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Acts 4 - Devotion · The Five Minute Bible Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to Five Minute Bible in our journey through the New
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  Testament. In each episode, we take just a
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  few minutes to focus on one chapter of the New Testament,
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  exploring the truths God is teaching us through His Word and
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  expanding our view of who He is. Before you listen, make sure
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  you've gone straight to the source, either by reading
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  today's chapter of the Bible yourself or listening to today's
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  read along episode in this podcast feed.
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  If you haven't done that yet, feel free to pause and do that
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  now. And when you're ready, let's
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  dive into God's Word together. In Acts chapter 4 we find Peter
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  and John being thrown in jail by the religious leaders after the
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  disturbance that's been caused by their healing of the lame
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  beggar. In Acts chapter 3, the religious
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  leaders question them, saying in verse 7, by what power or in
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  what name have you done this? And here's what follows in verse
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  8 and beyond. Then Peter, filled with the Holy
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  Spirit, said to them, rulers and elders of the people, if we are
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  on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how
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  this man has been made, well, let it be known to all of you
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  and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus
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  Christ, the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from
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  the dead, by this name, this man stands here before.
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  You in good health? He is the stone which was
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  rejected by you the builders, but which became the chief
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  cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one
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  else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given
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  among men by which we must be saved.
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  Peter stands and delivers a clear proclamation of the gospel
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  of Jesus. Man has placed him on trial, but
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  God has opened the door for the gospel message to go out.
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  The religious leaders were left without a reply.
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  Notice what it is that strikes the religious leaders.
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  The next verse says, Now as they observed the confidence of Peter
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  and John and understood that they were uneducated and
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  untrained men, they were amazed and began to recognize them as
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  having been with Jesus. These religious leaders noticed
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  the confidence, the boldness of Peter and John, but they also
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  know that these are not educated men.
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  These are not trained rabbis. These are fishermen.
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  This is an amazing display for mere fishermen.
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  But that's not all they notice. They began to recognize Peter
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  and John as having been with Jesus.
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  Unable to recognize the feeling of the Holy Spirit for what it
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  is, the religious leaders can at least remember one thing.
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  These men have been with Jesus. That's the difference.
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  The power that pours forth from them, the confidence that they
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  display even when they're imprisoned and put on trial.
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  This is not from man, but from God.
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  They have been in the presence of Jesus and have been changed.
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  And here's the question for us, brothers and sisters.
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  Have we been with Jesus? Is the presence of Christ what
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  is empowering our life? Is the presence of Christ what
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  is emboldening our witness? Peter and John spent time with
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  the Master and were changed. Have we spent time with the
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  Master and have we come away changed?
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  Live in the reality of John 15, five.
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  I am the vine, you are the branches.
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  He who abides in me, and I in him, He bears much fruit, for
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  apart from me you can do nothing.