43. Acts 4:1-31 | Emboldened - The Holy Spirit Emboldens Believers

In this episode, we dive into Acts 4 where Peter and John face opposition from religious leaders but remain unwavering in proclaiming Jesus' resurrection. Join us as we explore themes of boldness, opposition, and the relentless power of the gospel. We also delve into the significance of being filled with the Holy Spirit, the importance of using words to share Jesus, and the early church's prayer for courage amidst threats. Tune in for a deep, insightful discussion that connects the historical context of Acts with practical applications for today.

00:00 Introduction: The Unstoppable Force of the Gospel

00:24 Casual Friday Podcast Vibes

00:53 Military Time and Hospital Stories

02:20 Acts Chapter 4: Boldness in the Face of Opposition

02:30 Recap of Acts Chapter 2 and 3

03:55 Peter and John's Encounter at the Temple

07:27 The Sadducees and Their Opposition

10:59 Peter's Bold Proclamation

15:14 The Holy Spirit's Empowerment

17:37 The Holy Spirit's Role in Our Lives

18:30 Peter's Bold Declaration

20:25 Historical Context and Jewish Tradition

22:36 The Power of Prayer and Boldness

25:13 The Early Church's Response to Threats

29:22 Theological Implications of Boldness

34:31 Concluding Thoughts and Prayer

Music used in intro: "Hard Answers" by JK Productions

Transcript

0:00

What happens when the religious leaders of the day try to silence the early Christian movement? In Acts 4, Peter and John face opposition from the authorities, but instead of backing down, they proclaim the power of the risen Jesus. Let's explore how this passage teaches about boldness, opposition, and the unstoppable force of the gospel.

