John Bytheway: 00:00 Welcome to part two, Dr. Stephan Taeger, Acts 1-5.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 00:07 Peter actually continues his discourse in Jerusalem to the people who are gathered and listening to these people speaking in tongues, and he says this, “Ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs,” you might want to know if you’re following along at home that that phrase is used quite a bit in Acts, “which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know.”

  00:37 Peter says, “You’ve seen all these miracles, him being delivered by the determinant counsel, a modern translation changes that to plan, so a determinant plan, and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it”, or in other words, held in the power of death.

  01:05 This is Christianity 101. Jesus is not just a good teacher or someone even who just did miracles, although that was a part of his ministry. He plays a unique role in the Father’s plan. God raised him from the dead and now he’s going to be on the right hand of God and direct and lead the church.

John Bytheway: 01:22 What’s interesting to me about this is I wonder if they thought, okay, now that Jesus of Nazareth is gone, this whole thing’s going to die down. That small group of people, no, it’s not going to die down. Now here’s Peter coming out like this and woo! boldly, the one by wicked hands have crucified and slain and God raised up, and Paul’s going to say similar things. It’s like, no, the movement didn’t end at all.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 01:52 You could feel the power of Peter’s words as we read these inspired sermons that he offers. This Jesus had God raised up. Therefore, we are all witnesses. One of the themes we see again in Acts is this witnesses. Therefore, being on the right hand, Jesus is on the right hand or the place of honor in the ancient world, of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost. He hath shed forth this which you now see in here. The Savior has directed the Holy Ghost here.

  02:22 For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself, and Peter’s going to quote right from Psalm 110:1, which is one of the most quoted phrases in the New Testament. The Lord, which would be the Father, the way that Peter’s using it, said unto my Lord, which would be the Son the way that Peter’s using it, “Sit down on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool.” In the ancient world, victorious kings would place their feet on the backs of captured enemies according to one scholar.

  02:55 What’s being illustrated here and emphasized is that the Savior has been given authority and power and is on the right hand of God. He has ascended to heaven and taken his proper place on the right hand of the Father.

Hank Smith: 03:06 I love these verses where you’ve invoked all three members of the Godhead. God has raised him up. This isn’t just Jesus doing this. This is his work. Jesus has been raised up and they have shed forth the Holy Ghost right in those two verses there, 32 and 33.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 03:26 Verse 36. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ, or in other words, the Messiah, the Anointed One.

Hank Smith: 03:41 That’s quite a speech.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 03:43 It is. I almost feel bad commenting on it. I feel like I ruined Peter’s preaching his homiletics here. He’s just really speaking with such power. As we read this, we see that Jesus is Lord and Messiah, and this is the being that we should dedicate our lives to. Not money, not power, not fame, not any of the stuff the world offers, not even good things like work or family. I believe that Jesus is on the right hand of the Father. He should be the center of my life, that Heavenly Father and his Son should be the center of my life. What do I do? Get real practical with me. What do I do?

  04:19 That’s exactly what happens here is these people hear Peter’s preaching and they ask the same or at least a similar question. Now, when they heard this, remember faith comes from hearing the word of God, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do? What do we do about this beautiful truth we now know?” Then Peter said unto them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Hank and John, I feel like I’ve heard those things before, those repentance and baptism and the gift of Holy Ghost placed next to each other.

John Bytheway: 04:59 I’m so grateful for that. I feel like this last general conference, we heard multiple times the doctrine of Christ to get our focus on that and the doctrine of Christ as Nephi described it, as Peter’s describing here is like Article of Faith 4. I think we may hear more of that too because there are a lot of wonderful things, but the main things are the doctrine of Christ.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 05:23 Yeah, absolutely. In fact, that’s exactly where we’re going here in just a second. Peter says, for the promise is unto you. Maybe the promise of the Holy Spirit or salvation to Israel. It’s hard to tell exactly. I read different things on that. And to your children the future and to all that are far off like all people and everywhere, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. This is the promise to all people everywhere.

  05:49 Back to our question, how do we allow the Savior to continue to minister to us even though his mortal ministry is finished? We focus on the first principles and ordinances of the gospel. We connect with living apostles and prophets. We receive the Holy Spirit, and we make the first principles and ordinances of the gospel foundational in our lives to everything that we do. This is how we stay centered on Christ.

John Bytheway: 06:12 I feel like baptism is an event, but it’s the first part of the process of being born again. I love to think of the doctrine of Christ as repentance and continually progressing in, how do I say that, in being born again and having our hearts changed. Because I know when I was baptized, but being born again, much more of a process. In the Book of Mormon, he’s like, ye brethren of the church, have you been born of God? It’s like they’re of the church, they’ve been baptized, but he’s asking them if they’ve been born again. It separates those two.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 06:49 I love that. Baptism seems to be the moment when we’re justified, where we’re declared guiltless is the way that the church defines justification by faith on the official church’s website guide to the scriptures. That’s the moment we’re declared clean and enter into the kingdom of heaven. But then the process of being changed, of being slowly born again is sanctification. Those who are justified can have confidence that if they stay faithful, they’re considered guiltless before God.

  07:18 But then the process of becoming better is sanctification. How do the first principles and ordinances of the gospel allow the Savior to minister to us? How do they invite his healing power? We see throughout his mortal ministry that faith invites his healing spiritually and physically. Repentance is how we turn more and more to him and invite his power more in our life.

