Do You Enjoy Your Privacy? | Public Faith | Acts 5:12-21a | with Pastor Joshua Sanders

How many of you enjoy having privacy? Most people would agree that privacy is something that most of us desire. Americans are obsessed with privacy fences for their backyards, we love to tent our car windows as dark as we can, and all of us justifiably get upset when we see big “tech companies” selling our personal information. The reality is that in today’s day and age, we probably have less privacy than ever before. We all carry around smartphones in our pockets with most of our personal information that can be tracked. Not to scare you, but 83% of apps on Apple devices such as iPhones track private user data. And everyone has the freedom to do what they want, but many people freely share their location on social media and have no problem sharing updates on much of their private lives. So, while many of us would say that we enjoy privacy, many of us do things that are actually harming our privacy... And there are MANY people that think that those that are religious should keep their faith private. On an online forum, someone said posted a conversation starter that said that “Religious beliefs should be kept private.” Some of the comments were as follows... “I'd imagine most people do keep it to themselves, but the self-righteous (jerks) give them all a bad name. Some people think the only way their beliefs are valid is if they tell everyone.” “As a religious person, I could not agree more - I hate being asked whether I’m religious, because I don’t want people to view me in a different light because of it." And this is the reality. If we choose to live out our faith publicly, then we can prepare for similar responses as all of these. But while we all enjoy our privacy in life, our faith in Christ is not something that should remain private. And in this sermon, we are diving into Acts 5:12-21a. Last week we saw the early church face opposition on the inside. This week we will see the early church face some more opposition from the outside. The enemy loves to use both tactics for his attacks against the church. The enemy hates Gospel-centered ministry, because he knows that it is Gospel-centered ministry that brings Kingdom expansion. In this sermon, we will see the early church stay on the mission that Jesus gave them and continue to spread the Gospel publicly. And what we will learn is that as we GET AFTER IT for the expanding of the Kingdom of God, and we take our faith public, it will bless some, but it will also make some people upset.