They Had Nothing To Say

Acts 4:14 When they saw the man who had been cured standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.

Whenever you have position, you will always have opposition. -- Dr. Kevin Cosby

It was hard to watch the polarization last night as President Obama delivered his State of the Union address. It was disheartening to see how divided the House was. The collective cheers of Republicans and Democrats were sparse and sporadic. The president’s most profound statement of the night in my opinion was “to vote for party interests only is good politics but bad leadership.” It’s been a year of opposition but now it’s time to move forward in healing for the people of our nation.

When Peter and John healed the man who had been crippled for most of his life, 5,000 people got saved and the religious leaders were “annoyed” because they were teaching the people about the resurrection of Jesus. They were more concerned about the “rightness” of their ideology of a “resurrection” than they were the healthcare of this man that had been cured. How much longer are we going to cripple the healthcare of people in defense of our ideology? Tim Keller was right in his book “counterfeit gods” that we have made gods of our political and religious ideology while ignoring the move of God in our midst.

The man who had been crippled was standing next to Peter and John but all the Pharisees could see was someone who didn’t represent their ideology. If Americans can get healthcare, jobs, and a better way of life then I think that it doesn’t matter what side of the isle we stand on. The Bible says that when they saw the man that was crippled standing beside Peter and John, they had nothing to say in opposition.

Instead of spending time arguing with people who are ‘hell bent’ on opposition let your work speak for you. All of us on some level will experience opposition from people who will oppose us when all we are trying to do is help. Instead of arguing with people who oppose you let God fight your battles and let your work speak for you.

1. Create better solutions

2. Heal the people who need help.

3. Let God speak through you. They told the Apostles to stop preaching about Jesus because that didn’t match the ideology of the religious leaders. Peter said, we can’t help but to speak on the things we’ve seen and heard.

4. Pray for boldness that you can keep on speaking in the face of opposition.

My prayer for America is that God would heal the people in the midst of opposition and out of that healing the Kingdom of God will grow and opposition will be silenced because the move of God will silence all critics. It’s time for us to come together because a house divided against itself cannot stand. God have your way!

In Jesus name,
Amen