  07:40 Baptism or covenants, which is clear by this text, that ordinances of the gospel are required, are how we officially use our agency in an outward way to invite the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ into our lives and then we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is the constant communion of a member of the Godhead. We can see how he continues to minister and heal and bless us through these first principles and ordinances of the gospel.

Hank Smith: 08:07 And that leads to this idea of verse 40. You’re going to be saved from this crooked world, from this perverse world. You’re going to be able to get out of it. The world that you’re in, the muck, the mire that you’re in, you can get out of that through these steps.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 08:24 Yeah, absolutely. To illustrate how the first principles and ordinances of the gospel can really invite deep healing into our lives, I’d like to read a short story from C. Terry Warner. He was a scholar at BYU for many years. Very brilliant and faithful man. His work has had a tremendous influence on my academic work. He read this story in a talk he gave at a BYU devotional. It’s called Honest, Simple, Solid, True. It should be required reading to get into the celestial kingdom. It’s just a fantastic, fantastic talk.

  08:55 As I read this, just notice the ways that the basic principles of the gospel invite deep healing into this couple’s relationship. Dr. Warner writes this. I received a while ago a letter from a woman whose father had been emotionally neglectful and whose husband turned out to be much the same way. When she tried to talk about why he was distant, he said it was because he was always angry. This angered her more and she told him she was only angry because of his lack of love, which made him more inclined to withdraw.

  09:28 They had got themselves encircled in the bands of death and the chains of hell. She went to the mountains alone intent upon reading one of the contemporary self-help books. She wrote later, now, Dr. Warner’s quoting directly from this woman, as a writer began to describe the intense need we each have for love, I began to feel more and more deprived, until I felt such a huge longing that I could barely breathe. I decided to write all of this down for my husband to read and enumerate the many times I had felt emotionally deprived.

  10:02 I began to write furiously to pour it all out onto the paper. The longer I wrote, the more I began to have a feeling come over me that what I was writing was false. The feeling continued growing until I could no longer squelch it, and I knew intuitively that the feeling was coming from God, that he was telling me that what I was writing was false. How could it be false? I asked angrily. I lived it. I know it was there because I saw it and felt it. How could it be false? But the feeling became so powerful and overwhelming that I could no longer deny it or fight against it.

  10:43 So I tore up the pages I had written, threw myself down on my knees and began to pray saying, if it is false, show me how it could be false. And then a voice spake to my mind and said, “If you had come unto me, it all would have been different.” I was astounded. I went to church. I read the scriptures often. I prayed pretty regularly. I tried to obey the commandments. What do you mean come unto you? I wondered, and then into my mind flashed pictures of me wanting to do things my own way, of holding grudges, of not forgiving, of not loving as God had loved us.

  11:21 I had wanted my husband to pay for my emotional suffering. I had not let go of the past and I had not loved God with all my heart. I loved my own willful self more. I was aghast. I suddenly realized that I was responsible for my own suffering. For if I had really come unto him as I had outwardly thought I had done, it all would’ve been different. As that horrible truth settled over me, I realized why the pages I had written full of my suffering had been false. I had allowed it to happen by not truly coming unto God.

  11:56 That day I repented of not loving God, of not loving my husband, of blaming, of finding fault of thinking that others were responsible for my misery. I returned home but did not mention to my husband anything of what had transpired, but I gave up blaming knowing that I was in large part responsible for the state of our relationship. I tried to come unto God with full purpose of heart. I prayed more earnestly and listened to his spirit. I read my scriptures and tried to come to know him better.

  12:29 Two months passed, and one morning my husband awoke and turned to me in bed and said, “You know, we find fault too much with each other. I am never going to find fault with my wife again.” I was flabbergasted for he had never admitted that he had done anything wrong in our relationship. He did stop finding fault, and he began to compliment me and show sweet kindness. It was as if an icy glass wall between us had melted away. Almost overnight our relationship became warm and sweet. Three years have passed and still it continues warmer and happier.

  13:10 We care deeply about one another and share ideas and thoughts and feelings, something we had not done for the first 16 years of marriage. That’s C. Terry Warner, Honest, Simple, Solid, True. Did you see it? Did you see faith in there actually following the Savior, repentance, actually keeping baptismal covenants, receiving the Holy Spirit? Those are not just nice little cute little principles. They’re absolutely transformative in our personal lives and every aspect of our lives when we actually take upon ourselves the mission to become like Jesus of Nazareth.

Hank Smith: 13:46 Stephan, thank you so much for that story. I think I felt what is being described here in Acts 2, pricked in their heart. It looks like Peter and the apostles have a pretty big day in the font here in verse 41.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 14:00 This was just you like every other day on your mission, Hank and John.

Hank Smith: 14:03 It’s a typical day.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 14:04 “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day they were added unto them about 3,000 souls.” We’ve seen the church growing. Here in the first few chapters of Acts, we’re going to see it continue to grow and add more and more. I just want to say briefly, if we have faith and if we pray and if the Lord is willing, we can see these kinds of fruits in missionary work. There have been times in our dispensation and other dispensations where this is possible.

  14:33 We can have the faith that the Lord can work these kinds of miracles in bringing people into his kingdom, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers. Fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. We’ve seen that phrase already, and now we see it again. Just as Jesus did many wonders and signs, we’re seeing the apostles do the same thing as well.

