Acts 05 Round Two: Opposition Inside And Outside

Holiness inside and courage outside—Acts 5 brings both into sharp focus. We open with a generous community meeting urgent needs, then confront the sobering story of Ananias and Sapphira. Their deception isn’t about dollars; it’s about truth. The result is holy fear that resets the church’s understanding of integrity, reminding us that the Spirit’s power cannot be separated from the Spirit’s purity.

From there, the scene spills into the streets. Crowds bring the sick and oppressed, and Luke says all were healed as the apostles ministered in Solomon’s Colonnade. The focus isn’t on spectacle; it’s on a surrendered life where the presence of God overflows into real change. As momentum grows, jealousy triggers arrest. An angel opens the jail and sends the apostles back to teach. We unpack why obedience is often quiet, steady, and stubbornly consistent—showing up at daybreak to speak the message of life regardless of pressure.

The council confrontation peaks with Peter’s clear confession: we must obey God rather than human authority. He proclaims Jesus crucified, risen, and exalted, and calls for repentance with the witness of the Holy Spirit. Then comes a surprising voice of wisdom—Gamaliel—who urges restraint: if this movement is human it will fade, but if it’s from God, resistance is futile. The apostles are flogged and ordered to be silent, yet they leave rejoicing and keep teaching daily in public and from house to house. Along the way, we explore spiritual integrity, signs and wonders, civil courage, and resilient joy—keywords that include Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira, Peter, Gamaliel, early church, persecution, holiness, miracles, and obedience.

Join us as we reflect on where opposition shows up today—both inside the heart and outside in culture—and how the Holy Spirit forms a truthful, compassionate, and unshakable witness. If this conversation strengthens your faith, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a friend. What challenged you most about Acts 5?

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast.
Every day, we take one chapterof the Bible, dig deeper, and
discover that the more we dig,the more we find.
You can find out more at theBibleBreakdown.com.
Now let's grow in God's Wordtogether.
Well, hello, everybody.
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your
host, Pastor Brandon.
Today, Acts chapter 5.

(00:22):
And this was a hard one becauseif I were to give this one a
title, it would be OppositionInside and Outside.
What's happening is that eventhough there's great things
going on, there's expectedopposition.
We always have a spiritualenemy, the devil, who does not
want us to succeed in the thingsof God.

(00:43):
He doesn't mind us succeeding ina whole lot of things that have
nothing to do with God.
He does not want to see thechurch move forward.
We're going to get into that injust a moment.
But as always, if you like whatwe're doing here, make sure you
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And then also go to the BibleBreakdown discussion or on the

(01:05):
YouTube video and let us knowhow you're engaging with all of
this.
And I want to hear from you,what is the greatest opposition
to Christianity today?
If you could say one thing, whatis the greatest opposition to
Christianity today?
And we're going to talk aboutthat today, but kind of catch
you up.
The doctor-turned investigativejournalist, Luke, is writing

(01:26):
about the first 30 to 35 yearsof the church.
And he's talking about howeverything started off with a
bang and it just went fromthere, right?
And the theme of the gospel, orexcuse me, the theme of Acts is
this.
And we've been saying this everyday, is that if you were voted
most likely to succeed in yourgraduating class, if everything
works out for you and you alwaysget the job, I got good news for

(01:48):
you.
God can still use you, but heoften uses the least likely to
succeed, the overlooked, theordinary person to do the
greatest things he's ever done.
And what we see in the gospel,or excuse me, Acts, I always
want to say gospel, but in Acts,is we see these ordinary
fishermen and a used up Phariseenamed Paul who gave their lives

(02:11):
over to God completely.
And when they did, they got tosee the world turned upside
down.
And if God can do that throughthem, what can he do through us
if we will give our livestotally to him?
And that's what we see happeningover and over and over again.
In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit cameand infilled all of the
disciples, and they began tospeak with other languages, and

(02:32):
they were filled with uh powerand the glory of God and
preached the gospel, and they'rejust doing all these things.
And when we left them yesterday,they were praying for boldness.
And as they were praying forboldness, God gave them
boldness, but there was also alogistical, like physical
problem, and that is peoplerunning out of money.
When the day of Pentecosthappened, people were coming

(02:52):
there to celebrate for a week orso and then going back home.
But the problem is, is thatbecause the Holy Spirit had been
poured out, people didn't wantto leave.
And so the crowd is now introuble.
They they need help.
They're running out of money.
And so what's happening is thatthere are people starting to
sell extra land and extrathings, and they're coming,
they're giving the money over toGod.

