 to lead in prayer today. How about Siddharth? I haven't heard your voice in a long time Siddharth. Yeah sure man. Okay please go ahead. Yeah Lord we just want to thank you for this day and giving us and I'll just come before you with a humble heart Lord and we just want to pray as we are going to go through this morning it's in the lecture phase Lord we just want to pray that help us and guide us and lead us and help us to understand more about you Lord and deep down in your word of Lord. Be with us and guide us and lead us. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you Siddharth for leading us in prayer today. So we are going to continue with Acts chapter four. We had just started right a little bit of an introduction about what happened to Peter and John right after they saw a very notable miracle and you know people responded to that miracle because he was a man who was not able to move for 40 years and you know in front of everybody he got miraculously restored. So they expected people to respond which happened but at the same time we know that they were taken into custody and interrogated the next day and interrogated not just by a single official of the government at that time but this was like a group or a host of leaders of that time because they were insecure about the things that were taking place in the city and I told you whatever happened to Jesus, Jesus' trial was not a thing of the past. It had just happened you know recently and so the leaders were afraid that you know something similar will take place once again. So that is the reason you know Peter and John they were caught and these leaders tried to find a reason to put an end to what was going on. So we were at okay I think verse 10 right we stopped at verse 10 could you confirm if I'm right Yes. Yeah correct so the leaders are very amazed at the fact that Peter and John are so bold against in the midst of opposition and they recognize that these people were actually with Jesus and you find that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit right and he answered back or he addressed the group of leaders and what he says like in verse 9 he says if we this day be examined of the good deed done okay let me read it in the right yeah it's this is another version let me just take the king new king James sorry everyone went off to another version yes okay so he says if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man by what means he has been made well so the argument which they put across is they say look why are you trying us for a good deed okay and in this case I told you that it was a notable miracle so people are not people were not able to catch them you know how there needs to be a reason to arrest somebody a reason to punish them a reason to put them behind bars but Peter is defending himself and he's saying now you tell us what is the reason that you have caught us is it for this good deed because the good deed was out there in front of everyone and then he goes on to proclaim how he did it right so he says by the name of Jesus of Nazareth whom you crucified whom God raised from the dead by him this man here before you whole so because the leaders wanted to know how did this good deed take place and so Peter's giving them the direct answer without really hiding it so what is this show about Peter what is that attitude or that characteristic which is coming out as he's answering the leaders I thought I told that in the last class so that's I'm asking you when Peter was very fast he always used to give answer like a fast and very hard early before he thought I think he used to give answer okay in this case he's standing in front of the leaders and he's saying like are you are you questioning us for the good deed and the question was how did you do this right in whose name you did this so he's giving the answer we did it in the name of Jesus so what what is the attitude that you see in Peter in this response well I guess boldness encourage very good yes boldness boldness okay so something amazing isn't it because he they're under trial so when we're under trial what happens we're so scared we don't want anything to go wrong we don't want to be caught for the you know sometimes they can catch you for the smallest reasons and put you excuse me behind bars but worse still in their case they knew that death could be you know death could also be one of the punishment so it's a dangerous situation and in that situation our answers might be very thought through calculated but you remember Jesus he had he had spoken to the disciples during his time with them and said if you are ever taken to the authorities then don't be afraid right I will give you the words I will give you the words to speak so finally that is happening because they were taken before the authorities and as Peter answers now again Peter did not premeditated the question came okay what did you do whose name did you do this and you find that the answers coming out sort of you know from his heart filled with the Holy Spirit it says so even in responding in a difficult situation filled with the Holy Spirit Peter gives a very bold answer and he lets them know that what he did he did it through the Lord Jesus Christ and you notice here that he is also kind of referring to an Old Testament scripture in verse 11 he says stone which was rejected by you builders which has become the chief cornerstone so it's even more bold of Peter to do this because you know what he was trying to imply that Jesus is the Messiah so you can imagine you're standing in front of the rulers and you know the Jews who know the scriptures and you're telling them that Jesus is the Messiah so it's incredible boldness incredible boldness on the part of Peter now moving forward he also points out and he says nor is there salvation in any other so again you know he's he's putting that out and he's saying Jesus is the Messiah he is the one who has come to rescue us and whatever the Jews had been waiting for that it has already been accomplished through Jesus Christ okay so I want to just share with you that word boldness there in the Greek yeah I'll just give you that word okay yeah I guess I just missed it but I hope