8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel……… 10 Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. 11 For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says,
‘The stone that you builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.12 There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:8 New King James Version (NKJV)
Only a few weeks ago we welcomed in Pentecost and the fulfillment of the promise of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can guide, comfort, and encourage us in our everyday lives. One of the results we discussed was the filling of the spirit in our lives always produced results. Those results you will remember will benefit us and others when it fills our spirits and lives.
Spirit Filled
Once the Spirit provided healing of the cripple beggar and Peter’s subsequent sermon in Acts 3, he and John were arrested and questioned as to how they healed the cripple man. Peter takes this opportunity again, to proclaim the power and gospel of Jesus under the Holy Spirit. We find the marker here of Peter’s strength in the Holy Spirit and his direction of the gospel to the rulers of the people and the elders of Israel.
We often tend to look only at what is right in front of us and miss the larger opportunity. Peter did not wait to determine how to best communicate to these people of different backgrounds and cultures.
He brings them in Acts 4 to the heart of the Gospel in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit empowers and emboldens Peter to use God’s miracle of healing to know he is safe to take the Truth to the elders of Israel, that includes some of the main ones that presided over Jesus mock trial.
The scriptures record here that while the leader’s hearts are hardened there are others that hear him and believe. God provides His spirit in our lives to empower and embolden us to generate results in the lives of others.
Often when we go into our daily lives and charge forward without consulting God and getting the support of the Holy Spirit we get into trouble. God loves us and he will still put-up flags for us along our way saying DANGER – Turn Around Now!
We will usually walk right by those flags and tell God that we can handle this one ourselves. So, God will eventually let us have our way when we refuse His help to do it His way. Then we learn the valuable lesson that we should never handle anything large or small without the guidance and help of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
If we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us He will guide us to where we need to be and to the people that we need to be with in our lives. God will bring some people into our lives and sometimes when he hears conversations that we do not He will remove someone from our life. Yet, we must surrender our lives to Him so the Holy Spirit can guide us in our daily lives of knowing if there is a value in our lives to fight for any person, place or thing. If the Spirit brings it nothing can stand against God’s plan.
God’s power and provisions will never fail. If He brings us into a situation where we know His Spirit is present, then He will always provide a path for us to make Him real to others by our lives. May we like Peter be willing and able to allow the Holy Spirit to guide our thoughts, speech and actions.
PRAYER
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LEARN MORE
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