(03:12):
Well, here's the problem is thatwhenever you do that, you also
run into the risk of then peopleelevating themselves by, wow,
they're so generous.
They're so this, they're sothat.
Now, that's not why the originalpeople did that, but it does
tend to happen.
And if people don't have theiridentity and who they are in
Christ, then they'll start tolook for their identity

(03:33):
everywhere else.
And that's the problem we runinto today as we see opposition
from the inside, and thejudgment of God falls on two
people, a husband and wifecalled Ananias and Sapphira.
So let's read this.
It's hard to read, but it'simportant to see.
Acts chapter 5, verse 1.
If you have your NLT Bible open,the Bible said, but there was a

(03:56):
man named Ananias who, with hiswife, Sapphira, sold some
property.
He brought part of the money tothe apostles, claiming it was
the full amount.
His wife, with his wife'sconsent, and he kept the rest.
Peter said, Ananias, have youlet Satan fill your heart?
You've lied to the Holy Spirit,and you've kept some of the

(04:17):
money for yourself.
The property was yours to sellor not to sell as you wished.
But after selling it, the moneywas also yours to give away.
How could you do a thing likethis?
You're not lying to us, but toGod.
And look at this.
As soon as Ananias heard thesewords, he fell, boom, to the
floor and died.
Everyone who heard about it wasterrified.

(04:40):
Oh Lord, people be dying up inthe church.
Verse 6.
Then some young men got up,wrapped him in a sheet, and took
him out and buried him.
About three hours later, hiswife came in, not knowing what
had happened.
Peter asked her, Was this theprice you and your husband
received for the land?
Yes, she replied, That was theprice.
And Peter said, How could thetwo of you even think of

(05:04):
conspiring to test the spirit ofthe Lord like this?
The young man who buried yourhusband are just outside the
door, and they will carry youout too.
Instantly she fell to the floorand died.
And when the young men came inand saw that she was in the dead
too, they carried her out andthey buried her beside her
husband.
And then great fear gripped theentire church and everyone else

(05:25):
who heard what had happened.
Uh yeah.
Can you imagine?
Hey Peter, by the way, that wasuh that was$27 and two cents,
two cents, not just$27, two, twocents, Peter.
But this is what happened is itwasn't that they had sold the
things.
It wasn't that they lied.
What had happened was, is theysold some property, just to use
round numbers, let's just say$100.

(05:46):
Sold the property for$100.
But what they did was, is theycame and they said, Man, the
Lord was good to us.
We sold some property and wemade$70 off of this.
And so what happened was,though, is when they said, Is
that is that what it was?
Yeah, that that's all it was.
It was$70.
So there was the extra$30 thatthey kept, but they claimed
something different.

(06:07):
And so that was the problem.
It's not that you had it.
It was yours.
You can do with it whatever youwant to do with it, but you're
lying about it, and that's theproblem.
And that's where judgment fellon the house of God is not
because of selling the property,but lying to the Holy Spirit.
Verse 12 says this the apostleswere performing many miracles
and wonders among the people,and all the believers were

(06:29):
meeting regularly at the templein the area known as Solomon's
Colonnade.
But no one else dared to jointhem.
I don't blame them, even thoughall the people had high regard
for them.
Yet more and more peoplebelieved and were brought to the
Lord.
Crowds of both men and women.
As a result, the apostles' work,sick people were brought out
into the streets on beds andmats, so that Peter's shadow

(06:51):
might fall across some of themas they went by.
Crowds came from the villagesaround Jerusalem, bringing the
sick and those possessed by evilspirits, and all were healed.
Now think about that.
The presence of God is on Peterso strong that they actually
take sick people and fling themout in the street so that maybe

(07:13):
his shadow would go by so theycould be healed.
Now, what's special about Peter?
Nothing.
Nothing that you and I don'thave.
He had a real relationship withGod and he was filled with the
Holy Spirit.
That's what you and I can haveas well.
Now we don't go seeking afterthis prominence.
We go seeking after the giver ofthe gift.

(07:34):
But then he can use us in thatmighty way as well.
But now, because they are doingthis, predictable opposition
occurs.
Verse 17.
The high priest and hisofficials, who were Sadducees,
were filled with jealousy.
They arrested the apostles andput them in the public jail.
But the angel of the Lord cameat night and opened the gates of

(07:55):
the jail and brought them out.
And he told them, Go to thetemple and give the people the
message of life.
So at daybreak the apostlesentered the temple, and as they
were told, they immediatelybegan teaching.
When the high priest and theofficials arrived, they convened
the high council, the fullassembly of the elders of
Israel.
Then they sent for the apostlesto be brought from the jail for
trial.

(08:15):
But when the temple guards wentto the jail, they were gone.
So they returned to the counciland reported, The jail was
securely locked, with the guardsstanding outside, but when we
opened the gates, no one wasthere.
And when the captain of thetemple guard and the leading
priest heard this, they wereperplexed, wondering how it will
all end.
Then someone arrived withstartling news.

