Preach it Girl
Join Auntie Lala for a SASSY retelling of stories from the Bible—a jaunt so lively you’ll think the scriptures were written just yesterday, not thousands of years ago.
On the Preach it Girl Podcast, you’ll feel encouraged and loved, but you’ll also laugh—hopefully out loud—at the quirky characters of the Bible. These beloved men and women falter, fail, and flop—just like us. And just like us, they’re altogether forgiven.
Now that’s the best news fit to preach!
Preach it Girl
Why Outspoken Faith Triggers Miracles
The message resonating through this dive into Acts chapters 3 and 4, where we witness ordinary fishermen transformed into fearless apostles after being filled with the Holy Spirit is seize every opportunity to speak boldly about Jesus.
The story unfolds at Jerusalem's Beautiful Gate, where Peter and John encounter a man lame from birth—begging daily for forty years. When he asks for money, they offer something far greater: "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." The resulting miracle creates the perfect opportunity for boldly proclaiming Christ, even to the religious authorities who had orchestrated Jesus' crucifixion.
What stands out most powerfully is how this boldness—described as "frankness, outspokenness, and freedom to speak"—precedes and triggers the miraculous. The early disciples didn't just happen to witness divine interventions; they specifically prayed for greater boldness and for God to "stretch out your hand with healing power" through Jesus' name. Their prayer shook the meeting place as fresh Holy Spirit power fell on them. This pattern remains available to us today. Too often, we keep God at arm's length, fearing disappointment rather than approaching with expectation. Yet the same words that transformed lives in Acts remain just as potent now.
Have you been holding back, waiting for the perfect moment to share your faith? Stop "spreading dum-dum sauce on pork chops and calling it gravy!" Revival isn't always flashy—it's happening right now through ordinary believers opening Bibles in coffee shops and praying boldly in public spaces. Ask God for the spiritual boldness that transforms both the speaker and the hearer, creating space for His miraculous power to flow. The world is desperate to hear about God's love, and you've been empowered to speak it boldly.
Welcome back to Preach it Girl podcast, where we are not just sitting around waiting for Jesus to return or Skinny Pop to make us skinny. While these things are bound to happen. We are taking action, we're being bold and we're giving the enemy a terrible, awful, very bad day. Okay, today we are going to get a little sassy in Acts, chapter 3 and 4. We're hanging out with Peter and John, who have, just along with 3,000 others, been filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and now they are heading up into the temple to worship just like they would have always done. But now that the Holy Spirit has come and boldness has come upon them. This is their story.
Speaker 1:Peter and John went to the temple one afternoon to take part in the three o'clock prayer service. As they approached the temple, a man, lame from birth, was being carried in. A man lame from birth was being carried in Each day. He was put beside the temple gate, the one called Beautiful, so he could beg from the people going into the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter and John looked at him intently and Peter said look at us. The lame man looked at them eagerly, thinking he was going to get a little hand out. But Peter said I don't have any silver or gold for you, but I'll give you what I have In the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, get up and walk. Then Peter took the lame man by the right hand and helped him up, and as he did, the man's feet and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened. He jumped up, stood on his feet and began to walk, walking and leaping and dancing and praising God. He went into the temple with them. All the people saw him walking and heard him praising God. When they realized who it was, the lame beggar, they were astounded. They all rushed out in amazement to Solomon's colonnade where the man was holding tightly to Peter and John. And Peter saw his opportunity. Okay, y'all, we got to see our opportunity.
Speaker 1:People of Israel, he said what is so surprising about this and why stare at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness? It wasn't their godliness or their power, for it is the God of Abraham, isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, who has brought glory to his servant, jesus by doing this. This is the same Jesus you handed over and rejected before Pilate, despite Pilate's decision to release him. You killed the author of Mm mm. He was before.
Speaker 1:Faith in Jesus' name has healed Him before your very eyes. Friends, I realize that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance, but God was fulfilling what all the prophets had foretold about the Messiah that he must suffer these things. Now, repent of your sins and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshing will come from His Right. He's coming again, for he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his holy prophets. We are assured he is coming again. Wow.
Speaker 1:But you guys, you know this has upset those priests, the Pharisees and Sadducees. They thought they'd gotten rid of Jesus, they thought they'd squashed the whole movement, but instead God knew what they were going to do all along. It was his plan for people, all people, to come to him, to be able to be brought to him through the blood of Jesus's sacrifice. Wow, while Peter and John were speaking to the people, they were confronted by the priests. They were arrested, thrown in jail. So the next day, the council of all the rulers and elders and teachers of the religious law met in Jerusalem day. The council of all the rulers and elders and teachers of the religious law met in Jerusalem.
