Seeds of New Growth
Praying for One Another
Acts 4:1-12 The Message
Nothing to Hide
4 1-4 While
Peter and John were addressing the people, the priests, the chief of
the Temple police, and some Sadducees came up, indignant that these
upstart apostles were instructing the people and proclaiming that the
resurrection from the dead had taken place in Jesus. They arrested them
and threw them in jail until morning, for by now it was late in the
evening. But many of those who listened had already believed the
Message—in round numbers about five thousand!
5-7 The
next day a meeting was called in Jerusalem. The rulers, religious
leaders, religion scholars, Annas the Chief Priest, Caiaphas, John,
Alexander—everybody who was anybody was there. They stood Peter and John
in the middle of the room and grilled them: “Who put you in charge
here? What business do you have doing this?”
8-12 With
that, Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, let loose: “Rulers and leaders of
the people, if we have been brought to trial today for helping a sick
man, put under investigation regarding this healing, I’ll be completely
frank with you—we have nothing to hide. By the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, the One you killed on a cross, the One God raised from the
dead, by means of his name this man stands before you healthy and whole.
Jesus is ‘the stone you masons threw out, which is now the
cornerstone.’ Salvation comes no other way; no other name has been or
will be given to us by which we can be saved, only this one.”
For Reflection
Everybody who was anybody was there. These were the formal and informal guardians of the common culture.
Everybody who was anybody was there. These were the formal and informal guardians of the common culture.
Why were they so threatened? Peter's
answer tells us why. These "Jesus people" were living their new belief.
Who cares whom or how one worships? Everybody cares how one lives out one's life!
Jesus, the discarded stone, is the flag of salvation. Christ is the sign of the defeat of common sense. Jesus is the symbol of God-sense, lived in the lives of the followers of Christ. When do you deny commonsense and follow God-sense?
Pray
Who cares whom or how one worships? Everybody cares how one lives out one's life!
Jesus, the discarded stone, is the flag of salvation. Christ is the sign of the defeat of common sense. Jesus is the symbol of God-sense, lived in the lives of the followers of Christ. When do you deny commonsense and follow God-sense?
Pray
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