Is this a familiar experience?
Your world is turned upside down. Your mind buzzes; it won’t stop. It’s unbelievable! Why would they do that? How could it have turned out like this? What can I do now?
How we react to trouble shows what we believe about ourselves, but most importantly, what we believe about God. As we saw last week, we can affirm many true things about God, but there is often a gap between what we say our heads believe and the beliefs we put into action.
How should we react to trouble?
Peter and John have been arrested for healing a man in Jesus’ name (Acts 3). They were threatened by the civil, academic, and religious leaders of their day. And they’ve been commanded to stop speaking or teaching in Jesus’ name/authority (Acts 4:1-22).
We’re going to see how they react, and what their reaction tells us about the God they serve (and we serve), and we’ll see how that shows itself in how we live:
- How we react to trouble (v23)
- Reason #1: Our God is not Small (v24)
- Reason #2: Our God is not Scared (v25-26)
- Reason #3: Our God is not Surprised (v27-30)
- Speaking the Word of God with Boldness (v31)
Sunday 29th July 2018
Review questions:
- What do I do in trouble (v23)?
- God is the _________________________ (v24)
- God __________________ His servants (v29)
- Why is God the Master (v24)?
- Who wrote Psalm 2 (v25)?
- Does God expect opposition (v26)? Yes/No
- Why does God laugh at His opponents (Ps 2:4-6)?
- How did God know Jesus would die (v28)?
- Could Herod & Pilate etc. do different to what God planned (v27)? Yes/No
- Were they responsible (Acts 2:23)? Yes/No
- Are we responsible without free will? Yes/No
- Does God’s providence comfort us in suffering?
- A question I have:
- A truth to share:
- How I should live:
- Prayer:
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