Acts 04 Round Two: Idiots for Jesus and an Earthquake

A healing no one can deny. A courtroom that can’t control the story. A prayer that shakes the room. We dive into Acts 4 and walk through the clash between ordinary believers and the highest religious council, where Peter and John—dismissed as untrained—answer with Spirit-given clarity and courage. Their message centers on Jesus Christ of Nazareth, crucified and raised, the cornerstone the builders rejected. The authorities demand silence, but the apostles refuse to trade obedience for safety, declaring they cannot stop speaking about what they have seen and heard.

From there, the scene shifts to one of the most stirring prayers in Scripture. The church gathers, anchors its voice in the Psalms, and asks not for rescue but for boldness to preach, along with God’s healing power and signs in Jesus’ name. The answer comes with force: the place shakes, everyone is freshly filled with the Holy Spirit, and the mission moves forward with renewed confidence. This isn’t bravado; it’s dependence, the kind that comes from being with Jesus and trusting the Spirit in the face of pressure.

Courage then turns into care. As revival draws people to stay in Jerusalem, the community opens its hands—no needy person among them. We highlight Barnabas as a living picture of encouragement through generosity, showing how a Spirit-filled church speaks truth, prays big, and meets needs. If you’ve ever felt underqualified, sidelined, or told to keep quiet about your faith, this chapter invites you to reimagine courage: rooted in Scripture, sustained by prayer, and proven in love.

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast.
Every day, we take one chapterof the Bible, dig deeper, and
discover that the more we dig,the more we find.
You can find out more at theBibleBreakdown.com.
Now let's grow in God's Wordtogether.
Well hello everyone.
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your
host, Pastor Brandon.
Today, Acts chapter four.

(00:22):
And if I were to give this one atitle, I just got to tell you,
it would be Idiots for Jesus andEarthquakes.
Idiots for Jesus andEarthquakes.
It's going to make sense in alittle while, but I love this so
much.
Peter and John are literallygoing to get called idiots, and
they're excited about it.
We're going to get into that injust a moment.

(00:42):
But as always, if you like whatwe're doing here, make sure you
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I want to hear all about it.
And I want you to do me a favor,especially on the YouTube videos

(01:03):
and on the Bible breakdowndiscussion, I am trying to on
the 15th and the 30th of everymonth, on our catch up days, do
what we're calling Biblebreakdown extras, where I dive a
little bit deeper into differentthings that help us to just take
what we're learning and readingand applying it to our life.
And I have some of you who'veasked me some wonderful
questions about doing some onprayer and what we call a rule

(01:26):
of life and different things.
I would love to know from youwhat is the number one question
you have when it comes to thisChristian life.
How can I help you to just feelmore confident about your faith?
What kind of resources are youlooking for?
Anything practical like that atall.
That's that's what I want to doon these days is get extremely
kind of roll up our sleevespractical so that we can have

(01:49):
the most enriching Christianlife and knowing God as much as
we possibly can.
Okay?
All right, we're gonna get intothat soon, but make sure you're
leaving us that information.
But today, Idiots for Jesus andan earthquake.
And so what's happening is ifyou remember, the overall theme
of the Gospel of Acts is this isthe birth of the church.
The investigative journalist,doctor turned journalist Luke,

(02:11):
is writing about the first 30 to35 years of the early church.
And man, it is awesome.
I mean, it it is amazing.
Acts 2, the Holy Spirit comesdown and dwells all of them.
They begin speaking to otherlanguages, spreading the gospel
immediately.
Then Peter, full of the HolySpirit, with full of boldness,
he gets up and he shares and hesays, You fools are the ones

(02:33):
that crucified Jesus.
But guess what?
He's back and he ain't mad atyou.
Best news of the day, right?
And then yesterday in Actschapter 3, how Peter and John
are going to the temple and theylook, man, you need to stop
being this, you need to stopbeing like that.
We want to give you what wehave, and by the way, that's
healing.
And so they, by the name ofJesus, are able to see this guy

(02:54):
healed and then immediately usethat to spread the gospel.
Remember, the overall theme isthat if you are voted most
likely to succeed and you're carand you're you're graduating
class, the good news is God canstill use you.
But usually what he does is heuses the least likely to
succeed, the ordinary folk to dothe most amazing things.

