Acts 4 - Preaching with Boldness

I have had the privilege of meeting Christians from countries where it is not allowed or not accepted to preach the gospel, organize a church, or own a bible. I've also learned a lot from an organization called Voice of the Martyrs, which shares stories from and provides support to the persecuted church all over the world. One of the things that has most surprised me about their prayer requests, is that they don't often ask for safety. Instead, they ask for boldness, to keep proclaiming the good news of the gospel even in the face of danger or persecution. Wow! It seems likely that they get a lot of their inspiration from Acts 4. Here goes:

Acts 4 

1. What stuck out to me from this chapter?

It is just a little funny to me that the high priests and Sadducees could not think of anything the disciples had done wrong, nor could they do anything anyway because the people had already witnessed the healing miracle. They just didn't want this Jesus thing to keep growing. So they "shook their proverbial finger" and hoped that the disciples would remain quiet. Ha! Peter's response is a perfect example of proper religious disobedience. As a principle, we believe God has placed rulers and authorities over us, and we are to obey the laws of the land. But this was not a law, rather it was a self-motivated plea that directly contradicted God. They told them straight out that they would obey God and keep preaching.

2. How does this relate to any other scripture I know?

To stick with the idea of preaching boldly, I think of Colossians 4:2-6. Paul is asking as a prayer request that God would open doors for him to proclaim the mystery of Christ, and that he would proclaim it clearly, AS HE SHOULD. It reminds me a lot of the disciples prayer to God that they would be empowered to speak with great boldness (v.29).

3. What does this mean for my life?

I have the opportunity often to teach/preach about God, and I should pray more often that God would empower me to speak with boldness. It's easy to shy away from certain topics in Christianity because they are politically incorrect. Why, one of the most politically incorrect verses in all of Scripture is found in Acts 4:12. After sharing that the man was healed in the name of Jesus Christ, Peter says, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved."

4. What questions do I have about this passage?

I just want to know why the religious leaders just had such a hard time accepting who Jesus was. I know some of it was some unmet expectations of what the Messiah would look like, but why didn't more of them see what was happening? That's not really an answerable question, just one I wonder about.

I'd love to hear what you think. Feel free to share your own thoughts and discussion, along with any constructive criticism or ideas you have for me specifically about this blog. God's blessings.

In Christ,
Dan