Courageous Christians and our Local Mission If you have any questions from the message today, send them here and I'll follow up! The Story of Acts 5 “If you want to build a ship, don’t summon people to buy wood, prepare tools, distribute jobs, and organize the work, rather teach people the yearning for the wide, boundless ocean.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry “Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico.” (Acts 5:12, ESV) “But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.” (Acts 5:17–18, ESV) “saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.”” (Acts 5:28, ESV) “When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.” (Acts 5:33, ESV) Worthy to Suffer Dishonor “Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.” (Acts 5:41, ESV) Faithful Witness Where is OUR Solomon’s Portico? Convicting Convictions “Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn apart by dogs, crucified, or burnt to serve as nightly illumination.” Tacitus, Roman Historian “Kill us, torture us, condemn us, grind us to dust…The more you mow us down, the more we grow; the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” Tertullian, Second Century Christian Philosopher “What we have is . . . a pagan society whose public life is ruled by beliefs which are false. And because it is not a pre-Christian paganism, but a paganism born out of the rejection of Christianity, it is far tougher and more resistant to the Gospel than the pre-Christian paganisms with which foreign missionaries have been in contact during the past two hundred years. Here, without possibility of question, is the most challenging missionary frontier of our time.” Leslie Newbigin, British Missionary, Theologian, Cultural Anthropologist Confident Hope “The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”” (Acts 5:30–32, ESV) “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38–39, ESV) So What? As always, if you'd like to talk more with me about anything we discussed, you can sign up for [meeting time](https://calendar.app.google/Xu6GGwU2KvPQeyZFA