to give it to you but basically what the Greek word for boldness it means oh yeah it is paresia paresia I'll just put it on your chat here this is the one okay so boldness is paresia and it means telling it all you know you're not hiding back anything you're not afraid of the consequences that might follow so Peter is demonstrating boldness now moving forward we also talked about this we said that the authorities they saw they saw the boldness they heard the answer of Peter and they were surprised that these men were not trained so trained in that in those times you had a lot of people who would go in for training under the rabbis okay for example paul paul is a different kind of you know he has a different background so paul went through the training and you know the the learning and all and he himself was a very well equipped educated man but Peter and John obviously you know they were not the kind who went through that equipping and that is why they're being called as uneducated and untrained then the reason for the boldness which the leaders pointed out is them being with Jesus so it's not necessarily education or equipping that made them bold but it was their interaction with Jesus now does this mean that those who are educated cannot have boldness what do you think because some people take this this passage and they say okay if you don't have education also it's okay like you know God can use you mightily or to the extent that it's better if you don't have education and equipping then you will be used mightily by God so what is your view on that your thoughts education is not no need education and all it's not a matter of education or not educated it's a matter how much we depend on God how much confident bold in the spirit of God what do you think of this yes thank you thank you Thomas so it's really not a matter of education and over here Dave has commented and said God can use anyone as long as they are ready so both of you have put it in a right way it's not about the background of the individual now in this case they happen to be untrained uneducated but again like if you consider somebody like Paul he was quite well trained but you see what if we don't have then also God can give us the grace and lead us to serve him if we have then God can use that right he could he knows how to open up doors for us to use that training for his glory so either way either way it's fine so to take something like this and say that hey it's better to be unequipped uneducated only then God can use you that's not the point that we are making and in this case though they were untrained uneducated because of the training of Jesus or being with Jesus he himself was the messiah they became so very bold okay again they are giving testimony to the to the miracle that took place and you you see here it says about the authorities that seeing the man who had been healed standing with them they could say nothing against it okay so this also shows us about the work of God that you know God's work is so powerful and it's so real it is so how do I put it you know it's it's miraculous for example you know if you think of somebody who could not see okay and they had to wear glasses now if the person's eyesight is healed and they go to the doctor the doctor themselves might say that okay from now why don't you stop wearing glasses because your power has changed so the doctor can't help it but notice as a fact that something has changed okay so when God works no it's like that so we don't have to manipulate we don't have to you know kind of make it sound like God has done sometimes we try to do God a favor by showing that huh it is a miracle but God doesn't need that a true genuine miracle you see here even the authorities it says they could say nothing against it because it was real it had happened it was in before them and however they test it this way that way whichever way they can't they can't deny what God has done so God's miracles God's supernatural work is like that we don't have to make it look good it's already good and it cannot like you you whichever angle you look at it right you can't come up with some issues okay so so here it is so clear it's God's miracle it has taken place so now what do they do because everybody has seen this amazing miracle so as the authority how can they deal with these two men so this is how they discuss they say they actually discuss and they say what shall we do to these men for indeed that a notable miracle has been done so they cannot question the miracle through and through them miracle done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem and we cannot deny it but so that this doesn't spread further among the people they come up with this decision they say okay let us severely threaten them and from now on they speak to no man in this name so the final conclusion so now they are discussing together because they cannot refute the miracle but they come to the decision how about we scare them you know as they say give them some fire or just kind of unsettle them and make them feel insecure so that if they get scared right they might stop spreading the word about this Jesus and continuing to do these miraculous signs in the name of Jesus so that is the final decision which they take up now after they have decided they call Peter and John and then they go ahead and tell them okay we don't want you to speak or teach in the name of Jesus so that's the instruction they in other words it's a warning it's a command and they say stop it don't ever do this again this time we are going to spare your life but in the future we don't want to see the two of you you know in the temple here and there going and speaking in the name of Jesus teaching the name of Jesus and you know basically if you want to save yourself this is what you need to do but what is the response of Peter and John they look at the authorities and say now you tell us whether it is right to listen to you your instruction or to listen to God's instruction you judge okay because they say but we can't help it we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard so they had become so bold remember I shared that term with you in the chat tip parisia