Acts 5: 27-32
Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”
Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men! The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead–whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
A Thought
The apostles had received Holy Spirit and were filled with power to perform many miraculous signs and wonders causing more people to believed in the Lord. The apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin council who were filled with jealousy. The apostles were arrested, put in the jail that was securely locked and guarded. The next morning after the Angel of the Lord had open the door to the jail, the apostles were found in the temple courts teaching the people again. When the jail was checked, they found the guards standing in front of a locked empty jail. Peter and the others spoke boldly stating that they must obey God, that the God of their fathers had raised Jesus in whom they had killed. God had exalted Jesus to his right hand as Prince and Savior so that Israel might receive repentance and forgiveness. Not only were the apostles to be witnesses to what they had seen and experienced by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are to obey, receive the power of the Holy Spirit, and be witnesses to the same.
Our Prayer
Father we desire to obey your word. We ask that you fill us with your power of the Holy Spirit and help us to be your witnesses that others will come to repentance and forgiveness of sins. We ask in Jesus’ name, amen.
