Showing posts with label Acts ch 4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Acts ch 4. Show all posts

Sunday

Responses to the Gospel - 31 Days in Acts




Welcome to my 8th Day of 31 Days in Acts.

We are continuing on from the previous post.


Verses 5-12 of chapter 4 are very encouraging and should stand as a good example for us to follow.

First chance to speak and the Gospel is the first thing to be shared.

Why?








Because The Gospel is the most important thing.

The Gospel is the key point of everything we as Christians are called to say and do.

Everything should point us and others to Jesus.


Do we fail in this?

This is probably one of the hardest things for any of us to do but how do we get past that and learn how to share the Gospel in as many situations as we can?

We may not all be natural preachers but we don't need to be to tell others of Jesus.  We can use other people that are more gifted in that way or we can use videos, booklets, songs, poems to introduce the grace and mercy of God to others and to the Bible.

We can also make it a goal in our lives to learn from others how to present the Gospel in a conversation.


The Gospel is what the whole Bible points to & the Gospel is Jesus!

In my sidebar I have a short video called 3,2,1 and it is one way to help us 
to share the Gospel.  
Please click on the video and investigate the simple method shown there.







Verses 13 - 22

The rulers, elders & scribes saw from the way Peter & John talked that they were men who had been with Jesus.

They marvelled at the boldness of Peter & John.

They saw the healed man

They could not deny the miracle

They worried that word would spread


The response of the rulers, elders & scribes:

They commanded Peter & John not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus


The response of the people:

They glorified God


The response of Peter and John:

They could not keep silent.









verses  23 - 31

After being set free Peter & John went to join other companions (other followers of Jesus) and tell them of the day's event.


The response of their companions:

Prayer for more boldness to speak God's Word and to be used in more healings.

Prayer for signs and wonders be done in the Name of Jesus.


God's Response:

Immediate filling of the Holy Spirit.



Do we have a positive or negative response to the message of the Bible?







You can find all the other posts in this series at










Saturday

Who Complains About Good Things? - 31 Days in Acts


This is our seventh day in the Book of Acts and we are starting





Chapter 4

Immediately there are different questions forming as I read the first few verses.


          The first question that comes to mind here is

Who were they speaking to?






Chapter 4 v 1 - 4


"Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand."    NKJV


It is always important to know the context of the passage we are reading.

They were speaking to The people who were the people at the temple after the lame man was healed because this passage is continuing on from the section of chapter 3 that was covered in the  
 previous post.


The priests, Captain of the Temple Guard and the Sadducees are all mentioned here but did they come as a group with the same agenda or individually with the same agenda or individually with different agendas? 
Even if they came with different agendas the result may have profited them all in the end.


It says they came abruptly so does this mean quickly, or that there manner was abrupt and they just had to get saying what was in their mind.  Oh how this happens so often with us.
We need to say the thing quickly because

  •   we might forget exactly what our argument is and not be able to articulate it exactly as we would desire to later.
  •   we are in such a frame of mind that we cannot let the situation pass without addressing it.

Maybe a little patience and further thought and prayer on the matter in this type of situation might be the best turn and of course we are exhorted to be quick to listen but slow to speak.  Sometimes when we speak too soon, we later have to find other ways to get ourselves out of the situation we should not have put ourselves into and that can entail adding to things and even lying because of course we have to be right don't we!


Had they gathered together and discussed what to do before they came to him?
Seems likely at least a short dialogue took place if they came together.


What were their complaints?

  •   Peter & John had taught the people
  •   Peter & John had preached the Gospel

Seems strange to us that they should complain about good things, things that would benefit the people.   To them however, they were not good things.  Two perspectives of the same thing are never exactly the same.







Where they arrested suddenly?

It was already evening (what time had passed)?

Does this make it seem as if they had talked together first for a considerable time?


Also more than 5,000 had believed by this stage so it must have taken some time as to have that many people around the Temple would have meant people coming and going and telling others to come, because there would not have been enough room for them all there at the one time.

Often I have questions that I can't answer.

When this happens I need to seek out someone who is more knowledgeable than I am or accept that an event is never completely explained and I will never know all the details.

The most important thing here is not knowing all the exact details.

The most important thing here is the result of preaching the Gospel
which is
 the Salvation of souls.




The most important thing is always pointing people to Jesus the Saviour.








You can find all the other posts in this series at