telling it all but not withholding the truth about God and you know they they are so impacted by what God has done and they are ready to to share it and they tell the authorities you know you're you're telling us not to do you're telling us not to proclaim this message but Jesus has told us to proclaim this message now you tell us what is the right thing to do should we listen to you or should we listen to God okay so see in this case they are going against the authorities so what is your view about that going against the instruction of the authorities Peter clearly says that whether we should award God so sometimes of course publicly but sometimes it's if comes from faith or against the word of God we have to on the foundation of the word okay okay sure sure so you see Romans chapter 13 and verse one says that we must submit ourselves to governing authorities okay so as Thomas is saying wait I'll post it here we are supposed to submit ourselves but when it comes to then telling us you know to do something against God at that time the way Peter and John responded and they said look we have to obey God if you're telling us to do something against God we are unable to take that up do you know of any other set of people in the Bible who who did this who followed God over authorities very good yes yes they so yeah so when they were asked to do something against as Dave points out here against the word of God against the priorities of God they put God first and they said look we cannot worship anyone else other than excuse me our God so while the the teaching of the word of God is we must obey our authorities okay Romans 13 even Peter in his epistles he writes about it first Peter he talks so much about submitting submitting submitting right to authorities to masters he talks about all those things but if there is a an instruction which tells us to go against God's word that is not something that we must take up okay and in that manner Peter and John are responding to the authorities when they said we don't want to see you speaking in the name of Jesus we don't want to see you preaching in the name of Jesus they say come on you know you tell us should we listen to you or should we listen to God and they say we can't help it it's like whatever we have seen we have heard we have to share it so you also see the passion right you see the passion the excitement the genuineness of your faith so just the other day I just want to share with you I was so amazed like where I live the thing is I think some of you know that you know my dad he has some health issues so we take him like to a center for exercise this and that so one of the days I had taken him and I was just coming back home and bringing my father back into our home and a guy on the road he just stopped and I was wondering why is he stopping why is he going on looking at me and my dad so he stopped he waited till we kind of came inside and he also came inside so I was so I was really like scared but he told me that look I wanted to tell you I saw that your father seems to be unwell so I wanted to tell you that recently I mean three months ago somebody prayed for me and I was believing in you know some other religion but there's a miracle something happened in my life and I started believing in Jesus because it's very real and I wanted to tell you and he gave me the number of that pastor and he said if you don't mind can you call this person because when this person prays people get healed so I think your father will get healed so I mean I was I didn't appreciate the way he did it like he just came inside and then you know he he wanted to share about this to me but I looked at his passion I looked at his you know his enthusiasm because very recently he had given his life to Christ and he was so excited about it that I felt like brother I understand what you're saying like I need to think about it I can't just invite somebody over to my home to come and pray for my father and later I also told him look even I am a believer and I'm also praying for my father and all that but he wouldn't listen he's like no no no you're not understanding if this person prays your father will feel better and all so I mean I just I can relate to what Peter and John they are saying here they're saying that whatever we have seen and heard like you cannot stop us because they were so excited he says for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard they were so excited about the truth of God's word now that is also something that you know we can check for ourselves I'm not talking about one emotional high you know sometimes we emotionally we feel charged about God and serving God but in the long run when we are consistently serving God sometimes you don't have that emotional high right so it's not about looking for the emotional high but it's about being passionate you know from your spirit about the things of God about the kingdom of God about the truth of God the way Peter and John in front of the authorities they said we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard so they were excited about the truth of God's word so after the authorities had like properly threatened them because it says later on that you know they were threatened further they said okay fine now we have warned you you please go okay and just do like whatever we've told you to do they could not find a reason to catch them and also right if they would have punished Peter and John it's possible that their popularity would be affected with the people reason in front of everybody's eyes a man for 40 years he's not able to walk he's suddenly walking okay and everyone knows his family they know him as a neighbor and all that now when something like this has happened and the authorities are going against that genuine work people might go against the leaders right so there was all that that whole political dynamics so they didn't want to get into this so finally they just let them go and you know they they said now you don't do this now further let's observe the response of Peter and John what do they do now they go back they go to their friends you know we already know that the church has been growing a lot of people have come into