Acts 5:26 At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.
You would think that being the captain of the Temple Guard would buy you some credibility. You would think that the Jews would fall in line with the High Priest and the Sanhedrin. Yet the Temple guard did not assume such things.
There was apparently quite a bit of support on the side of the apostles even among the non-believers. They had earned the credibility. They had done this by a) not doing anything immoral or foolish to embarrass the church b) speaking boldly about what they had witnessed c) performing acts of kindness (see verses 15 and 16) and d) producing real results that could not be done without God (see verses 15 and 16 again).
How is your church's credibility in the community? Would those who are not even associated with your church take up for your church because of the obvious good that is being done? Could those four things above be said about you and your church?
1 comment:
Good stuff these last 2 days. I have been trying to drive home today's points especially to my congregation. We are so consumed with ourselves, that few in the community know what we exist, and those that do don't know what we exist for. More reaching out (which I define as acts of love and kindness as opposed to "telling them about Jesus") would go a long way in establishing our church as a beacon of love and hope in this community.
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