Filled with Faith - Acts 4

Today is Baptism Sunday!

Before I left for Kenya we started in the Book of Acts.

The book of Acts is a roadmap of how God intends for the church to operate. We have examples of how the Spirit of God has moved in the past. If we study this we can build a community empowered by the Spirit of God to change our world. More than anything else I want people to be saved. I want people to know the Jesus who gave His life for them.

My hope is that you when you leave here you’ll feel refreshed, challenged, and motivated because we are just as much a part of the church as the early believers were. We get to add to the story of the church. It’s so cool!

We, like the early followers, can live in the same faith and trust that propelled the church forward and changed the world for good.

Courage and Faith kind of go hand in hand don’t they? You can’t have one without the other…Courage is the ability to do something even when you are frightened. Faith is TRUSTING that God is got you covered.

Like the early church, we should walk in boldness when it comes to our purpose in the kingdom of God.

So, we are going to talk about something that happened in Acts 3-4.

Peter and John were walking to the temple one day and a lame man asked them for money. They told him they didn’t have any money, but that in the Name of Jesus he could stand up and walk. The man was healed and who couldn’t walk started jumping around and praising Jesus. The crowd saw this happen and they started asking questions. Peter told them all about Jesus and how Faith in Jesus man the man well. He tells the people to turn to God, give up sin, and live for Jesus.

The religious leaders heard about what happened and that Peter was preaching that Jesus was still alive. About 5000 people had confessed Jesus as the Messiah and the leaders were afraid that people were being led astray so they called in Peter and Jon to question them.

And here I want to read exactly what the Bible says, because I want you to see HOW these men were filled with faith. You and I need to be FILLED with faith.

Acts 4:7–12 NLT

7 They brought in the two disciples and demanded, “By what power, or in whose name, have you done this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of our people, 9 are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed? 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.”

What a great portion of Scripture. I want to pull out some thoughts for us to think that might help you have Courageous Faith.

My first thought for you is that...

Fear is not an Excuse - We are Filled

Being a follower of Jesus means that you act in-spite of the fear.

We can overcome fear by stepping out in faith to do what God wants us to do—no matter how we feel!

This passage of scripture reminds us that not everyone was happy the church was growing so fast. Many of the Jewish religious leaders wanted the disciples to stop and keep this message about Jesus to themselves.

But they wouldn’t.

Now this doesn’t mean they weren’t afraid. In fact I would guess that they were afraid of these religious leaders. They had good reason to be fearful didn’t they? I mean they are doing exactly what Jesus was doing and even more because they were proclaiming that Jesus rose from the dead knowing full well that these same people pushed to have Jesus crucified.

That would be terrifying to know your life could be threatened because of your faith in Jesus. But that fear didn’t stop them. Their courage was grounded in faith that pushed them into action.

Person question time: When was the last time you stepped out in faith the way Peter and John did that day? They were just people like you and me who had a relationship with Jesus that transformed their lives.

Are we missing opportunities to bring glory to Jesus because we are afraid? What if the crippled man was mean? What if God didn’t heal him? It is so much easier to look the other way isn’t it?

They prayed for a crippled man who was miraculously healed. Everyone in the city knew this beggar man and they started praising God and started listening to these men preach and teach about who Jesus was.

It occurs to me that we need to look for opportunities to bring Glory to God in our daily lives that will point people to Jesus.

This is how the church grew! God and Jesus were lifted up and people wanted to know the truth.

In the face of embarrassment, harassment, danger, fear, we must be willing to bring the light of Christ with us into every situation.

We need to know that even in difficult situations we can ACT in our faith. It is WHO we are. We must be determined not to compromise just to keep the status quo. More often than not when you are under pressure in your faith there is someone who God is trying to reach.

I say, if it brings honor to God, let’s do it at whatever the cost to us personally. It might take courage, but people hang in the balance.

Jesus is the one who is really one who has the power. We must have faith that He is going to accomplish what He wants done in any situation of our lives.

What we don’t want to do is miss the opportunity because we are afraid of what people might think or what might be done to us.

We should strive to be people of courage who act in the face of fear. Which brings me to my second point.

Commitment Indicates Relationship

Peter and John had a relationship with Jesus. I mean they saw Him while He was living, they were taught by Him after He was risen from the grave. It’s absolutely true that they KNEW Jesus and therefore KNEW God.

This obviously impacted how they lived. They couldn’t be silent about this relationship they had with Jesus!

They told those religious leaders who wanted to shut them up:

“We won’t stop. We won’t keep quiet. After all God has done for us, how could we? We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard,”

This really made the religious leaders mad. But that didn’t matter to Peter and John. They were more concerned about pleasing God than pleasing people because they KNEW God.

Acts 4:19 NLT

19 But Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him?

Do you know this same Jesus that these men knew?

Are you envious about the time they got to spend with Jesus?

I’ll be the first to admit that I am! It may not be right, but I say to myself “If I was in their shoes I bet I’d be out there hustling too!”

Well, you know what? I am convinced that they would much rather be in our situation.

