When You’re Out Of Control |07.14.24| Actions Speak Louder! pt.5

When You’re Out of Control - Acts 4:1-22 Pastor Drew Williams One of the scariest times in my life was when I was inner-tubing down a flooded and swollen river. The current was too fast to be able to fight it, the river was full of debris, and I had lost sight of the friends I had started the day with. [SLIDE 2] lower third blank Another time that was scary for me was when I was riding on a dirtbike. My front wheel caught a rock, and the whole bike bucked me up like a horse, and the only hand that stayed on was the one pulling the throttle, so I was stuck hanging on for dear life while the bike peeled away faster and faster. A final time that comes to mind that was scary for me was when I was home alone with my first baby for the first time ever. Megan was out to dinner with some friends, and Emmy was maybe two or three months old. I told her, “I’ve got it, go!” And then when she was gone, at some point Emmy was crying uncontrollably and I couldn’t do anything to make her calm down. And the common trait of all of those moments in my life? I had no control. The situation was out of my control and I felt scared, desperate, cornered… angry even. How many of you have been in a situation where you didn’t have control? And it was scary? Or frustrating? When we are in a situation like that, it’s easy to feel scared, or feel threatened, because we aren’t sure how it’s going to turn out. We aren’t sure it’s going to go well for us. We aren’t sure we’ll get through it unscathed. And one of the most common reactions to a situation like that is for us to try and regain CONTROL. Try and take hold of the situation. Try and exert whatever power we have to ensure our safety. Because if we don’t TAKE CONTROL, it might end badly. That’s a natural reaction right? But as we’ll see from our Bible passage today, moments like that reveal to us what truly has power in our lives. The thing we put our hope in to save us — the WAY that we try to regain control — THAT is the thing that is the most powerful thing in our lives. And in those situations, we get to see whether the most powerful thing in our lives… is enough. [SLIDE 3] So let’s open our Bibles to Acts chapter 4, which is on p92 of the NT in the black, seat-back Bibles. And as you find it, this is actually part two of the story we started reading last week. Peter and John are on their way to prayer at the temple in Jerusalem, where they are telling people all about Jesus when they are stopped by a beggar who can’t walk, asking for money. Peter doesn’t have any money, but still gives him from what he does have, which is faith. The guy is healed and is immediately able to walk and starts jumping around and praising God. It draws a crowd, and so Peter tells everyone around that it was all because of the power of Jesus, the true savior of the world. And that’s where we pick up our story today. So let’s read together Acts 4:1-22… [ACTS 4:1-22] [SLIDE 4] blank While Peter and John were speaking, right in the middle of some amazing explanation that Jesus is the reason the lame man was healed, all the church leaders show up. This group includes the priests who are in charge of the proceedings at the temple: like the flow of people in and out, the offering of sacrifices, keeping the incense burning, leading little prayer groups. In our modern idea, it would be pretty much everyone who volunteers on a Sunday to make this whole gathering work. The greeters, the coffee crew, the ushers, the tech people, the communion servers, etc. They’re accompanied by the “captain” of the temple, who would be an administrative guy who keeps it all running smoothly, so maybe someone like our finance team or possibly a pastor who oversees it all and fills in the gaps. And then we’ve got the Sadducees, who are the group in charge. Similar to a church council, or that one Bible study group that actually has all the authority and sway in some churches. Or maybe