Acts 4

Recap:

• What did you take away from Acts 3 (in last week's Connect Group Study)?

  • Have you had any opportunities to share about your faith in the last week or so? If so, how did it go?

This bible study continues the story from where last week left off:

Peter and John have just healed a man who was lame in the name of Jesus Christ, on their way to the temple in Jerusalem. Then, Peter preached a powerful sermon explaining all this to the amazed crowd that gathered in Solomon's Colonnade (in the temple grounds). As you'll see, the crowds are excited and many believe - but the authorities at the temple are not happy about it...

Read Acts 4:1-12

& read this quote from theologian N.T. Wright, explaining the Sadducees, priests and temple guards:

The Sadducees were Jewish aristocrats, including the high priest and his family, who for some years had wielded great power in Jerusalem and among the Jewish people generally. They guarded the central shrine, the most holy place in Judaism, the place where for a thousand years the one true God had promised to meet with his people. They oversaw the sacrificial system by which this God had promised to maintain and restore fellowship with his people. And — just as a spin-off, of course! — they exercised great power economically, socially and politically. It was with the high priest and his entourage that the Roman governor would normally do business. They had the troops and the Temple police, and they had the whip-hand over the people. They could get things done, or stop things being done.

• With this in mind, why do you think the priests, the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees were so disturbed and annoyed about what Peter and John were doing?

  • Do you think there are people in our world today who oppose the movement of Jesus for similar reasons? Who do you think are the closest parallels today (if there are any)?

• How do you feel about Peter's declaration in verse 12? Do you believe this too, or does this statement make you uncomfortable?

  • How does our world today respond to this sort of statement? Why do you think this is?

  • Do you think it's wise or good for Christians to make such bold statements of faith today? Why/why not?

Peter quotes Psalm 118 in his defence (v11). If you have time, you could read this Psalm in full and imagine how it would have sounded to the Apostles and the early Christians. Discuss together how this Psalm in particular would have strengthened them in this time.

Read Acts 4:13-22

• Look at what astonished the Sandhedrin - the courage and boldness of Peter and John. They're uneducated and ordinary men, but "they had been with Jesus".

  • Do you think your own life 'with Jesus' gives you courage and boldness? Why/why not?

  • If you could grow in courage and boldness, what impact do you imagine that would have?

  • What do you think would need to change for you to be able to say, with Peter and John, "I cannot help speaking about what I have seen and heard"?

Spend some time praying for one another, that God would give us more courage and boldness and wisdom and insight, to share about Jesus enabled and led by the Spirit