Unshaken: Chapter a Day

Acts 4 Discussion

• Pastor Plek

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When power bristles and truth refuses to shrink, the room starts to shake—sometimes literally. We unpack Acts 4 with fresh eyes, tracing how Peter and John faced arrest, spoke with plain courage, and sparked a wave of unity that erased need across the young church. From a healed man standing as living evidence to a council paralyzed by weak leadership, this chapter reveals why proof alone doesn’t change hearts—and why prayer-fueled boldness does.

We walk through the key movements: the arrest for healing in Jesus’ name, the council’s interrogation, the unapologetic claim that salvation is found in Christ alone, and the community’s counterintuitive response—asking not for safety, but for boldness. Along the way, we highlight the rise of leaders like Peter and Barnabas, the power of standing shoulder to shoulder when pressure mounts, and the surprising witness of public generosity as believers lay resources at the apostles’ feet to ensure there is not a needy person among them. The conversation stays rooted in Scripture while engaging modern tensions around authority, conscience, and the cost of conviction.

If you’ve wondered where to draw the line with civil commands, how to speak clearly without posturing, or how to turn spiritual victory into practical care, this deep dive offers a grounded path. Expect straight talk on courage under fire, unity that fuels generosity, and the sovereignty of God that carries ordinary people through extraordinary moments. Listen, share with a friend who needs courage today, and subscribe for more chapter-by-chapter insights that strengthen your faith and your practice.

Text us at 737-231-0605 with any questions.

Pastor Plek:

And welcome back to a chapter a day. Keeps the devil awake. I'm Pastor Pleck. That's Pastor Holland. And we're talking Acts chapter four. We're gonna outline it. We're gonna make some observations, then get into some interpretation about the character of God and the nature of man, and finally lay on the plan with some application that you can take along with you today to make sure your day goes as the Lord has planned. Now, uh Acts four, verses one through four talks about the arrest and imprisonment of Peter and John for healing of the crippled man in the name of Jesus. Then there's a trial before the council in verses five through twelve, where the rulers, elders, and scribes, and asked the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, all the high priestly family gather in Jerusalem and question Peter and John. Then you've got the council's response and release in verses 13 through 22. The council all are marvel at the boldness of Peter and John and say, These are uneducated men. Then uh verses 23 through 31, the believers pray for more boldness so that they can continue to preach the name even amongst persecution. And then you've got verses 32 through 37. Believers share everything everywhere. The excitement of being a part of the way of a Christ following, of what's happening in Jerusalem as a Christian is exciting, and everybody wants to participate in really meaningful, generous ways. All right, let's get into some observations. Holando, what you got?

Pastor Holland:

Okay, so it says in verse, let me see, um 21. Yep. When they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people for all we're praising God for what had happened. They're the it's just like really weak leadership here. They're just like floundering, they don't know what to do. They arrest them because they're annoyed, and then they can't figure out how to pin anything on them. So they tell them to stop, and they're like, We're not gonna stop.

Pastor Plek:

I mean, if you're gonna go this route, you should have said no, they're guilty, have something that they're guilty of, and then charge and move on.

Pastor Holland:

Right. Yeah. And they just cannot, the the leadership is terrible here. They can't figure out what to do. All the people obviously are in support of Peter and John, and so they're kind of stuck.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, and that's kind of fortunate for the Christians that God is in charge of the crowd, and the miracle was enough that it overpowered the leadership. And this just gets to show how miracles will not save anybody. Meaning, if someone gets healed, yeah. Yeah, it won't convince anybody uh that the because miracle salvation is a miracle, but like someone getting healed. Well, if I saw that, then I would believe. Nah, maybe not. Yeah, maybe not. Some people saw and believed, other people dug their heels in harder. Right. In fact, I just go back to the ten plagues of Pharaoh. He saw all the same miracles that the Israelites saved, he just had a different reaction to it.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, that's good.

Pastor Plek:

Okay, so um, how about this? The big one that I saw is that these were they took note that these were common, uneducated men. And if you if you're following along in your Greek text, uh the term uneducated means or is in Greek idiotes. Idiotes. So idiots.

Pastor Holland:

Spanish for yeah, idiotes. That's funny.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, I thought that was kind of funny. I always like to make note of that that they were just like, these guys are a bunch of idiots, and they are schooling us.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, and you know what? It's interesting. The the the egalitarian argument sometimes for you know, women preaching and teaching in the church, um, is that uh Paul didn't allow that. He said, I prohibit that because women were uneducated at the time, and therefore they're not, you know, they weren't really in a good place to be teachers. But what we see here is Peter and John were uneducated. So if being educated was a requirement or prerequisite for being a teacher, then the apostles uh are disqualified. Yikes.