(03:14):
And if God can use ordinaryfishermen, or they're gonna get
called today idiots for Jesus.
Man, what can you do through meand you if we embrace the power
of the Holy Spirit and are notashamed of God?
Now, what's gonna happen todayis if you remember yesterday,
Peter gets up, and him and Johnstart preaching to the to the
crowd and telling them aboutJesus.

(03:36):
Well, they're gonna get a littletrouble for that today, and
they're gonna go before theJewish leaders who are trying to
figure out what to do with them.
And then afterward, you're gonnasee what's gonna happen next,
and this is gonna be beautifuland wonderful.
So let's jump into this andwe're gonna see what happens.
I'm gonna share with you, I'llstop when I get there, about
Peter and John getting calledidiots for Jesus.
Here we go, you ready?
NLT Bibles, chapter four, verseone.

(03:59):
While Peter and John werespeaking to the people, they
were confronted by the priest,the captain of the temple guard,
and some of the Sadducees.
These leaders were verydisturbed that Peter and John
were teaching the people thatthrough Jesus there is a
resurrection of the dead.
They arrested them, and sincethey were it was already
evening, they put them in jailuntil morning.

(04:20):
Gee, thanks.
But many of the people who heardthe message believed.
And so the number of the men whobelieved now totaled about five
thousand.
So if you remember, back in thelife of Jesus, that at one point
he fed five thousand men, thewomen and children.
And so now it's back up to thatnumber again because they
believe in Jesus.

(04:41):
Verse 5.
The next day, the council of allthe rulers and the elders and
teachers of religious law met inJerusalem.
That would have been called theSanhedrin, who was the top
leaders of all of Israel.
Verse 6 Annas, the high priest,was there along with Caiaphas,
John, Alexander, and otherrelatives of the high priest.
They brought in two disciplesand demanded, By what power or

(05:05):
in whose name have you donethis?
Then Peter, remember, filledwith the Holy Spirit, which
means he's got boldness, he saidto them, Hey, rulers and elders
of our people, are you are webeing questioned today because
what we did a good deed for acrippled man?
Do you want to know how he washealed?
Let me clearly state to all ofyou and to all the people of

(05:28):
Israel that he was healed by thepowerful name of Jesus Christ
the Nazarene, the man youcrucified, but whom God raised
from the dead.
For Jesus is the one referred toin the scriptures where it says,
The stone that you buildersrejected has now become the
cornerstone.
By the way, that was a messianicprophecy.

(05:50):
And so he's saying, He's theking, by the way.
There is a savior, there issalvation and no one else.
God has given no other nameunder heaven by which we must be
saved.
Then the members of the councilwere amazed when they saw the
boldness of Peter and John, andhere it is, for they could see

(06:10):
that they were ordinary men withno special training in
scripture.
That word ordinary men is a theGreek word for that is idiotase,
where we get the word idiot.
And by the way, if you know whatidiot means, it means uneducated
fool.
And so what they were saying isPeter and John are pretty bold,
but they could see that theywere idiots and they had never

(06:32):
received special training.
They were like, hey guys, youknow.
So when they recognized them andthese men, they recognized that
they had been with Jesus.
Wouldn't that not be amazing?
The people took one look at youand said, They've been with
Jesus.
Boy, wouldn't that be that wouldbe my testimony?
Is that when you looked at me,you knew I'd been with Jesus.
Verse 14, but since they couldsee the man who had been healed

(06:56):
standing right there among them,there was nothing the council
could say.
So they ordered that Peter andJohn out of the council chamber
and conferred amongstthemselves.
What should we do with thesemen?
They asked one another.
We can't deny that they haveperformed a miraculous sign, and
everybody in Jerusalem knowsabout it.
People can't shut up about it.
But to keep them from spreadingtheir propaganda any further, we

(07:18):
must warn them not to speak toanyone in the name of Jesus
again.
So they called the apostles backin and commanded them to never
speak or teach in the name ofJesus.
But Peter and John replied, Doyou think God wants us to obey
you rather than him?
We cannot stop telling abouteverything that he we have seen

(07:40):
and heard.
So then the council threatenedthem further, but then finally
let them go because they didn'tknow how to punish them without
starting a riot.
For everyone was praising Godfor this miraculous sign, the
healing of a man who had beenlame for over forty years.
So, as soon as they were freed,Peter and John returned to the
other believers and told whatthe leading priests and elders

(08:02):
had said.
And when they heard this report,all the believers lifted their
voices and prayed together toGod, O sovereign Lord, creator
of heaven, of earth, the sea,and everything in it, you spoke
long ago by the Holy Spiritthrough our ancestor David, your
servant, by saying, Why were thenations so angry?
Why did they waste their time infutile plans?

