We Cannot But Speak (February 10th, 2019) - Jordan Coros

Good morning, Church.

How are you guys doing?

Good.

Really is a blessing for my wife Emily and I to be here.

We love spending time with you and love having the opportunity to lift high the name of Jesus in worship with you.

You know, you might be saying, hey, he looks a lot like Mike.

And uh I get that a lot.

I do.

And uh Mike and Ange have been nothing less than instrumental in uh in both Emily and I's lives.

And uh Mike was um probably the biggest source of discipleship that I've had in my life and uh really kind of got me on track for ministry.

He was our youth pastor for a number of years, and uh that he actually married Emily and I.

And so it really is a blessing for me to be here to fill the pulpit and give him a well-deserved break this week, right?

And uh so it's really a blessing to be here to be able to do that and to open up God's word with you.

Uh, we really do love Mike and Ange, and uh, it's also been super cool for us to hear about what God has been doing in this church, in your lives, and to hear of the passion that you have for his word and for the mission that he has called you to.

And uh, that's actually what we're gonna be talking about a little bit this morning.

So if you have your Bibles, we'd love for you to open them up to Acts chapter four, which is where we'll spend uh our time in God's Word this morning.

And as you're doing that, I wonder how many of you would say uh that you're a person who likes to experience things rather than own something new?

How many of you would say that's you?

Okay, pretty good mix, pretty good mix.

Well, apparently it actually depends on what generation you're a part of.

A uh an article that I read in Forbes magazine not too long ago said this: no ownership, no problem.

Why millennials value experiences over owning things?

And the premise of the article was that millennials, different than the generations before or even the emerging generation after, place a higher value on an experience than an ownership.

Many millennials would rather go and do something like they'd rather go travel the world than own a house.

Or they'd rather get seasons tickets to an art gallery or their favorite sport team than they would say upgrade their vehicle.

Now, whether you'd say that's completely ridiculous, or you'd say, yeah, I that's kind of me, it made me think that all of us value experience.

We all value experience to some degree.

Sure, some more than others, but we value experience.

We love the super cool concert or the sporting event or the amazing vacation.

We love to do something cool or something that we enjoy with the people that we love, don't we?

And just as much as we value the experience when we're having it, we also really enjoy telling people about it, don't we?

Or it's more like we like posting about it on social media, isn't it?

Right?

We value experience.

And whether we experience something good or bad, we love to tell people about it.

Well, the apostles Peter and John, they had had an incredible experience.

They had seen the gospel play out right in front of their eyes, and they had responded to that in faith, received the Holy Spirit miraculously, and had had their lives changed forever because of it.

And that resulted them in having to tell people about it.

It resulted in the phrase that is actually the title for the message this morning.

In verse 20, the Apostle Peter says, For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

The experience that they had with Jesus became the driving force in their lives and follower of Christ, you too have had an experience with Jesus.

To claim faith in Jesus Christ is to come face to face with him and what he did for us.

And for those of us who have that and who have responded to that in faith and have had our lives changed by it, that needs to be the driving force in our lives.

But then our only response to it needs to be that we tell others about it.

Not just tell people about it, but boldly proclaim the gospel to the people around us.

And that's what we'll get after this morning as we spend our time in God's Word.

We're gonna kind of read through the passage as we go through it this morning, uh Acts 4, 1 to 22.

But before we dive into it, let's pray.

Father, we thank you for this time, for calling us here to this place to bring you praise and honor and glory and worship as we've done already.

We thank you for the opportunity to open up your word and to stare into your very face as we look at what it means to boldly proclaim the gospel as you have clearly called all of us to do.

Father, we pray that as we spend time in your word now and look into it to hear what it has to say to us, I pray, Father, that Spirit, you would move in this place to grant us a greater understanding of these things, but also that God, you would move to change our hearts for your glory in this place.

That your word would go forth and make an impact and that this church, Harvest New Market, will become a place, will become a people that seeks to boldly proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to those around them.

So, Father, would you get all the glory and honor and praise for everything that goes on here this morning?

Lead us and guide us.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

So the call on our lives as followers of Christ is to boldly proclaim the gospel.

And that means a few things for us.

And the first thing that we'll see is that to boldly proclaim the gospel means I challenge the status quo in people's lives.

I challenge the status quo in people's lives.

