a sermon by William L. Seitshiro

1. THEME: FAITH THAT PRECEDES
FROM THE THRONE OF GOD
ACTS 5:33-39
“WHEN THEY HEARD THIS, THEY WERE FURIOUS AND WANTED TO
PUT THEM TO DEATH. BUT A PHARISEE NAMED GAMALIEL, A
TEACHERS OF THE LAW, WHO WAS HONORED BY THE PEOPLE,
STOOD UP IN THE SANHENDRIN AND ORDERED THAT THE MEN BE
PUT OUTSIDE FOR A LITTLE WHILE.
THEN HE ADDRESSED THEM: ‘MEN OF ISRAEL CONSIDER CAREFULLY
WHAT YOU INTEND TO DO TO THESE MEN. SOME TIME AGO
THEUDAS APPEARED, CLAIMING TO BE SOMEBODY, AND ABOUT
FOUR HUNDRED MEN RAILED TO HIM. HE WAS KILLED, ALL HIS
FOLLOWERS WERE DISPERSED AND IT ALL CAME TO NOTHING.
AFTER HIM JUDAS THE GALILEAN APPEARED IN THE DAYS OF
CENSUS AND LED A BAND OF PEOPLE IN REVOLT. HE TOO WAS
KILLED, AND ALL HIS FOLLOWERS SCATTERED.
THEREFORE, IN THE PRESENT CASE I ADVISE YOU: LEAVE THESE
MEN ALONE! LET THEM GO! FOR IF THEIR PURPOSE OR ACTIVITY IS
OF HUMAN ORIGION, IT WILL FAIL. BUT IF IS FROM GOD, YOU WILL
NOT BE ABLE TO STOP THESE MEN; YOU WILL ONLY FIND
YOURSELVES FIGHTING AGAINST GOD.

2. INTRODUCTION
Today I want us to talk about faith from the book of Acts
Those that always come most especially when I get such a
wonderful opportunity to share the word of God know that I
love Luke the physician, I adore how he exposes truth and in
this book I like how he plays with the thought of ‘Faith’ and
how it united the saints, and brought them peace and love
while they were being persecuted for their faith and at the
same time the same faith (their persecuted for) spreads by
the power of the Holy Ghosts through them.
NB
HENCE THEIR CREED (STATEMENT OF BELIEF) STATES THAT
THEY BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER (WHO LEAD THE
ISRAELITES) , THE SON (WHO LEAD THEM) AND THE HOLY
SPIRIT (WHO WAS ABOUT TO LEAD THEM AND ALSO WHO IS
LEADING US), WHICH THEIR FAITH ORIGINATES FROM, THEY
MADE IT CLEAR ACCORDING TO HOW THEY LIVED, THAT
FAITH PRECEDES FROM THE TRONE OF GOD.
Luke now takes us on a journey where he exposes their Acts
(the apostle’s acts) and how the Holy Spirit used them, to
spread the faith of unity, love, and peace.

3. So many people around the world have something or someone they
put all their full trust and confidence on, even though there is not
logical proof. ‘NOW FAITH IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THE THINGS
HOPED FOR AND THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEE’ HEB 11:1.
NB
BUT YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE VERY ESSENCE OF OUR
BEING, THE VERY ESSENCE OF OUR EXISTANCE IS CENTERED
ARROUND FAITH.
We need something or someone to believe in, it might be anything
tangible or spiritual. We are what we are today because we choose
to put our faith on the teachings of Jesus.
Today I want to speak about that faith, the faith that precedes from
the throne of God:
1. The faith that heals
2. The faith that unites
3. The faith that loves
4. The faith that encourages spiritual growth
5. The faith that is centred on Christ Jesus, Paul says in him we
breathe we live and we have our being, Jesus is the subject and
object of our ‘Faith’.

4. NB
SOME MAY BE WONDERING WHY I AM CONNECTING FAITH WITH
LOVE, PEACE, AND UNITY:-
F.F. BRUCE, YOUNGBLOOD, AND HARRISON CONTEND THAT “FAITH
IS A BELIEF IN OR CONFIDENT ATTITUDE TOWARDS GOD, INVOLVING
COMITMENT TO HIS WILL FOR ONE’S LIFE”
YOU CANNOT SAY YOU ARE FAITHFUL WHILE LACKING LOVE, PEACE
AND UNITY BECAUSE THAT IS THE WILL OF GOD FOR US.
Stephan Joubert contends “Looking for structures, buildings,
positions and titles as the most eminent characteristics, we forget
that relationships initially motivated and drove ‘ekklesia’ even while
it grew missionally. The fingerprints of these Christians did not show
up in buildings, offices and religious orders, but on each other’s
lives.”
OUR FAITH IS MOTIVATED BY RELATIONSHIPS, BOTH WITH GOD AND
WITH EACH OTHER; WE CANNOT SAY WE ARE FULL OF FAITH WHILE
LACKING LOVE, PEACE AND UNITY.
NB
PAUL SAYS “THEREFORE, SINCE WE HAVE BEEN JUSTIFIED THROUGH
FAITH, WE HAVE PEACE WITH GODTHROUGH OUR LORD JESUS
CHRIST, THROUGH WHOM WE HAVE GAINED ACCESS BY FAITH INTO
THIS GRACE IN WHICH WE NOW STAND”
WE CAN NEVER BECOME MORE THAN CONQUERORS IF OUR FAITH
DOES NOT CONNECT US IN LOVE, PEACE AND UNITY.

5. As we Transition to subject of faith, we cannot ignore what
Gamaliel says to the Sanhedrin.
Gamaliel was a Pharisee who probably dint wants to see the
Sadducees win any victories. He was a scholar highly
esteemed by the people, rather liberal in his application of
the law, and apparently moderate in his approach to
problems.
When he died the Jews said the glory of the law ceased and
purity and abstinence died. Gamaliel counsel was unwise and
dangerous.
NOW
Gamaliel might have made a wise statement, yet if you study
what he said you will notice that he compered Jesus to two
rebels which means he considered Jesus to be one of the
people who tried to overpower the romans (HE DINT SEE
HIM AS LORD), he also thought that the followers of Jesus
Christ will scatter the same way others scattered he also
thought God is not the side of the disciples.
HE DID NOT CARE WHAT SOEVER ABOUT THE DESCIPLES

6. It is said that faith is an imperative thing to possess in Christianity but
my question has always been do we know and understand what faith
is? how faith unites people and bring love.
We have limited faith in Hebrews 11:1 that we forgot how faith
unites, how faith motivates and inspires love, how faith brings peace
in people and motivates them to grow.
And my other question has been, how far will we go for that faith?
Years before our generation emerged, there were a group of people
who were called the Roman Catholic Church, there you find the
Papasy of Heresy (Popes), those popes had scholars who would
investigate among the Christians who was preaching something
wrong and if they found him they will kill him, where is the unity,
love and peace? Even though the scholars were wrong, they have
made their theology a god that they began to destroy the men and
women of God. THE CHURCH BECAME AN ENEMY TO THE CHURCH!
Even though faith has been over exaggerated throughout the years, I
have learned that nothing can kill the power of faith.
1. People die because of what they believe,
2. people suffer because of condemnation they are getting from
other beliefs or religious views, might be
a. Nelson Mandela who was willing to die for a freedom,
b. Martin Luther King who was interested in peace and
tranquillity, and
c. Polycarp the martyr (who was a church father) and died
because he refused to renounce his faith and belief in
Jesus Christ ‘the man who said away with the eithiest in
the time of the eithiests’. The man who stood up against

7. the killing of the saints. His death made a difference and
people got saved.
3. People die for their faith; even more Christians were beheaded
and crucified before the time of Constantinople.
4. Many Christians have suffered because of the hatred of the
world.
5. Even others who left the church because of other Christians
who were condemning them.
We have forgotten that Gods meaning of faith for us was not just to
hope for the things not seen but to unite us in love as the body of
Christ.
1. We have used our sacraments to divide than unite each other,
2. We have used clothing or appearance to divide us,
Forgetting that the faith that we receive from God should unite us in
love and peace so that we can be the body of Christ.
NB
IF ONLY THE 21ST
CENTURY CHRISTIANS KNEW THE HISTORY OF
CHRISTIANS, HOW THEY SUFFERED SO THAT YOU CAN BE WHERE
YOU ARE TODAY, HOW THEY DIED TOGETHER IN UNITY, WHILE WE
LIVE IN HATE AND NO RESPECT TOWARDS EACH OTHER. We have
nothing in this world but our faith, while Christians are dying around
Africa and the rest of the world there is nothing that connects us to
them but our faith. Faith is not just a mere hope for things not seen
but it is a connection that we have as saints so that we can be one
the body of Christ approaching the throne of God.

8. NB
WE DO NOT JUST HAVE THIS FAITH BUT IT PRECEDES FROM THE
THRONE OF GOD, IT COMES FROM GOD AND WITHOUT THIS FAITH
WE ARE USELESS.
WE NEED TO BE THE GENERATION THAT STANDS FIRM IN OUR FAITH
TODAY SO THAT OUR YOUTH TOMORROW MIGHT STAND DUNAMIS
OF PARCLETOS (THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT).
1. OUR FAITH TODAY DETERMINES THE CHRISTIANS WE ARE
RAISING FOR TOMORROW.
2. OUR FAITH TODAY DETERMINES THE KIND OF LEADERS WE ARE
RAISING TOMORROW.
3. OUR FAITH TODAY SHOW US THE POWER OF GOD WORKING
THROUGH OUR YOUTH TOMORROW.
NB
LET YOUR FAITH WEEP FOR THE FUTURE OF YOUR CHILDREN,
LET YOUR FAITH SHOW THE FRUITS OF LOVE, PEACE AND UNITY SO
THAT THE CHURCH TOMORROW MIGHT BE STRONGER THAN THE
CHURCH BEFORE.
APPLICATION
GAMALIEL MIGHT HAVE THOUGHT THAT HE WAS MOCKING THE
DESCIPLES WHEN HE SAID IF IT IS FROM GOD, ONLY TO FIND THAT
THE FAITH OF THE DESCIPLES PRECEDS FROM THE THRONE OF GOD,
GOD WAS GIVING THEM

9. 1. UNITY
2. LOVE AND
3. PEACE.
THE DEVIL MIGHT CLOSE ALL DOOR AND THINK THAT YOU ARE
LOCKED IN LIKE A RAT BUT GOD INFUSING FAITH INSIDE OF YOU.
YOU MIGHT BE LOCKED IN BUT GOD IS OPENING DOORS THROUGH
THE FAITH HE GAVE.
GREAT IS THINE FAITH
1. FAITH THAT UNITES
2. FAITH THAT HAS LOVE WHEN PEOPLE ARE HATING
3. FAITH THAT HAS PEACE WHEN SITUATIONS ARE TOUGH
4. FAITH THAT ENDURES WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE THERE IS NO HOPE
5. LIKE THE WOMAN WITH THE ISSUE OF BLOOD REACH OUT TO
GOD BECAUSE HE IS POURING OUT FAITH, TO MAKE IT IN THIS
LIFE TO THE NEXT.