Welcome to the new site at Acts420.org, where we hope and pray to share biblical teaching, thoughts, words of inspiration, prayers, songs, videos and testimonies with those who find their way to this website.
The name for this site is inspired by the story of Peter and John (two of the original twelve disciples that Jesus had chosen) who were threatened by the religious leaders in Jerusalem after a miracle was performed through them. A lame man who hadn't walked a step in over forty years, all his life, was healed at the name of Jesus and then Peter preached to a large gathering of people at the temple who had witnessed the miracle (see Acts Chapters 3 and 4 in the Bible for the short story if you are unfamiliar - it should only take a few minutes to read).
After this event, Peter and John were arrested and held captive by the religious leaders - many of whom had taken part in the arrest, trial and murder of Jesus not long before - while they discussed and debated what should be done with these men spreading the words and name of Jesus around. They couldn't refute what evidence was in front of everyone who had been at the temple that day: that a man who had been crippled since he was born was now walking, even jumping, around. The leaders decided to threaten them and command them to no longer speak or teach in this name of Jesus.
What would be the response of Peter and John to this command? Were they to timidly walk away and keep quiet, at least in front of these religious leaders, so as not to create any conflict? Perhaps they could continue to "follow" Jesus, just in the shadows and out of the public sphere?
No. By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, their response is the boldness that I and so many other followers of Jesus should long for. They tell the leaders to Decide for yourselves whether you think we should listen to you more than to God (paraphrased)..."for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:19-20)
Wow! Let's dive into their words a little deeper for just a moment. I thoroughly enjoy the study of different languages. It is an intimidating task to begin trying to learn a new language, especially those with different alphabets, symbols, sounds and grammatical structures. However, it is rewarding to be able to cross boundaries of different cultures and even into different times and eras from the past. It is fascinating to take a glimpse into the Koine Greek language that served as the common language in the writings from which we get our New Testament scriptures. The order in which the information is written may sound broken to standard English-speaking ears if we directly translated the meanings in order word-for-word due to the different structures and word ordering in our languages, but I believe the message still jumps out even to newcomers:
ou - dynametha - gar - hemeis - ha - eidamen - kai - ekousamen - me - lalein
not - are able - for - we - what - we have seen - and - heard - not - to speak
Focusing just on those first two and last two words that bookend the phrase:
not - are able - ... ... ... - not - to speak
Peter and John tell the leaders, "These miraculous and wonderful things that we have seen with our own eyes, and the messages we have heard with our own ears while we walked with this Jesus for the last few years. This Jesus who was crucified, rose again from the dead, and whose name holds the power by which this lame man can now walk...we CANNOT NOT speak about this."
As the year 2024 is beginning, my prayer is that a burning fire would remain or be lit from embers that may be deep in your soul and mine, that we would have a desire to know God more fully, and that we would have courage to share the work of Jesus more boldly in this coming year. May we find refuge, strength and truth in God's Word more clearly this year than in years past. May we speak to God in prayer more humbly and honestly this year than in years past. May we reach others in our communities, our region and around the world more urgently this year than in years past. The truth of Jesus Christ's life, death and resurrection is too important. To borrow the double negative here, may the Holy Spirit move us to not be able to not speak about it.
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