Daily Devotions: Friday, April 17, 2009

Text: Acts 4:1-31

• Why were the religious authorities in Jerusalem upset with Peter and John?  What did they do?  What happened among the people in their absence?
• What did they ask Peter and John when they finally put them on trial?  What were they talking about? (Hint, look back at chapter 3.)
• What fueled Peter’s response to the religious authorities according to verse 8?  How did he answer them?
• What did the religious authorities notice about Peter and John?  Why couldn’t they condemn Peter and John?  What did they do instead?
• How did Peter and John respond to this command?
• What did Peter and John do when they were released?  What did Peter, John and the other Christians ask God to do for them?
• What happened when they prayed?

Daily Challenge:

• The Christians in this story reacted to being persecuted for preaching about Jesus by praying that God would help them to preach all the more boldly.  Rarely do we face the kind of persecution that Peter and John faced in this story.  So why are we sharing the truth about Jesus more boldly?  How do we change that?

Prayer Focus:

• Read through the Christian’s prayer again, and work through how to pray this prayer for your own life.