Now, Peter and John, under the call of the Great Commission to go therefore and make disciples of all nations, which was given to them by Jesus himself, find themselves in Jerusalem, wherein you can read in chapter three, they heal a man who was lame since birth.

And that results in a pretty sweet preaching opportunity for Peter as he proclaims to them the power by which this man had been forg uh healed.

But as we get into verse one of chapter four, we can see that there's some people who aren't super stoked about the whole situation.

Take a look, verse one.

And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them.

So we're introduced to three groups of people here.

We see the priests, the priests of the temple, the captain of the temple, who was just essentially the captain of the temple police department.

And then the third one we see there is the Sadducees.

Now, who are they?

Who are the Sadducees?

Well, they were one of the three main Jewish parties of the day, a very wealthy, well-educated group, very influential in the political and religious scene in Israel at the time.

And they actually had control of the high priests, the captain of the guard, and also held majority seats in the Jewish council, also called the Sanhedrin, a group that we'll learn a little bit more about as we go through God's word this morning.

Now, these three groups were, verse 2, greatly annoyed because they, being Peter and John, were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

You see, they were upset because what Peter and John were proclaiming was completely contrary to what they believed.

See, the Sadducees were known for the hard-line stance that they took on ancient orthodoxy, in that they were completely opposed to any new religious idea or religious thought.

They were solely focused on this world and maintaining the status quo here that they actually denied the notion of a world to come.

They thought that it was just the here and now that they needed to live for.

They denied the doctrine of a resurrection from the dead, both physically and spiritually, and they weren't interested at all in anything to do with the spiritual realm.

Actually, one of the few places that we learn more about the Sadducees is later on in the book of Acts, in chapter 23, where we read, For the Sadducees say, There is no resurrection, nor angel nor spirit.

And finally, as wealthy aristocrats, they also closely tied themselves with Rome, who were the ruling powers of the day.

And so much so that they affiliated themselves more with the Romans than they did their own people, which, as you can imagine, made them super popular amongst their own people.

Not at all.

People actually weren't super fond of the Sadducees.

And so for them to all of a sudden have these men come preaching about this resurrection from the dead that comes through Jesus Christ, who in their eyes was a criminal and a political threat because he caused such a ruckus amongst the people, they recognized that this posed a threat to them.

Because you see, the Sadducees were particularly passionate about keeping things the same.

They were so wrapped up in keeping their little thing going.

They so badly wanted to control what they thought they had control over.

They were so passionate about protecting their misguided beliefs, so selfishly motivated to maintain their sense of normalcy, they completely missed the mark in thinking that it was their duty to maintain the things of old.

They attacked anything that stood in the face of that.

Verse 3.

And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.

See, in every way.

We love our sinful status quo.

And this is the thing that we as followers of Christ battle against every single day.

For you and I, followers of Christ, who have received the gospel and are living it out in our lives in faith, we too, like Peter and John, have a call to boldly proclaim the good news to the people around us.

And just like it did for the Sadducees, that will challenge the people who hear it.

Because you see, the gospel challenges what we believe to be normal.

It upsets the very foundation of who we are as sinful people, as it calls us to die to ourselves and our sinful desires.

It calls us to serve others and obey the commands of somebody that we've never even seen before.

It calls us to deny the world with its passions and possessions and instead live for something, a promise, a hope of eternal life, of a world and a life so much greater than anything here.

The gospel calls us outside of our comfort zone.

And let me just say to be a part of a church plant, to come early on a Sunday morning to set things up or stay late on one of your days off to tear everything back down, to spend time during the week to prepare for the lesson that you'll give and harvest kids or to lead a small group.

You're doing this.

You're not settling for comfortability, and many of you here are committed to that.

And that's amazing.

See, what the gospel calls us to flies directly in the face of everything that we in our sinfulness would choose to do.

And what many of you are doing here in seeking to bring the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Newmarket is doing exactly that because truthfully, in our sinfulness, we wouldn't be here.

See, the gospel is not an easy thing for people to accept.

Because when we're comfortable, we want things to stay that way.

And so if we're committed to boldly proclaiming the gospel as we should be, that will take us outside of our comfort zone.

Are you prepared for that?

Are you prepared for the fact that some people aren't necessarily gonna like what you have to say?

You're gonna upset some people because people like their sinful status quo.

And the example that we have for this is Jesus himself, who, as he was here on this earth, challenged the status quo by the very person he was, by how he lived, by what he taught and what he did.

And so it's just natural that we as followers of him would do the same.

