Empower

12 The apostles performed many signs and

wonders among the people. And all thebelievers used to meet together in

Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 No one else daredjoin them, even though they were highlyregarded by the people.14 Nevertheless,more and more men and women believed

in the Lord and were added to theirnumber.

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15 As a result, people brought the sickinto the streets and laid them on bedsand mats so that at least Peter’sshadow might fall on some of them ashe passed by. 16 Crowds gathered alsofrom the towns around Jerusalem,bringing their sick and thosetormented by impure spirits, and all ofthem were healed.

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17 Then the high priest and all hisassociates, who were members of theparty of the Sadducees, were filledwith jealousy. 18 They arrested theapostles and put them in the publicjail. 19 But during the night an angel ofthe Lord opened the doors of thejail and brought them out.

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20 “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said,“and tell the people all about this new life.”21 At daybreak they entered the templecourts, as they had been told, and began toteach the people. When the high priest andhis associates arrived, they called togetherthe Sanhedrin—the full assembly of theelders of Israel—and sent to the jail for theapostles.

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22 But on arriving at the jail, the officers didnot find them there. So they went back andreported, 23 “We found the jail securelylocked, with the guards standing at thedoors; but when we opened them, wefound no one inside.” 24 On hearing thisreport, the captain of the temple guard andthe chief priests were at a loss, wonderingwhat this might lead to.

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25 Then someone came and said, “Look!The men you put in jail are standing in thetemple courts teaching the people.” 26 Atthat, the captain went with his officers andbrought the apostles. They did not useforce, because they feared that thepeople would stone them.27 The apostles were brought in and madeto appear before the Sanhedrin to bequestioned by the high priest.

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28 “We gave you strict orders not to teachin this name,” he said. “Yet you have filledJerusalem with your teaching and aredetermined to make us guilty of this man’sblood.” 29 Peter and the other apostlesreplied: “We must obey God rather thanhuman beings! 30 The God of ourancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross.

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31 God exalted him to his own right hand asPrince and Savior that he might bring Israelto repentance and forgive their sins. 32 Weare witnesses of these things, and so is theHoly Spirit, whom God has given to thosewho obey him.”

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33 When they heard this, they werefurious and wanted to put them to death.34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, ateacher of the law, who was honored by allthe people, stood up in the Sanhedrin andordered that the men be put outside for alittle while.

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35 Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: “Menof Israel, consider carefully what you intendto do to these men. 36 Some time agoTheudas appeared, claiming to besomebody, and about four hundred menrallied to him. He was killed, all hisfollowers were dispersed, and it all came tonothing.

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37 After him, Judas the Galilean appeared inthe days of the census and led a band ofpeople in revolt. He too was killed, and allhis followers were scattered. 38 Therefore,in the present case I advise you: Leavethese men alone! Let them go! For if theirpurpose or activity is of human origin, it willfail.

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39 But if it is from God, you will not be ableto stop these men; you will only findyourselves fighting against God.”40 His speech persuaded them. They calledthe apostles in and had them flogged. Thenthey ordered them not to speak in thename of Jesus, and let them go.

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41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin,rejoicing because they had been countedworthy of suffering disgrace for theName. 42 Day after day, in the templecourts and from house to house, they neverstopped teaching and proclaiming the goodnews that Jesus is the Messiah.

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8 But you will receive power when theHoly Spirit comes on you; and you willbe my witnesses in Jerusalem, and inall Judea and Samaria, and to the endsof the earth.”

Acts 1:8

In Acts 1:8, Jesus says this: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has

come upon you, and you will be my witnesses,” starting locally and

culminating globally.

And what it means to live a Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered life is to be one who

bears witness to Jesus, who demonstrates with a changed life and declares with clear

speech that Jesus is God, that Jesus forgives, that Jesus loves, that Jesus saves.

As we like to say it, it’s all about Jesus.

So the book of Acts shows the explosion that begins to erupt after the resurrection

of Jesus, that 120 followers soon have added to their number three thousand and

then thousands more are added. But by the time we pick up the story in Acts

chapter 5, persecution and opposition arises.

Here’s what’s going on: the apostles, the leaders, chosen by Jesus are doing ministry openly and publicly. You need

to get that, because today, people want ministry to be done privately, not

publicly.

They’re going to get in trouble because their faith has gone public; it’s not private. They are inviting others to

learn about Jesus.

So were they, but it says that many, multitudes, numbers of the people who

heard about Jesus, they crossed the line of faith. They went public in their commitment to Jesus, both men and

women.

Give your sin to Jesus. Give your soul to Jesus. Don’t allow the criticism of others to damn you to Hell. It’s much

better to face their wrath than his. And many were saved. So people are loved,

people are saved.

It says that sick people get healed. We believe that God is the same

yesterday, today, and forever. He has healed, he will heal, and he is healing.

We believe that in the kingdom of God, no one will be sick.

We believe that sickness has entered the world because of sin, and

occasionally the kingdom of God breaks into this world and healing

comes to reveal Jesus as our Great Physician.