John Bytheway: 15:01 This is great, Stephan, this doctrine of Christ being incorporated in. We’re watching it happen. We’ve heard stories of it happening. Sometimes when we see a verse like 38, we don’t see the endure to the end there, which sometimes we include with the doctrine of Christ. But look at verse 42. You just read it. They continued steadfastly. I like that phrase more than endure to the end. I know Sheri Dew said once, “Those endure to the end phrases depress the dickens out of me,” she said once. The idea, and I’ve heard Steven Robinson talk about it too.

  15:32 We’re gripping something with all our- and it’s horrible drudgery. That endure to the end can kind of sound like that. I mean, I just think of handcart pioneers or something. But continuing steadfastly, that’s a phrase I like. I want to equate that with enduring to the end. Just continue. Just continue in God, like the Doctrine and Covenants might say. And that happens again in 46, continuing daily with one accord in the temple.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 15:59 I just love that. That’s excellent. We love the direction of apostles and prophets and guidance from the Holy Ghost. We love the idea of focusing our lives on the first principles and ordinances of the gospel. But let’s say someone has tried those things and they’re trying to get direction from the apostles and prophets. They’ve read their talks. They’ve tried to discern the spirit, but they still feel like they need a little bit more guidance, a little bit more specific guidance. How can the Savior continue to minister and help us even though his mortal ministry is finished in this way?

  16:32 Well, chapter three, we’re going to see one of these many wonders and signs done by the apostles and it’s going to teach us a powerful principle about how to allow the Lord to continue to minister to us even more in our time. Now, Peter and John, son of Zebedee, went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour, that’s 3:00 PM, for the evening sacrifice. Jews would come to the temple and pray at this time. A certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful.

  17:06 Now, the scholarship I read on this says that we’re not quite sure where this is. Perhaps on the east side of the temple. He’s there, this man, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple, who’s seen Peter and John about to go into the temple asked in alms, asked for some help, and Peter fastening his eyes upon him. By the way, we see this behavior in other healing stories too where they’ll look directly at the person being healed. With John said, “Look on us.” He gave heed unto them expecting to receive something of them.

  17:42 He thinks he’s going to get money, but he’s going to get something much, much better. Then Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” The name of Christ is a theme we see throughout the Book of Acts invoking the name or authority of Jesus. He took him by the right hand and lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.

  18:12 He, leaping up, which might refer to Isaiah 35:6, the lame shall leap like the deer, which is a first framing for us and illustrating what the kingdom of God, what it will look like when it comes to earth. He leaping up stood and walked and entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God and they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.

  18:50 How can we allow the Savior to continue to minister to us even though his mortal ministry is done? Is we can connect with priesthood power, with the local leaders of the church who can use the priesthood in our behalf. Sometimes even though we’ve studied conference talks and we sought the discernment of the Holy Spirit, we still feel unclear about something. The Lord and his mercy has given us bishops and other leaders of the church who can speak in the name the Lord and give us inspired counsel and healing and direction.

Hank Smith: 19:22 This is such an impressive story. I’m struck by Peter. I mean, when have we ever seen him like this, as in chapter two giving these speeches, chapter three saying, “I can heal you”? Probably the greatest evidence there is of the resurrection is these apostles after the Savior dies. Let me read a paragraph here. This author is talking about the consensus that Peter and the disciples saw the risen Christ. It says the reason for this consensus is the persecution endured by the apostles for their belief.

  19:59 “The apostles were repeatedly beaten and imprisoned. We have good historical evidence that James, Peter, and Paul were all executed for their faith. Given the suffering the apostles faced, it is difficult to maintain that they knew the resurrection was a hoax. What would their motivation have been if they knew for certain that they had invented the resurrection stories?” I think that falls in right here with chapter two and three. If Jesus has died and really not been resurrected, what is Peter thinking?

  20:28 How could he possibly do these things? Where would he get any of this confidence from, especially with the story you just read? I can heal you in the name of this man, in the name of Jesus Christ. I’m struck by their confidence. I think that can give all of us faith in the reality of the resurrection.

John Bytheway: 20:44 That verse six, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee. It sounds like it could come across as, well, I don’t have silver and gold. I’ve got a granola bar. It could be something less. And yet what he’s saying is silver and gold, you think you want this. I have something so much better. For all of us, we may think silver and gold would solve our problems. But if we can just come to Christ, we can metaphorically rise up and walk in our problems. I love that verse.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 21:16 I love both those comments in connection with what you just said, Hank. If Jesus really is resurrected, if he’s really alive, then Peter can continue to do miracles in his name. He could use his priesthood power to bless people’s lives.

John Bytheway: 21:31 Peter knows persecution is coming. Boy, Jesus told him that what they did to me, they’re going to do to you.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 21:38 Yeah, absolutely.

Hank Smith: 21:39 This is all taking place in Jerusalem, the place where people would know. They’d be like, “Oh, his body’s right over there. The tomb’s right over there. We can go. He’s not alive,” and yet they go right to the heart of the enemy with that kind of confidence. Let me ask you something else, Stephan. If this guy was laid daily at the gate of the temple, does that mean that the Savior didn’t heal him? If he’s been there that long, that Jesus may have seen this guy and not healed him?

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 22:06 There is that possibility. I’ve heard that take before. That could be the case. I mean, it’s certainly clear that Jesus didn’t heal every single ailment he ever came upon. That’s according to the will of God and the Savior’s timing, right?

