“But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.””
Acts 4:19-20 ESV
Something that we sometimes miss when talking about sharing the good news that Jesus gave to His disciples to share, it was what they had experienced, what they had seen and heard. Their seminary was life with Jesus. It was real, at times it was raw, at other times it was joyous, but they were speaking from their own lives. Is our experience with Jesus solely from reading the Bible and not allowing the Holy Spirit to work in our lives? Don’t get me wrong, reading the Bible is extremely important to our faith development but too many people engage the Bible, God’s word, like they would a play by Shakespeare or a writing of Aristotle. They read the words but do not engage with God or the Holy Spirit. Some would say that it is impossible to read God’s word with out meeting with Jesus, but I have seen it over and over again. People will engage with the motion of reading but they are either just skimming, or don’t want to open themselves up to the power of the Holy Spirit and acknowledge a need, a deficiency that they have been denying.
So we have ordinary people who were willing to spend time with Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit and share what they have experienced.
So what is stopping us?
Last time I checked we are ordinary people.
Some will say that it would be different if I was walking with Jesus and saw the things that Peter and John saw and heard Jesus’ voice teaching the people around them including themselves. Yes that would have been nice but we have eye witness testimony of what Peter and John experienced, of what Jesus said and did. No we don’t have the lived experience but we do have the Holy Spirit to guide us, to fill in what we are missing, just like the Holy Spirit filled in what Peter and John needed.
May we be open to the experience of faith that Jesus is gifting us through His Holy Word and His Holy Spirit.