God to fulfill his purposes for his glory. But so they say, they ask him, they say, now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants, they're talking about themselves, to continue to speak your word with all boldness. Now, if it was me, I think I would have said something like, God, please make it so I don't go to jail. make it so I don't get hurt make it so I don't get arrested make it so I can have a lot of good food today those are the kinds of prayers most of us do most of the time God give me this, make me happy make me comfortable, do this so I feel good right? isn't that how you pray sometimes? that's how I pray sometimes but these guys said God we just want you to let us continue to speak your word and your name with boldness their only concern was that they would be granted by the sovereign God the ability to speak his name they didn't ask him to do anything else and they said while you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus so they thank God that along with their preaching they trusted that God would authenticate their preaching by miracles right? and so that's why everybody knew the apostles were the real deal and when they told us stuff and they wrote it down, we could believe it even today, right?

So now, does everybody remember what happened after that? They got arrested, right? They got put in jail, and then how did they get out? Remember? That's kind of a neat one for kids, I'm sure. An angel came and let them out of jail, right?

They didn't ask God for that. They just said, hey, let us speak your name. The very next thing that happened after they asked God, give us the ability to speak your name is they got arrested and they weren able to do it Isn that interesting Sometimes we ask God for something to go a certain way and that not the way God had planned And we need to learn to trust Him in that.

So they go to jail and they get out of jail and all the people are angry and they're arguing and there's this guy who comes in, Gamaliel, and he thinks he's all wise and people think he's wise and even today people think he's wise And I'll just tell you, I don't think he is. I don't think he's an example of how to employ wisdom when we make decisions. A lot of people say that about him because of the things he said here.

But this is what I want you to see. In verse 39 of Acts 5, they say, So they took his advice, and when they had called in the apostles, so they called them back in, right? Listen, they beat them. What's that mean? That means like hitting them, hitting them, punching them. Yeah, they beat them.

So they basically were telling them, hey, if you're going to keep preaching in the name of Jesus, this is what you're going to get. What happens when you get a beating? Don't you stop doing the thing you were doing? Right? I mean, maybe we don't call it that, but when we get a spanking, the whole reason for the spanking is to teach us not to do the thing right so we do not want a beating well the apostles got a beating and it says they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and then they let them go ok and so these apostles had a choice to make and we know what choice they made but this is the part that I think is the neatest verse in the whole Bible when I first read the Bible as a Christian I thought this was the neatest verse I thought this was going to be the best verse to remember my whole life and I still believe that now so God granted me that as a new Christian does anybody know Acts 5 41 already because if you don't this is I think one of the most important verses for a Christian to know I'm just wondering if you knew it on your head already do you know it people don't talk about this verse a lot I don't hear it preached on I don't hear people quote it or refer to it.

Listen to this verse. Remember these apostles, they acknowledge that God is sovereign, that he's in charge of everything, he's the creator of all, everything happens according to his plan, even the evil deed that happened to their Lord and Savior Jesus. And so that means they know that even the evil that's happening to them is according to God's will, right?

And it's for his purposes. Listen, they said, Then they, the apostles, left the presence of the council. So they left. Like they were told to go, Wesley. Look. Listen to what they did.

Rejoicing. Rejoicing. Now how many times do you think people go and get a beating and are rejoicing? Not many, right? Three out of ten? Probably three out of a million.

It's just not something people like. Right? If it was something people liked, these guys wouldn't have done it. They were rejoicing. Why were they rejoicing? Listen to why they rejoiced.

You know why? Yeah, because they were counted worthy to be, you know, yeah they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of jesus christ the bible tells us that we will obtain honor if we're humble the bible at no point tells us that Shame and dishonor is a good thing. But when they suffered dishonor, because they were with Jesus, that was cause for rejoicing for them.

Because they knew that they were one of his children. They knew that they would understand the power of Jesus' resurrection, because they not only shared in his sufferings, but they will then share in his resurrection and glorification. And so the worst thing that could happen to these guys was they get put in jail, they get beaten. And when I talk about getting beaten, I'm not talking about when you get in a little fight with your brother and your parents come break it up and maybe you have a bruise.

I'm talking about these guys were beaten hard. Like tortured, yeah. and it would have been they would have had wounds and bruises and this wasn't back when they could just go to the doctor and get an ice pack and all the things we have now but they were rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Christ now why would you rejoice in that? because I don't know well if I thought I was worthy of really, really, really good treatment all the time and somebody treated me poorly, would I probably rejoice in that? Well, no, I wouldn't, right?