Hank Smith: 22:20 If that is true, that can be said for those of us who are still waiting for the miracle, that there’s a timing.

John Bytheway: 22:27 I think we’re getting too, here, something about the importance of the temple. I’ve always wondered, along with the restoration of the gospel came this restoration of the idea of temples. It wasn’t over. Once the veil of the temple was rent, it wasn’t, well, we don’t need that anymore. But look, verse 46 of chapter two, continuing daily in the temple. Acts 3:1, Peter and John went together to the temple and they keep going back there.

  22:55 This is a question for people smarter than me, but I always thought they were in some state of apostasy to some degree, and yet Jesus reverenced the temple enough. He drew the money changers out and everything. Was it a symbol? I don’t know what they were doing there, but what do you guys think about that? Because clearly the temple was important to them. They kept going back there.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 23:18 Most scholars read the temple cleansing as not so much about money, but about the affirmation, or let me say it like this, the validity that the leadership of Jerusalem was getting from the temple. Jesus is probably saying there like, “This is my father’s house. That’s not yours. Stop getting validity.” People would have to buy stuff in the temple to perform sacrifice. But as far as temple and early Christianity, that’s a really complicated, difficult thing because most traditional Christians read the New Testament of saying there’s no need for a temple.

  23:49 Jesus is the temple. There’s actually nothing clearly that states that. The tabernacle is fulfilled in Hebrews 9 and 10, but David Calabro has gathered some really powerful evidence on early Christian temple worship. If there really wasn’t apostacy, and there was, then we would expect that stuff to be lost, but just little hints of it there. But if you really want to get very academic about it, it seems like a lot of early Christianity is trying to make sense of the temple destruction.

  24:16 Maybe that’s why if they did see like, oh, we don’t need the temple anymore, it might’ve been because of the temple destruction in 67 through 70 AD. Obviously I believe it was intended to be restored.

John Bytheway: 24:27 Zechariah goes to the temple and that’s where an angel appears to him. It meant something to God still.

Hank Smith: 24:34 I’m struck by Peter here. We can see so many times in the gospels, especially when he was walking on water and he began to sink. The Lord reached down and pulled him up. Now look in Acts 3 who’s doing the reaching. He reaches down, took him by the right hand and lifted him up, just like he was once lifted up. I like how you’re saying here that this is a connection to priesthood, and that priesthood holders can at one point being those who are lifted and then can be those who are doing the lifting of others.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 25:08 Yeah, absolutely. What’s important to emphasize here is although it’s such an honor and wonderful thing that the Savior uses Peter, Peter does this miracle in the name of Jesus Christ. That’s what this is about. It’s not about any particular priesthood holder, but it’s about the power of God being manifested. If someone says, “I need help. I need the Savior to minister to me,” one of the ways to do that is to connect with an inspired bishop who can lead and guide us.

  25:37 But also I sometimes wonder, and Hank and John, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, I sometimes wonder if we could ask for priesthood blessings more. That if we could ask people who minister to us or anyone else we could ask and say, “Hey, it’s a new year. It’s a new job. I’m going through a trial,” or whatever it is, and have the faith that the Savior can work through a priesthood blessing.

Hank Smith: 25:57 I think so too. Just in my own personal life, I should definitely give more priesthood blessings than I receive. Way more. I remember the last time I received a blessing and I thought, man, it’s been a long time, other than maybe a church calling or something like that, just a personal blessing. I thought, why don’t I use this more?

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 26:19 If there are authorized people who can do miracles in the name of Jesus Christ, just as Peter did, then let’s seek them out and receive God’s blessings at their hand. About 5,000 people believe the apostles. The church continues to grow. Peter and John are arrested by the leadership in Jerusalem, the Sadducees, the priests, the captain of the temple. The captain of the temple maintained order in the temple, and he ranked just below the high priest. Well, I’m in Acts 4 now, we’re switching ahead verse five.

  26:49 “And it came to pass on the morrow that their rulers and elders and scribes and Annas”, he’s the high priest from about 7 to 15 AD, maintains this honorary title of high priest. The high priest at this time it would’ve been Caiaphas, who’s the son-in-law of Annas, about 18 to 36 AD. “Caiaphas and John and Alexander”, all we know about John and Alexander is what we get here at these two. This is obviously not John the Apostle. This is people who are part of the leadership there.

  27:23 “As many as were of the kindred of the high priest”, in other words, those who were a member of the high priestly family, “were gathered together at Jerusalem. When they had set them in the midst”, the apostles, they bring the apostles to them, “they asked, By what power or by what name have you done this?” You could just hear the music coming in. It’s like, here’s another speech here. You know what I mean? Or at least a powerful moment.

Hank Smith: 27:49 John, I can hear your question again. We thought we got rid of this problem.

John Bytheway: 27:54 This Jesus thing again. Yeah, okay, bring him in here.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 27:58 And then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, “Ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole, be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.” He’s going to quote Psalm 118:22. Interestingly enough, this is the last Psalm recited at Passover.

  28:32 “This is the stone which was set at not of you builders, which has become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” So powerful. Continuing with our question, how can we allow the Savior to minister to us even though his mortal ministry is finished? We have to make sure that we are clear on what the sure foundation, what is the only name given under heaven?