Adam: 0:24

Hey, Allison! Adam, it's Friday. It is Friday. We're back in the swing of things now. Yeah. I think it took us a, I think a week to get back into what it looks like to record a podcast again. But now I think we're regular professionals. Absolutely. I love spending my Fridays this way. So we get to record on Friday. You do some tech work and release on Monday. Sunday. Night. Sunday night? Oh, I guess it would be Monday. It's 12 a. m. Midnight. Yeah, you're right. Now I'm gonna have to do it at Sunday night at 11. 59 just so I didn't lie. Here's the thing about Lance, my husband. He loves military time. I don't know why he's not been in the military, but he doesn't tell me things like normal person time. He's oh, 400. I'm like, what is oh, 400, Lance? Like You're like, a time that I'm still sleeping. I don't want to do math. Oh, 400's the easy one. If you said 1600, that's totally different. I don't even know the difference. That's the hard one. Yeah, so I do not like, I do not like how he tells Tom. We're gonna, we're gonna call Midnight the next day. I like military time because I both grew up in the military and I worked in the hospital and I worked at night in the hospital and so all of my charting was all done at military time. And so anytime I'm around any kind of hospital friends or anything like that, I get really excited. In fact, I have a story about a new hospital friend of mine. Okay. He's a physician. He joined our church, but the other day I was presenting this opportunity that he could help us lead a men's Bible study. And he had asked us if we'd ever had one. And I was like, actually, yes. My friend Lance has used to help lead one a while back. And I was like, do you know Lance? And he's Lance. He goes, Oh wait, is he the one that looks exactly like you, but way more muscular? And I was like, you know what? That is exactly who Lance is. Yeah. That, that's going to be his favorite part of the podcast. I have no doubt. I know he'd like that. And use that against you later. It's so true. He spoke very he made a great proclamation that really summed up who Lance was. You know what? The funny thing is he spoke without a filter. That's true. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't know your friend, but what it leads right into Acts chapter four, which is what we're talking about today, because we're going to see Christians speaking boldly without a filter. Yeah. Yeah. So last week we ended in Acts chapter two. And do you want to just recapture for our audience where we were? We've, like you said, you've slept since then, so do you remember where we were? I had to turn a page back just to go, wait, what was Acts 2? What was Acts 2? Ultimately, what we're seeing is we're seeing a second part at work of Luke, who wrote Luke. And he is talking about what's happening with the church, the acts of the apostles post the ascension of Jesus. Acts 2 would be like the intro. Empowering of those Christians. This is the the fulfillment of when Jesus says it'll be better for me to leave because then the helper will come and in Acts 2 we're going to see that helper show up at Pentecost. He's going to it's going to theologically represent something big and that is that the personal presence of God is no longer just confined necessarily in the minds of the people in the temple, but It is where it has always been, which is where wherever the believer is, and these people would be indwelt with the Holy Spirit permanently, and these the Holy Spirit is going to now empower the people, and then and it's going to give us a quick snippet, glimpse of what it looked like for the early start of the church in that they were doing life together. They acted in community together, and they also made attending a temple and worshiping God a part of their church daily activities and weekly activities and that kind of thing. So today we're going to be in chapter four. So I'll bring our listeners up to speed with what happens in between chapter two and chapter four. In chapter three, Peter and John, they go into the temple and there's a lame man who is begging at the temple gates and he's been there for years. Lame is such a great word because I don't think of lame like biblical lame. I think of lame like the vernacular that we used when I was in school. That's because you've been a student minister for so many years. That's so true. I'm trying to learn the vernacular of the students, like they're slinging things. It's very dangerous. It's very difficult. Because I'm scared to use it wrong. It's difficult. But what I have learned in trying to learn their language is that Brother Jason, our senior pastor, like he's got a handle on the slang. He's also the only one on the staff that has a tick tock that he is active on. So I'm making, I'm going to him for help. I'm like this teenager said this, what does this mean? He's on top of it. He's teaching me stuff. So for those of you who, when you think about lame, think about. Think about Jason, yes. No, no. I think you should edit that out. I don't know. I'm not editing that out. That's stated. What do you think about lame? You think about Jason. Let the record show that is not where I was going with this statement. Oh, that's fantastic. But, let's just turn the corner and say lame means crippled. Unable to walk. Got it. So there was a man at the temple gate who was unable to walk and Peter and John actually heal him, and it really gets the people's attention. And Peter used that opportunity where he got all the people's attention from that miracle to preach the gospel. Because he understood, Peter and John understood that the purpose of the miracle was to point people to Jesus. But Not everyone at the