HAVE YOU BEEN TO CHURCH or HAVE YOU BEEN WITH JESUS. Following Jesus from the Edges.

Have You Been to Church or Have You Been with Jesus?

Pastor Calvin Cook

Following Jesus from the Edges

June 22, 2026

We are going to spend some time over the next few days in Acts 4. I am convinced this chapter of the Acts of the Apostles takes us from being casual observers of faith to becoming fully engaged, committed followers of Jesus Christ—regardless of the cost.

As I have lingered in this passage during my personal devotional time, I have found both conviction and grace. I want to encourage you to approach these reflections with an open heart and mind, allowing the Holy Spirit to do a soul-changing work within you.

We pick up where we left off in worship yesterday with the sermon series Holding On. One of the first acts of faithfulness is learning to hold on to Jesus. We remain in the public square, and the discussion continues about the man who had been lame for many years but is now miraculously walking, jumping, and praising God.

Peter and John are brought before the high priest and temple authorities and questioned about what has happened and by whose authority it occurred.

Acts 4:8-12 records Peter’s response:

“Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: ‘Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed… Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.’”

For me, these words summarize everything.

Yet they also raise questions—not about what happened then, but about what is happening now. What is taking place in our lives, our churches, our communities, and even in the spiritual realm we cannot see?

Understanding what it means to be a follower of Jesus—a disciple—requires us to understand what the Church is meant to be. There is an old children’s hymn that reminds us, “The church is not a building, the church is the people.” Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, many in the modern church have forgotten that truth. We can become like the religious leaders in Acts, more concerned with preserving what makes us comfortable than becoming what Jesus calls us to be—”little Christs” living in His likeness.

Consider this: the man in Acts 3 was healed at the temple gate. In many ways, he was healed at the church door for our benefit. Peter and John introduced him to Jesus. They made it clear that it was in the name of Jesus that the lame man could now walk.

Yet while a man was transformed and thousands were coming to faith, the religious leaders felt threatened. They were losing their grip on what they had come to value more than God Himself. Their focus had become the institution rather than the Savior.

Are you beginning to see the picture?

Acts 4:4 tells us that about 5,000 men believed. Their lives were changed because they witnessed what happens when people hold on to Jesus. They saw the faithfulness of the apostles. They heard the message that “salvation is found in no one else.”

All of this happened around the Temple—the physical structure. Yet the power was not in the building. The power was in the Holy Spirit working through people who had been with Jesus.

The same thing is happening around the world today.

In places marked by poverty, persecution, oppression, and fear, the Church is coming alive. Believers gather under trees, in homes, in unfinished buildings, on street corners, and in hidden places. They may have little in terms of resources, but they have Jesus—and the Church is growing.

So let me ask a serious question.

What is happening in our churches today?

Are we merely going to church, or are we being equipped to follow Jesus with our whole lives?

Are we praying in the name of Jesus for the people at the church door?

Are we preaching, teaching, and living as though Jesus truly is the only way?

Are we helping people encounter Christ, or are we simply maintaining institutions?

As Acts 4 unfolds, the religious leaders take note of Peter and John and make an incredible observation:

“They recognized that they had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13)

Perhaps that is the greatest question for us today.

Not simply, “Did you go to church?”

But rather:

Have you been with Jesus?