Because you see, in that moment when the good news of Jesus Christ's death, burial, and glorious resurrection is proclaimed, Jesus is calling the hearer to himself, just like he did when he called his 12 disciples and said, Come and follow me.

And to follow Jesus is to lose everything that you once knew, to completely deny it, to leave behind the status quo and to commit to walking with him, obeying his commands, living out the words that he spoke.

But you see, not everyone will choose that.

Because just as the gospel is challenging, it is polarizing.

And there are only two possible responses to the proclamation of the gospel.

The first is to hear it, to understand it, and to respond in faith, to believe it, and commit to walking with Jesus, to receive the hope of a promise of eternal life.

The second is to reject it, to instead turn your back on the one who calls you to himself and remain committed to your sinful status quo, which leads to eternal death.

For us, more and more, as the days seemingly grow darker and darker, the promise that Jesus gave to his disciples and to us should ring in our ears.

Jesus said it in John 15.

Remember the word I said to you.

If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.

If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

See, as the recipients of the gospel, we serve a master who has gone before us and who has experienced all that we will experience in this world, and is our example in every way of how to live here.

And he calls us to boldly proclaim his good news, which will challenge the people who hear what we have to say.

And even if it should mean that I am persecuted for doing so, I will boldly proclaim the gospel.

And when I do it, see this next.

I keep Jesus front and center.

Keep Jesus front and center.

Now, because the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council, remember we spoke of them, only meets in the morning, Peter and John are kept in prison overnight until the next day that they can, verse five, gather the rulers and elders and scribes together in Jerusalem.

So they gather the members of the council who at this time were given power by the Romans to rule in all non-capital cases in Israel, meaning all cases that weren't punishable by death.

And in verse six, we're then introduced to four members of the high priestly family.

Annas, first, who is the father of the three men who are listed after him.

He served as high priest before.

Caiaphas, then next, who is actually Annas' son-in-law.

He was the now active high priest, and then Annas' other two sons, John and Alexander.

Now, these four are important because they were all Sadducees and High Priests.

And the high priest's role in the Sanhedrin was to preside over all of the goings on with the council and to act kind of as president.

Now they begin the trial of Peter and John with a very specific question.

Take a look, verse 7.

And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, By what power or by what name did you do this?

You see, this question is interesting for two very important reasons.

The first reason is that the Sanhedrin would have known where Peter and John claimed their power came from.

I mean, they weren't secret about it.

In the healing of the lame man, Peter and John said, by the power of the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk.

And then actually in Peter's following sermon, five times he explicitly names Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

So they would have known where they claimed their power came from.

So why'd they ask it?

Well, great question.

Because more than likely they were trying to catch them in a slip-up, potentially in blasphemy so they could imprison them.

The second reason that this question is interesting is because Peter and John truly could not have scripted this question any better.

I mean, honestly, for them, this is like ball on the T, set it up perfectly.

Oh, hey, I'm glad you asked, kind of question, because this gives them, again, the opportunity to step right into another bold proclamation of the gospel, which Peter totally does.

And in all of this, verse 8, we see that he is filled with the Holy Spirit, fulfilling perfectly what Jesus told his followers in Luke 12.

He said, And when they bring you before the synagogues and rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.

And for the followers of Christ, at the time that you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes upon you at that moment and is gifted to you and with you permanently as you seek to follow Jesus and live in obedience to him.

But then the Spirit is also readily available to us in the moment to give us the words to speak, to equip us, strengthen us, and give us the ability to do the things that we are called to do.

And how encouraging is that?

How amazing is it to know that as we seek to, in obedience to the call of Christ, proclaim the gospel to the world around us, we are promised the Holy Spirit to come along at the perfect time to give us the words to say when we need it.

To give us the courage and the strength that we don't have in our flesh.

So if this case, if the Sadducees teed the ball up with the perfect question, the Holy Spirit comes along with the driver, and all Peter and John got to do is swing, and this baby's going like 400 yards right down the fairway.

All right, this is gonna be perfect, and that's exactly what he does.

Check it out, verse 8.

Rulers of the people and elders, Peter says, If we're being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well.

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

See, Peter sees this opportunity, and with faith in what Jesus told him, that he will receive the Spirit to come along and equip him, he seizes the moment to clearly drive home to the Sanhedrin and to all of the people of Israel who Jesus is and what he has done.

And it is very clear here that Peter's only goal was to elevate Jesus higher than anything else.