temple was happy with that. And so that's what we're going to pick up in Acts chapter 4. And I'm going to read, because apparently I voluntold you to read a lot last week. That's okay. I was sick, so my brain was in a fog. The least I could do was at least just read some stuff. I'll read, I'm actually just going to read the first four verses, if that's okay, of chapter 4 of Acts. So while they were speaking, so that's speaking, Peter and John, while they were speaking to the people the priests, the captain of the temple police, and the Sadducees confronted them because they were annoyed that they were teaching the people and proclaiming Jesus, the resurrection of the dead. So they seized them and took them into custody until the next day, since it was already evening. But many of those who heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to about five hundred. So the first thing I think I noticed in this is that there's like a lot of people, a lot of groups of people, it seems like against Peter and John, like the priest, the temple. Lance is actually teaching the same book in youth and he discovered that there's 11 different groups named in this chapter that are against Peter and John. And yeah. Yeah, so we have the priests, the captains of the temple, the Sadducees all came upon them and as a, as a somebody who's passionate about teaching the Bible I love to give like tips and hints and stuff like that as to when you can begin to recognize moments where you can think, you can start to study a little bit more in depth of what, than what's being written there. And one of those moments is when something like this very specific is happening, like when they tell you where, very specific place that something is taking place, like at Solomon's portico, where Peter is speaking in the previous chapter, or that the healing took place at the temple, or if they give specific people, like chief priests captain of the temple, and the Sadducees are coming upon them, they're greatly annoyed. They're not just necessarily naming out a bunch of random people who are there. They're telling you very specific people because if you go nerd out on these people, you can start to see why they're annoyed and what Peter and John are doing why it would be such a big deal. And I'll tell you about one of the groups of people here. Okay. So there's these people called the Sadducees. Yeah. Now the Sadducees, I always remember the Sadducees and the Pharisees because when I was in high school I went I had a youth pastor for a short amount of time, and he taught me a song that he wrote. about the Sadducees and I'm gonna sing it for you. Oh, I'm so excited. It's so great. Okay, let me hear it. He says, I don't wanna be a Sadducee, I don't wanna be a Sadducee, cause they are Sadducee. It's just great, right? I don't wanna be a Sadducee I love it. You'll never guess what the Pharisee was, they're not Pharisees. Fair. Ah, it's really good's. There's a lot of truth to that. Catchy too,. Adam: But the Sadducees, the Sadducees of controlled much of the temple worship. That took place there. And so what happened when they healed this lame man? It happened in the temple, and this became an undeniable true miracle took place. These Sadducees would have nothing to actually state other than it must have been God. But what was special about the Sadducees is they did not believe in certain aspects of what most of things that we believe as a Christian in the Old Testament. For instance, they didn't believe in an afterlife, and they didn't believe in a resurrection. So any, that, that explained anything that Jesus had to say or do because they didn't believe Jesus was this messiah figure because they weren't looking for a messiah figure, these Sadducees. And that's why they were sad, that's why they were sad, exactly. And so here, Peter and John have done this unbelievable miracle in healing this man, and then they're going to sit there and speak about the resurrection of Jesus. They are, they're going up against all their authority. Like every aspect of their authority, both theologically, both both directly in regards to the temple. And now you can see why they are a little bit annoyed by what Peter and John are doing. They're basically sa It'd be like if I stood up in front of Jason on Sunday morning was like you don't need to believe anything this guy's saying I have the real truth and just Completely in the face of everything Jason's preaching. Yeah, you know went against his authority there So that's gonna be that's gonna be tough and that really is in line with why the chief priest We're upset because you mentioned like you gave the example of if you stood up and in church because you don't have the authority You have to stand up in church at the pulpit. That's Jason's pulpit here at our church or wherever Unless he you know tells you to do it on which I like to move the pulpit off the stage Then it's so big and I'm so short that it's like I feel like I'm I need to stand up on something And you do a great job when you do preach sometimes behind the pulpit, but you know any person like that's Jason's pulpit and that's his place to speak and he gets the authority to assign people to speak when he, or preach when he's not here, and no one, the chief priests hadn't given John and Peter the authority to teach, and so your example was really good because not only were they teaching against Peter. the beliefs of the chief priests and the Sadducees, but they were doing it without the authority. And no one spoke, no one was allowed to teach in the temple without the authority of the chief priests. But it was too late. Yeah. Their annoyance didn't stop. The word the word went out and did not return void. Yeah. By five thousand. Yeah. I'd say so. And so let's go, let's keep reading and we'll see how they being the groups in opposition of Peter and John, how they respond. The next day the rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John Alexander, and all the members of the high priestly family. After they had Peter and John stand before them, they began to question them. By what power or in what name have you done this? Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to them, Rulers of the people and elders, If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a disabled man by what means he was healed, let it be known to all of you and to all people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing here before you healthy. This Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved. No filter there, huh? No, not at all. I wish I, Could just get away with sometimes not having a filter, but I think that would not bode well for me like it does for Peter here so one of the things that initially strikes me when I think about Peter is that Annas and Ananias and Caiaphas They were have been the same leaders that tried Jesus just a few months before Ananias was seen as the high priest by the people because The Old Testament teaches Jews to appoint a high priest for life, right? But Rome was a little bit uncomfortable with that idea. That was a little bit too much power for Jews to have and they were under Roman authority at this time in New Testament times. And so Rome actually was like, no, we're going to switch around the high priest position. So Caiaphas was the acting high priest. He was the son in law of Ananias. But Often, people were brought to trial in front of both of them, because Caiaphas had the, formal recognition from Rome, but Ananias had the recognition from the people as high priest. So it's the same leaders as those who were in place when Jesus was on trial, but it is not the same Peter. And I love that. In verse 8, we can see that Peter is Be old with the Holy Spirit and he is receiving the Holy Spirit and he's not shying away Yeah, like he was like last time he stood in front of or he not he stood but last time he was with ananias Syncopus, what was he doing? He was denying jesus. Yeah, he was hiding denying jesus running away all that kind of stuff and so I think it's just amazing to see I think two things are really amazing about that. One, God just always redeems our mistakes. He has a way of just resurrecting new chances, redeeming bad decisions, like giving us the opportunities to do those things. And He does that throughout Peter's lifetime. And again, we can see that in the Gospels and throughout Scripture. But also, we're not the same when we allow the Holy Spirit to empower us, are we? We're just a new creation and all of that. It Made me sad when you said that Jesus has that ability to resurrect our bad mistakes because what's happening here is we're specifically, Very much honing in on the fact that it was the high priest that he's speaking on, in front of, and the high priest would have been the ones who would have, like we'd seen in the crucifixion and represented representative of the Levitical laws they would have been the ones who would have put, the animals to death for, on behalf of the people during the sacrificial days, system days but then also he, they would have been the ones who would have declared that Jesus needed to be crucified. So here Peter is acting and showing both in his physical representation that Jesus offers a second chance a new way And what they're doing is they're in they're being offered the opportunity to recognize their bad decision. Yeah, which was ultimately putting the Savior to death. And we know it was the wrong and bad decision because of how he responds that God resurrected and raised that bad decision back up. So in other words, like what we thought was good, God then overdid and showed in the newness of Jesus's life that actually that will be used for the good of all people. And so it's almost as if the high priest could have been are being offered that opportunity to Recognize that resurrection potential and their response could be, could have been one of remorse and could have been one of repentance, but that's not what we're going to see here. No. We're watching Peter's character grow and change, but we're seeing the same attitude and the same people who put Jesus to death are going to continue in the same, unfortunately spoiler alert, vein of pride and Yeah. And one of the things that I think is important that I've been learning about recently is verse eight says, then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to them. And a lot of people think how's he filled with the Holy Spirit? Because didn't he receive the Holy Spirit? In Acts chapter two, like a Pentecost, what we talked about in our last episode. And so I do think that, and tell me if you think I'm on the, along the right lines. I do think that you receive the Holy Spirit upon conversion. When you place your faith in Jesus, you receive the Holy Spirit. He never leaves you. He's a gift that stays with you. But there are certain times when you might be more aware of His presence. Where He flexes His muscles in your life for a certain reason, if that makes sense. Yeah. And I got like The Lord gave me a little glimpse of what I feel like that looks like this week. Because I was just praying through that Lord, what is it to have the Holy Spirit yet to at times be filled with the Holy Spirit? And McKenzie is training for a marathon. A half marathon. Which is still incredibly far. God bless her. I know. And so on Tuesdays, she goes for a really long run and we have a, pretty safe community. But