The first three chapters of Acts are pretty good for the church. They receive the Spirit, they speak in tongues, they heal people, and they live in peace and harmony. It’s miracles and salvations all around! Well, that all changes in chapter 4 when the church experiences its first hostility to the gospel.In Acts 4:1-22, the Jewish leadership responds to the healing of the man born lame—and they aren’t happy about it! After initial questioning, Peter praises Jesus for the healing and accuses the priests of rejecting the Savior. Obviously, the priests don’t take this well, but they have a problem on their hands—everyone saw the lame man healed and they can’t deny God’s work through the apostles. What to do?

Peter and John’s interactions with the priests tell us a lot about missing the work of God. For all of the priests’ position, education, and power, they couldn’t recognize that God was working through Jesus. In fact, their powerful position prevented them from seeing God’s work. This should be a warning to us—when we take our eyes off of Jesus, we can miss what God is doing right in front of us.

Join us this week as we continue our series on Acts and look at how the Spirit gives us power to make a difference.

See you then!