(08:49):
Then they brought the apostlesbefore the high council, where
the high priest confronted them.
We gave you strict orders tonever again teach in this man's
name, he said.
Instead, you have filled allJerusalem with your teachings
about him.
And you want to make usresponsible for this man's
death, which, by the way, yeah.

(09:10):
Verse 29.
But Peter and the apostlesreplied, We must obey God rather
than any human authority.
The God of our ancestors raisedJesus from the dead after you
killed him by hanging him on atree.
Then God put him in the place ofhonor at his right hand as the
prince and savior.
He did this so that the peopleof Israel would repent of their

(09:32):
sins and be forgiven.
We are witnesses of thesethings, and so is the Holy
Spirit, who is given by God tothose who obey him.
When they heard this, the highcouncil was furious and decided
to kill them.
But one member, a Pharisee namedGamaliel, who was an expert in
religious law and respected byall the people, stood up and

(09:55):
ordered that the men be sentoutside to the council members'
uh chamber for a while.
Now pause.
Now, this guy, not only having avery interesting name, Gamaliel,
something you need to know abouthim.
He was considered to be thewisest man in Jerusalem.
He was the one who taught thehighest and the most elite the
ways and the laws of God.

(10:18):
And that's what's amazing, isbecause we also know that
Gamaliel was Paul the Apostle'steacher.
Now back then you didn't go tocollege and get a four-year
degree from Stanford or Yale orHarvard.
You would go an apprentice undera teacher.
And so you would say, instead ofhaving a master's degree from
Harvard, you would say, I haveapprenticed under Gamaliel.

(10:39):
And if people knew that, theywere like, Whoa, this guy must
be pretty smart because Gamalielwas really, really smart.
And so he was the mostwell-respected and Paul's
teacher.
And this is what he says.
Then he said to the colleagues,Men of Israel, take care what
you are planning to do to thesemen.
Some time ago there was a fellownamed Thaddeus who pretended to

(11:00):
be someone great.
About 400 others joined him, buthe was killed.
And all of his followers wenttheir various ways.
The whole movement came tonothing.
After him, at the time of thecensus, there was Judas of
Galilee.
He got people to follow him too,but he was killed and all of his
followers were scattered.
So my advice is leave themalone.

(11:21):
Let them go.
If they are planning and doingthese things merely on their
own, it will soon be overthrown.
But if it is from God, you willnot be able to overthrow them.
You may even find yourselvesfighting against God.
The others accepted his adviceand they called the apostles and
had them flogged.
Then they ordered them to neverspeak the name of Jesus, and

(11:44):
then they let them go.
Remember, flogging was 39lashes.
So they didn't just slap them onthe wrist, they beat him half to
death.
And then they said, Don't dothis anymore.
But listen to this as we finish.
The apostles left the highcouncil rejoicing that God had
counted them worthy to sufferdisgrace for the name of Jesus.
And every day in the temple,from house to house, they

(12:05):
continued to teach and preachthe message, Jesus is the
Messiah.
Isn't that amazing?
That rather than feeling likethere something was wrong
because they had been persecutedfor the gospel, they consider
themselves thankful that theywere worthy of being persecuted
for the gospel.

(12:26):
My hope is for all of us that wenever receive persecution, that
we never go through a bad daybecause of the cause of Christ.
But over the course of ourlives, that's not going to be
possible.
There's going to be times, ifyou're living for Christ, that
other people are not going toagree.
But can I encourage you?
The next time someone slightsyou because you're a Christian,

(12:47):
next time someone says somethingbad against you because you're a
Christian, instead of saying, OhGod, I heavily carry this
persecution, rejoice.
Be excited because you arecounted worthy to suffer to
suffer disgrace because ofJesus.
What a powerful honor it is tocarry the name of Jesus with the

(13:07):
Holy Spirit inside of us intoevery area of life today.
Let's pray before we finish.
Father, thank you so much thatyou're for us and not against
us.
Thank you, Jesus, for coming anddying on the cross, rising
again, and for sending the HolySpirit to live within all of us.
Thank you, Holy Spirit, that youare our best friend, that you

(13:29):
walk with us every single day.
Your fruit grows in us, yourgifts move through us so that we
can make a difference in thelives of others today.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Don't forget, Jesus said Acts 1,verse 8, that you will receive
power when the Holy Spirit comesupon you, and then you will be
my witnesses to the ends of theearth.

(13:51):
My prayer for you today is thatyou would experience the power
of the Holy Spirit, and it wouldempower you to be a witness in
your world today.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow for Actschapter 6.