This week we find Peter imprisoned with no hope of escape. We will look at how the church responds, and how that applies to us today.

This week we will look at Acts 9:32-43 and follow Peter as an example of personal ministry. Peter is likely the head of the original Apostles, and probably seen as the head of Christendom in general. The exact leadership structure of the church at this time is not spelled out anywhere, but it appears to be run by the twelve that were closest to Jesus when Jesus walked on the Earth. If that is true, the Peter does appear to be like a chairman to that group. Whatever his actual position was, what we should see here is that Peter was a very important man, and would have had a lot of demands on his time.

When we first started with this section of scripture we looked at Saul as an example of a conversion. Then last week we looked at the call of God on a person’s life using Ananias as an example. This week we will conclude our study on this section by looking at how all this impacts Saul.

Last week we left Peter and John preaching in the temple during one of the thrice-daily prayer times. They cured a lame man, and used it as an opportunity to speak. The priests at that time were chosen by lot, which was a way used back then to determine God’s will. It was a great honor to be chosen by lot to serve, and the interference from Peter and John must have upset them greatly. There is no indication that there was any riot, or uprising. The account just says that the Sadducees were “greatly disturbed”

When we left the story last week everyone was continually praising and worshiping God. There were about one hundred and twenty of them and they were uniquely unified in thought and action. Acts chapter one covers the ten-day period form the ascension of Jesus to the day of Pentecost, our text for this week will be covering the amazing events surrounding the day of Pentecost…