05.26.08 7:33am
S – Acts 4
“what business do you have doing this?” :7
“peter, full of the holy spirit let loose” :8
“I’ll be completely honest with you – we have nothing to hide. By the name of jesus christ. 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.” :11-13
“they couldn’t take their offs off them – peter and john standing there so confident, so sure of themselves! These men were laymen with no training in scripture or formal education. They recognized them as companions of jesus” :13-14
“what can we do with these men? It’s known al over town. Lets silence them with threats so they won’t dare to use jesus’s name ever again with anyone.” :15
“whether its right in god’s eyes to listen to you rather than to god, you decide. As for us, there’s no question – we can’t keep quiet about what we’ve seen and heard.” :18-20
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· Peter and john were so full of the holy spirit that they could careless what anyone else thought. The religious leaders of their day were so intimidated by their raw passion and fearless approach to not be ashamed of the gospel. They had no clue as to how to handle them, because they weren’t doing anything wrong. They were going against the grain and against status quo. They were being initiators of change for the better. This has to be one of favorite passages of scripture – I love that they were so pure and had nothing to hide. They gave all glory to the name of Christ!
· The best part perhaps is they were just a couple of normal blue-collar guys – no education or training – just strictly transformed by the love of God. They created such a buzz around their community that everyone knew about the life change that was occuring – it was contagious. They weren’t going to allow criticism or what anyone thought, even to the point of death, to prevent them from sharing christ with anyone around them!
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· I want this in me! I want that same holy spirit’s boldness to charge me up so I’ll be relentless in a passionate pursuit to make jesus name famous in claremore oklahoma. I don’t care what anyone thinks. Jesus was a rebel just like these guys. He didn’t care what the pharisees thought – he didn’t step down to anyone. When people see me – my prayer is that they will say – he is a companion of christ. He is a present day disciple and follower of christ! May a buzz be stirred all over this place and may the passion be contagious.
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God I lift your name up. You said if we lift you up you would draw all men unto you. May you receive all glory and honor. Sweep across this place and we invite a 2nd reformation and a spiritual awakening to happen. Not by weird man-made services or crazy abuses of the gifts, but by serving our community the authentic love of christ!
