Summertime StoriesSample

Acts 4:13-14

13 The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. 

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

At this point, in the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit has filled the disciples, and they are preaching the Gospel with boldness. On the way to the temple, Peter and John encounter a man who was crippled. Peter heals the man, in Jesus name, and now they are preaching the Gospel to the crowd that has gathered. Because they were preaching the good news about Jesus, they received resistance from the religious leaders of the day. The religious leaders placed Peter and John in prison because of their message about Jesus.

The trial begins, and the religious leaders question Peter and John about how they had performed this miracle. Peter, being filled with the Holy Spirit, gets up and proclaims the message of Jesus with boldness. The Bible says that the religious leaders were amazed because they recognized that these were normal men with no special training. They recognized that they had been with Jesus!

This story paints a beautiful picture of ordinary men who had been transformed by spending time with Jesus. Their lives went from very ordinary to extraordinary after being with Jesus. The good news about this story is that we can have the same access to God as Peter and John. Because we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we can have access to God. We can spend time with Him by reading the Bible and spending time in worship and prayer. The same power that transformed the disciples and gave them the ability to speak out with boldness is available to us today. The same Holy Spirit that worked through them is available to us. Let's spend time with Him today and allow our lives to be marked by Jesus!