May 24, 2026 - The Way: Acts 4:5-22

This week's sermon from Nate Perry continues in our sermon series on the book of Acts.

For further information about Fort St John Alliance Church, check out our website fsjalliance.ca

Our desire is to become a community of people who practice the Way of Jesus together, and through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, live on mission to meet the social and spiritual needs of the world around us. Each week, we gather as a community to worship, learn from God’s Word, and be encouraged in our walk with Christ.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to the Fort St. John Alliance Church Sermon Podcast. I'm Aaron Peters, the Executive Ministry Director. We're so glad you decided to join us today. Our desire is to become a community of people who practice the way of Jesus together and through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, live on mission to meet the social and spiritual needs of the world around us. Each week we gather as a community to worship, learn from God's Word, and be encouraged in our walk with Christ. In this podcast, you'll hear the latest message from our Sunday service. Whether you're listening from right here in Fort St. John or from afar, our prayer is that God will speak to your heart and strengthen your faith. Let's lean in together as we hear today's sermon.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Good morning for those who may not know me. My name is Kim or Kimberly Stobby. I was gonna give you my full name, but I won't today. But anyways. Please join me. We're gonna read today from Acts 4, 5 to 22. The next day the rulers, the elders, and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, and so was Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and others of the high priest's family. They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them. By what power or what name did you do this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers and elders of the people, if we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this: you and all the people of Israel, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished, and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. What are we going to do with these men? They asked. Everyone living in Jerusalem knows that they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in his name, in this name. Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, Which is right in God's eyes, to listen to you or to him? You be the judges. As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. And after further threats, they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them because all the people were praising God for what had happened. For the man who was miraculously healed was over 40 years old. Ah, this isn't the word of the God. Word of the Lord, I can't speak anymore. Please have a seat.

unknown 3:21

Thank you. Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Thank you for reading for us this morning, Kim. Well, good morning again. Uh, if I haven't had the chance to meet you yet, my name is Nate. I'm the youth pastor here on staff. Just a quick story as we get started. So, have you ever been in a situation where you felt like people uh if if people were to just listen to you, that everything would be understood and things would go smoothly? I've been in that situation a couple different times, one being last weekend. So last weekend I wasn't here, I went to Calgary for a buddy's bachelor party, and we were playing a game, and it was similar to Mafia, where it's like, you know, people close their eyes, there's a bunch of different roles, a couple people are the bad guys, everybody else is good. You're trying to figure out who the bad guys are and get them eliminated. So we're playing that game, and I was one of the good guys, and after the very first round, so the rounds go like everybody closes their eyes, it's night, then everybody wakes up, you have discussion, then you vote on who you want to eliminate from the game. After the first night, I was like, I know 100% who the bad guys are and who the good guys are. So I was trying to convince all my buddies. I was like, look, I can tell you who you are, and I can tell you who the bad guys are. You just have to listen to me, and we will win this game. Without a doubt, we will win this game. So I was trying so hard to convince my buddies because I was like, just listen, everything will be fine. Of course, in a game like that, trust is not very high. Right? In a game like that, they're like, yeah, but you're probably just the bad guy trying to convince us that we that you know who everybody is, which is fair. But I was still like, man, just listen to me, we will be fine. First round goes by, my buddies are a little bit more convinced, because we got out um somebody that we wanted to get out. They're like, okay, maybe. I was like, come on, guys, I know 100%. Fast forward to the end of the game, there's four of us left, and there was we started off with eight of us. So it was me, another one of my buddies that I knew was good, and then two of the bad guys were still in the game. I was like, guys, I know who is who. Let's get them out. We can do this. Come to the end of the game, we ended up losing. But it wasn't because they didn't listen to me. It was because I was too caught up in me thinking that I was right. I I had I had pegged who was good and who was bad, which was great. But the bad people had two different roles. There was like the main person that you wanted to get out and then their assistant. And I had their roles reversed. And everybody else at the end of the game knew that I had it reversed, but because I was so for sure set of like, I got this, that I just wasn't