The Number of Men who Believed Grew to about Five Thousand.

Wow 5,000.....that's right...the number of men who believed, grew to 5,000 in the very short time from Pentecost just 2 chapters ago.

With those kind of conversions numbers....Peter and John must be the envy of modern day preachers. So what was their secret?  Was it the crafting of slick sermons?  Was it the use the latest PowerPoint presentation? It must have been their knowledge from years in seminary.

But it wasn't...the text says, "they were unschooled, ordinary men." 

So what made the difference?

I think three things.
1. The text says, "they had been with Jesus." These were men who had been following Jesus...so they knew Him and His ways.
2. They were filled with the Holy Spirit.  It was Gods power...not their power at work.
3. They were courageous and spoke boldly.  They were not ashamed of the Gospel.  They did not lay back...but boldly went into the market place in the name of Jesus.

This account of John and Peter preaching is a great lesson for us in following Jesus.