- Chapters: [[Acts 4]]:1-22 # Courage - Remembrance day -- A day to remember those who sacrificed themselves to save others - What is courage? Not the absence of fear, but acting despite it - [[Peter]] in v. 13: "When they saw the **courage** of [[Peter]] and [[John]]" from what they said in v. 12 # Mission Unstoppable - The mission to take the good news of [[Jesus]] from out of [[Jerusalem]] and across the world - How does that happen? By bold speech -- ordinary men and women speaking his word - Spiritual war vs. [[Satan]] not fought with swords, but with words - The result is guaranteed -- [[Jesus]] is alived, mission unstoppable! ## 1. [[Jesus]] is the message - v. 2: The priests and the captain of the temple guard "were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people" - [[Sadducees]] especially unhappy about this, since they don't believe in any resurrection - They came with authority and seized [[Peter]] and [[John]] and put them in jail, and yet people still believed and the number of believes grew "to about five thousand" - On one hand [[Gospel]] is now in jail for a night but on the other great growth in belief -- name has power - The name of [[Jesus]] is on trial the next day in v. 5-7: "By what power or what name did you do this?" - Same group of people who put [[Jesus]] himself on trial earlier - [[Peter]]'s defense in v. 11: "[[Jesus]] is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone" v. 12: "Salvation is found in no one else". [[Jesus]], the name, is the message ## 2. The spirit is the emboldener - [[Satan]] hates the message, so expect a spiritual counterattack - In D-day, most of the soldiers haven't seen any combat before. Many would ask "Do we have the courage, when the bullets first start arriving?" - v. 8: [[Peter]] speaks when "filled with the [[Holy Spirit]]" - Do you have it in you to be courageous to speak up for [[Jesus]]? Probably not, many of us aren't wired to be risk takers or to be confrontational. - When the pressure came, [[Peter]] denied [[Jesus]] 3 times in the same night - Don't look within yourself for the strength to fight for [[Jesus]] - And yet we do have a source of strength in us -- the [[Holy Spirit]] - v. 13 [[Peter]] and [[John]] were unschooled ordinary men ## 3. God is the authority - Don't let anyone make you feel like you can't talk about [[Jesus]], since [[God]] is the authority