when I'm thinking about sending my 19 year old to go run 11 miles by herself, I follow her, on those days and other times she'll run like closer to home or a track or something like that. But when she goes to run 11 miles, I get on my bicycle. It is a workout for me just to be on my bicycle. I don't know how she runs it. And she's going to build up to 13, but right now she's doing 11. And I, my job on my bicycle, I take very seriously. Because she puts a Bluetooth speaker in my cup holder and fits, and we jam music. We're like one of those annoying people going down the road with the music too loud. But I'm just like, I need it to finish the 11 miles on my bike. So I know she needs it. So we've got like upbeat music going. And then I'm like, she has a, she has this She gets in her zone when she's running. It makes me nervous. So I'm on my bicycle and I'm watching traffic and like I like pedal ahead really fast and sometimes like I'll get in the middle of the street and I'll just sit there and let her run through so no cars come right while we're going. And then sometimes like I don't talk to her a whole lot because as you can imagine she can't carry a conversation very well when she's running. Every now and then I'll say, stop, Mackenzie, there's a car coming, or sometimes I can tell that she's getting really tired of breathing hard. So I might change the song to one of her favorites. And anyway, so that I take my job very seriously, but not in any way, shape or form that I would be comparing myself to the Holy Spirit. In a way it made me. think about that being a glimpse for what the Holy Spirit's doing with us. Like I'm always there sometimes just quietly, but then sometimes like when I can tell she's getting discouraged, jam that music up. When I think she might be in danger, I get in front of that traffic. And I think, I feel like it was just a little glimpse of what the Holy Spirit does for us. Like sometimes he just flexes his muscles and big ways that we may not even notice in our life and sometimes we can really feel and I think that's what it's like to be filled in those times with the Holy Spirit. You are, that was a great mature way to respond to that because all I pictured was playing Mario Kart and like you building up your little turbo charge thing so every time you hit Y then you can just take off. Okay, that's a good example. The turbo catches it, that's what it is. I like that. It's the Holy Spirit's building up his turbo charge in life. I mean we can go with that too. Yours is way more mature. Good job. Way to coach her. But so one of the things that is bolded in my Bible is verse 11. So I'm thinking it must be important. I think it's bolded because it's a prophecy, right? Yeah. But it says this, Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone. And we know that, um, that's a very forward statement a very unfiltered statement Why do you think that upset like what why do you think that? Peter used well, I did it I did just notice also that he's not speaking anymore to the Sadducees necessarily It's specific to the chief priests and the chief priests. However did believe in an afterlife and they would have accepted the whole, the complete Hebrew scriptures that we see as the Old Testament. And knowing that and knowing that they would have been steeped in the Hebrew scriptures, they would have understood that he is reflecting a quote from Psalm 118, 22, which is talking about the stone that the builder rejects becomes the cornerstone. And ultimately what he's saying is they would have recognized this as a messianic psalm, a psalm about the Lord. The one the new ruler of Israel out of David's line who will come and rule the world forever. And ultimately what he's saying is that they are where Israel would have reflected that on the nations rejecting the Messiah. What Peter is saying is that it was the chief priests, not the nations, but themselves that acted on behalf of the nations and all, all by rejecting that stone. But their rejection just set up the ability to become that cornerstone that starting piece of a new community of people to build this new foundation of God's kingdom. Kingdom here on this earth, and so they're going to feel an immense amount of guilt in, hopefully, in the fact that they missed the missile together, and they rejected him but hopefully they would, if they were to respond or reflect on what he's saying here by tying Jesus into that messianic zombie, saying that ultimately he, that it was through their rejection that could, that will start this new community, that will start this new kingdom on earth. And I thought it was interesting, I was reading in preparation for this podcast, and this is extra biblical historical information, so I don't, we can't take it as scripture, but Apparently there was a Jewish tradition, so even, whether this was a true story or not, I'm pretty sure it was a Jewish tradition, something passed down as a story, that when Solomon's temple was being built, we know from 1 Kings chapter 6, verse 7, I think it talks about how Solomon didn't want any heavy heavy tools I wouldn't use the word machinery, I don't know that they have that in Bible times, but, any loud noises, any heavy tools, that kind of thing, at the temple site, just to keep it holy and reverent. And so the, they would hewn the stones, they would cut the stones to specifications for the temple offsite and then send them marked, where they belong to the temple. And the story goes that one stone arrived that wasn't marked and it was an odd shape, unlike any of the others, and they actually threw it into the trash pile, assuming that it was a mistake. And then at the end of building the temple, they couldn't