Rev.Dr.Jeffry David Camm

As a result of these events, the signs & miracles, the fact that the people were in one accord, glorifying and magnifying God,  many people, (both men & women) were added to the church,  - not just a few, but multitudes of them.

 

People brought out their sick relatives into the streets for Peter & the Apostles to lay hands on them, or for even their shadow’s to pass over them, so they could be healed.

 

This was not just limited to Jerusalem itself, because people from the nearby towns came with their sick folk to have them healed by the Apostles - news of the events was travelling fast throughout the region.

 

People came to hear, people came to see, people believed and were saved. Hallelujah!

 

WHEN PEOPLE MOVE WITH UNITY OF PURPOSE - GOD MOVES IN THE MIRACULOUS!

 

Here in the church today, we need to recognize this important fact!.

 

If we want to see a mighty move of God in our church, in our neighborhood, in our city, in our region, then we have to get rid of the lies, the cliques, the deceptions, and anything else, which is false in appearance, before the eldership, and before the Holy Spirit.

 

When the church in moving with unity of purpose - God moves in the miraculous! God wants us to be Holy, so He can show His glory among us.

 

 

These events were clearly evident and understood by the congregations of the early churches.

 

It was also clearly evident to the Jews of the Sanhedrin - to people outside the church congregation, they could see that God was moving in a mighty way - it could not go unnoticed.

 

When God starts to move in the miraculous, it gets Satan's attention, and he tries to use whatever methods he has at his disposal to stop these events from happening.

 

He tries to take the glory away from God. This is what we see commence to happen here.

 

The Sadducees were outraged by the miracles, because they did not believe in the concept of the resurrection and this was totally against what their sect preached. They had to do something!

 

We see the same thing through the ages, when God moves somebody always tries to stop it.

 

When there is a mighty move of God, people try to cause conflict or confusion to stop God getting the glory.

 

Acts 5:17      "Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation, 18 And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison."

 

You notice that the High Priest did not follow the Law.

 

They did not arrest them, charge them and when found guilty place them in prison. No they just threw them into prison - without trial.

 

This is completely against the teachings of the Old Testament, against law and order, against what the Sanhedrin stood for. Satan was now in action.

 

But God is in control Hallelujah!

 

Even when things seem to go wrong God has His plans and God has His ways of dealing with situations to bring the focus and the glory back to Himself. All we have to do is keep our faith and trust in Him.

 

Acts 5:19         "But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,

v.20                   Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.

v.21                    And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught."

 

68 times the Angel of the Lord appears in the Scriptures.

 

Each time it is recorded, a mighty thing happens and we must not miss the significance of these events when we see them in Scripture.

 

Here we see direct Divine intervention, to correct the Law. The Sanhedrin has placed the Apostles into prison without charge, and without trial, so God Almighty has released them to show the world His power is greater than that of the world and His will be done in all situations.

 

21 …. When the high priest and those with him arrived, they called together the council and the whole body of the elders of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.

22        But when the temple police went there, they did not find them in the prison; so they returned and reported,

23        "We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside."

24        Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were perplexed about them, wondering what might be going on.

 

It says they were a little puzzled by these events - they wondered what was going on.

 

25        Then someone arrived and announced, "Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!"

26        Then the captain went with the temple police and brought them, but without violence, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

 

Now I don't know about you, but the first thing I would have wanted to know was: how did they get out of prison? Which guards gave them the keys to get out, or which guards took bribes to release them?  I would have wanted an independent inquiry into this event, to try to find out the truth about it. How did they get out of prison? Did the High Priest ask this? This Scripture does not say so. The Scripture records the following:

 

28 …   "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man's blood on us."

 

Here was a miracle - right before their very eyes and yet they could not see it.

 

Even though you hit some people over the head with a 4 x 2 piece of wood it still does not sink in! They still don't believe it - they still want to go on and do things their own way.

 

Unfortunately we have people in the church today who are just like those of the Sanhedrin.

 

They are not prepared to recognise the moving of God in their midst - even when they are an eyewitness to the events.

 

Let us put aside our preconceived ideas, let us recognise that Jesus Christ is Lord and King and He is not restricted in His actions by our level of understanding, or our level of faith.

 

If God wants to move, He can move, whether we want to accept it or not. Let us go back to looking at what happened in the Book of Acts, recognise that these things never happened before in Scripture – but they are recorded for our knowledge and understanding and therefore Jesus is able to do greater things now in this day and age.

 

Let us pray that he does and that we are spiritually awake to recognise it when it happens.