Accept: Truth and Grace

  • Dr. Bob Harrington
  • Jan 21, 2007
  • Series: Acts
Accept: Truth and Grace
Acts 5:12-40
Dr. Bob Harrington

 

"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair."
-C.S. Lewis

We have good reasons to believe (Acts 5:12-16)

Blaise Pascal: We know the truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart.

We often face Antagonism (Acts 5:17-26; Acts 4:12; John 14:6; John 3:16)

The New life is . . .

Personal Truth
Important Truth
Absolute Truth

Antagonism comes because . . .

George Orwell: In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

Winston Churchill: Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened.

 
We must courageously speak the truth (Acts 5:27-32)

Traditional Understanding Post Modern Culture (youth)


Surprising people may help us (Acts 5:33-40)

 
We must keep speaking out with the truth (Acts 5:40-42)

G.K. Chesterton:
Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.

 

Study Group Questions

Opening: Talk about why people become Christians. Describe what you have found to be the most powerful reasons or events that cause people to become Christians?

Bible Study: Read Acts 5: 12-42 and review the teaching.

1. What made you become a Christian (if you have become one)? How do other people evaluate your rationale?
2. Talk about the three levels of truth: absolute, important, and personal. What is belief in Jesus an absolute? What are some important, but non-essential truths? What are personal truths that may not be true for other people?
3. Review the different ways that the two generations (traditional and emerging) look at things. What bothers you most about these two sets of differences? Why?
4. What will it take for people to be as bold as these Christians were today?
5. What step of boldness do you need to take next? Why?

Close: In what specific situations can we pray for each other so that we will be as bold as the apostles and others in Acts 5?