find the capstone which the capstone was actually like that final top piece. So it's not the same as the cornerstone, but they couldn't find the capstone and someone realized that it was actually the one they rejected. And some people believe that, and I don't know if that really happened, but what I am pretty sure about is that was at least a story that was circulating during Bible times. And so I think that. That probably really clearly indicated to Peter's original audience that, they were being referred to, like you said, as those builders who rejected the stone. And the difference in what Peter accuses them of versus the story is that Jesus was the cornerstone. And the cornerstone is the first piece. It's the piece that It's more, the capstone is important, but the cornerstone is the most important. So he takes that story and even elevates it to the next level of their rejection. And this is going to have some implications in our next podcast. So I think that we should save some of the fun for that one, but you'll have to tune in next week because next week we're going to tie all this stuff together because it's all making a grand giant theological statement. And and so it's great. Yeah. All right. Let's look in verse 13 and see how, what happens next. When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized they had been with Jesus. And since they saw the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in opposition. And they ordered them to leave the Sanhedrin. They conferred among themselves, saying, What should we do with these men? For an obvious sign has been done through them, clear to everyone living in Jerusalem. And we cannot deny it. But so that this does not spread any further among the people, let's threaten them against speaking to anyone in this name again. So they called for them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. Peter and John answered them, Whether it's right in the sight of God for us to listen to you rather than to God, you decide. For we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard. After threatening them further, they released them. They found no way to punish them because the people were all giving glory to God over what had been done. For this sign of healing had been performed on a man over forty years old. Wow. My favorite part of that passage is that the Religious leaders recognized that they had been with Jesus. Yeah. How do you think they what do you think about them made them recognize? I've wondered that I don't have an answer for it specifically, but I want people to say that of me. So what about I think what recognized them is I think that they saw the same, qualities in those surrounding peter and john that they saw in those surrounding john jesus And so that is that there were people being healed there were people You beginning to follow them. There was an energy that was taking place that was desirable from the to, to people looking in from the outside. And I think that they thought they had done away with that problem by taking care of Jesus himself. But now we're watching two other individuals still continue in Jesus name, his work here, and it's causing a stir. 5, 000 people at it daily. That's massive. And then what I noticed here what I thought was so interesting. was they recognized that boldness, they perceived that they were just ordinary, uneducated people, and, but yet they had no defense against the truth that Peter and John are going to speak. They don't even try to defend against what they said. In fact, all they're concerned with is remaining in control. Keeping that control. And instead, they just begin to use those threats. They begin to make it clear that they're not allowed to teach in Jesus name anymore. And that kind of thing. They're showing that power and influence and control that they think they have. But ultimately, we see that Peter's response is, shows that. They don't have any control. Yeah. And I think, we can look at the boldness of Peter and John and think about, the fact that they were filled with the Holy Spirit and all that, but it didn't necessarily make it easy to be bold. I don't want to just talk about their boldness in this vacuum of they were superheroes because they weren't. And I think we get a glimpse of, I think they were scared. And this is why I think that in verse 21, it says after threatening them further, they released them. And so I want to think about for real what did that look like? And I, I imagine the Bible doesn't give us specifics, but we can imagine, I think they probably said things like, did you see what we did to Jesus? We can do that to you. Stop talking. Maybe I've just watched too many action packed movies, but I think they might have said, we know where you live. What's funny about the irony there is I agree completely. I think that this is absolutely happening. And I think that's why the author, I think that's why Luke puts in there, they go they had nothing to say in opposition to the miracle that's standing beside them. This, if he can heal a man who's been lame for 40 years right in front of them, I mean, what am I going to do to you? Because obviously you have the power overcome any hurt or ill will that I might cause against you as if I were part of the council here. Yeah, so but it was some serious like some serious threats, I think to their life to people they loved maybe Reminding, you know them of the power they did have. Obviously Jesus Resurrected but yeah, and I think the reason that they probably took those threats seriously is that we see right after this section In verse 23, it says That after John and Peter were released, they went to their own people and they reported everything the chief priests and the elders said to them. So I think that's insinuating that they repeated the threat. They said that they were going to hurt our families. They said they were going to do to us what they did to Jesus. Yep. And I love how the church responded. It says in verse 24 when they heard this They raised their voices together to God and said, Master, you are the one who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. You said to the Holy Spirit by the mouth of your father David, Why did the Gentiles rage and the people plot futile things? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers assemble together against the Lord and against the Messiah. And I think that it was interesting. I really looked at their prayer. I love that they responded with prayer. They didn't, they took those men. who had just been, threatened and went back and reported that these are the things they're saying and they just surrounded them in prayer and that's what we ought to do, for our brothers and sisters receiving, having to pay the cost for following Jesus, but when they prayed, they didn't pray protect Peter and John, not that kind of prayer would have been wrong but they first prayed They first praised God for His sovereignty. They said, Master, Creator Your predestined will. And I think that the purpose of them praying, God, You're sovereign, was to remind them that God is sovereign and they are not. And I think that was a reminder that Peter and John needed at that moment. Yeah. And you hit on this. And I think that this is what stood out to me the most. And it, it was just astounding to me. Yeah. When I read that, that it's true, they didn't pray for protection. They didn't pray for protection from death or misfortune or whatever. They only prayed for boldness. And I think that is, that was astounding to me, Because my, I would have been like, God, protect me, protect my family, like to help me smooth over some of the, rough edges here, whatever it may be. It was like, no, let me boldly proclaim the truth of the gospel. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And have you ever been guilty? Because I I should before I ask you, I should say I have been guilty of saying all we can do now is pray. Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. And I was really convicted about that when I read this passage in particular, because it struck me was like, Okay, all I can do now is place my hope in the maker of heaven and earth, whose love for his children's immovable, whose power is unmatched, who knows all things, who controls all things. Yeah, all I can do now is place my hope in that. Yeah. And and so I think this particular passage just demonstrates how powerful prayer is when we put God in his rightful place. Yeah. Prayer. It's so interesting. I think we have this only listed to go through 33 Which, which is good but I want to hone it again on 31 where this crazy thing happens at the end of their prayer. And it's just like one single verse. And it says that when they had prayed the place in which they were gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy spirit and continue to speak the word of God with boldness. This, while one verse in English is Theologically incredibly important for the early church because this is a representation and echo of another previous time that this took place. And that was in exodus 19 at the foothills of Mount Sinai. And the representation is this is a covenant making a moment between God and his people. And they are experiencing the personal presence of God on this holy mountain in the form of the earth shaking and the wind blowing and in, in this terrifying moment. But they're also being presented with the opportunity to come into this covenantal relationship with this God who just led them out of slavery in Egypt into a new life. And For that to take place, and then we see those two moments occur again at the consecration of the tabernacle in the temple. For that to now take place, did you happen to notice the place setting as to where this took place? Tell me. Where they were at. In Solomon's portico? No, it just says where they were at. Oh, I thought you were asking me again. No, yeah, No. That all took place. They left the council at this point. So now what's happening is the personal presence of God who, who previously made and showed his Covenantial love with his people have now shown up not just in the tabernacle in the temple of Mount Sinai But they are right where they where those believers are praying for boldness at that moment and that is theologically to us We're like, yeah, that makes sense wherever two or more gather my name there Am I also we know that right but if you're transported back into the first century, church that is massive That's it Because, think about the job of the high priest. The high priest are supposed to intercede on behalf of the people in the personal presence of God. You know who you don't need anymore? You don't need the high priest anymore, because we are the high priest. It's what Peter will say, you are a royal nation. You are a kingdom of priests, you are now that royal representation that ultimately in Exodus 19, I take the belief if you go and read it. It's, it is a really cool passage. But ultimately, I think Israel's being tested. Exodus 20 tells us that, and that they failed this test. They were supposed to become a kingdom of priests to the whole, to all the nations. And instead they became a kingdom with priests. And now what's happening is in the church, we're seeing the undoing of a kingdom with priests into becoming a kingdom of priests into all the nations. And one single verse and you're just like, they experienced an earthquake and like