  29:06 The Savior provides the only sure rock and foundation upon which to build a life. Peter says very clearly, this is it. This is who we’ve been looking for. We live in a culture right now that is constantly offering other foundations, other ways to build a life upon. But if you want the Savior to continue to minister to you now, then we have to build our life upon him and only him.

Hank Smith: 29:32 Again, I’m just struck by Peter’s boldness. It even says that in verse 13, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, they’re like, wow. They’re struck by it.

John Bytheway: 29:45 They don’t know what to do about it. What does it say? What shall we do to these men? For that indeed a notable miracle has been done by them as manifest to all of them that dwell in Jerusalem and we cannot deny it. Oh, I like verse 14. They could say nothing against it. Beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 30:06 Peter testifies boldly, this is it. This is the person we’ve been looking for. This is the Messiah. He is the center. Our culture offers lots of other centers, lots of other false foundations. For example, some people, the center of their life become their titles that they give themselves. For example, they might see themselves as an intellectual or an athlete or a musician. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but President Nelson has taught us that we have to see ourselves first as children of God, children of the covenant, disciples of Christ.

  30:36 If we get our sense of worth and identity from anything other than the name of Jesus Christ as Peter has just taught us, we’ll have a weak foundation. For example, if someone gets their sense of worth and identity from the title foundation of athlete and they get drafted into the league, they go to the NFL, and then they get hurt, then their whole world falls apart. Sometimes in our culture right now, people’s foundation are their emotions and they just chase feeling good all of the time.

  31:02 A fantastic way to be miserable is to try to make yourself feel awesome all of the time. Life just comes and goes. Feelings are like the weather. We accept them. We’re mindful of them. We notice them. But instead, we try to live a vital life of truth and goodness. Another false foundation people might have is work. When people focus on work, one of two things can happen to them. One, they can get really good at it and they get more and more involved in their work, or two, they get really bad at it.

  31:31 If they get their sense of worth from their work and they’re not good at their job, then they feel worthless and broken. Some religious people make their foundation rules, a bunch of dos and do nots. That’s a really difficult God to focus on, to worship. That’s a God that is harsh and mean, and it’s a God that allows you to justify if you’re keeping some other rules and you can break these rules. It’s not a foundation. One of the most dangerous foundations we see in our culture right now is freedom.

  32:01 People will put freedom above anything. Freedom is a huge blessing, the freedom to do what I want or whatever it is personally or culturally, whatever. But there’s something better than freedom and that’s love, love of God and love of others. I just point these out really quickly just to say, look, Peter is clear. This is the head of the corner. This is the foundation we need to build our life on. Anything else will fail us in the end. If we want to be healed and ministered to now by a living Christ, we’ve got to make him the center of our whole existence, our identity and worth.

John Bytheway: 32:36 Stephan, talking about those different centers and it reminds me of the healing, the 5:12 verse, where your foundation must be on Christ and then it doesn’t matter what happens because the devil, his whirlwinds cannot prevail if you’re built on that. I also like the idea, it’s going to come, we’re all going to go through storms, but you’ll be built on the rock.

Hank Smith: 33:00 When, not if, but you cannot fall.

John Bytheway: 33:05 Brace for impact. Here it comes.

Hank Smith: 33:08 Stephan, I really liked what you said there. I think I personally do this sometimes, whether it might be work, titles, even our podcast sometimes. I’m like, look at our podcast, look what it’s doing. It’s not a place to build your foundation.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 33:24 Yeah, I love that. For me, that’s one of the deepest ways to repent is to repent for my false centers, my false foundations. Peter says, this is the one. This is the sure rock. This is what Israel’s supposed to build upon.

Hank Smith: 33:37 And then they come up with a plan. Let us threaten them. That’s our plan. Let’s threaten them.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 33:47 Peter and John are threatened not to say anything more about Jesus, as if that’s going to happen. They say, “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:20. They return to some believers and they pray. I’m in Acts 4:31. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken. In Acts 19, when the presence of God manifests itself, the whole mount quakes and where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the word of God with boldness.

  34:24 The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. What’s beautiful about these chapters is they keep pushing us towards community. This reminds me of Zion, Moses 7, Josiah 18. Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold.

  35:03 This is not just a weekend church experience. They’re forming a beautiful Christ-centered community that’s practicing consecration. And laid them down at the apostle’s feet, the things that they sold, and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. Joses, which is shorthand for Joseph, who by the apostles were surnamed Barnabas, this is Paul’s later companion, we read about him in Acts 13 and 14 and other places, which is being interpreted the son of consolation.

  35:34 Consolation is just another way of saying encouragement. A Levite and of the country of Cyprus, which is an island there. Having land sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. Here they are practicing this beautiful consecration sharing their material goods, and I just can’t help but think of our question, how does the Savior continue to minister to us? He does it through the ministry of others, through the community that we all are a part of, our ward families, our stake families. That’s one of the key ways that the Savior ministers to us.

John Bytheway: 36:08 I remember just how thrilling it was to go back to church after COVID and to see everybody and to start to feel that sense of community again. Did you guys experience something like that? This is important. I mean, I started to really gain a testimony of gathering is important with each other.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 36:28 I think when people see this element of consecration, it’s one of the best ways to invite people into the church when they become parts of our community and participate in that, whether they’re a member or not. But regardless, the Savior continues to do his work through the ministry of our wards. I mean, how many times have someone brought over a meal at just the right time. Just a few weeks ago, my son, he was asked to be a ministering companion with one of our neighbors who is just a very faithful brother in our ward.