the community now so they're going back into that community they're going back to their companions and they tell them everything they tell them look this is what happened we went to the temple and the miracle happened and then we were caught and then we were warned and now we are let go so they reported everything they shared the details of the events that had taken place now when the companions heard this what do you think would have been their response when someone comes to us and they say oh like this threatening their people are severely threatening us and all as their companions what should be our response how do you think we would respond think about it from your perspective how would you respond yeah any uh any thoughts on that yeah so class I really want you to think like you know all this is happening so if it happens to us someone says you just started a church and things are going very well they call you and they say come on stop it what is your response you go back you tell your church members as a community what is your response you feel bad okay you feel bad what else what else come on okay you pray okay what else what else you pray about the situation okay great great maybe one more person what would you respond with stand firm in the Lord okay great all right so good answers here so see the natural response is to feel scared to feel bad why is this happening and maybe we want to ask these questions why why are the authorities you know why are they warning us have we done anything which is not in line with the word of God which is not in line with the law of the land suppose we have done something right which is not right before the authorities and you know there are certain matters for example I'll just give you a simple example now if I am running a house meeting and you know I keep loudspeakers in my house okay and I'm conducting one prayer meeting now tomorrow if the neighbors go and complain who do you think I am at fault or not yeah okay so things like that so we examine ourselves okay did I do anything which I should not have done if I have then let me correct it but in this case it was not anything wrong which Peter John and the community did so they were very clear that hey we have not done anything going against the word of God or going against the authority still they have warned us they have threatened us so instead of staying in a place of fear you know what they do they come and share they report everything to the to the people and they begin to pray and it says in verse 24 they raise their voice to God with one accord have you heard this term one accord before come on class I I want you to recall yeah where where did you hear this term one accord the the pentacos during the Holy Spirit yes yes so they were in the upper room right they were waiting with one accord so when they were waiting with one accord that is the time the Holy Spirit was poured out on them now I told you even after that when the early church came into existence we saw you know they had gathered in one accord one accord seems to be a common way of doing church for the early believers so together without one accord simply means having the same heart okay it's not like if we have divisions for example we are coming together in prayer and you argue among yourselves no let us pray for this no no no let us pray for that no no no no no that's not correct let's pray for something else that is not one accord but one accord is when you have the same same thing that you want to see happen so the early church had this common feature that they would gather they would pray in one accord so that's a very beautiful picture of unity so they gathered in one accord and then they cried out to God and what did they cry out to God let's see okay what would you cry out to God in the face of opposition some pastors here so pastors what would be your prayer okay God give us strength give us wisdom very good what else we will cry out for peace very good then protection yes or no yeah okay revelation of a spirit yes protection great okay wonderful now you're not thinking along the same lines so we would cry out for all those things we would ask God God you know you help us now you find these people praying and you know what as an essence of like if you kind of go through the entire prayer here you would find that they continue to ask God for boldness so boldness is a very key thing in the early church so one accord is one thing and boldness so they make a prayer so there's a there's a kind of a long prayer here where they say Lord you are God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them who by the mouth of your servant David you said this you know and then they they quote some of the Old Testament scriptures and they acknowledge the Lord Jesus as that servant of God who was sent for them and they say you know like for truly against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius pilot with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together so to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done but now what they say look on their threats and grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak your word okay and what else boldness to speak your word but also by stretching out your hand to heal and that signs wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus so in their prayer they're acknowledging God they're acknowledging the greatness of God they're acknowledging the the purpose of the Lord Jesus they're acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah and they're saying God we have been threatened but we are asking you make us bolder give us more boldness you know what kind of a prayer is this we generally go into a defense mode but the early church with one accord they are going into a boldness mode right and they're saying it's not going to stop us but we want to see more of your kingdom purposes accomplished so they're asking God give us boldness for what to speak your word Lord that we should never be scared to speak the truth of your word and what else in addition to that what else they want boldness for they want boldness to see that people are healed and they are saying by stretching out your