As Jesus healed when he was on the earth, he rules from heaven. He can still heal on the earth because his

jurisdiction has no limitation.

They had unclean, demonic spirits. Our culture does not believe this, but the

Bible declares this: there isn’t just God, there is Satan who, along with the

fallen angels, are in rebellion against God.

They didn’t want to submit to God’s authority, they wanted to have God’s authority. And as a result, they were cast down and they were fallen, and they have been at work in the world ever since, beginning with our first

parents.

What that means is this: not all spirituality is good, godly, or safe. And this great

erroneous false teaching is that the spirit realm is good. Open yourself up to whatever religion, or ideology, or

experience, or spirituality, and it’s all good because spirituality is good.

Some people are dangerous, some spirits are dangerous. Some people are unclean, some spirits are unclean. And these people were

very spiritual, but they were open to demons, they were oppressed, and they were

depressed, their minds were affected, their bodies were polluted, their souls were discouraged. They were in bondage.

You need to know that. God still does these things, and if we participate with him by the

power of the Holy Spirit, we will receive opposition as they received. And very

quickly the opposition comes because for every action there’s a reaction.

Again, for every healing, there is hatred. For every deliverance, there is a debate. For

every conversion, there is a criticism. This is the price of ministry

What they’re opposing is that they don’t have the power, they don’t have the control, that the Holy Spirit has not

anointed and appointed them for this kind of ministry. As a result, they suffer from jealousy. And the disciples, the apostles,

they haven’t done anything wrong.

Jealousy is a deep root of sin in the human heart. The religious people here, it’s all

about power and control. But the Holy Spirit decided he was going to love, and save,

and heal, and deliver people.

Religious people want to argue, they want to fight, they want power, they want

control, they want every bit of attention on them. Ministry’s about helping people, and

sometimes that requires dealing with, ignoring, religious people who don’t care

about lost people, because their real issue is jealous opposition.

Here’s the truth: God anoints whomever he wants to anoint, and just because he

anointed that person doesn't mean they’re more godly, or more gifted, or more

capable, or more special. Sometimes God likes glory, so he picks the loser and lets

him do amazing things by his power.

Keep preaching. Keep talking about Jesus. Jesus paid the greatest price for us, we’llpay any price for him. And better than us living a life of comfort and ease is people being loved, and saved, and healed, and

delivered.

And there’s a joy in seeing the work of the Holy Spirit in and through people, and that’s

what ministry’s all about.

He paid the ultimate price, you may need to pay a little price to walk with him, to be a witness to him so that others can meet

him and be saved and served by him.

But our goal is not comfort and ease, our goal is to be witnesses. Jesus took a

beating for you. Sometimes you may need to take a beating for him.

But what a great joy, what a great glory, what a great honor, what a great privilege

it is to be counted worthy of being opposed because of Jesus. You’re going to pay a price. Make it for the name of Jesus.

You’re going to live your life for some cause, reason, or purpose. Make it the

name of Jesus.

Elisha Gray(1835-1901)

Elisha Gray was a Quaker from rural Ohio who grew up on a farm. He studied

electricity at Oberlin College. In 1867, Gray received his first patent for an improved telegraph relay. During his lifetime, Elisha

Gray was granted over seventy patents for his inventions, including many important

innovations in electricity.

He devised a tone telegraph of this kind about the same time as La Cour. In Gray's

tone telegraph, several vibrating steel reeds tuned to different frequencies interrupted the current, which at the other end of the line passed through electromagnets and vibrated matching tuned steel reeds near

the electromagnet poles.

Gray's 'harmonic telegraph,' with vibrating reeds, was used by the Western Union

Telegraph Company. Since more than one set of vibration frequencies – that is to say, more than one musical tone – can be sent

over the same wire simultaneously, the harmonic telegraph can be utilized as a

'multiplex' or many-ply telegraph,

conveying several messages through the same wire at the same time. Each message

can either be read by an operator by the sound, or from different tones read by

different operators, or a permanent record can be made by the marks drawn on a ribbon of travelling paper by a Morse

recorder.

On February 14, 1876 at the US Patent Office, Gray's lawyer filed a patent caveat for a telephone. However, he arrived at the

patent office two hours after an engineer named Alexander Graham Bell arrived to apply for a patent for his version of the

telephone.

On February 14, 1876 at the US Patent Office, Gray's lawyer filed a patent caveat for a telephone. However, he arrived at the

patent office two hours after an engineer named Alexander Graham Bell arrived to apply for a patent for his version of the

telephone.

On the basis of its earlier filing time -- a mere few hours -- and on the subtle

distinctions between a caveat and an actual patent application, the U.S. Patent Office awarded Bell, not Gray, the patent for the

telephone.

FAITHWORKS CHRISTIAN CHURCH GLOBAL

Presented By:

Pastor Alvin Gutierrez

FCC Main, San Mateo, 4PM Afternoon Service

, January 24, 2016

Website: http://faithworkschristianchurch.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Faithworks-Christian-Church-Global-292363410916567/