the spirit, but they're praying for boldness and you're like, wow, that is theologically massively important. Yeah. So it shows that transition of them needing priests to being a royal chosen. We're watching a progression taking place through acts of all these undoing things that took place in the old Testament. And now how through the church, they're being undone. And we're watching God show that great commission that all power in heaven and earth belong to him. And he's now sending them out into into the world to undo the human sin problem with the boldness and with good news. And the bold, their boldness includes words. Yeah. And I think that's, that was really very instructive to me this week, because I think, in our culture here in the Western America, we're probably not going to face death for going to church on Sunday morning or, other places in the world might, but not here. And so when we think about being bold for Christ, I think it, it means sometimes like using words because it's not culturally acceptable to talk about Jesus. Yeah, we're everywhere we go. In fact, I was thinking this week about, I had seen on Facebook and I've heard this before and it bothered me, but I didn't really, I couldn't really think why until this week. But have you heard that term or that saying, preach the gospel at all times and use words if necessary? Yeah. Have you ever heard of that? Yeah. So that quote is ascribed to St. Francis of Assisi. But it is not his quote. He did not say it. He is misquoted. I learned this week about saying that he was actually talking about having your actions mat or your words match your deeds. And so you know what? This really convicted me because I've thought that before. I'm like, Oh, I'll just say it. I'll just live Jesus, use words if necessary kind of thing, but that is not what the scripture teaches. It's not better or more effectively to silently live for Jesus because John in the book of John, it says Jesus is the word. So we've got to use words to share Jesus. Yeah. We got to our deeds have to match our words, but we've got to use words to share Jesus. And I think that we see that was the kind of boldness that these believers were receiving the boldness to use words. And that's a boldness that we need in America today. That's part of the reason why we do this podcast. Yeah. We want people to be empowered, to feel confident in their study of scripture and that they'll receive that boldness by spending that time with the Lord and that they'll go out and begin to implant the word and teach the word and spread the gospel to people. That's the backbone of what it is. Could I read something that I read here in closing? Absolutely. Unless there's anything else you think we should touch on here. No, I think that's perfect. Okay. I read this and I felt like it summed it up really well. It says Acts 4 teaches us that when we face a opposition, our response should be prayer, boldness, and obedience to God. Peter and John didn't back down because they knew that Jesus had already won the victory. The early church recognized the opposition was a part of the story, but they prayed for courage to keep proclaiming the good news. And God responded by empowering them through the Holy Spirit. And that was so encouraging to me today because again, we read this like it's such a disconnected thing that took place 2, 000 years ago, but the Part of the point here is that God is that loyal, covenant loving Savior of the world in that same empowerment, that same boldness, those same words, the good news is still the good news to us today. And the biggest question that I have to ask in my life is where am I needing to pray for boldness, ultimately each and every week. There are certain things that maybe I've given into the authority of my flesh or the authority of this world here. And I need to pray that God will boldly fill me up to the turbo button with the Holy Spirit ultimately. That I can boldly proclaim, the good news over things in my life and over those who need to see the light. Yeah. Unfiltered Adam. Yes. That sounds dangerous. Yes. Maybe a God filtered Adam. I know, I couldn't become more muscular, otherwise she would think I was Lance, perfect. I'll tell you what let me let me close this in prayer and then we'll hit the road here, sounds good. Father God, we're so thankful for this. opportunity to dive into your word. God as we are just touching small portions of acts, God, they are such an encouragement to us. God, not only are we watching the history of your church unfolding, we're watching the beginning of a movement that would supersede any government, any, religious order, any counsel, God and and what's amazing is how it's being done. It's not being done through through war or through overtaking of authority, but it's being done through love. It's being done through compassion, through families living together loving each other, taking care of each other's needs, boldly proclaiming the good news. God, I, I know that there have been times where we have swayed away from that, but God I pray that for the church will be emboldened, God, that we will live and act more like that model that we're gonna, that we see in the first century. Father, so that our communities of darkness will look at the light and desire the light. God, that they'll want to be a part of this, that they'll and that you'll add to our numbers 5, 000 daily. Not because of anything that we've done, but because you've empowered us to do something great and grand with boldness. God, I just pray that you'll be with us this week. Help us to return next week and thirsty and excited for the living water for the word. God, we ask these things in your name. Amen. Amen.