We have a much better picture of who Jesus is today than those men had back at the time they lived. Even though they saw Jesus face to face I think we have a better understanding of the Kingdom of God.

Think about it - We have the whole Bible. We have thousands of years of testimonies, miracles, and witnesses.

Just remember Hebrews 11 which reminds us of the rich heritage of faith filled witnesses to God’s great love, mercy, grace, and faithfulness who have gone before us as an example.

That’s why Hebrews reminds us in chapter 12: 1 that we are surrounded by these testimonies:

Hebrews 12:1 CEV

1 Such a large crowd of witnesses is all around us! So we must get rid of everything that slows us down, especially the sin that just won’t let go. And we must be determined to run the race that is ahead of us.

Wouldn’t you think that with all the KNOWLEDGE we have about Christ and what He has done, is doing, and wants to do that we would be a little more faith filled? Maybe out attitude should be a little more like Peter and John that day who said they couldn’t help but do the Lord’s work?

Peter and John said they couldn’t help it, they had to do Gods’ work! Why, because they knew God. They had relationship with God.

How’s your relationship with God?

I want to ask you if it’s the most important thing in your life right now.

Is your time spent with the Lord the most important part of your day?

Is coming to church to worship with friends the most important part of your week?

Is praying for the sick, the needy, the lonely, the helpless more important than your own needs? Is MEETING those needs more important than your own needs?

Our relationship with God is important to us, but I’d dare say it’s even more important to someone else.

How did Jesus say people would know that we have a relationship with Him?

John 13:35 NLT

35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

LOVE is more than a word or prayer. It’s action.

That day Peter and John saw a beggar man asking for money. It would have been so easy to walk past him, but instead they prayed for his healing knowing full well that it could have put them in jail.

Faith is acting in the face of fear because you have a relationship with God.

Acts 4:20 NLT

20 We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.”

They just couldn’t stop because the encounter they had with Christ was what dominated their lives.

They may have had fear, yes, that would be normal and expected, but they knew the truth.

Romans 8:31 NLT

31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

This is the relationship we have!

We don’t need to live in fear. Yes, bad things might happen. God may even allow you to go through difficult circumstances, but one thing we know is that He is on our side. We may even DIE for Jesus. But did’t Paul encourage us to be crucified for Christ?

His love will never forsake us!

Romans 8:39 NLT

39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Like Peter and John that day we must have the same attitude.

Acts 4:19–20 NLT

19 But Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? 20 We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.”

You might ask…How can I have the same type of Faith?

The Holy Spirit Fills us with Faith

It’s very clear where Peter found his boldness in this situation. The Bible tells us exactly why he spoke with boldness in the face of potential death!

Acts 4:8 NLT

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of our people,

It says that Peter was “filled with the Holy Spirit”.

We could be tempted to skip over this really important note. But I think it’s critical if we are going to live a life with courageous faith. Peter had the Holy Spirit of God.

If we are going to have courageous faith it sure would be nice to know if we are filled with the same Holy Spirit.

Remember Jesus promised to give ALL believers the Gift of the Holy Spirit.

John 16:7–9 NLT

7 But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. 9 The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me.

And what He promised happened. The Holy Spirit did come in Acts 2

Acts 2:4 NLT

4 And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

We know what happened, those followers filled with the Spirit went out and started preaching. Everyone heard and some were convicted and came to faith in Jesus as Lord. The church was officially off the ground and it has been expanding ever since.

The Holy Spirit give believers courage, boldness, and faith that burns in them like a fire. The Holy Spirit is imparted by God that empowers us to be MORE than what we ARE.

Peter and John weren’t special.

Look at what those religious leaders said about them:

Acts 4:13 NLT

13 The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.

Ordinary men with no special training. They saw the boldness which was the gift of the Holy Spirit in their lives!

Once you have made Jesus the Lord of your life you now have been given the Holy Spirit. You can be filled with boldness and empowered by Him to, do and say, what you normally would not be able to in your own strength.

How can you have the Holy Spirit? When you commit your life to Jesus you HAVE the Holy Spirit. When you choose to walk in Faith you are FILLED with His Spirit for every given situation. Just TRUST in His leading.

To be a Christian mean you have the Holy Spirit living in you:

Romans 8:9 NLT

9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)

To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be empowered and controlled by the Spirit, to experience renewal, obedience, boldness to witness and share the gospel, and freedom from the power of sin.

Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit when he boldly proclaimed the truth of God.

For us today, we need to listen to the voice that guides, directs, and empowers us to have courage in every situation we face.

Here’s a promise to you: If you spend time in the Word, in Worship, in Prayer, in Fellowship with other Believers - YOU WILL hear the Holy Spirit. It’ll be your choice whether you listen and obey. He speaks to your heart.

I really believe that we should be having more experiences like PETER AND JOHN.

Listen, we have no reason to Fear. Christ has paid it all. No man can take away your eternity. It’s time like no other to rise up in courage and face the task at hand and say like Peter:

We won’t stop. We won’t keep quiet. After all God has done for us, how could we?