Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him?... As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard…[The believers] raised their voices together in prayer to God…Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.” 

(Acts 4:19-20, 29-30)

After a month-long break for our fantastic team of Connect Devotional writers, we’re back with a fresh set of reflections on the passage we’ll be looking at on Sunday.

This week we’re talking about overcoming interruptions to the mission of God. Peter and John were doing great work in Acts 3. They healed a 40-plus-year-old man who had been lame from birth, opening the door for a large public hearing about the work of Christ on the cross. 

At this point in the story, the early church is on a roll. Signs and wonders are opening doors for the proclamation of the gospel, and many people are coming to faith. 

But then Peter and John experience an interruption. They are arrested and tried in Jerusalem. The rulers are upset at Peter and John for preaching about Jesus, but it’s hard to argue with a man healed from a lifetime of infirmity.

When the authorities weakly ask Peter and John to stop talking about Jesus, we hear their bold words: “Whom should we listen to? You or God? We can’t help it; we’re going to keep on proclaiming what we’ve seen!”

Upon their release, Peter and John gather the believers and report about their interrogation. Unsurprisingly, the believers respond in prayer. But the content of that prayer is a bit surprising and (for many of us) counterintuitive. 

After their key leaders get arrested, they don’t pray for safety. They don’t pray for protection. They pray for greater boldness. 

Peter and John’s arrest is the foretaste of significant persecution that’s going to erupt against the fledgling church in just a couple of chapters. If the early church isn’t bold, we’re not here 2,000 years later talking about Jesus. If the early church isn’t courageous in the face of persecution, none of us knows the great news of grace and a God whose core attribute is love. 

If boldness wasn’t at the core of the early persecuted church, literally millions of lives aren’t saved through hospitals not built, orphans not attended to, homeless and hungry people not fed.  And most importantly, billions of people go through life and into eternity without knowing the salvation provided for them in Christ. 

Where are you currently praying prayers of protection that could instead use a prayer for boldness? August 22nd is a great Sunday to boldly invite someone to join us at CCC for our Fall Kick-Off Sunday with bounce houses, Maple View Ice Cream, and a new sermon series inviting all of us to step into a new season together. Prayerfully consider: Whom could you invite? When and how will you do it?