I was reading Acts 4 and something stood out to me.
The chapter starts with Peter and John standing in front of rulers and elders—the same kind of people that had Jesus crucified, and they’re speaking with boldness, no hesitation, no fear, just straight truth in the name of Jesus.
And what’s wild is the response.
Scripture says that the rulers were amazed. It says they recognized that these were ordinary, untrained men, but that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13)
That’s what hit me.
They didn’t recognize them because of what they knew. They recognized them because of how they lived. Their walk is what spoke louder than who they were.
And that’s really the call for all of us.
To live in a way where it’s evident, where people can tell that you have a walk and relationship with Jesus without you having to say it.
Not because you’re perfect and not because you’ve got it all together, but because something about your life is different.
This verse really focuses on the real power in the name of Jesus.
Not just something we say, but a name that actually moves, actually heals, actually changes people.
That’s the same name Peter and John refused to stop speaking, even when it says that they were warned and threatened.
When something is real to you, you don’t back down and it shows.
And what makes this so relatable to me is that Peter is the same guy that a few days before had denied that he even knew Christ.
If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. I’ve denied Jesus in my life through my actions. And if you’ve ever done that in your life there is hope and redemption.
Peter had just denied Christ, and now he’s standing in front of authority, speaking boldly.
That’s what happens when someone is changed.
So if you’re in a place where you’ve fallen, where things feel off, where you know you’ve walked away from how you were supposed to be living, you’re not done.
But you do have to get back up and rebuild.
Later in that same chapter it says this about Christ:
“He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief cornerstone.” (Acts 4:11)
In ancient times, the cornerstone wasn’t just another stone—it was the stone everything else was built off of. It set the alignment and the direction. It determined whether the entire structure would stand or fall.
If that stone was even slightly off, everything built on top of it would be off too.
That’s why stones were rejected because they had to be perfect. And yet the one they rejected became the one everything had to be built on.
That’s Christ. He is our cornerstone. If we have rejected him we need to tear it all down and rebuild.
And if we’re being honest, a lot of us know what it feels like to build on the wrong foundation.
You can put time into something, you can build it up, you can even try and make it look good from the outside.
But if it’s not built on Christ, it doesn’t hold.
Eventually things start to crack. Things get out of alignment. And at some point, it falls apart.
Rebuilding can be frustrating. But James tells us to count all trials as joy.
It feels like you’re starting over. It feels like all that time was wasted.
But it’s necessary.
Because when you rebuild on the right foundation, when Christ is actually the cornerstone things start to line up the way they’re supposed to.
Not overnight. But they do.
Peter and John didn’t just talk about Jesus, they lived it. Boldly.
Even when they were told to stop, they didn’t.
And because of that, you see something happen in the early church, the Holy Spirit filled the them. The Spirit moved in a powerful way and it says it shook the ground. Man that must have been wild to experience, the earth shaking power of the Spirit.
So if you’re in a rebuilding season right now, stay in it.
Get back in the Word.
Get around the right people.
Start walking it out again.
It won’t happen all at once.
But it will happen.
Because the goal isn’t just to say you follow Jesus. The goal is to live in a way where it’s obvious. This is the essence of the Salt and Light that we are called to be.
Where your life speaks before you even open your mouth. Where people can look at you and say,
“You don’t have to ask… that one’s been with Jesus.”
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