  36:59 I happened to see them going to the house that they were ministering to and it just filled my soul with so much joy that I literally stopped the car. I took a picture of it and I just thought for a minute, what a blessing it is that we train the youth, we teach each other. I mean, the Savior is ministering to me through the ministering program by having this brother train my son how to be outward thinking. It’s just such a blessing. My old bishop used to text us on our birthdays, everyone in the ward. And then when he was released, he still kept doing that.

  37:33 For me, heaven is being with the Latter-day Saints. I might be biased, but they’re among the best people in the world because we live in these consecrated communities. Hank, I don’t know if I got this story, but I remember you once saying here on this podcast, I think it was after one of your family members had passed away, that someone came over and helped out around the house and maybe mowed the lawn. And that imagery of someone silently helping, that’s what we’ve been taught to do since our youth is we live in these consecrated communities.

Hank Smith: 38:08 We mourn with those who mourn. That’s wonderful. Alex Baugh showed up at my house, he’s been on our show before, brought over some treats. He said, “I was on my way home.” I’m like, Alex, I live south of BYU. You live north of BYU. I promise you, my house is not on the way home. He said, “Well, it’s a little detour.” I was like, that’s a big detour. You went the wrong way. But that’s what we do, right? We’re there for each other.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 38:36 I think it takes some humility to receive the Savior’s ministry in that way through other people. We want to be self-reliant, which is a true principle. We live in a self-help culture, but Christians need to learn how to accept grace, especially grace from other people as well.

John Bytheway: 38:52 I was listening to the Saints Channel in my car. I have HD radio and it comes on. Boy, there’s a group of sisters who were talking about ministering to your ministering companion, that sometimes that is a huge part of ministering, helping your ministering companion. I hadn’t even considered that before, but they may need your ministering and you may have been put together for a reason. I thought that was probably true.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 39:18 We saw a beautiful part of this Christian community and now we’re going to see a part. We’re going to see a little bit more justice here in this next story.

John Bytheway: 39:24 And they dropped dead.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 39:29 In Acts 5:1 it says, but a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession and kept back part of the price. In other words, they kept some of the money for themselves. His wife also being privy to it and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias,” by the way, there are a few other Ananias’ in Acts, this is a different one obviously, “why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was that not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not light unto men, but unto God.”

  40:16 What’s interesting in the text, just real briefly, is it puts Ananias at fault and also the devil. It is true that there is evil on this planet that tempts us to do evil, but we have a choice whether we give into that or not. In that sense, we’re responsible for our own choices obviously, but the temptation comes from the evil that exists on this planet. Verse five and Ananias dies quite dramatically. The text says “gave up the ghost.” And then Peter confronts Ananias’ wife as well. She lies too.

  40:52 Then Peter said unto her, “How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the spirit of the Lord? Behold the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door and shall carry thee out.” This is intense. No one has ever put this on their missionary plaque before these verses, right? Then fell she down straightway at his feet and yielded up the ghost. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. Great fear came upon all the church and upon as many as heard these things.

  41:34 Going back to our original question, how do we allow the Savior to continue to minister to us? How do we stay in good connection with him? We have to be completely honest with God. One of our deepest needs, I’m quoting Tim Keller here, or at least paraphrasing Tim Keller here. He’s a traditional Christian preacher. He says one of our deepest needs is to be fully known and fully loved, and the only way we could be fully known and fully loved is if we’re completely honest with God.

  42:03 Perhaps maybe Sapphira and Ananias, if they had quickly repented, if they had admitted what they had done wrong, if they had made things right earlier on and just been open and honest and vulnerable with God, then they could have gotten back on track. But the Book of Mormon teaches us something very, very powerfully. It’s the beginning of the end when we start to hide stuff from God. It’s the Gadianton robbers in Helaman 2, Mormon teaches us, that was the beginning of the end is when they start to embrace sin that we keep in the dark.

  42:37 I remember one time I was sitting in an institute meeting. Elder Bednar, it was a broadcast, he told a story about someone asking… I think the kids’ motives were good. It was a youth somewhere and he said, I think his motives were intent. He really wanted to know. He said, what’s the worst sin I can commit? Elder Bednar said what came out of his mouth was the worst sin you can commit is the one that you think you can get away with.

  43:03 Spiritual death, one of the things that will bring that upon us is when we start to hide stuff and not be fully open and honest with God and with others.

John Bytheway: 43:15 This is a hard story, isn’t it? Because I don’t think the death penalty is usually for lying. Was that a law of Moses thing? Could you be stoned for lying? I mean, I don’t know, but does the church motivated by fear from here on out because of verse 11? But it’s a hard story, don’t you think, for the penalty?

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 43:37 Yeah, it is. It’s hard to tell exactly what all the details are, what exactly is happening here. Obviously the story is true, but exactly how it all unfolds and what are all the details, it’s hard to tell. But this is for sure that hiding things, it leads to spiritual death. We get in living color just how dangerous it is to be deceptive, to not be vulnerable, to not be open, to hide things from God and from others.