Pastor Plek:

So it's not really a coherent argument. Hey, and that's actually a great point. Okay, what else about this? Um, I love how um uh that there is Peter speaks primarily, but John is just standing there with him. I like I'm kind of surprised by that. Like, why doesn't John say something? I mean, it's not like he's any less bold, he's standing right there with him. Uh but you know, I feel like this is where Peter's leadership is really coming to the forefront. John is is kind of he was, you know, this is what Peter was worried about taking over his ministry, I think. Or I don't know, like I just think back to uh John chapter 21. He's sort of worried about what about this guy? And here is that guy standing behind Peter as he proclaims the gospel.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, yeah, definitely leadership of Peter emerges, and then um you also see uh a new character introduced, Joseph, also called Barnabas, um, who is gonna you know play a significant role in Acts. And so you're seeing leaders rise up here in the early church. It's not just that ministry is happening, but it's that ministry is happening and leadership is being established. Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

I also love how just this kind of odd thing, they brought the gifts, so the money, so they sold lands and took the proceeds and laid them at the apostles' feet. This was not private giving. Yeah, this was very public giving to the work of the ministry. And I know that uh, you know, Jesus said in uh Matthew 6, whenever you pray, go into your room in secret, and your father who sees what you do in secret will reward you. Uh and so I think sometimes we can take that to the extreme and or sorry, and you're giving let your giving be in secret. Don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. Uh we can take that to an extreme and we go, never, ever, ever let your giving be a public. But here it is, it's public. And I think it is also one of the things that spurred people on to be really generous in a cool way. Yeah.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, there's there's a lot of public giving in um the Bible. And several times when they take up collections from the people like to build um to build the tabernacle, things that were needed for the tap tabernacle or the temple, um, rebuilding the temple, you know, people gave publicly. And they wrote their names out of what they gave. Yeah, exactly. And you know, the leaders, you know, were going first uh and were showing, hey, here's how much we're giving, and the people would follow. And so I think it's it's good to say there's there's a place for private giving between you and God that no one knows about. And um there's also a role for public giving to encourage others to be generous. Right.

Pastor Plek:

I I I love it. I think in our culture of um where the the most the thing that you don't ask people about isn't necessarily their sex life, you don't ask them about their their money. Like that's become the idol of our culture. And so I think people are like, don't talk about money. But here, the they're selling lands, so these are wealthy people selling land, giving the proceeds, laying at the the the apostles' feet, and saying, I sub whatever you want to do with this money, yeah. It you I trust you, which is another thing that's sort of wild uh to think about.

Pastor Holland:

Uh last thing, observation-wise, uh Peter and John disobey the leaders um that are saying, Hey, we need you to stop preaching. And so there's a lot that you know, Peter's gonna write himself in um his epistles about um honoring the emperor, respecting civil authority and government and stuff like that, but there's a limit to that. And when the civil government tells you to do something that goes against what God calls you to do, you gotta obey God. And that's what they do here. Yeah, we gotta obey God rather than men.

Pastor Plek:

Um and I think that's I think for the most part in our culture in America, that hasn't been a real issue until sort of recently. Uh when it came to like, what about if you when someone wants to redefine what a man or a woman is, and so I you must call someone by something that's not true, uh, we've seen that or you must close your church down um during COVID or whatever. Lockdown mandates and stuff. Lockdown, like so. We've seen that happen where there has been a little bit of that, but for the most part, uh Christians in the United States have been sort of spared from that. But I think that might be something that is the clash of ideology is really wide. And if you have different leadership in uh in charge, it might make things really hard for people who are preaching the gospel to continue to do so. Whereas like in Canada, uh, that's already becoming super difficult and illegal in some parts. Um, okay. What about the nature of man?

Pastor Holland:

Nature of man. Um, well, you see some good things here. Um, you see like uh the new nature of man, um, as these believers are filled with the Holy Spirit and they become generous. It says verse 34, there was not a needy person among them. Um that's pretty awesome. Yeah. If you could say that about your church or your community, there's not a single needy person here because we're all making sure everyone's taken care of. That's that's awesome that the um the spirit of God produces that kind of generosity.

Pastor Plek:

I love it. And I think that should be the standard for every church. That that's that's what you're trying to hit. No needy people among you. Okay. Um, yeah, I I do see that uh true unity, like when you have this common cause, and you see this in crisis usually, that's what enables radical generosity. When like when there's a clear need, or like usually during disasters, everyone's like, I don't care what it costs, we need to get the supplies to the whatever, and you and people will give and donate and be generous. Uh, and I think that's really awesome. What I loved about this is it wasn't like a natural disaster, but rather spiritual victory that promoted the unity that then uh created this radical generosity.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. Spiritual victory, and also they they were under the threat of persecution. So they're seeing victory, but there was still the very real hostility that they're facing. And so, like, you know, what it the the psalm that he quotes, um, psalm two, I believe, under the Gentiles' rage, people's plot in vain, kings of the earth set themselves, rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. So nature of people is unsaved people um rebel against God and against his anointed one. Nice. And even um, not just as individuals, but as nations, as rulers, um, set themselves against God and his ways.

