Acts 4:1

Acts 4:1 says, And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them,  As we move into the fourth chapter of Acts, we find that the healing of the lame man had not gone unnoticed by the religious leaders, nor had Peter's preaching.  We as Christians should pray that our work for God will not go unnoticed.  Verse two adds, Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. The high priest, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, the religious leaders of Israel were grieved that Peter and John taught the resurrection of the dead,  This threatened their position in the community, and unfortunately some people today are more concerned with their position in the church than they are with reaching the lost people of the world. Verse three continues, And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide.  This was a situation the religious leaders saw no easy way out of.  They decided to hold Peter and John overnight, but that didn't stop the Gospel from spreading.  There never will be an easy way to deny the truth of the Gospel.  Verse four concludes, Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand. There were about five thousand men who believed.  When God's people obey His direction, nothing can stop the Gospel from being spread.  We simply have to know what He wants us to do and follow by faith.  Even if we were locked up the Gospel cannot be hushed up. They were more concerned that people believed them.  We must be careful that we never stand in opposition to God's great work.  If Christians begin to fight amongst themselves, then the world wins.  What Peter and John were proclaiming could not be denied.  They did it in the name of Jesus, whom the religious leaders had crucified, yet He lived and had the power to heal.  Verse five states, And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes,  Verse six adds, And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.  Many of the religious leaders were gathered at Jerusalem.  They weren’t there for the right reasons though.  When we as Christians gather together, we need to do it to glorify God.  Verse seven continues, And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?  The religious leaders asked the disciples by whose power they were teaching and preaching the gospel.  Today, we may have the authorization of the government or even the church to do what we are doing for God, but unless we have the authorization of God, it doesn’t matter.  Of course, if we do have His authorization, it doesn’t matter who tells us we can’t.