And he begins this by noting that if they're being put on trial by what they did to the lame man, that was a good deed, an act of kindness to someone in need.

There's no reason for them to be punished for that.

But if they're asking, How they did it, taking no credit for themselves, Peter boldly proclaims that the healing act was done only through the power of Jesus Christ alone.

I mean, Peter has no desire to puff up his own ego here.

He doesn't go into the methodology that they used to heal this man.

He doesn't start talking about all of the training that they did for years and years and years.

So at this perfect moment they would know exactly what they needed to do.

No, he elevates Jesus.

He puts him front and center.

Then he pounds the nail a little bit deeper here by making this whole thing personal for the council, revealing to them the sinfulness of their past ways, the shared responsibility they have in the crucifixion of Jesus, the fact that they, as God's builders, who were the people God gave, God gave to the people to teach and lead his people, the fact that they rejected Jesus, a stone given by God to his people, that has now become the cornerstone, the most important stone of all.

Again, he elevates Jesus above all else.

And then he finishes it off with an amazing, clear declaration of the only one who is able to save, that there is power in no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

The only name that has the power to save is Jesus Christ.

And as he does this, he is inviting the Jewish council to believe in and receive the salvation that is only available through him.

You see, in our witness to the world around us, there is only one thing that needs to be front and center, and that is Jesus Christ.

Because you see, our ultimate need as human beings is to be saved from the damning power of our sinfulness, which results in death eternally.

And that salvation that we desperately need comes only through Jesus Christ.

See, Jesus, our sovereign Lord and Savior, lived a life we could not live, died a death that we deserve.

And it's only through the repentance of our sinfulness, the turning away from it, and faith in Him that we can receive forgiveness of that sin and the promise of salvation.

And as those who have experienced that firsthand in our lives, he should be front and center in all that we do.

Keeping Jesus front and center means living in obedience to what he has called us to do.

And at the beginning of Jesus' ministry till the very end, he called his disciples to first, as he called them, he said, Follow me, and I will make you what?

Fishers of men.

And then at the end of his ministry, as he ascended into heaven, he said, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you, to keep Jesus front and center, is to live out what he commands and proclaim him and him alone as the only way to save.

And in our living out of the command to boldly proclaim the gospel, what we say, what we proclaim with our mouths, needs to lean, to line up with what we do.

We need to carefully consider the great commission in light of the great commandment, which is to love God and love people.

There may be times when the people in your life need to first see you live out the gospel by what you do, the words you choose to use, the attitude you have at work, how you respond to your spouse or your kids before they ever hear you proclaim the gospel with your mouth.

And one of our four pillars here as a church for us and Barry, for here in New Market, is unafraid witness.

And there is a clear call from God's word that we need to actually proclaim with our mouths the truth of the gospel, that's for sure.

But we need to be so careful that we don't ever disqualify ourselves from having an opportunity to speak the truth of the gospel into someone's life, into someone's life by being a poor witness to the gospel in the first place.

Now, I, like many of you, I'm sure, have family members who aren't followers of Christ.

And I hope you see that this is of no credit to me, but Jesus in me, they've noticed a difference in how I choose to live my life.

And the things I choose to do and things I choose not to do.

And some of them have asked me about that, and I've had the opportunity to share the gospel with them, and they've heard it, they know the truth, but many of them still choose not to respond to that in faith.

See, they know, they know the gospel, it's been clearly laid out for them, but they still choose not to believe it.

And my responsibility to them now is to continue to show Jesus to them, to continue to show the love and care and grace and mercy that I've received in my life by how I act towards them.

To keep Jesus front and center in my life.

And in every chance that I get, in all the time that I spend with them, to continue to pray for and seek to have a chance to share the love of Christ with them.

To keep the door open and look for opportunities to insert Jesus into the conversation.

Because in keeping Jesus front and center in our lives, we will open up opportunities to share the gospel.

You know, if God calls you to stand on the street corner and proclaim the gospel, amazing.

Do that in grace and love.

But for most of us, the opportunity to share the gospel with people are going to come as those in your workplace notice a difference between the way the world lives and the way you choose to live.

As your family members who get a chance to see a closer look into your lives, into your family's life, see a difference.

As your neighbors, as your friends ask you where you're going on Sunday morning.

And you see, as those opportunities come, take them.

They don't need to be as in-depth as Peter's bold proclamation of the gospel to the Sanhedrin was here in these verses.