(08:25):
The kings of the earth preparedfor battle, and the rulers
gathered together against theLord and against his Messiah.
In fact, this has happened herein this very city.
For Herod Antipos, PontiusPilate, the governor, the
Gentiles, and the people ofIsrael were all united against
Jesus, your holy servant, whomyou anointed.

(08:47):
But everything they did wasdetermined beforehand according
to your will.
And now, O Lord, hear thethreats and give us your
servants great boldness topreach your word.
Stretch out your hand withhealing power.
May miraculous signs and wondersbe done in the name of your holy
servant Jesus.

(09:07):
And listen to this after thisprayer, the meeting place shook,
and they were all filled withthe Holy Spirit, and they
preached the word of God withboldness.
When's the last time that you orI prayed and the meeting place
shook?
An earthquake.
Man, that's powerful andamazing.

(09:29):
And notice they weren't prayingfor deliverance, they weren't
praying to get out of hardtimes, they were praying for
power to do the work of God inspite of hard times.
I love that so much.
Let's finish this up.
Verse 32.
All the believers were united inheart and mind.
They felt that what they ownedwas not their own, so they

(09:50):
shared everything they had.
The apostles testifiedpowerfully to the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus, and great andGod's great blessing was upon
them all.
There was no needy people amongthem because those who owned
land or houses would sell themand bring the money to the
apostles to give to those inneed.
For instance, there was Joseph,one of the apostles, nicknamed

(10:12):
Barnabas, also named which alsomeans the son of encouragement.
He was from the tribe of Levi,and he came from the land of
Cyprus.
So he sold a field he owned andbrought the money to the
apostles.
And so what was happening hereis what a lot of historians
think is that people hadgathered from all over the known
world to Jerusalem for the timeof Pentecost.

(10:33):
It was one of the celebrationswhere they all had to go to
Jerusalem.
Well, now that the Holy Spirithas come and what we would call
in our modern terms revival isnow happening, people are not
wanting to go back home.
But as they are now running outof money, people are starting to
be in need.
And so what started happening isthose who could afford it would
sell other pieces of propertyand other things to then now

(10:56):
supply for those who are wantingto stay and see what God is
doing.
And it is so they can continueto do the work of ministry.
So what I love about thischapter is that when the people
of God start to experiencehardship, experience
persecution, they don't look atthat as though God had left
them, but they rather they seeit as an opportunity for God to

(11:19):
move through them.
I think that's a wonderfullesson for all of us.
We don't see here at all thatwhen Peter and John left that
situation, they went back andsaid, Pray for us, you know, God
must have left us.
But rather they were honoredthat God would choose them to
carry the gospel, even indifficult circumstances.
And when they turned and theygave it back to the Lord and

(11:41):
said, God, you're gonna have todo this, the meeting place
literally physically shook, andthey were all filled with the
Holy Spirit.
And they began to use the giftsof the Spirit to preach with
boldness for the kingdom of God.
I think that's a wonderful thingfor us.
That whatever God brings you to,he will absolutely bring you
through for his glory.

(12:03):
Let's pray together today.
God, thank you so much that youare with us more than we can
ever understand.
You are for us, and that when weturn our lives to you, Lord, you
don't send us away, but you fillus with boldness, and you help
us, Lord, and you lead us intoall righteousness.
Lord, maybe there's somebodywho's listening to this today,
and they're going through adifficult season where maybe in

(12:24):
their own way they're beingpersecuted for their following
you.
Maybe their family doesn'tagree, maybe there's people at
work that don't agree.
Whatever that is, I pray, Lord,that you won't turn them, you
won't you won't let them turnaway, but lean in with power and
with boldness to share your wordwith someone today, and to
realize that you are their plan.
You are the plan.

(12:45):
They are the plan that you havefor them.
And the God with you, all thingsare possible.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Don't forget, Jesus said in Acts1, verse 8, you receive power
when the Holy Spirit comes uponyou, and you will be my
witnesses to the ends of theearth.
My prayer for you today is thatyou will receive power from the

(13:06):
Holy Spirit, and you will usethat to be a witness to your
world.
I love you, and I'll see youtomorrow for Acts chapter 5.