Pastor Plek:

And which I think is also why we see throughout Acts this call to preach to leaders. Yes, right. Uh, and that you transform government, you transform a culture when you preach the gospel to those who are in authority. Okay. What about character of God uh for Acts 4? I see God is sovereign, he's in charge over even human opposition. So when the opposition comes from the ruling council and all the people that put Jesus to death, and they're wanting to kind of squash this thing, they can't uh because the power of God is greater than uh human will to detract from it.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, yeah, and his sovereignty, like verse 27 and 28, um, it talks about Herod, Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel. So everyone, the Jewish leader, the Roman leader, the Gentile people, the Israelites, everyone's guilty, was all in on crucifying Jesus. And he says um that this is whatever God's hand and plan predestined to take place, verse 28. God's sovereign over even the rebellion against him, he's using that for his glory. That's crazy.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, I love that. Um I love how verse 31, and when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken. Yeah. Uh and I wonder, was that a physical earthquake, or was that everyone had a Holy Spirit moment and they're shaking? I think it's a physical earthquake. And they were all filled, the Holy Spirit continues to speak the word with boldness.

Pastor Holland:

Because remember later when Paul, we'll get there in what, Acts 16, when Paul's in prison in Philippi and they're praying and singing hymns at midnight, and everything shakes, and the doors open and the chains fall off. And so that seems like a literal physical. Do you think that there's something connected with prison and earthquakes? I think you're on to something. I don't know what, but I think.

Pastor Plek:

All right. Uh, I like how I think they say they make a bold claim. Yeah, verse 12. There's salvation and no one else, for there's no other name under heaven among men by which we must be saved. Amen. Amen. There is a bold declaration that God exclusively provides salvation through Christ.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. And I love it. They're not trying to, it's not like they're trying to be jerks to people who have different beliefs. They're just being clear and direct. They're being bold. And man, uh the other night I was sharing the gospel with a Muslim guy. Nice. And he was, he was, he's Muslim, but he's like, I believe in everything. Right. And I just, you know, they channeled my Acts chapter four. And I was like, hey, there's one way. There's only one name you can be saved by, only one way to heaven. Every other way leads to hell. And, you know, encouraged him to repent and believe in Jesus. And he was like, I'll think about it. Um he wasn't like deeply offended, you know, or but like uh being, I think sometimes we worry that if we're just bold with people, they'll get angry, they'll get upset. Um but the reality that some people get upset shouldn't stop you from the chance that maybe they'll hear you out, you know, they'll believe.

Pastor Plek:

What we see in the scripture is that people get upset.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. And people believe though. And people believe. And so you you um there's wheat and there's chaff. Yeah. So sifting. And you take the opportunity from the people who might believe out of fear for the people who would get angry.

Pastor Plek:

Nice. Uh uh man, that's good. Let's get to some application. All right, that's a sin to avoid or confess, a promise to claim, an example to follow, a command to obey, or knowledge to believe. What you got?

Pastor Holland:

Example to follow, pray for boldness. Um, they, you know, they're going through all this stuff, and uh they don't pray that God would stop all the hard things that they're facing. Instead, they pray that God will give them boldness to keep preaching in the midst of the hard things. And I think that's really good because if you like struggle with um, you know, oh, I'm I I can't share my faith, evangelism's hard for me, I don't know what to say. Follow their example. Pray for boldness and let the spirit give you what you need.

Pastor Plek:

Good. How about sin to avoid? Avoid suppressing or silencing the truth of Jesus out of fear of people, yeah, or desire for control. Like I I love that that that just that that comes out, like it's this boldness that Peter has. I don't care whether it is, you know, I'm not gonna do what you tell me to do if it goes against what God has clearly revealed to me. And the other thing I love about that, and this might get into application, don't be afraid uh to share what you've seen and heard. Like I love the part that what Peter was saying is like he literally saw a resurrected Jesus. Yeah. And I can say, what we can say is we've literally seen the life change that comes from following Christ. Yeah. Don't be silent about what you've seen and heard.

Pastor Holland:

Another example to follow, be be generous. Um, they they're selling their stuff, they're giving to specifically to make sure needs are met within their community. Yeah. And they're doing it through their local leadership, though, through the apostles. And so I know sometimes there's like a tendency in us to want to really control uh every dollar where it goes and all that, instead of just saying, Hey, here, pastors, leaders of my church, here's my gift. I trust you to do what's best. Yeah, you know, that's uh wild. Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

Um, and so there and there's great honor in that. I mean, uh Bonarabus goes from Joseph to son of encouragement, which I appreciate that that he is seen as someone that is a really a pillar of the church who then ultimately brings in Paul. Um what about just knowledge to believe? I just God's sovereign. Just lean into the sovereignty of God, that he's gonna bring about situations, circumstances, like a crippled guy that gets healed, like uh a council that wants to thwart the teaching and the proclamation of the gospel. All of that is part of God's plan and it's not outside of his hand. Amen. Anything else?

Pastor Holland:

I just like in verse 33, when they're giving their testimony, it says, Great grace was upon them all. I don't know if it's maybe it's a promise to claim, but just that reality of like when you're walking in obedience to God, like there's just there's a grace upon your life that is sweet and pleasant, and even if stuff's hard and it's you know, you're sacrificing, there's a grace on your life that makes it, you know, enjoyable even. I love that.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah. Okay. Well, thanks for watching and listening. Uh, we'll see you tomorrow on a chapter a day.

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