Rev. Peter Ill, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Millstadt, IL, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Acts 4:23-37.
In response to their persecution, Peter and John gather with the Church to pray. They address God as the Creator of all things who has revealed Himself in the Scriptures and in His Son, Jesus. They pray from Psalm 2, recognizing that God has fulfilled His promise to reign by the resurrection of Jesus. They ask God to continue to keep His promise from Psalm 2 and to make them bold by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Gospel. God answers their prayer and continues to build the Church together in the Word of Christ. Just as they share the Word in common, so they use their possessions to help each other. Barnabas serves as a positive example of a Christian who gave his own possessions in service of the Church; he will play a role later in the book of Acts. Christians still love each other according to Christ’s own command, even if the way in which this happens varies from one place to the next.
“To the End of the Earth” is a mini-series on Sharper Iron that goes through the book of Acts. In his second volume, St. Luke records all the things that Jesus continued to do through the ministry of His Church. By the end of the book, the proclamation of the Lord’s Word that began in Jerusalem grows all the way to Rome. By God’s grace, even now, that same Word is proclaimed to us.
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