
This past Sunday, Greg Churchley delivered a challenging message from Acts 4:5-31 that confronted us with a fundamental question every believer must answer: When human authority conflicts with God’s authority, where will we stand?
The Confrontation
The scene Greg painted was intimidating. Peter and John had healed a lame beggar and preached the resurrection of Jesus in the temple. Now they stood in the center of a room surrounded by every person of power in Jerusalem—the entire Sanhedrin, the high priest, the scribes, the elders. This wasn’t a casual conversation. This was the equivalent of being called to testify before Congress, except these men held both civil and religious power over Israel.
Their question cut to the heart of the matter: “By what power or in what name have you done this?”
It’s the same question that echoes through all of human history when sinful humanity encounters God’s truth. As Greg pointed out, this is the question behind the serpent’s hiss in Genesis 3: “Has God really said?” It’s the question the Pharisees asked when Jesus cleared the temple. It’s always been about authority.
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