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Acts

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Threats, Scripture and Prayer

Acts 4:21-26

Peter and John were released.  The religious court could not decide how to punish them for preaching about Jesus and healing in His Name, because the crowd was praising God for His greatness.  To deny that God had healed the man might result in a riot, and reprisals from the Roman occupying forces.  For the previously crippled beggar, to walk after forty years of having to be carried - it was a miracle.  The worst the court could do was to issue more threats – even though the apostles had explained that they had to obey God and not the council (Acts 4:8-20).

Wickedness Used By God

Acts 4:27-28

After Peter and John had been released from the religious court, the church remembered God’s word through King David a thousand years previously (Psalm 2:1-2), "Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed." (Acts 4:25-26).  The Psalm goes on to say that human defiance against God is futile, as the apostles had proved; God always has the last word.

Prayer for Boldness

Acts 4:29-31

The lame beggar rejoiced that he was healed, and the crowd also praised God.  But Peter and John had been arrested, imprisoned and brought before a religious court.  However, their only punishment the Jewish Council could issue, without stirring a riot among the people, was to threaten the apostles never to speak about Jesus again (Acts 4:18).  So, on their release, the church came together to pray (Acts 4:23-31).

Family Grace

Acts 4:32-33

The Early Church was different.  The church, that is the people who believe in Jesus, lived a radically different lifestyle from the people around them.  Eastern families certainly look out for each other, but here we find people from different families behaving as though they were all in the same family.  They loved each other like brothers and sisters should – having the same values and caring for one another (Acts 2:44-45).  The key to their relationship was that they had all become children of God because they had received Jesus as their Lord and Saviour (John 1:12).  They were family t

Sold Out For God - Rightly And Wrongly

Acts 4:34-5:2

The Early Church understood that true fellowship meant sharing.  Some people owned property and were willing to sell it so that other believers could have food or whatever was needed.  The apostles then distributed the sale proceeds – and this became such a complex and sensitive task that other godly men were subsequently appointed to oversee this social aid (Acts 6:1-7).  Nobody was under compulsion to give, and they could present to the Lord whatever amount they chose.  Two examples are given: one of a wholehearted giver, and another couple who were not.

Religious Lying

Acts 5:3-6

The Early Church was growing.  They devoted themselves to learning from the apostles, breaking bread (communion), praying together and sharing their lives with each other (fellowship) (Acts 2:42).  The more they shared, the more they realised that other believers needed financial and material help.  So a number of property owners sold homes or land, and gave the money to the apostles to distribute (Acts 4:34-35).

Resisting Repentance

Acts 5:7-11

Ananias had just died after lying to Peter about the gift he made to the church (Acts 5:1-6).  Sapphira, the dead man's wife, came in three hours later; and Peter asked her what she knew about the money which had been given to help believers who were in need.  She gave the answers which Ananias had told her to say.  She agreed that her husband had sold the land for exactly the same amount of money that was presented to Peter.  But she lied.

Awesome Power

Acts 5:12-14

Although the religious leaders hoped that interest in Jesus would fade, the people were increasingly intrigued by Him.  During His ministry, Jesus taught the truth about God's kingdom, healed the sick and cast out demons (Matthew 11:4-5).  Then Jesus commissioned the apostles to continue His work after He returned to heaven (Matthew 28:18-20).  All their ministry was in Jesus' Name (Acts 4:9-12); that is, with His full authority - and they told everybody that miracles were done by His power alone (John 15:16).

Attractive Power

Acts 5:15-16

This narrative tells of another episode in God's plan: to ensure that nobody in Jerusalem forgot about Jesus.  Although the religious leaders killed Him, God gave Him new life (Acts 2:23-24).  When they persecuted the apostles, the church grew (Acts 8:1-4).  And so many sick people were brought into the streets, lying on straw mats, hoping that Peter would pass by and the Spirit of Jesus in him would be powerful to heal them.

Authoritative Power

Acts 5:17-21a

Jealousy is a powerful emotion.  When you fear that what you have will be taken away, you jealously guard what belongs to you.  It is right to be jealous for what rightly belongs to you – as God is jealous over His people, and He will not tolerate their worship of false gods (Exodus 34:14).  But it is wrong to jealously guard what does not rightly belong to you.  The religious leaders of Israel were only trustees of God's people, but they thought they owned them (Luke 20:9-19).  They should have been leading people to Jesus; instead they wanted His power and glory.

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