SufferingForJesus
Acts 4:1-10
1.The apostles worked many miracles andwonders amongthepeople, healing themand preachingtothem.Manypeople who heard about Jesus’ resurrection believedit,andbynowtherewereabout
5,000newfollowers of the Lord.
2.Oneday,whilePeterandJohnwere speakingtothe people,somePhariseesand Sadduceesarrived.These leaderswere very disturbed that Peter and John were teachingthepeoplethat resurrectionofthe dead is through Jesus. They were also jealousofalltheJews whohadheardthe message and become Christians. They arrestedtheApostles,and puttheminjail forthenight. Thenextdaytheybrought themin front of theSanhedrinandasked them“By whatpower, orinwhosename, have you been healing cripples and performingmiracles?”
3.ThenPeter,filledwiththeHolySpirit, saidtothem,“Priests andleadersofour people,is thiswhy youarrestedus? For doinggooddeedsofhealing? Thesemen werehealedby thepowerfulnameofJesus Christ, the man you crucified butwhomGod raisedfromthedead.It isbythisnameand no otherthatthesemenarestandingup perfectlyhealthybeforeyoutoday.Ofall thenamesgiven to men,TheNameofJesus Christ is the only name which can save us.”
4. The officials were amazed to see how bravePeterand Johnwere,especially becausetheyknewthat these two apostleswereonly ordinarymenandnot well educated.
5. The officials said to one another: “We
mustkeepthisthingfromspreading,so let us warn them never to speak to anyone about the name ofJesus." So they toldtheApostlesthattheymustnever, foranyreason,teachanything aboutthe name of Jesus.
6. PeterandJohnanswered,"Doyouthink God wants us to obey you or to obey Him?Wecannotkeep quietaboutwhat we haveseenandheard.Wehavebeen giventheHoly Spiritexactly forthis reason:thatweshouldbeable totellyou about all this. ”
7. When the council members heard this,
theybecamesoangrythattheywanted tokilltheapostles.Buttheywereafraid ofthepeople,whowere praisingGodfor the miraclesthe Apostles had done, so instead they had them whipped. Then they let them go. But the apostles left thecouncilhappy,because Godhad consideredthemworthy tosuffer forthe sake of Jesus.
A. Describe:Highlightthe phrasesthatdescribe what happenedto theApostles (don’tinclude
what’s inside quote marks).
B. Answer in full sentences in your books. Use the phrase in bold to begin your answer.
1. What sort of successes were the Apostles having, in para. 1 ?
2. What were the Pharisees and Sadducees (the jewish leaders) “disturbed” about , in paragraph 2 ?
3. How did Peter say the healings took place? (para 3)
4. What gifts do you think the Holy Spirit gave the Apostles to help them speak out? (para 4)
5. What did the Jewish leaders decide to do about the Apostles? (para 5)
6. Why did the Apostles feel they couldn’t stop preaching? (para.6)
7. Why were the Apostles happy with being arrested and whipped? (para.6)