listening to them. Because I was like, if you guys just listen to me, we'll be fine. So this morning that's kind of what we're talking about is um waiting to speak until you're invited to speak, or until you actually know what you're talking about. So, a quick recap of what Dan talked about last week. So last week Dan talked uh through Acts chapter three and a little bit of chapter four. In that story, we see a lame man sitting outside of the temple gates. Now, Peter and John are on their way to the temple when they pass this man. He then asks them for some money, to which Peter replies that they don't have any, but that they have something better for him. And in that moment, Peter grabbed this man's hand, helped him up to his feet, and he was healed. And he walked. As Dan talked last week, the man was 40 years old, so that people in the town, so the people who were in the town knew who this guy was. It wasn't like some young guy who just moved there. This man had been living there for his whole life. He was middle-aged, he knew the people in the town knew who he was. He was also known to sit by the temple gates and to beg. So once he was healed and was walking around, it was a pretty noticeable thing, right? Like if we had somebody sitting outside the church every single day for like 40 years and they couldn't walk, chances are all of us would know exactly who that person is, and everybody on Fort St. John would know exactly who that person is, right? It's kind of like this. Everybody knew who this guy was, and then he was healed and walked. And it was a huge deal for the whole place because everybody knew who this guy was. It was a noticeable act. People knew that something had happened. So Paul took that opportunity to speak to everybody that was gathering around, to speak to everybody who was surprised by what had happened and share who Jesus was. Now the leadership in Israel, seeing what had happened, they weren't happy about what Peter and John were teaching. So they come up and they arrest them and put them in jail for the night. And this is where we pick up this morning. We're gonna start in verses five to seven. So as the next day the rulers, the elders, and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, and so were Saphas, John, Alexander, and others of the high priest's family, that Peter and John brought before them and began to question them by what power or what name did you do this? So right at the start here, we see a list of positions and people, all of which are important to help us stand a little bit more as to why Peter and John are arrested and everything that happened for the rest of this section. Because this is saying that it's the high priest. So initially you'd be like, oh, high priests wouldn't they want to spread the name of Jesus? But it's because of their positions and their background that they had them arrested. See, Peter and John are brought before the Sanhedrin, which is around 70 or so members. It was made up of people who had a number of different rankings and over different positions and a number of different political views. So the first are the priests. And practically all of the priests were called Sadducees. So if you don't know what a Sadducee is, their primary desire was to preserve the status quo and to keep their income or salary exactly what it was to and to remain the same. They didn't want to lose money, they wanted it to remain the same or grow, just as all of us might, right? We don't want our salary to go down. But they were to the extreme. They would do anything that they could to keep their salary. They didn't really have much care aside from those two things. They wanted the status quo to stay the same, they wanted everything in the city to stay the same, to kind of go on the trajectory that it was, and they wanted their income. Those were the things that they cared about. They were seen as more of like a secular Jewish person, and they cared more about the way of the world than what scripture actually had to teach. So that's the Sadducees. Then there was the scribes who were the experts in traditional law. There's not much really to them aside from they were experts in traditional law. And then there were Pharisees who were also, who were also like another political party closely related to the Sadducees, but not quite the same. The Pharisees were fascinated with the law. They cared more that the laws and scripture were being followed than anything else. So kind of like the opposite of the Sadducees. The Sadducees were like, we want everything to stay the same, we like our money. We kind of we know what the scripture says. And then you got the Pharisees on the other side, who are more like, to the book, make sure everything is done exactly how the law of Moses says. And then there was also the elders, who were men who were respected in their community. And then finally we have the high priest and his family, who mostly cared about keeping their own power and would try to shut down anyone and silence anyone who threatened their power and authority. So this is the scene of this section. So Peter and Paul, or not Peter and Paul, Peter and John are arrested and they're brought before this group of people. All of these men who have their own motives for wanting Peter and John to be arrested and silenced. Some because they think their teaching is just heresy, and others because Peter and John. Yeah, Peter and John. Sorry, I'm gonna keep getting those words messed up. My bad. Just stick with me. It's Peter and John. If I say otherwise, just think Peter and John. But the other reason why they were arrested is because they threatened the power of those in the Sanhedrin. So Peter and John find themselves here being questioned. Into verse 8, we see Peter's response. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers and elders of the people, if we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was slain and are being asked how he was healed, then know this. You and all the people of Israel, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. Look at the wall that look at the way that Paul is speaking here. It's kind of an interesting response. He isn't anxious. He isn't yelling or getting heated about things. He's totally calm. The Sanhedrin was like a courthouse. So picture picture the Sanhedrin like a courthouse. You know, you go in uh and you might see, you know, kind of like kind of like a TV show, where there's like this group of people all around you, and you're kind of sitting in the middle, and you're trying to like argue your case to all of these people. It'd almost be like if I were to like split you guys a little bit to the sides and then come stand there, and all of you in the middle were like the people who were judging me. And I had to convince all of you why I'm not guilty. It would be intense, right? I'd probably be trying like scrambling to be like, no, listen to me. But Paul's response here is one that is calm. One that is peaceful. He isn't getting heated. He wasn't worried. They're standing in front of people who took part in the crucifixion of Jesus. And who probably would have been willing to do the exact same to these two. Yet they aren't anxious. Peter wasn't anxious with his words. He wasn't scrambling. He wasn't yelling at them to be like, just listen to me and you would understand. He's like, no. This is this is just the reality of things. And I'm gonna tell it to you plainly. I'm gonna tell it to you calmly because it's the truth. Peter wasn't anxious with his words. But why wasn't he anxious? Because they weren't his words. They weren't his actions. They were that of Holy Spirit. How many of us can say that we'd stand where Peter is and be completely calm? Imagine yourself in that situation. Imagine yourself, you go, you get you get arrested, you're brought before the court, and you're like, I know what I did was totally fine. I know what I did was totally okay, and you have no grounds to arrest me. How many of you would have stayed completely calm in that courthouse? Probably not a lot of us. Some of us probably would have been like, it's fine, I got this, everything's fine. Others of us would have been like, can you just listen to me? Why would you arrest me? This doesn't make sense, right? That's probably how most of us would react in that situation. But that's not Peter's response. See, just a couple weeks ago, we saw the day of Pentecost, the day where Holy Spirit fell heavy on the people, and ever since that day, we've seen Holy Spirit heavenly heavily weaved into the white life of the early church. And we see it tangibly here as well. Not only because the text says that Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit, but because of what comes next in verse 13, it says, when they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled ordinary men, they were astonished, and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. See, Peter and John in other translations say that they were illiterate. They were people who didn't really know a ton of things. They didn't go to school, they didn't have schooling, or for sure not schooling on the scriptures the way that these men in the Sanhedrin did. They didn't have schooling on the laws like these other men did. Peter and John were both fishermen before they met Jesus. They weren't anything special. They were just fishermen. So they might have had some education on commerce, but probably not a ton outside of that. They for sure wouldn't have had any kind of education on scripture and mosaic laws the way that the man of the Sanhedrin did. Yet the way that Peter is presenting himself and the way that he's speaking, it's one of a man who has an education. He's speaking in a way of a man who was actually taught about the laws of Scripture, of a man who was taught about Scripture and Mosaic laws specifically. He's speaking as if he has all this education. He's speaking as somebody who knows the word of God and the work of Christ. He isn't speaking like a man who's trying to trick the Sanhedrin. And he isn't speaking like someone who doesn't believe what's happening is real either. He's doing all of this because of the way that Holy Spirit is working and speaking into Peter. See, everything that Peter is saying, the way that he's presenting himself and everything that even happened before this section was Holy Spirit. He has this knowledge and is able to speak these words with peace and calm because they're not his words. They're that of Holy Spirit. He's able to stand behind these actions and be able to argue them well because they aren't his actions. They're that of Holy Spirit. See, Peter shouldn't have been able to make the case that he did. He shouldn't have been able to, right? This miraculous thing, this guy who doesn't have an education, he shouldn't be able to make a case for what happened. Yet because of the work of working of Holy Spirit in him, Peter spoke clearly, and he spoke with conviction. And because of this, the irrefutable evidence of the man standing there, we see this response in verses 15 to 18. So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin, and they conferred together. What are we going to do with these men? They asked. Everyone living in Jerusalem knows that they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name. Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. So the officials realized they have to do something. They have to try and get Peter and John to stop. They couldn't just sit back and act like nothing had happened, or that what happened meant absolutely nothing. They weren't able to do that. Remember, these are men who take pride in their power and authority and status that they hold. They love those things. And to ignore what Peter and John just did would mean that they have to take a step down from where they're currently at. So they couldn't just let this healing happen and do nothing because they saw this whole situation just growing totally out of control. They saw a crowd gathering and people coming to the same faith that Peter and John had. And the officials didn't like that. But here's the thing. They also weren't able to deny what had happened. They couldn't deny that this man was healed. They can see the man that sat in the temple gates for years was now up and walking. They couldn't deny that. They couldn't say that it didn't happen because so many people had seen it happen too. They couldn't even like take this man and go hide him off somewhere else because of how many people saw it happen. They couldn't deny it. And so the authorities come to the only logical conclusion that they can think of. To give threats to the apostles. Which honestly, their threats would be pretty credible, right? Remember, these were some of the men that participated in Jesus' crucifixion. The threats that they are ushering aren't without a backing. If people were to come towards me and they're and I knew that they had participated in the crucifixion of Jesus, and they were like, you need to stop, because we can do the same thing to you. My immediate thought would be like, No, you won't. It'd be like, yes, you will. That's what these guys are up against. They're being threatened by people who have already put Jesus to death. Their threats are credible. So they came up with this plan. They knew they couldn't really deny or arrest Peter and John for what had happened, because really they didn't do anything illegal. So their plan was to make sure that they aren't disobeying the laws they hold so dearly to. They would let Peter and John go, but not first without threatening them to never speak the name of Jesus again. Now they didn't just say this and then let them go. They didn't just say this because they're apostles. But they said this because the name of Jesus was a threat to the power that they had. Not because of the apostles themselves, but the name of Jesus was a threat to their power. And again, we see a response from Peter and John in verse 19 to 20. But Peter and John replied, which is right in God's eyes to listen to you or to him. You are the judges. As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. Indicating that what Peter and John just did about healing the man, it wasn't them who did it. They saw it and they heard it because it was the work of the Holy Spirit. Sorry, a little bit sidetracked there. Everything that we've talked about so far also leads to this point. Everything that we've talked about this morning leads to this point. What Peter says in verse 20. As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. Peter and John are so convinced of Jesus, so convinced and filled with the Holy Spirit that their responses to the threats that are being ushered against them, they aren't landing. The threats, they don't feel threatened by them. Remember, these threats are legit. These threats are things that can actually happen. Yet they respond with, we know without a doubt, the power of the name we're speaking of, of the incredible things that can be done. And that we actually can't stop talking about who Jesus is. See, not too long before this, Peter and John were walking with Jesus. They had been walking with him, and they had heard the mandate from Jesus, which we see in Matthew 28, the Great Commission, to go and make disciples of all nations. Peter and John knew this, they heard this from the mouth of Jesus. That's why they can't be silent. They've been given a mandate to speak the name of Jesus, and they have proof and witness of the power that the name of Jesus has. How many of us, if put in the same position as Peter and John, would just stand there silent? How many of us would be too afraid of the threats that we were just receiving? That we would bow down to the authority of the Sanhedrin and say that we won't speak the name of Jesus in public again? Or how many of us would actually just get really defensive? That we would feel like we're getting backed into a corner, and now it's time to fight with everything that we have to prove why we're right. What would your words in that situation be? And what purpose would they serve? For Peter and John, they didn't just let the words that came to their minds come out of their mouths right away. They didn't just speak what was theirs right away. They were first filled with the Spirit, and then the Spirit is what directed their words. They paused and allowed the Holy Spirit to direct their words. How would you speak? Are you speaking because you want to be heard and proven right? Or are you speaking because you've been invited to speak? Are you speaking because you want your words to be heard, because what you have to say is important? Or are you speaking because the Holy Spirit has given you the words and is inviting you to speak? The reality is we often have words that we want to have heard. In every situation, we probably have thoughts of things that we could potentially say. But our words aren't always going to be helpful. Even right now, there's probably people in this room or people online who have something they want to say in response to what I have been saying all morning. Whether it's something that is kind in supportive of what I'm saying, or something critical of something that I've said this morning. There's some that want to say