By What Power Have You Done This

In one paragraph

This message came from Acts 4, continuing a two-week walk through Acts 3 and 4. Pastor Carl traced what happened after the healing of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate: Peter and John were arrested, brought before the Sanhedrin, and chose boldness over silence. The whole sermon pressed toward a single question: when the people with authority tell you to stop, what do you do? Before getting into...

Read together

1. Acts 4:31 the ending verse the whole sermon builds toward
2. Acts 3:1 - 4:31 the main passage for the two-part series, chapter three covered last week and chapter four this week
3. Acts 1 Jesus telling disciples to stay in Jerusalem until filled with power, and the replacement of Judas with Matthias
4. Acts 2 Pentecost, the Spirit descending as tongues of fire, speaking in other languages, 3000 added
5. Joel one of the prophets who forecast the outpouring of the Spirit
6. Jeremiah one of the prophets who forecast the outpouring of the Spirit
7. Isaiah 49-53 suffering servant passages that Jewish leaders had interpreted variously, applied by Peter to Jesus
8. Isaiah 61 another suffering servant passage mentioned alongside Isaiah 49-53
9. Acts 3:26 Peter's statement that God sent Jesus first to Israel to bless them by turning them from their sinful ways
10. John 5 Jesus asking the lame beggar whether he wanted to be healed
11. Psalm 118:22 the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, quoted by Peter to the Sanhedrin
12. Acts 4:12 there is salvation in no one else, no other name under heaven by which we must be saved
13. Ephesians 5:1 be imitators of God as dearly beloved children, cited when speaking of being recognized as people who had been with Jesus
14. Psalm 146 quoted as the song behind the believers' prayer opening, oh sovereign Lord creator of heaven and earth
15. Psalm 146:6 the specific verse cited as source of the prayer's opening line about God creating heaven earth sea and everything in them
16. Psalm 2 why were the nations so angry, quoted within the believers' prayer about rulers gathering against the Lord and his Messiah
17. Colossians 3 closing benediction, whatever you do in word or deed do it in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father

Talk about it

1. Pastor Carl described two ways of identifying with the Acts 3 healing story: as Peter and John, or as the man who was healed. Which felt more like your own position right now, and why?
2. Peter told the crowd in Solomon's Colonnade that God sent Jesus first to the people of Israel to bless them by turning them from their sinful ways. What does it mean to you personally that God's intention in sending Jesus was described as blessing rather than condemnation?
3. The council members recognized Peter and John as ordinary men with no formal training who had been with Jesus. What does it look like in your own life for people around you to recognize that you have spent time with Jesus?
4. Peter and John prayed not for protection or safety but for boldness to keep preaching after being threatened by the Sanhedrin. When you face opposition for doing the right thing, what do you typically find yourself praying for?
5. The sermon pointed to the exclusivity of the gospel, that there is salvation in no one else, as probably the hardest idea to hold in the culture we live in. Where do you feel that pressure most, and how do you respond to it?