They Had Been with Jesus | Faith That Stands Firm

1:59 Let's grab our Bibles and turn to Acts chapter 3. And the title of my message is, They Had Been With Jesus. And now we come to the first miracle of the early church. We don't read that the Lord said, Go to the temple by the gate, beautiful, the beautiful gate. It was a special gate there in Jerusalem. him. And there is going to be a guy there who begs for money. I want you to raise that guy to his feet. We don't read that happen. There was no pillar of fire. There was no angelic message. Peter and John were just doing what they did. They went to the temple and prayed. As they are walking in here is a guy who was a fixture at the temple. Everybody knew him. Most ignored him. Peter looks down at him and the Lord speaks to Peter. Loose paraphrase. He says, look buddy I don't have any money for you. But I have something much better. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk. He grabs the guy by the hand and pulls him up. Boy, you talk about putting it on the line. You talk about bedding the farm. That could have gone south very easily.

3:06 He could have pulled him up and then he came crashing to the ground. But Peter had an act of faith. But then he took the next step and pulled the man up. And of course the man was walking and leaping and praising God. And now here comes an opportunity. The focus of this story is not the miracle. It was the door that the miracle opened. It was the opportunity that was now before Peter to preach the gospel. We read in Acts 3.12, Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the people of Israel. 5,000 people believed on this day as a result. And now Peter and John are brought before the Sanhedrin. That's sort of like the Supreme Court of the day. They had the final ruling. We read in Acts chapter 4 verse 7, they brought on the two disciples and demanded, by what power? And in whose name have you done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said, leaders and elders of our nation, are we being questioned because we did a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed? Let me clearly state to you and all the people of Israel, he was healed in the name and power of Jesus Christ from Nazareth, the man you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead. For this is the one referenced to in the scriptures where it says the stone the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone and their salvation and no one else, for there's no other name in all of heaven for people to call on to save them.

4:43 Then the members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John. They could see that they were ordinary men who had no special training, and they recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. And since the man who had been healed was standing right there among them, the council had nothing to say. All right, we'll stop there. So let's identify what it means to be with Jesus. What it means to walk with Jesus. If you're taking notes, here's note number one, or point number one, I should say. If you have been with Jesus, or if you're walking with Jesus, you will boldly share your faith. You'll boldly share your faith. Don't forget this, St. Peter, only days earlier, effectively, had openly denied Christ. even taking an oath saying he never knew the man.

5:37 Now he's preached on the day of Pentecost and 3,000 people have believed and he's preached here and 5,000 people have believed. Where did Peter get this confidence and this courage? He got it from the Holy Spirit. Remember we read in Acts 1-8, you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you to be witnesses unto me. That same power that was given to the believers in the first century is available for believers in the 21st century. That means us. Because the promise on the day of Pentecost was, this promises unto you, to your children, to your children's children, to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. So Peter had this boldness and we should have this boldness as well. You know, for many to share their faith is a duty, it's a drudgery, it shouldn't be.

6:31 Be like Peter and see the opportunities. Number two, if you've been with Jesus, you'll be a person that knows scripture. People will know you have been with Jesus when you love to read and study the Bible because Jesus said, lo, in the volume of the book, I have come. He'll come to you in the volume of the book. Here's another point about being with Jesus or walking with Jesus. You may not like, but it's true. a person who has been with Jesus will be persecuted. You'll be persecuted. The authorities told the apostles to stop what they were doing. No reason was given. They said, just stop. Don't do it anymore, Acts 4, 17. But to keep them from spreading their message any further, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in Jesus' name again.

7:26 So they called the apostles back in and commanded them never again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. You know what this was? This was first century cancel culture. Right? They were trying to cancel out the message of the gospel, but the gospel will never be canceled, ever, ever. That's the hill I will die on. There's other hills you can stand on and they're important causes, but the hill I will die on is the hill of the gospel. No one will stop me from preaching it. They'll try, but they'll always fail. Notice that the issue was the name of Jesus. Stop speaking in the name of Jesus.

8:21 I've been asked, you know, to pray at different events. I get asked to do these sort of civic events. And a couple of times I've been told, please don't pray in the name of Jesus. I'm gonna pray in the name of Jesus, all right? I'm not gonna be told I can't do that. And if they don't want me to do that, they shouldn't ask me to come and pray because that's how I roll. But that's how we pray. We go to the Father in the name of Jesus. I don't think it's a small thing. We need to pray in the name of Jesus. We need to preach in the name of Jesus. We need to live in the name of Jesus because there's power in that name. That's why, right? That's why it's so weird to me when nonbelievers invoke the name of Jesus when they say they're atheists. If you're an atheist, it seems the last name you would want to speak is the name of Jesus Christ. Remember, He didn't even exist. God isn't even real. And yet you say Jesus Christ. Why do you say that? Because in your own way, you're acknowledging He exists and there's power in that name. Right? We know that. Even non-believers know that. And so persecution will come. That's one of the hardest things about being a Christian. Let's be honest. I mean if you want to be loved by everyone this is a problem. Because Jesus said beware when all men speak well of you.