It could be as simple as you just telling them to come and see what God is doing here.

Or sharing your story of how Jesus has worked in your life, of how he saved you and what he's been doing in your life since.

If God gives you the opportunity to lay out the gospel to someone, amazing, take that.

Trust that the Spirit's going to be there to help you.

But in all of these things, we need to be watching for these opportunities and then taking them in faith and elevating Jesus and what he has done in our lives above all else.

Because he and he alone is able to save from the power of sin in our lives.

And then what's so important for us in those moments, in those opportunities, is this next thing.

I refuse to make any excuses.

Peter's bold witness to the council astounds them.

Verse 13.

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished.

See, at this time, uneducated common men weren't educated in these deep theological things that Peter and John are talking about here.

I mean, how could they understand these things?

How could these guys speak so boldly and so clearly about this?

Back then there was no formal training, there was, you know, no basic level of education for all people, there was no high school equivalent for them.

More often than not, you found a trade, and that was your life.

You trained for that.

So it was shocking for these Galilean fishermen to know what they did, but then not only that, to be able to speak so boldly and so clearly as they did.

Okay, listen for us, it doesn't take some uber talented, super gifted, professionally trained person to proclaim the gospel.

God can use you and I in that.

And so the Sanhedrin realized that the only way these guys could know what they do and proclaim these things as they did was that they recognized they had been with Jesus.

And truly, it's impossible for us to imagine how much of an impact being with Jesus for as long as these guys were would have had on their lives, how much they would have learned from spending as much time with them as they did.

But clearly the time that they spent under his teaching and his leadership brought them to a greater understanding of these things than all of the time they spent in synagogue or in the temple leading up to that.

So, in the same way for us, as we spend more time with Jesus, as we're in his word, reading it and understanding it, as we're listening to it preached, as we're discussing it with one another, seeking to live it out in our lives, it will make a marked difference in who we are and what we do.

I mean, truly, how awesome would it be if, you know, just by noticing how you act and how you speak, you had people coming up to you on the street saying, Hey, you're one of those Jesus freaks, aren't you?

Yes! Yes, I am! Thank you for noticing.

Now let me tell you a little bit about him, right?

The time that we spend with Jesus impacts who we are, just like it obviously did for Peter and John.

And so in all of this, there was no way that the Sanhedrin could respond.

Verse 14, but seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.

It was clear that these guys had been with Jesus.

And the fact that the man who was healed was actually standing right beside them meant that the Sanhedrin couldn't do anything about it.

In verse 16, they say, What shall we do with these men?

For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

See, Peter and John made no excuse in the bold proclamation of the gospel.

They had every earthly reason to.

I mean, they were up against the religious elite of the day who had the best training in these things.

They were facing the potential for persecution and prison time.

They were up against stiff opposition, but in faithful obedience to the command of Christ, trusting fully in the Spirit for the power to stand and speak, they boldly proclaimed the gospel because the longing of their hearts to be obedient to the one who saved them trumped any possible excuse they could make.

And see, that's what it takes, church.

Our reputation, what people think about us, even our own personal safety and freedom should pale in comparison to the desire that we should have to be obedient to the call of Christ in our lives.

A man who's living this out is a pastor in China by the name of Wang Yi.

Pastor Yi is a senior pastor of Early Reign Covenant Church, a Presbyterian Reformed Church in Chengdu, China.

And Pastor Yi, his wife, and some hundred other members of their church were arrested by the communist authorities back in December, citing subversion to state power.

Now, China, an officially atheist state, under the authority of the Communist Party, have ratcheted up the intensity on persecuting Protestant churches in their country after they recently passed new laws for them.

Now, while it is not unlawful to practice a religion that is contrary to state belief, these new laws make it very difficult for people or churches to proclaim the gospel to the people around them.

Pastor Ye published a letter which was released by his church after his arrest, and he writes that although he is angry and disgusted with the actions of the authorities in his country, changing social and political institutions is not the mission I have been called to, and is not the goal for which God has given his people the gospel.

He goes on to say, I hope God uses me by means of first losing my personal freedom to tell those who have deprived me of my personal freedom that there is an authority higher than their authority, and that there is a freedom they cannot restrain, a freedom that fills the church of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the Christ, he says, Son of the eternal living God.

He died for sinners and rose to new life for us.

He is my King and the King of the whole earth yesterday, today, and forever.

