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November 7 - Acts 4 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, Sean here, it's Thursday, it's the 7th of
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  November and you have invited me into your day.
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  God bless you, you clever person.
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  Thank you for your generosity, opening up your time so that God
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  can come in in His word and He can shape your day with the
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  rhythm of his message to you. What a joy this is for me and I
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  hope for you too as we can do this in God's Word.
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  And today we continue reading through the book of Acts, we ha,
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  we reach a point where it all seemed to be going so well.
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  And now of course, we come across a wee bit of opposition
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  as the authorities don't so much like that they've killed this
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  bloke, Jesus, and it's just getting worse for them.
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  So they start pushing back, but as we will see, pushing back
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  does not give them their desired response.
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  And God's church continues to grow.
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  And we see that all around the world today, where God's church
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  is pushed down, the Holy Spirit raises it up even more.
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  And sadly, friends, it's that parts of the world where God's
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  church has free reign in society and things are easy for us
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  Christians that the church is dying.
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  So maybe, just maybe, we can pray for God to throw some
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  opposition in our way to show us how gracious and powerful our
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  God really is. But I'll leave that to you as
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  you work out how to invite the Holy Spirit to be more active in
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  your life. But for now, let's hear what
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  happens. As we read together Acts chapter
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  4, while Peter and John were
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  speaking to the people, they were confronted by the priests,
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  the captain of the temple guard, and some of the Sadducees.
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  These leaders were very disturbed that Peter and John
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  were teaching the people that through Jesus there is a
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  resurrection of the dead. They arrested them and since it
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  was already evening, they put them in gaol until morning.
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  But many of the people who heard their message believed it so.
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  The number of men who believed now totalled about 5000.
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  The next day the council of all the rulers and elders and
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  teachers of religious law met in Jerusalem.
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  Anas, the high priest was there, along with Caiaphas, John
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  Alexander and other relatives of the high priest.
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  They brought in the two disciples and demanded By what
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  power or in whose name have you done this?
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  Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them, rulers and
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  elders of our people, are we being questioned to day because
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  we've done a good deed for a crippled man?
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  Do you want to know how he was healed?
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  Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of
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  Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ,
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  the Nazarene, the man you crucified, but whom God raised
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  from the dead. For Jesus is the one referred to
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  in the Scriptures where it says the stone that you builders
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  rejected has now become the cornerstone.
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  There is salvation in no one else.
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  God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be
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  saved. The members of the Council were
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  amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for
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  they could see that they were ordinary men with no special
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  training in the Scriptures. They also recognised them as men
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  who had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man
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  who had been healed standing right there among them, there
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  was nothing the Council could say.
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  So they ordered Peter and John out of the council chamber and
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  conferred among themselves. What should we do with these
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  men? They asked each other.
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  We can't deny that they have performed a miraculous sign and
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  everybody in Jerusalem knows about it.
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  But to keep them from spreading their propaganda any further, we
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  must warn them not to speak to anyone in Jesus name again.
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  So they called the apostles back in and commanded them never
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  again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus.
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  But Peter and John replied, Do you think God wants us to obey
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  you rather than Him? We cannot stop telling about
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  everything we have seen and heard.
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  The council then threatened them further, but they finally let
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  them go because they didn't know how to punish them without
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  starting a riot. For everyone was praising God
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  for this miraculous sign, the healing of a man who had been
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  lame for more than 40 years. As soon as they were freed,
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  Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them
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  what the leading priests and elders had said.
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  When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their
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  voices together in prayer to God.
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  O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea and
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  everything in them. You spoke long ago by the Holy
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  Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant, saying, why
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  were the nations so angry? Why did they waste their time
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  with futile plans? The kings of the earth prepare
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  for battle. The rule is gathered together
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  against the Lord and against His Messiah.
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  In fact, this has happened here in this very city, for Herod
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  Antipas, Pontius Pilate, the governor, the Gentiles, and the
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  people of Israel were all united against Jesus, Your holy
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  servant, whom you anointed. But everything they did was
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  determined before according to your will.
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  And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, Your
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  servants, great boldness in preaching Your word.
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  Stretch out Your hand with healing power.
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  May miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of Your
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  holy servant, Jesus. After this prayer, the meeting
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  place shook and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.
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  Then they preached the Word of God with boldness.
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  All the believers were united in heart and mind, and they felt
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  that what they owned was not their own, so they shared
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  everything they had. The apostles testified
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  powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God's
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  great blessing was upon them all.
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  There were no needy people among them because those who owned
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  land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the
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  apostles to give to those in need.
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  For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed
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  Barnabas, which means son of encouragement.
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  He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of
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  Cyprus. He sold a field he owned and
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  brought the money to the apostles.
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  Our Lord Jesus, thank you that you give us not a spirit of
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  timidity, but a spirit of boldness and a spirit of power.
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  When we think of power, we think of power.
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  With a human lens, we think of power to dominate others to our
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  own benefit. But here we see that the power
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  that you deal in Father, that you deal in Lord and Holy
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  Spirit, is a power to give boldness, to share the good news
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  that we are loved children of the living God.
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  And all we need to do is turn from our own selfish desires to
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  serve You. And you embrace us, and you fill
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  us with Your grace and Your boldness to love like we've
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  never loved before. Come, Holy Spirit, give us this
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  power that our love would be multiplied by Your Spirit and
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  that we would make such an impact in our days today that
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  people would plainly see Your presence in everything we do
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  today. We are your children and you are
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  our beloved Father, and we love you, and we worship you with our
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  voices and with our lives today and every day.
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  We pray all this in your name, Jesus, Amen.