Hank Smith: 44:04 Stephan, also when I read this story, I think about covenants, the covenant to live the law of consecration. It doesn’t necessarily say that this community is entering into those covenants, but I think the story can tell us the importance of keeping our covenants. If you’ve made promises in holy places, keep those promises.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 44:26 Yeah, absolutely. I think our covenants become essential for how we determine what is right and what is wrong in our lives. They become foundational for our way of being in the world moving forward.

Hank Smith: 44:37 Awesome. I don’t want to bring out scrupulosity in people. For some reason, someone might be like, “I once told my mom that I was at school and I wasn’t. Now I got to go and see the bishop.”

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 44:51 The apostles are thrown in prison and then delivered. They go and preach some more, and they are recaptured and brought before the council. We are in Acts 5:28 saying, “Did not we straightly command you that you should not teach in this name?” Again, the name is being avowed. “And behold you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” So powerful. We’ll come back to that in just a second. It’s such a powerful line.

  45:26 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree or the cross. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him. When they heard that, they were cut to the heart and took counsel to slay them. It’s getting intense here. The stakes are being raised quite a bit. Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee.

  46:00 Now interestingly enough, in the Book of Acts, the Pharisees are portrayed a little bit differently than they are in the Book of Matthew, for example. Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor or a teacher of the law. He’s probably a part of a more lenient school of Pharisees. Gamaliel, he taught Paul. He had great influence among the Sanhedrin, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space, or another, put them outside of the room.

  46:29 And said to them: “Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do as touching these men. For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody, to whom a number of men, about 400, joined themselves, who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought.” He was said to be a prophet or claimed to be a prophet to Israel. Theudas claimed to be a prophet to save Israel from Rome. He went with his followers to the Jordan River.

  47:01 He was executed about 44 AD. Gamaliel’s point is this man’s mission failed, and then he gives another example of a failed mission. After this man rose up, Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing and drew away much people after him, he also perished. And all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. This happens about 6 AD. It’s a revolt against Roman taxation associated with the zealots. Now here’s Gamaliel’s point. He says, and now I say unto you, refrain from these men and let them alone. For if this council or this work be of men, it will come to nought.

Hank Smith: 47:38 You don’t have to touch it, right?

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 47:39 Leave it alone.

Hank Smith: 47:40 You don’t have to touch it. It’ll fall apart.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 47:41 But to be of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest happily or by chance, you be found even to fight against God. And to him they agreed. Before we get to the main point from this story, one of the things I want to draw here, I’m thankful for the people outside of our faith tradition over the years, who have blessed our faith tradition, who have stood up for what’s right, religious freedom, whatever it’s been. The Lord uses people of all faiths everywhere to continue the work of the restoration.

  48:11 He might do it through indirect means sometimes, but I’m grateful for these people who have fought up for truth and fairness on our behalf many times over the years. And to him they agreed. And when they had called the apostles and beaten, this kind of punishment is actually common for religious violations, Paul receives it in 2 Corinthians, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. Now, earlier they just said back in 29, then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, “We ought to obey God rather than men.”

  48:46 It says here in verse 41, and they departed from the presence of this council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name and daily in the temple and in every house they kept quiet… Nope, doesn’t say that. It says, and daily in the temple and in every house they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. I’m so, so inspired by their continued focus and sense of purpose and mission, and I think one of the reasons why, and this has been brought up a few times already today, is that after the resurrection, they’ve been changed.

  49:24 They know whose hands they are in. They know that they’re redeemed in Christ Jesus. They know where their sense of worth comes from. They have the right center. So often in our modern culture, people say, “Oh, I’ll get a sense of worth from myself, or I’ll tell myself I’m okay.” Let me go back to C. Terry Warner, a quote that he says. The reason why I think this is so powerful is because we all want to be like Peter and John. We want to have that kind of security in Christ. In our culture people say, “Oh, I’ll just give myself security. I’ll know that I’m okay,” but watch what Dr. Warner says here.

  49:58 He says, “In contemporary counseling circles, one of the fads is helping people gain a positive self-image. Since a bad self-image is obviously unhealthy, a good one must be desirable, so it is assumed. What is unnerving about the current fad is that inevitably preoccupation with a positive self-image creates the basis for doubting the validity of that image.” What Dr. Warner is saying there, what we can draw from that is people who have to constantly tell themselves that they’re okay also raise the possibility that they’re not okay.

  50:34 Because they say, “Oh, I’m fine. I’m fine, I’m fine,” they’re just reminding them of the possibility that they’re not. Peter and John, their identity comes from Christ Jesus. They have a sure foundation. They know they’re accepted in God because of their faith, repentance, and entering into his kingdom. Elder Maxwell, he put it so well, he said it like this, those who are puffed up need constantly to be reinflated. It’s a great line from Elder Maxwell. We miss him dearly.

  51:02 That kind of insecurity could never do what Peter and John do here, just go out and continually preach the gospel over and over again. It’s hard to live when we constantly need the approval of others. Peter and John say, “I have the approval of Christ, and I’m fearless.” They’re securing Christ. They know that their worth is in Christ Jesus, so they go out and preach the gospel no matter what.

Hank Smith: 51:28 I’m impressed here. We’ve looked at these five chapters, Stephan, and how many times has Peter testified? How many different groups has he testified to? You’re right. He is a changed man. He’s fearless from the man we saw.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 51:44 When we have that type of security in Christ, when we’ve been changed by the Holy Spirit that much, we’ll share the gospel fearlessly just like him. When someone at work wants to do something unethical, we’ll simply stand for what’s right. We don’t need to be bothered by people attacking the church online just like they attacked the church anciently. We just go to Gethsemane and Golgotha in our minds, and we remember how much God loves us as manifested through the sacrifice of his Son, and we’ll be changed people too.

