After the lame man was healed, Peter preached a very solemn message to the people who had witnessed this miracle. There was immediate opposition from the priest, the Sadducees and the captain of the temple. But many of the people who had heard the message believed what Peter had said and the number of the believers in the early Church increased to around 5,000.
The apostles were brought before the leaders and questioned and threatened, but Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke plainly and powerfully to them. Those who were in opposition could not withstand his words nor the testimony of the healed man. They threatened the apostles and then let them go. This event was marked by a special display of power of the Spirit of God in the assembly at Jerusalem. (See Acts 4:3131And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:31).)
1. The rulers were unable to understand how the apostles could speak with such authority because they had judged them to be ignorant and unschooled. What has God chosen in order that the wise and mighty of this world will be confounded? 1 Corinthians 1:___
2. What was the reaction of the people who listened to the Lord Jesus teach in the synagogue in Capernaum? Mark 1:___
3. What was the reaction of the people to His teaching in the country that he had grown up in? What was the Lord Jesus unable to do because of this reaction? (Find two verses.) Mark 6:___
4. What was the reaction of some of the Athenian philosophers to the gospel message that Paul preached? Acts 17:___
5. How is the preaching of the cross received by those who are perishing? 1 Corinthians 1:___
“And he [Joseph] said, I seek my brethren:
tell me, I pray thee, where
they feed their flocks.”