Series Acts
Who Can Stop the Church?
Acts 4:1-31 · Kaká Monteiro · June 21, 2026
The same Peter, another man: a name that saves, a prayer for boldness, a church with no one in need
The central idea
“The church's boldness doesn't come from temperament, but from being with Jesus and being filled with the Spirit.”
The Peter who denied Jesus to a servant girl now faces the whole Sanhedrin. The difference isn't personality, it is the Spirit. Acts 4 answers where courage comes from (being with Jesus) and what it produces: a church that preaches one name, prays boldly in the face of threats and loves to the point of leaving no one in need.
The message in 3 movements
- 01
Boldness disturbs, and it can't be arrested.
Opposition is part of the Christian life; the difference is that the Christian doesn't back down. Rival groups unite against the church, but the word grows. Even today, the churches growing the most are where persecution is greatest.
- 02
Boldness has a name, and it comes from being with Jesus.
Peter is filled with the Spirit again: it isn't a one-time experience. In a culture where saying "only Jesus saves" sounds like exclusion, Christian boldness isn't rude; it is clear. And it is born of time together: you can't be with Jesus and not start to look like him.
- 03
Boldness kneels and overflows.
The prayer begins with God's sovereignty, reads the crisis through Scripture and asks for courage instead of relief. The same Spirit who makes the church bold in the street makes it generous at home: no one among them was in need.
Reading the text · Acts 4:1-31
Acts 4:1-12 · One name
Priests and Sadducees arrest Peter and John for proclaiming the resurrection, but the number of believers grows to about five thousand. Questioned, Peter, filled with the Spirit, answers: the man was healed in the name of Jesus, whom you crucified and God raised. Salvation is found in no other name.
Acts 4:13-22 · They had been with Jesus
Seeing the boldness of unschooled men, the leaders are astonished and realize they had been with Jesus. With the healed man standing there, they can't deny the miracle, so they forbid them to speak. "We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."
Acts 4:23-37 · The prayer that shakes
Released, they go back to the believers, who pray to the Sovereign Creator and ask: "Enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness." The place shakes, all are filled with the Holy Spirit. They were one in heart, and there were no needy people among them; Barnabas sells a field and brings the money.
Questions for the group
To open: tell about a situation where you had the courage to do something you normally wouldn't. Where did that courage come from?
- 1
The same Peter who denied Jesus faced the Sanhedrin two months later. What does that turnaround show about where courage comes from? In which situations do you most feel the lack of it?
- 2
"Salvation is found in no one else." Why does that sentence sound offensive today? How can we say it clearly without being rude?
- 3
The leaders noticed that Peter and John "had been with Jesus". What do the people around you notice when they spend time with you? How has your time with Jesus been?
- 4
Threatened, the church didn't ask for relief but for boldness, and then shared everything. What have you been asking God for in hard times? And how can the group care for those who are in need?
Key passages
- Psalm 2:1-2: "Why do the nations rage?" The church reads the threats in the light of Scripture and discovers that nothing is outside God's control.
- Jeremiah 20:9: "His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones; I cannot hold it in." Like Peter and John, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen.
- 2 Corinthians 12:9-10: "My power is made perfect in weakness." God uses "unschooled, ordinary" people so it is clear where the power comes from.
To close
A step for this week. Pray like the church in Acts 4: start with who God is, hand him what is pressing on you and ask for boldness, not relief. Then talk about Jesus with someone you have been avoiding the subject with. And watch for someone in the group who is going through need.
Prayer. Pray Acts 4:29 together: "Consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness." Ask to be filled with the Spirit again and for a generous heart toward one another.