In Acts 5, Luke records the incident with Ananias and Sapphira who sold a piece of property and pretended to give all the money to the church, so as to be seen by men.  Their lie cost them their life.  Some of the apostles got put in prison for preaching Jesus and the Lord let them out of prison and told them to go out and preach the whole message of this Life.  When the prison guards went to get the apostles at the request of the high priest, they were not there – but were out preaching Jesus in the streets.  The guards brought the apostles to the high priest, the high priest questioned them as to why they disobeyed his direct order.  Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.”  The high priest and others wanted to kill them, but Gamaliel told them not to, but to wait and see if this movement was from God or not.  So the Jewish leaders had them flogged, told them not to preach in Jesus name any more and then released them.  The apostle rejoiced that they were considered worthy to be persecuted for Jesus name.  Then the apostle went right back to preaching the Gospel of Jesus.  The answer the apostles gave the high priest as to why they disobeyed his order not to preach in Jesus name was, “We must obey God rather than men.”  When faced with persecution or the possibility of persecution, am I willing to obey God rather than men?  Lord, by your grace, may I always obey you rather than men.

– Bryan McKenzie

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