What kind of attitude would I have to have to actually find poor treatment toward me to make me actually think that made me worthy of something good? I would have to agree with God that I'm already unworthy. of anything good. And that's what they were doing at the beginning when I told you about their prayer. And they talked about God is sovereign He made everything They acknowledging that God is the only one worthy of any praise or honor or glory And because God is the only one worthy of all these good things these apostles recognized that that God, Jack, who is worthy of all perfection all the time, when God, Jesus Christ, became a man and suffered shame for us, that that meant that we should be even more willing to suffer shame if it's for His name.

Because we don't deserve anything good. And so if you go through this entire life and you have this terrible life and it's very difficult and you get sick and your leg hurts and you've got ingrown toenails and maybe you end up with gout or you have cancer or maybe you die as a little kid and you have a lot of pain, I don't know what's going to happen. Everything that happens to you here is still better treatment than any of us deserve. even a beating by people who hate God but the reason why we can rejoice is because that shows us we know Jesus Christ we are identified with Jesus we're on his team it's like there's two teams, there's Jesus' team and then there's the evildoers and your jersey says I'm on Jesus' team so they punish you but that gives you the hope of the resurrection And so the apostles are our model here that we ought to be so consumed with proclaiming Jesus' name with boldness and identifying with his life, death, and resurrection that even if the world hates us, it would cause us to rejoice. knowing that whatever shame and dishonor we suffer is actually validation that we are one of his people and we'll go to heaven.

So what's important here, though, is I don't know that everybody here is going to heaven. I hope so. But if a tree fell now and killed all of us, is everybody here absolutely certain that you have believed on Jesus Christ for salvation? I know some of you have. I know some of you say you have. But you don't know if you're going to live 50 years or 5 more minutes.

You don't know. Or one second. The next breath is not promised. And so right now is the time for you to get in your heart and you to ask God to forgive you of your sins because Jesus died for sinners and rose again. Right now is the time for you to repent of disobeying your parents. Repent of lying.

Repent of taking things that aren't yours. Repent of a bad attitude. Repent of wanting things that aren't yours, that are someone else's. Repent of every time your brother picked up a toy and all of a sudden you said, I wanted that toy. Repent of every time your parents told you to do something and you did it, but you didn't do it cheerfully. God is a righteous judge. and God is also a very loving Father and what I want you to do is turn to Him and I want you to cry out to Him to save your soul.

And if you want to talk to one of the adults here about it, anybody here would talk to you about it? Grandpa Arthur would love to hear a kid talk to him about this stuff, I bet. Mr. Roberts would. Everybody here would love to talk about those things with you, okay? that I don't want you to go to bed without thinking about it, alright? Alright?

Anybody? Anybody want to just say alright? Okay, if you just respond, I'll stop. Stop teaching. We'll just go play the game now. Yeah, there we are.

Alright, let me pray. Let me pray and then we'll play the same game, but I'm going to change it just a little tiny bit. Father in heaven, you are the sovereign Lord, the creator of heaven and earth and the sea and the air and all that is in it. You are the one who has ordained all things that have come to pass and shall come to pass. You've written them down perfectly in your word.

You've even inspired mere men to write these things for us in the Bible. And you have given us your Holy Spirit to be our comforter in this life if we've believed in Jesus Christ. And so I pray for every one of these children here right now. I pray that you would increase the Holy Spirit's power in their life if they're already saved. That you would bear with their spirit that they are children of God.

That they may know that they identify with Christ and that they would be ready to suffer for his name if needed. And I pray for those here that have not yet bowed the knee to Christ that they would not waste another day. That they would turn from their sinful urges and their sinful heart even in their youth. and they would trust Christ to be their Savior.

I pray that you would do that work of making them born again by your Spirit, Lord, and I will trust you to do it in the timing that you believe is perfect. Forgive us for being presumptuous and thinking we know better than you so often, Lord, and grant us faithfulness. In Christ's name I pray, amen. Okay, so go get the net, and we'll play the same game.

Thank you for listening to Be a Berean with your host, Michael Coughlin. I am a writer at thingsabove.us, and I also have a personal website, michaelcoughlin.net. You can contact me by emailing me, michael at thingsabove.us. I hope that you have been encouraged to search the scriptures