Look At Us! Ministering With Boldness

Look At Us!

Ministering With Boldness

“And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.”

Acts 3:4

“But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice...”

Acts 2:14

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John...”

Acts 4:13

At Pentecost Peter stood up in boldness to proclaim what was taking place. What a difference this was to just a few days earlier denying that he even knew Jesus Christ. Following this, we see the disciples possessing faith, power, and boldness. We see them being used in the healing of the lame man at the Gate Beautiful in Acts Chapter 3.  Here we also see the Gifts of the Spirit starting to be used.  In this lesson we will deal with the boldness displayed by Peter and John. It is this boldness that causes us to wake up the spiritual gifts wanting to operate through us and causes us to press forward even in the face of opposition, persecution, and problems.  We realize that “no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper.”  (Isaiah 54:17)

With the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 we see Christ coming into the disciples. In Chapter 3 we see what Christ was willing to do through the disciples.  The secret is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”  (Colossians 1:27)

“Our reward is a boldness in knowing who we are, whose we are, and for what we were born.  People will see...be sure of that. They will wonder what has happened to us; they will marvel at what has happened around us; and then finally, they will realize what is happening in us - JESUS. There can be no other explanation.”  (ACTS: Lloyd Oglivie)

“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”  (Mark 16:17-18)

As the beggar was calling out for others to assist him, we see that Peter fastened his eyes on the lame man.  They fixed their eyes on him, looked right at him, and began to consider him, what he was asking and what could be done for the man. They had compassion on the man.  It has been said, “people do not care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”  Peter and John really cared for the condition of this man.  As they pondered his need the Spirit inside of them began to rise up and quickened them to understand that something could be done using the name of Jesus. This was more valuable than the silver and gold that they could give the man, or the little bit of alms that he had been hoping for.

Because this man continued to look at others coming by and calling out for financial assistance, Peter said,  “Look on us!” He wanted to get the attention of the man; just as the man had gotten their attention and had the attention of their God. 

After the man received his healing Peter and John were faced with another situation.  A group of angered religious leaders called them in for questions. They demanded, "by what power, or by what name have ye done this?”  (Acts 4:7) Actually they were already quite aware of the name that was used in the healing. Note here in their statement that using the name invoked the person’s authority. In that time period, when you used the name of someone you were invoking the presence and power of the person.  When Jesus performed a miracle he did not speak in God’s name because He was the name.

In Peter’s response to them we see the secret behind his boldness.  “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them...”(Acts 4:8)

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”  (Acts 4:13)

Note the steps followed here:

1.    They saw the boldness.

2.    They perceived they were ignorant and unlearned.

3.    They marveled  at what they were seeing before them and what they had done.

4.    They took knowledge that they must have been with Jesus.

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”  (2 Timothy 1:7)

The boldness that was displayed by Peter and John was a product of three things:

1.  POWER

This is knowing that God is greater than any other power. 

Þ     “So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”  (Hebrews 13:6)

Þ     “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”  (Hebrews 4:16)

2.  LOVE

Our motivation in ministry is out of love for others and love for our God.  Our love for God is greater than our love for ourselves.

3.  SOUND MIND

We seek to know the mind of God in a given situation. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”  (Philippians 2:5)