I am his servant, and I am imprisoned because of this.

I will resist in meekness those who resist God, and I will joyfully violate all laws that violate God's laws.

Currently, they don't know where Pastor Ye or his wife are.

They're facing intense persecution day in and day out for the truth they believe, but in the midst of so much uncertainty, they remain focused on the call that they have received in their lives.

To share the good news of Jesus Christ with even the very people who have stripped them of everything but their lives.

No excuses.

So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

But Peter and John answered them Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

See, Peter and John had seen the risen king with their own eyes.

They had seen his power and majesty firsthand.

And the command to proclaim salvation in Christ alone was ringing in their ears.

They had received the Holy Spirit and were promised his power again and again as they fulfilled the call of Christ.

This message was burning in their hearts, and the only response that they had was they could not but speak about it.

Although we're not eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Jesus, we have the resurrection power in our lives.

The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is alive in you and me, as we too have been saved from the power of sin in hell by his loving sacrifice.

And we too have the promise of life eternal that comes from his glorious resurrection.

And no matter what people say about us, no matter what the government may say about us, no matter if we're mocked, shunned, or even if the day comes that we are persecuted for doing so, our response needs to be that we cannot but speak to people about what we have seen Jesus do in our lives and have heard him say in his word.

This is the command of Christ on our lives.

And this world may hate us.

Our family and our friends may come against us.

It could get to the point where we have absolutely nothing left in this world, but it would all be worth it.

Because everything else pales in comparison to the freedom found in Christ, the promise of eternity spent with him, forgiveness found at the foot of the cross, and people need to know that.

This is our task.

That is our call.

And we need to do it without making any excuses.

And then finally, this to boldly proclaim the gospel means I recognize that God does the work.

Take a look down at the passage and let's see how this all wraps up.

Verse 21.

And when they, being the Sanhedrin, had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people.

For all were praising God for what had happened.

For the man on whom the sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.

See, there was no disputing the work that God had done here.

His power was on full display in the healing of the lame man, in the calling and obedience of Peter and John, and in the salvation that had happened in all of the lives who had heard, to the point where the Sanhedrin's hands were tied.

They were actually afraid of the people and the response that they would have because these people were praising God, the God that they had just entered into relationship with.

Not to mention the fact that there was no disputing the healing of the lame man, which God clearly ordained, because this dude was 40 years old.

He had been disabled his entire life.

There was no way his body could be doing this on his own because, you know, after 40, not really firing in all cylinders.

Everybody would have seen this guy begging on their way into the temple, and now all of a sudden he could walk.

Completely impossible apart from the power and work of God.

The Lord had done an incredible thing on this day, and it was noticed in a powerful and public way.

Peter and John had been obedient to the command of Jesus, and God saw fit to bless them by saving many people this day.

See, in the bold proclamation of the gospel, God does the saving work.

It's the responsibility of the follower of Christ to be faithfully obedient in proclaiming the good news to the people God puts in our lives and then to trust him with the results.

See, the call of Jesus to make disciples of all nations isn't an optional thing for us.

It's a command.

It's a necessary part of the life of the follower of Christ.

If you've been saved by Him, you will tell people about Him.

The evidence of a life truly saved by God, truly impacted by the good news of Jesus Christ, is that you make other truly saved by God, truly impacted by the gospel, disciples of Jesus Christ.

We should long that our churches are a place where we make disciples who make disciples.

See, we bring the heart that's been changed by the gospel and the desire to live in obedience.

Spirit comes along to provide the ability and the words to say, and God brings the results.

And we ought to trust that he is going to do what he says he will do when he says he will do it.

And our part is to continue to be faithful, to continue to live in step with the commands of Jesus, walking in obedience to him and telling those around us about who he is and what he's done for us, and then to trust that even when we can't see it, God is at work in the drawing of people to himself.

And truthfully, not only does God work to save people from their sin and the power of it through the bold proclamation of the gospel, but how often do we see that God works to grow our faith as we see him use us in the proclaiming of the gospel?

God has done a great work in our lives through the person and work of Jesus Christ, and he is seeking to continue that work in the lives of others, and he wants to use you and I to do that.

As we are faithful to come to fulfill the command that we've received, God is faithful to do the work that He sees fit to do.

As we boldly proclaim the gospel as we are called to and as we should, we should recognize and trust that we serve a God who will work in a powerful way and watch him do what only he can do.