Daily Dose of Hope

November 20, 2025

Scripture - Acts 4:1-22

Prayer: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful.
And kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.
And you will renew the face of the earth.

Lord,
by the light of the Holy Spirit
you have taught the hearts of your faithful.
In the same Spirit
help us to relish what is right
and always rejoice in your consolation.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Church daily Bible reading plan. We have been doing a pretty intense walk through the Gospels and Acts. Today, we begin Acts 4.

Peter and John have been brought before the Sanhedrin. Why? Because they were preaching Jesus crucified and risen. Peter has spoken as one filled with the Holy Spirit and it is powerful! Many were coming to belief in Jesus. These Jewish officials felt threatened. And yet, they couldn't deny that the man had been healed. The officials ask Peter and John by what authority they are preaching and teaching. What do they say? They state clearly that they are preaching by the authority of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

What was kind of fascinating and also kind of sad as I was doing research for this Scripture was the number of academics who struggled with this passage. They struggled with the exclusivity of Peter and John preaching Jesus and only Jesus. Peter is clear – it is by Jesus this man was healed and it is only by Jesus that we are saved. And here we are 2000 years later and all kinds of academics can parse words and want to make the speech different. Yet, Peter was clear. He says this in verse 12, Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.

My favorite line from the chapter is, When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. This is always such a humbling verse for me. Do others look at us and know we've been with Jesus? It didn't matter that Peter and John hadn't had proper schooling, whatever that is. They might not have even been literate. But here they are, filled with the Spirit of the Living God, and it is obvious. Everything about what they spoke, how they looked, and how they behaved, made it so evident that they belonged to Jesus.

And that begs the question --- could people say the same for us?

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki