Acts 4:14-22
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
14 But
since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them,
there was nothing they could say. 15 So
they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred
together.16 “What are we going to do with these men?” they
asked. “Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding
miracle, and we cannot deny it. 17 But
to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn
these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”
18 Then
they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in
the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is
right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. 20 For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen
and heard.”
21 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. 22 For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.
John 19:11
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over
me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
Hebrews 13:6
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
6 So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I
will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?”
What can man do to me?”
Proverbs 21:30
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
30 There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan
that can succeed against the Lord.
that can succeed against the Lord.
As I
read the Acts passage I thought of Jesus when He was standing before Pilate and
Pilate was informing Christ of his authority.
Jesus let Pilate know that he didn’t really have any power whatsoever
over Jesus if it weren’t for God. God is
the ultimate power and the one that we will have to answer to someday. We will have to answer as to why we weren’t
bold in our witness to others. Why we
let people rule our lives rather than recognizing that God was the One and Only
in control. These men realized that and
when they were told to quit speaking that they must obey God and not man. They were bold in saying to these men that
they would listen to God over man and encouraged the Sanhedrin to do the same.
Knowing
that God was in control these men could boldly speak to these leaders and
refuse to obey their commands. They
could disobey them because their commands were totally against God’s will. The men were then released. They blatantly told these men that they would
disobey their command to stop speaking about Christ and they were still
released. That is the power of our
Father in Heaven!!!! God moves in
mankind in a way that His will is done.
Whether someone is a believer or not, God has control over their lives
and as believers we need to recognize that He has control over our lives as
well. He is where we get our power and
strength not from mankind.
When we
put this into perspective, we realize that God is in control. We realize that if we put our trust in Him,
He will carry us through. We may come up
against people who argue with us, put us down, ridicule us in front of others
or possibly laugh at us behind our backs.
That does not negate the fact that we need to continue speaking about
the Christ who came and sacrificed Himself on the cross so that we could have
eternal life. We must continue to speak
of the resurrection of Christ and to give Him glory for all things in our
lives. We must be courageous, we must be
bold, and we must continue to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ no matter what
others may say.
As you
seek Him may you feel His mighty power in your life, so much power that you are
unafraid to share the Gospel message with others.
Joshua 1:7
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the
law my
servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that
you may be successful wherever you go.
Seeking
Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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