Discover What Grace Can Do Acts 4

Discover What Grace Can Do
Acts 4:8-33

"And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all."
(Acts 4:33)

Acts 4:33 AMP
³³And with great strength and ability and power the apostles delivered their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace (loving-kindness and favor and goodwill) rested richly upon them all.

Acts 4:33 NASB
³³ And ⁽¹⁾ with great power Greek (dunamis, doo'-nam-is) ) (Dynamite) (supernatural ability) the apostles were giving (Acts 1:8) testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.

Acts 1:8 KJV

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Acts 1:8 AMP
⁸But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth.

(1) Most of us don't have any idea what grace really is.

(2) Oh, we know some basic facts about it.

(3) We know we were saved by it (Eph. 2:8).

Ephes. 2:8

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Ephesians 2:8 AMP
⁸For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (^[1] delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God;

Ephesians 2:8 MSG
⁸Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish!

(4) But we don't even begin to understand the real power it can release in our lives now, today!

(5) If you want to get a picture of what grace can really do, look at what happened to the early Christians in Acts 4.

(6) They'd been threatened by the religious leaders of Jerusalem and commanded not to speak or teach any more in Jesus' Name. So, they were praying about the situation.

(7) Roughly, what they said was this, "Now Lord, we've been threatened, but we aren't about to quit preaching and go hide under some religious rug. Just turn the power up, give us boldness, and we'll go on."

(8) Do you know what happened as a result of that prayer? Verse 33 tells us, "Great grace was upon them all."

(9) Great grace. Grace so powerful that when those believers received it, the whole building shook.

(10) Grace so great it enabled the apostles to work "many signs and wonders... among the people" (Acts 5:12).

Acts 5:12 KJV

And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.

Acts 5 AMP
¹²Now by the hands of the apostles (special messengers) numerous and startling signs and wonders were being performed among the people. And by common consent they all met together [at the temple] in the covered porch (walk) called Solomon's.

(11) That one story alone should be enough to convince you that grace is not just some abstract spiritual state of mind.

(12) Grace is real. It's powerful. It provides the supernatural power to make things happen!

(13) Now, do you want to know something really exciting?

(14) The Bible says that same grace that was available to the early Church in Jerusalem is available to anybody who's ever sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

Romans 3:23

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

(15) Thank God, that means you and I qualify!

(16) If the devil's been threatening you lately, follow the example of those early Christians.

(17) Get in prayer and say, "Lord, I don't care what the devil and his bunch say, I'm not going to back down. I'm going to keep on talking and living by faith--and I'm going to do it boldly. So just turn up the power!"

(18) I guarantee you, if you're sincere about it, He'll do it; and you'll begin to discover what grace is really all about.

Discover What Grace Can Do Acts 4:8-33 "And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all." (Acts 4:33)

Acts 4:33 AMP 33And with great strength and ability and power the apostles delivered their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace (loving-kindness and favor and goodwill) rested richly upon them all.