Relying on God and One Another
Brian Fletcher
Acts 4:23-37
Context:
Last week Andrew told the story of a lame beggar who was miraculously healed by the apostles. The religious leaders are so frustrated with the fact that they did this in the name of Jesus they arrest Peter and John put them in jail. This of course all happened at the dawn of a new age, the church age. Jesus has accomplished His mission of being God incarnate, living a perfect and holy life, dying on a cross to satisfy the justice of God for our sins. He was then raised from the dead, seen by over 500 eyewitnesses, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God to continually oversee His Kingdom advance on earth until he returns.
But before Jesus ascended into heaven he left clear instructions to his followers that they were being sent, by the power of the Holy Spirit to make disciples of all the nations.
The passage we read today follows the release of Peter and John from jail and what they immediately chose to do after their release. If you were here last week or read through the first part of Acts 4 you would hear the clear instructions of the religious leaders upon releasing Peter and John. They explicitly said, “They called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.”
Let’s read what they did next...Acts 4:23-37
Things were really heating up for the apostles and these first Christians. Their message of faith in the risen Christ was not well received by the religious leaders and they immediately faced persecution. But you know the old saying,
“When the going gets tough, the tough get ??? “praying!”
That’s right the first thing the disciples do is to pray. We may think that the disciples were tough and maybe they were, but they also had to be somewhat scared. I would imagine they thought that if the religious leaders could kill Jesus, then there was no reason they wouldn’t have them killed as well. So they knew they needed to rely o ...
Brian Fletcher
Acts 4:23-37
Context:
Last week Andrew told the story of a lame beggar who was miraculously healed by the apostles. The religious leaders are so frustrated with the fact that they did this in the name of Jesus they arrest Peter and John put them in jail. This of course all happened at the dawn of a new age, the church age. Jesus has accomplished His mission of being God incarnate, living a perfect and holy life, dying on a cross to satisfy the justice of God for our sins. He was then raised from the dead, seen by over 500 eyewitnesses, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God to continually oversee His Kingdom advance on earth until he returns.
But before Jesus ascended into heaven he left clear instructions to his followers that they were being sent, by the power of the Holy Spirit to make disciples of all the nations.
The passage we read today follows the release of Peter and John from jail and what they immediately chose to do after their release. If you were here last week or read through the first part of Acts 4 you would hear the clear instructions of the religious leaders upon releasing Peter and John. They explicitly said, “They called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.”
Let’s read what they did next...Acts 4:23-37
Things were really heating up for the apostles and these first Christians. Their message of faith in the risen Christ was not well received by the religious leaders and they immediately faced persecution. But you know the old saying,
“When the going gets tough, the tough get ??? “praying!”
That’s right the first thing the disciples do is to pray. We may think that the disciples were tough and maybe they were, but they also had to be somewhat scared. I would imagine they thought that if the religious leaders could kill Jesus, then there was no reason they wouldn’t have them killed as well. So they knew they needed to rely o ...
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