An Unstoppable Movement
5/8/25 Bible Thought (Acts 5)
I’m sure we’ve all been discouraged at one point or another with how things are going in the church. Perhaps our own local church or the church in general. Rural churches oftentimes are forced to close their doors for lack of funding or a dwindling congregation. On the other hand, it seems that the churches that really thrive are those who teach some form of me-centered theology or prosperity gospel that loses sight of the biblical one.
It's at these times that I think we must remind ourselves: the church shouldn’t even be here.
A group of 11 rag-tag disciples whose leader was killed in a travesty of justice doesn’t stick around for 2,000 years. It doesn’t even make sense! That is, unless there is a divine basis for that very group and its foundation is rooted in divine acts.
This is exactly what we see in Acts 5. After a wild turn of events with the couple, who as Kevin DeYoung puts it, “lied and died” the church continued to grow. In fact, God was aiding the church’s growth through miracle after miracle so much so that it was said,
“And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitude of both men and women” (Acts 5:14).
The church that grew by 3,000 people in one day at Pentecost was now growing on an even greater level. It was unstoppable.
So much so, that when the apostles were placed in jail, the Lord of angel-armies sent one of His angelic attendants to bust them out (Acts 5:17-19). The council that had placed them behind bars found out the next day that before they’d had morning breakfast the apostles were already back at the temple preaching Jesus!
The council had a problem on their hands. This group of Jesus’ followers were working undeniable miracles before all the people and were gaining a larger following day by day. What can you do in response to such a problem?
A wise Pharisee amongst them named Gamaliel—a teacher who Saul of Tarsus studied under! (see Acts 22:3)—stood up in their midst with a powerful conclusion. After citing a few examples of men who had grown large followings that died down, he states,
“So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” (Acts 5:38-39).
Many movements came and went. Without divine aid they failed. Gamaliel basically said, “We’ll see.” If this is from God, we can’t do anything about it. If it’s not, it’ll be gone soon enough anyways—and look, we’re here today as followers of the same Jesus!
The testimony of Acts is that the church is God’s doing and therefore it’s unstoppable. As Jesus had said, He would build His church. The pages of Acts should encourage our hearts day by day and chapter by chapter as we see the Lord’s faithfulness to the church.
So, no matter how things might be going in one local church, or even for the church in a certain country, the testimony concerning the church as a whole is one of success. The church will not be stamped out because the promise-making and promise-keeping God has said so.
This should fill our hearts with hope today.