something. And is it your words or is it Holy Spirit's words? It's like when I was playing the game with my buddies. I mean, I don't think that Jesus really would be like, this is what you should say in this game right now. But I was so convinced and felt I need to be heard. My words are important, I need to be heard. If I were to have paused and been like, okay, do I need to say this? Or should I just like hear what other people say and feel out this game a little more? Probably the second one would have been better for our game, but I was like, I need to be heard. What I'm saying is so right, you need to hear me. How different would situations be if we were to pause and not let our words be the first ones out. Now, I'm not saying that you should never talk. Don't hear me saying that. Because if if everybody were to be like, okay, I need to just not talk and be silent and let Holy Spirit either direct me or let other people speak first, probably nobody would end up having conversations a lot of the time. That's not what I'm saying. We still need to talk to each other. But what would happen if we started to invite Holy Spirit to guide our words more often than we already do? What kind of difference would that make for us? See the conclusion in this in verses 21 and 22. After further threats, they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them because all the people were praising God for what had happened. For the men who had miraculously healed was over 40 years old. Peter and John, having said that they can't stop speaking the name of Jesus, are threatened one last time. And then they're sent on their way. No punishment, nothing happened. See, because they allowed Holy Spirit to guide and lead their words, the authorities weren't able to do anything against them. Because they spoke out the name of Jesus and didn't shy away from the invitation Holy Spirit provided, they were let go. And the name then set them free. So this week I have a couple different practices for us. So the first is to I want to challenge you to take time to be silent this week. It doesn't have to be a super long time. It could be even only 10 minutes, but take time to be silent this week. And I mean truly silent. No phone, no music, no distractions, just quiet. And one starts start and thoughts will probably end up starting to swirl in that silence. Acknowledge them, write them down, set them aside, and enter back into silence. Take time this week to be silent. H. G. Wells says this the trouble with so many people is that the voice in their the is that the voice of their neighbors sounds louder in their ears than the voice of God. If we take time to be silent and quiet the things of our mind, if we quiet the things of our mind, we give space for the voice of God to enter in. When we silence our thoughts, when we take time to set aside distraction, we allow the voice of God to enter in. So this week, take a couple mornings and just sit and pray. Jesus, can you just provide me with a space where I can share who you are today? And then take the opportunities that pop up to actually share his name. Because I can guarantee you that if you pray that prayer, you will get opportunity. If you pray that prayer, something will happen. See, me and a buddy, we did this, this was years ago now. Him and I were both in a similar space, and we were like, we just want to see Jesus moving more. We want to feel and experience Jesus in our day-to-day lives. So we were, you know, kind of together praying, Jesus, give us space to just speak about you, to share your love. And then one day we were hanging out with somebody as we were just outside a liquor store in Edmonton, and this lady comes up to us. Um, I think she might have been homeless, I'm not sure, and she comes up and she just fully shares her like entire testimony with us. And we're like, this is weird. We're just like two 18-year-old guys standing outside of a liquor store, and this lady is just sharing her whole story with us. And then we walked away. We missed, that was an opportunity. Looking back now, I know 100%. That was an opportunity that Jesus had given us to share his name, to share his love. Because we had been asking for that. So I would encourage you this week to pray that prayer of Jesus, give me space to share who you are. And then don't back away when that opportunity presents itself. It could present itself in a really simple way where it's just like conversation lulls, somebody seems a little bit off, and you can just be like, hey, do you know the hope of Jesus? It could be really, really obvious ways, but I just want to encourage you, don't shy away from that. Allow those opportunities to come. And then be bold. Share who Jesus is. Don't stand there silent. Imagine what would have happened to Peter and John if they were before the Sanhedrin and they were silent about the name of Jesus. I'm gonna pray and then we're gonna go into one final closing song. So, Jesus, we thank you for who you are. Lord, we thank you for the power that your name has. Lord, that even in times where it seems like everything's coming up against us, Lord, that we can stay strong in your name, knowing that if we press into you, and if we are not afraid to share your name, Lord, that you will provide. And Lord, I also just pray over us that you would actually provide us with opportunities as a church to share your name with our community. That even today as we leave, that we would have space to share who you are. And Lord, that you would give us confidence and boldness to then step in and say yes to those opportunities. To step in and say, Yes, this is who Jesus is. So, Jesus, we love you. We thank you. We pray these sins in your name. Amen. I invite you to stand as we go into a closing song.