A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS

                                                      PART IV - XI

"We, all the believers who have gathered in Jerusalem, were overjoyed.... Peter and John are once again in our midst.... They just told us of their night in prison and their meeting with the religious leaders.... It is very clear that the Holy Spirit has been with them throughout their ordeal....And that He enabled them to stand firm in their faith.... All we can do is praise our Lord..... And may He help us, His people, to continue speaking His Word with the same boldness and clarity as Peter and John have done.... We may well be threatened by the religious leaders.... Just as Peter and John were.... But we know one thing.... We must be faithful to our task.... Moreover, we trust that as we step out in faith The Lord will contimue to perform many more miracles for the glory of His Name."....Please read the typed out attachment when you will learn how the other believers responded after Peter and John shared with them what they had experienced at the hands of the religious leaders.....

 

 

                   ATTACHMENT A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS 

                                                    PART IV - XI

The believers listened very carefully to everything Peter and John told them of their experience of their night in prison and their meeting before the religious leaders. They realised the Holy Spirit had been present with Peter and John during their ordeal and had greatly helped them to be victorious over their circumstances. So they turned to God in thankfulness and praise for His faithfulness to Peter and John as you can read in Acts 4:24-30 

When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God, "Sovereign Lord," they said, You made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through Your servant, our father David: Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against His Anointed One.* Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against Your Holy Servant Jesus, Whom You anointed.They did what Your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak Your word with great boldness, Stretch out Your hand and heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through Your Holy Servant Jesus."

These believers had become a bold people as well as you can see from the prayer they prayed as led by the Holy Spirit who reminded them of Psalm 2:-2 which they used a part of their prayer

Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against His Anointed One.

Moreover, after hearing the testimonies of Peter and John, these believers sensed a great boldness rising up in each one of them to continue speaking about Jesus and to trust Him for many more miracles to take place.

 

                                    

                             A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS

                                                        PART IV - X

"I, Peter, together with John, was given back my freedom.... I knew that the religious leaders would have preferred to have kept us in prison....But I knew they  had no case against us..... So they had to let us go.... We then went straight away to our fellow believers.... They were waiting for us... They were so happy to see us.... We told them everything the religious leaders had said to us.... That we were no longer allowed to speak about Jesus ... We shared with them as well that we could not obey such a command.... For that command would go against God's command to us... And we must obey God rather than men.... Even their further threats cannot stop us from obeying God.... For we must continue to speak of Jesus... And that is what we will do.... Regardless of any future consequences."... Please read the typed out attachment when you will learn that Peter and John joined the other believers after their release....

                       ATTACHMENT A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS

                                                       PART IV - X

After Peter and John were released we could well imagine that they decided to just send the other believers a message to let them know they were going to go into hiding for a while but that is not what happened. On the contrary, they met with the other believers to report to them everything that had happened to them as you can read in Acts 4:23 

On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests had said to them."

 All the believers were overjoyed to receive Peter and John in their midst and eager to learn what they had experienced during their night in jail and their subsequent meeting with the religious leaders.

 

 

 

 

                                      A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS

                                                         PART IV - IX

"We, the religious leaders looked at each other.... We had just listened to the response of these two men, Peter and John, to our command.... Our command had been very clear.... They were no longer to speak about Jesus.... To our shock they declared that they would not obey our command.... They, furthermore, told us that them speaking about Jesus would be in obedience to God Himself....All we could do next was to try and silence them with further threats.... We knew we could not do anything else.... We would have very much liked to punish them further... But we knew we could not.... That would have turned the crowd against us.... For they were all praising God for the miraculous healing of the crippled beggar... Even we could not deny the healing of that man.... So our hands were tight.... We could not handle the situation with these two men in a way we really desired....Instead, we had to let them go.... A very unsatisfactory conclusion to this situation.... Perhaps we will have another opportunity in the future to silence them.... And to silence them for good."..... Please read the typed out attachment when you will learn that the religious leaders had to let Peter and John go.....

 

                   ATTACHMENT A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS

                                                     PART IV - IX

The religious leaders listened to Peter and John's reply to their command not to speak about Jesus ever again. They were very frustrated with these two men for it was clear from their response that they had no intention of doing what they had been commanded to do. On the contrary; these two men believed that by speaking about Jesus they would be obeying God Himself. All the religious leaders could do at that point was to try and threaten them. However, they could not take any further specific action as you can read in Acts 4:21-22

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. For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.

The religious leaders had no choice but to let Peter and John go in light of the fact that all the people were praising God for the miraculous healing of the previously crippled beggar.

 

                                    A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS

                                                          PART IV - VIII

"I, Peter, together with John, had been called in by the religious leaders a second time.... This time they knew what to say to us.... They told us that we were never again to mention the name of Jesus.... Their command was not too surprising to us....We knew too that we could not obey their command.... We needed to obey the Lord's command..... And He had made it clear that we should speak about Him....Not just once, but continually.... He had in fact told us that we are to be His witnesses not just in Jerusalem.... We are to be His witnesses in Judea.... In Samaria.... And even to the ends of the earth.... So far we have not gone beyond Jerusalem.... Perhaps one day we will go to Judea... And to Samaria... And to the ends of the earth.".... Please read the typed out attachment when you will learn how Peter and John responded to the command of the religious leaders....

                       ATTACHMENT A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS

                                                             PART IV - VIII

The religious leaders had made it very clear to Peter and John that they were no longer to speak or teach about Jesus. But Peter and John did not agree with this statement as you can read in Acts 4:19-20

But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have heard and seen."

Peter and John understood that they were to obey God rather than men. And a night in prison had not taught them to be quiet about Jesus but had in fact made them more confident to continue sharing the message of their Lord and Saviour.

 

                                   A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS

                                                     PART IV - VII

"I, Peter, together with John, have just come out of jail.... We spent one night there.... The first time we have ever been in prison...We were sent to prison after Jesus enabled us to heal a crippled beggar....And after we had spoken and taught about Jesus....We have just appeared before the religious leaders.... They did not know what to do with us.... So they sent us out of the room where they were meeting.... No doubt, they then discussed among themselves what measures they needed to take.... They then called us in again.... This time they told us what they had decided we should not be doing....They told us we could no longer speak or teach about the Lord Jesus....But our Lord has told us that we should speak or teach about Him.... We must be obedient to Him.".....Please read the typed out attachment when you will learn what the religious leaders decided to do with Peter and John.....

 

 

               ATTACHMENT A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS

                                                     PART IV - VII

The religious leaders knew that they had no case against Peter and John. So how could they keep them quiet? They decided that they should at least tell them to keep quiet about this Man Jesus as you can read in Acts 4:18

Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the Name of Jesus.

Peter and John were not in agreement with the command of the religious leaders not to talk about Jesus. In fact, quite the opposite was true for they knew the sole reason for their existence was to talk about Jesus.

 

   

                                 A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS

                                                         PART IV - VI

"We, the religious leaders, have just had two men in front of us... They were ordinary folks... Probably fishermen.... But they were a nuissance... For they had been speaking about the Man Jesus.... Not only had they been they speaking about this Man Jesus.... They had with them a crippled beggar.... But this man was no longer crippled.... These two men claimed that he had been healed through the power of Jesus....We knew we could not deny that a miracle had taken place.... But we could not allow them to continue talking about this Man Jesus... So we had them put in jail for the night.... We had hoped that this would have caused these men to come to their senses and realise that talking about this Man Jesus will only get them in trouble... However, they seemed to have become even bolder.... We need to discuss among ourselves what she should do with them...For we are at a loss how to handle this situation."... Please read the typed out attachment when you will learn that the religious leaders did not know how to deal with Peter and John....

                ATTACHMENT A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS

                                                       PART IV - VI

Having told Peter and John to leave the meeting, the religious leaders began to talk among themselves how to deal with these two men as you can read in Acts 4: 15-17

So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. "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. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in His Name."

The religious leaders concluded that Peter and John had to be stopped from talking about Jesus since their message should not be spread among the people.

 

                                      A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS

                                                           PART IV - V

"I, Peter, together with John, have just finished a night in prison.... We were then called before the religious leaders.... They looked at us..... It was clear that they were puzzled..... For they did not understand how we had been able to preach so clearly about this Man Jesus....They realised we were very simple men..... They could see from our appearance that we have had no education....  And yet many people had listened to us.... And a crippled beggar had been healed through us..... They knew as well that we had been with Jesus while He was still here on earth....I could see their frustration.... For they did not know what to do with us..... They wanted us to stop doing what we had been doing.... But they were hesitant because the previously crippled beggar had joined us....They could not deny the reality of his healing."... Please read the typed out attachment when you will learn that the religious leaders can not say anything against Peter and John when they appeared before them....

                ATTACHMENT A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS

                                                         PART IV - V

The religious leaders were completely taken aback by Peter and John's brave attitude as you can read in Acts 4:13-14

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realised that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were asthonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.

The religious leaders did not know what to do with Peter and John so they ended up sending them out of the meeting to give them time to hopefully find a solution to this embarrising situation.

                      

                                     A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS

                                                           PART IV  - IV

"I, Peter, listened to the accusations of the religious leaders.... I then spoke up as led by the Holy Spirit... I addressed these men in front of me.... I, an ordinary fisherman.... Spoke to these religious leaders.... I exposed their hard hearts to them.... For they had not been willing to acknowledge the healing of the crippled beggar.. But they could not deny it had happened.... They had witnessed this man walking and jumping.... Not only were they not willing to acknowledge this man's healing.... They were not willing to acknowledge that the healing had taken place in the Name of Jesus.... The Man they had crucified not too long ago.... But Who had been raised to life.... And Who has gone back to heaven as witnessed by me.".... Please read the typed out attachment when you will learn how Peter responds to the questions of the religious leaders....

 

                        ATTACHMENT A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS

                                                           PART IV - IV

However, Peter did not apologise to the religious leaders for his behaviour but used the opportunity to testify about the Lord Jesus as you can read in Acts 4:8-10

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers and elders of the people! If we are beuing called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked to know how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: it is by the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead that this man stands before you healed."

Peter's words caused great frustration among the religious leaders but they knew they had no case against him and John since they had seen the previously crippled beggar walking and jumping