Day 323 – Peter – The lame man healed & Apostles arrested

• Acts 3 and Acts 4 give us a another indication of the momentum and boldness of the early church in Jerusalem and, increasingly, the surrounding areas. It must have been a very exciting time!
• What happened to the beggar man outside the gates of the temple? Importantly, in whose name did Peter perform this miracle?
• What was the reaction of the crowds and the religious officials? Why do you think the leaders were slower to follow Jesus than the ordinary crowds?
• The man would have been whooping and jumping all over the place. Nobody would have been able to miss the miraculous healing that had occurred. Do you think it was this that made the men bold to speak in front of the people and the teachers? Or would it have been what they knew about Jesus already?
• Based on that thought, do we need our own “dancing man” in order to proclaim the gospel with boldness?
• Focus on what Peter said to the onlookers and in the temple. Look at how he used the healing to bring glory to Jesus alone, not himself. Acts 4:12 is a great verse of truth, for example.
• Look at Acts 4:20. Peter and John “can’t help speaking” about what they had seen and heard. That’s my prayer for you. I want you to be excited by the gospel message and wanting to share it!
• The disciples spent time in prayer together. Do you find it encouraging when you pray together as a group with friends, if you do? How does it bring people together, as well as closer to God?
• Paul asked for prayer in some of his closing remarks in his letter to the Ephesians. His situation was different to that of Peter and John: he was in (literal) chains. And yet he longed to “fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel”. Amen to that!

Flick back to Luke 22:54-62, which recounts the events of the hours just after Jesus’ arrest. We read there about Peter, and it doesn’t make for particularly impressive reading, for it shows Peter denying his allegiance with Jesus three times. But here we read that Peter – yes, the same man – was proclaiming Jesus’ name to the highest leaders in the land. What a difference!

Peter had always been a little bit of a “go-getter” – he jumped out of a boat in a storm to meet Jesus in Matthew 14 and cut off a guard’s ear during Jesus’ arrest in John 18. But Peter’s change of stance – from fearful to fearless – wasn’t just because he was the sort of man to wear his heart on his sleeve. It was as a result of a deep conviction in who Jesus was. He was brave because he knew that Jesus was worth standing up for, regardless of what the world was saying. He was rocked the night of Jesus’ death – he didn’t understand it, perhaps – but after the resurrection… well, there was no stopping him!

What’s stopping you from being brave for Jesus? It may be due to genuine doubts that remain. Or it may be that you’re just enjoying a nice middle ground Christianity where you can rest in the salvation the Bible promises, quietly sidestepping the call of Scripture to speak up. Maybe pray about that today.