9:46 I mean if everyone thinks you are great and nobody has any issues with you and no one is ever upset with anything you say I have to wonder are you living in the name of Jesus. Now I am not saying be unnecessarily offensive. As much as possible, we should be the most loving person, the most caring person, the most compassionate person, the best neighbor, the best coworker, the best at whatever we do. But we're looking for the opportunities to get the gospel in at the same time. And if you do that, you will be persecuted. So what should I do when I'm persecuted? Go into the corner and sulk. No. The opposite. Here's what Jesus says in Matthew 5. God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. So Jesus says, be happy about it. Be very glad about it for a great reward awaits you in heaven. So how can people tell that we've been with Jesus, number one?

10:50 You'll be bold in your witness. Number two, you'll be a student of Scripture. Number three, you'll be persecuted. Here's my last point. A person who has been with Jesus will be a person of prayer. You'll be a person of prayer. So after being persecuted, Peter and John were dismissed. What did they do? They went and got together with the Christians. Look at Acts 4.29. They're praying now together. And now, O Lord, they pray. Hear their threats. and give your servants great boldness in their preaching. Send your healing power. May miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. Apparently, God affirmed this prayer. After this prayer, the building where they were meeting shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they preached God's message with boldness.

11:49 You know, I've heard people describe a trip to Israel as seeing the Bible actually come to life. Hey everybody, Greg Laurie. And I've been to Israel many times and I've led a lot of tours. And I have to say that's absolutely true. Listen, when you're walking on the same stones that Jesus himself walked on, that's something that's enriching to your faith. It's not just a travel experience. it actually energizes and enhances your study of the Bible. Think of it this way. It's a vacation with a purpose. And we're going to be taking a tour of Israel, April 6 to 15, 2027. You can find out more at israel.harvest.org. Step right into biblical history. Join Pastor Greg for a tour of the Holy Land, April 6th through 15th, 2027. Get details at israel.harvest.org.

12:48 We're learning some of the characteristics that confirm we're walking closely with the Lord. Pastor Greg's message is called, They Had Been With Jesus. Here's some important little truths about prayer found in these verses. Number one, they prayed together. So they're threatened by the Sanhedrin. They're told to no longer preach in the name of Jesus, what's the first thing they do? They said, let's get together with our fellow Christians and let's pray about it. Why? Because there's power in united prayer. Galatians 6.2 says, share each other's burdens and in this way you will obey the law of Christ. Jesus said, I tell you, if any two of you will agree together on earth concerning anything you ask of your Father in heaven, he will do it. Pray together. Maybe you've come to church today with a burden.

13:41 Maybe there is a concern to you. You have a loved one that is very sick. Or you yourself are very sick. Or you're facing a catastrophe, a crisis, a challenge. Or you're just feeling down. It's such a great thing to say to a couple Christian friends, can we just pray together? And haven't you noticed how things can just change when you just lift it up to the Lord? Instead of bearing that all by yourself, You share it with others and they help you sort of lift it up. It's like when you try to lift the couch all by yourself and how hard it is and then you get three other people to help. Everyone takes a corner and you pick it up and it makes all the difference in the world. They prayed together. And then as they prayed together, verse 23 says, as soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the elders had said, said, and they all lifted their voices together. And now number two, verse 24, I love this part of their prayer. It says they prayed, O sovereign Lord. Verse 24, O sovereign Lord, creator of heaven and earth and the sea and everything in them. So the Sanhedrin said you can't preach anymore.

15:00 so they went to a higher authority. Later they said, we must obey God and not men. We live under civil government. The Bible tells us that civil government is put in that position of power by God. But sometimes government leaders, presidents, governors, congressmen, senators, mayors, and others may tell you to do something that is against Scripture. If that happens, that's a we must obey God and not man moment, right? This is one of those moments. And the moment was specifically, you can no longer preach the gospel. Yeah, no way. We're going to keep preaching the gospel. But they call out to God and call Him the sovereign God. When we call God sovereign, it simply means that I'm acknowledging His greatness. So it's really a good thing to remember your God is all powerful. He's all powerful. That's why Jesus in what we call the