February 8, 2009: “Power and Boldness” from Acts 3:1 – 4:31

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We’ve all seen dramatic “before and after” pictures that show radical transformations. In this text, we see two different before and after pictures: the lame, spiritually-dead man becomes a leaping man who is made alive in Christ; and Peter supernaturally sheds his cowardice to become a bold proclaimer of the gospel.

The lame man’s story shows us the transforming power of the gospel. When the gospel collides with a life, things change instantly and people notice. Does your life provoke people to wonder about the gospel?

Peter’s path from cowardice to boldness shows us that the Holy Spirit gives boldness in proclamation. The change in Peter wasn’t instant, but progressive; as believers, our lives should be a series of before and after pictures as we grow in sanctification by the power of the Holy Spirit.

When Peter and John were released from prison, the believers gathered and prayed for continued boldness and received it through the empowerment of the Spirit. We, too, must plead for the supernatural filling of the Holy Spirit—we can never experientially know enough of the Spirit’s power.