  52:15 To sum it all up, how can we allow the Savior to continue to minister to us even though his mortal ministry is finished? We’ve identified seven things. One, we connect with living apostles and prophets. Two, we receive the Holy Spirit. Three, we focus on the first principles and ordinances of the gospel. Four, we connect with priesthood power. Five, make Jesus the foundation of our life. Six, be completely honest and open with God. And seven, receive our worth from what the Savior did for us, make that the foundation of our security.

  52:49 And as we do that in our lives, I know for sure we will receive deep healing in our lives and then also be an instrument for healing in the lives of others as well.

Hank Smith: 52:59 Beautiful.

John Bytheway: 53:00 One of the things that has impressed me too as we’ve gone through this is just the idea of witnesses and that the Lord wants to work through witnesses and how many times they have said, “We have a witness.” I really underlined Acts 4:20. I think sometimes as a kid I thought that a testimony was all about a feeling. And that’s part of it, but verse 20 says we cannot but speak the things which we have felt? No, seen and heard.

  53:26 Feelings are great, but they are talking about evidences as well as accompanying Christ all those years, things they have seen and heard, not just feelings, but there’s fruits of the gospel, there’s evidences of the gospel. I like that that’s part of their testimony.

Hank Smith: 53:43 Very good. I was really touched by you saying, Stephan, this is Jesus continuing his ministry. Because if you read these stories, they sound like stories out of the gospels. Some characters have changed. It’s Peter doing the healing and Peter doing the preaching, as before it was Jesus, but now the Lord is still very much at work.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 54:03 We don’t believe in a Christ that only lived 2,000 years ago. He is alive and he does the same things he did that he did anciently and on his mortal ministry. He heals, teaches, forgives. It’s my deepest hope and prayer that every single one of us connect with that and invite that into our lives.

Hank Smith: 54:25 Stephan, before we let you go, you’re both a scholar and a Latter-day Saint. What’s that journey been like for you?

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 54:31 I’m so thankful to be a part of the restoration that celebrates learning, that celebrates seeking out the best books, but what I’m most thankful for is that I have found that as I do my research, my research is actually in preaching and homiletics, and so I study the preaching techniques of preachers from all different faith traditions. They feed me and inform me, and I’m so blessed by what they say.

  54:56 But I have found that whether it’s in homiletics or other areas of study that I do, that when I start with the premises of the restoration, when I start with the assumptions of the restoration, things start to come together. The world makes more sense. Particularly what I have found is that as I try my best in my own broken way, try to live the gospel, that’s really when the gospel begins to make the most sense. It’s through practice, by actually trying it and living it in this world. The restoration celebrates learning and the world comes together.

  55:29 I’m also really grateful for the models that I’ve had in my life who were disciple scholars. I’m so thankful to be at a university where I’m just surrounded by tons of people like that who first and foremost are loyal to the Savior and his called servants, and then also excellent scholars. What a blessing it is to be in a place like that, to be around people who are like that.

Hank Smith: 55:52 Beautiful. What a great day, John. We now know the first five chapters of Acts. I’m feeling really good so far.

John Bytheway: 56:01 They’re fun. This is a fun story to read, to see what they went out and did. It’s really fun to read this. I hope people just read verse by verse and read it like a story and have as many wows as we did reading this today.

Hank Smith: 56:15 Just a handful of followers of Jesus. What does Elder Holland say? Without a single synagogue or a sword are going to change the world, and this is the beginning of it. They’re going to change the world. Thank you for being with us, Dr. Stephan Taeger. Thank you.

Dr. Stephan Taeger: 56:28 Thank you so much for inviting me.

Hank Smith: 56:29 We loved having you. We want to thank our executive producer, Shannon Sorensen. We want to thank our sponsors, David and Verla Sorensen, and we want to remember our founder, Steve Sorensen. We hope you’ll join us next week. More of the Book of Acts on FollowHim.

  56:46 Today’s transcripts, show notes, and additional references are available on our website, followhim.co. Followhim.co. You can watch the podcast on YouTube with additional videos on Facebook and Instagram. All of this is absolutely free, so be sure to share with your family and friends. To reach those who are searching for help with their Come Follow Me study, please subscribe, rate, review, or comment on the podcast, which makes the podcast easier to find. Thank you.

  57:13 We want to thank our incredible production crew, David Perry, Lisa Spice, Jamie Neilson, Will Stoughton, Krystal Roberts, and Ariel Quadra. We also love hearing from you, our listeners.

Amanda Dunn: 57:26 Hi, there, Hank and John. My name is Amanda Dunn, and I’m coming to you from Atlanta, Georgia. I’m actually a police officer in the Atlanta area. My return missionary cousin got me onto your podcast and it has just been a wonderful thing to listen to while I’m driving.

  57:38 It has increased my faith, it’s given me credible resources to be able to share with other Christians that I work with, to be able to go to Relief Society and to teach young women and to be able to have like Lili de Hoyos talk about judgment and telling the youth that you need to judge who you’re dating.

  57:59 Just so much information that has helped me and to help other people. You don’t understand how much this podcast is meant to me. I just want to thank you guys so much.