And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. Acts 4:18
When the church was first born on the day of Pentecost as recorded in the second chapter of the book of Acts, they did not have any fancy buildings or headquarters. It was nothing more than a group of people who had gathered together to pray and wait on the Lord to fulfill His promise to send them a Helper, the Holy Spirit, which He did on that day. Immediately, Peter begins to preach to the crowd that had gathered and so on the first day about three thousand souls were added to the church. Then, daily souls were being saved and added to the church as well.
Still, with all of its “success”, the church did not consist of things but rather the people who had received salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But, what did they have if not buildings and a lot of sound and lighting equipment? How could this group of believers, just common ordinary people, be such a threat to the religious powers of their day, to say nothing of the threat to the enemy’s kingdom?
Soon, we find Peter and John coming across a man who was lame from birth; he had never been able to walk his entire life. When they come upon him asking them for money, they give him the only thing they have. No, it’s not money or anything of that nature, it’s a name. Not just any name but the name above all names, the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. What happened next was out of this world; through faith in that name, this man was immediately healed and began walking and leaping and praising God.
If they had only given this man a few shekels and gone on their way, no one would have taken any notice. Instead, because of that Name, not only was the lame man healed, but they had another opportunity to preach to a great crowd. And something else happened as a result of speaking that Name; they ended up in jail! Now, they get yet another chance to preach, this time to the high priest as well as other religious leaders that they otherwise would never have had a chance to witness to.
In our verse, they were commanded by the religious leaders not to speak in the name of Jesus. Peter and John told that crowd to do what they thought they should do before God, but as for them, they would not cease teaching and preaching in the name of Jesus.
As a born-again believer, you are a part of the church that was born on the day of Pentecost. Today, there are plenty of things related to “church”, but there is no power or anointing or authority in things. It doesn’t take a lot of stuff to see God’s power manifested in this world, all it takes is a name, the name, His name — the name of Jesus.
A couple of unlearned fishermen were able to preach to thousands as well as some of the most influential people of their day and it was all because of a name. You have been given that name. When you don’t know what to do or when there is nothing you can do, there’s always one thing you can do; speak His name!