hand okay but how did the miracle happen that took place in the and get beautiful it was Peter he stretched out his hand and then he held that man and stood up but they understood that though the miracles are happening through the hands of the apostles whose hand is it actually your hand so God's hand is the hand that does miracles and the early church understood that very well and so they're saying God give us boldness we want to continue to speak your word we will stretch out you know through your hands you do the healing works you do signs wonders and miracles and all this in the name of your son Jesus Christ so they're asking for an increase of the work to take place okay and I think that is so amazing because in our natural self we won't be able to do that with our own you know ability we won't be able to do that but here led by the Holy Spirit empowered by the Holy Spirit filled with the Holy Spirit you have these people they are praying such a different prayer you know as compared to what we would imagine them to pray so after much threatening what do they want to see happen the work of God should continue it should not stop and that is the boldness which the early church carry and so how does God respond to this kind of a prayer what do you feel would God have been happy with a prayer like that what do you think would God have been surprised what is God's response really something to think about isn't it so there God felt joy Kiran says that's true so the church is responding with boldness and you see here in verse 31 when God hears such a prayer you know what happened scripture says that the place where they were assembled it was shaken right and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the word of God with boldness so it was like a literal shaking you could also take it as you know like an earthquake so imagine a prayer meeting is going on just now somebody came and threatened to shut the church to not preach the gospel and all that so the church has gathered they're crying out to God and their prayer is not the prayer of fear but it is a prayer of boldness then you find suddenly that the place shakes okay there's something like an earthquake so it's almost like God is in sync with what is happening in that place God is pleased with it right and he also fills them with the Holy Spirit and they continue to speak the word with boldness okay whatever they asked for they have been granted that by God so you see the acts I told you the acts of the apostles is the acts of the Holy Spirit right through God's people so God is with them and they know that and therefore they are proceeding boldly and they are not stopping so this first time when Peter and John they were caught in a supernatural way you know God helped them get out of that situation and the work of God is continuing so in the Jerusalem church right the church is progress the people are progressing the community is strengthened and they are continuing to serve and worship the Lord so how does the fellowship of these believers look we see from verse 32 onwards that those who were those who believed they were of one heart and one soul you see again some the feature of the early church boldness unity okay boldness unity one heart one soul and to the extent that they engaged in selfless giving we saw that earlier also they were giving to one another so here it says that things that they possessed they didn't even see it on their own okay but they saw it like you know that it is something in common and they would give for the needs of the others in that community and that was the way of living and at the same time spiritually you find that there was great power done great power was demonstrated through the apostles so the apostles gave witness to the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ and it teaches us that great grace was upon them meaning there was great favor upon the community of God's people at that time and they were so caring that community was so caring it says that people who had some resources whether it was lands or whether it was houses they were even ready to sell it and then give it to the apostles why to the apostles so that the apostles will distribute it remember we told that when people had come down to Jerusalem for the festival the Passover feast a lot of people had actually stayed back you know as part of the after accepting Christ so they did not have resources to kind of survive in Jerusalem and that is why the early church had to engage in sharing the resources and you find people were so generous even the things which were their own they sold it they brought and they gave it to the apostles so giving it at the apostles feet what does it mean it means that once they gave it they they sort of entrusted it to the apostles and said okay whatever you think is right with this money you do it for the community of God's people and yes of course the apostles had to distribute it to anybody who had need okay and then we are told about a very prominent person whom we are going to see later in the book of Acts his name is Barnabas and Barnabas was such a generous man such a you know giving personality that his name is translated son of encouragement okay so he brought encouragement into people's lives and studying his background he was from a Levite background so obviously Levites were more kind of well versed in the things of God so Barnabas has that exposure he what did Barnabas do Barnabas had a land he also like the others who were selling the land he sold it he brought money and he also put it at the apostles feet or entrusted it to the apostles so this is the kind of community that is happening in Jerusalem where you know it's thriving they are not stopped by the threats of the authorities and they're continuing the mighty work of God okay so we will do one thing we will take a break right now and we will come back we will discuss a little bit more about the the godly community and then proceed from there into chapter five so so far you all are doing good good now okay great great yeah praise God wonderful all right class okay so let's take a break then 10 minutes and we will be back we will continue with chapter five thank you