Acts 4.14 NLV

S But since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there among them, there was nothing the council could say.

O Peter and John are on the chopping block here. They are before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council, and they could be killed here if they say or do the wrong thing. But that doesn’t stop them. They say with boldness things like, “Let me clearly state to you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed in the name and power of Jesus Christ from Nazareth , the man you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead.” (v. 10) And “There is salvation in no one else! There is no other name in all heaven for people to call on to save them.” (v. 12) They are just laying it out there, and it’s because the man that was healed, the whole reason they are before the council, is standing right there in front of everyone. Everyone could see the good thing, the miraculous thing, they’d done. As a result, their accusers had “nothing to say.”

A This is profound to me. In an age that seems to be more and more against the Lord. More and more antagonistic towards the Church and the Gospel, this is a verse that we as the church need to remember. I believe that our good works; the miraculous deeds done by God through us, should be evident to all. The great things that we do in the community, for the helpless, for the needy, for those who need a miraculous touch, should be our greatest defense. That people would look at us and look at the Church and have “nothing to say” because of the great things we have done. Because of the miracles God has performed through us. This is how we fight the cultural war before us. Not with words or arguments, but with powerful works of love and charity. And what’s amazing is, as above, these works allow for us to speak with boldness the truth of Jesus.

P God, make this our credo. As Westside Faith Center , we want to be a visible, tangible witness of the greatness of God. We are called to show your love in practical ways. What a great reminder of the power of what that love can do. Help us to silence the critics through our good works and nothing else. Thank you…amen…

1. This entry was posted on Monday, January 28th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Journal Entry, Ryan Saari. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.