Speaker 1:Ananias, caiaphas, the whole gang that crucified Jesus. Basically, I mean, they're all like what are we going to do now? I mean, this guy was lame from birth. Doesn't that sound familiar? Like the blind man who was blind from birth? So they brought in the two disciples and demanded by what power and in whose name have you done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers and elders of our people, are we being questioned today because we've done a good deed For a crippled man? Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:The Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. For Jesus is the one referred to in the scriptures when it says the stone the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone on which everything else is built. There is salvation in no one else. Well, there you go. There is no other way but the Jesus way. You can't get to God through any other way, because there's been no other sacrifice. People are always like oh well, you know, I can get to God through Buddhism, hinduism, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Nobody else died for your sins. Now, somebody might die for somebody, but were they sinless? It had to be a sinless sacrifice, just like those lambs had to be without blemish, to purify the people of God. God set that whole thing up so that Jesus was, could come and be a sinless sacrifice for your sins, for your forgiveness. That was the only way that we get to come to Jesus. The relationship is restored is through his blood. Nobody else's blood's been shed, so it's Jesus is the way, the only way. Okay, I hammered that to the ground.
Speaker 1:The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John. They weren't trained in the law, they didn't know anything, they were fishermen. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there among them, there was nothing they could do. So they basically they called him back in and said don't do this anymore, don't talk about Jesus, don't heal people. I mean how ridiculous, but this is what Peter said. Peter and John replied do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard. Then the council threatened them, but finally let them go because they didn't know how to punish them without starting a riot, for everyone was praising God for this miraculous Wow.
Speaker 1:So as soon as they're freed, they go back to their house where they're all hanging out, they're all living together, boldly proclaiming God. Their faith has been set on fire by the Holy Spirit from Pentecost. So basically, peter's, like you know, this was foretold long ago by the Holy Spirit from Pentecost. So basically, peter's, like you know, this was foretold long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servants. And now, oh Lord, hear their threats and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. Stretch out your hand with healing power. May miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant, jesus. Wow, after this prayer, the meeting place shook and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.
Speaker 1:That's what stands out to me when I read the scripture. They were boldly proclaiming Jesus. So I had to look it up. Right, you know, I had to look up. What does that word mean? Obviously, we know what bold means, but sometimes it's helpful to even look up a word that you already know the meaning to, because it's a little bit deeper than you might think. So the root of that word I'm not even going to try and say it because y'all know the southern accent, mixed with Hebrew or Greek and won't work out Okay, it means frankness, bluntness, publicity, assurance, boldly confident, open, plainly outspokenness. Oh my gosh, how many times has my sassy women out there been called outspoken in a negative way? Right, do you have to be so outspoken? How about take it down a notch? Not when it comes to Jesus and what he's done for you. Let's read a little bit further.
Speaker 1:The act of speaking. All one is thinking, oh, free spokenness, freedom, freedom to speak as a characteristic of a frank and fearless mind. Okay, by implication, the right or authority to speak boldly. When you have Jesus in your heart and you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you have the right and you are tasked with speaking boldly about Jesus in your faith. Come on, declare, speak out boldly, preach, free spoken. I like that. Out spoken, free spoken. I love all that, y'all.
Speaker 1:All I hear when I read these scriptures is that, once they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they were bold, boldly proclaiming what God has done. And then what followed that boldness were signs and wonders, miracles. If you think about it, why is God going to perform miracles and wonders if we're not speaking boldly? The signs and wonders are to show that God is saying yes and amen to Jesus Christ, who redeems you and your sins. So let's think about that man. I imagine his family took care of him as a young person, but then, as an adult, there may not be money for himself, so people just dropped him at the it was called the beautiful gate. So they drop him outside the temple, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, for 40 years, four decades.
Speaker 1:How much hope and faith did that man have in man or God? Not much, right. He was looking at Peter and John for money for food, for a roof over his head, but they said we don't have any money, but the one thing we have we can give. Isn't that cool that God gave us something that we get to give away? That that's part of our joy and fellowship. Wow, Right now, in this day, god can back up your bold, speaking with signs and wonders, miracles and wonders and healing, in the name of Jesus from Nazareth.
Speaker 1:They said get up. I'm speaking to myself, get up. All we need is a mustard, seed of faith, speaking the word of God, being bold to share our faith, whether it's your testimony, what you believe about God, this is what set the world on fire for Jesus. Miraculous signs and wonders from the book of Acts was something that followed the boldness. And the boldness is a gift of God, from the Holy Spirit, and we can ask God for it. When we boldly proclaim what Jesus has done in our lives. This outspoken sassiness comes before God's miracle working power. Right Reading about the love and power of God in Acts builds our faith and gives us confidence to ask for boldness, to proclaim who Jesus is. Y'all we've got to be in the word, and I am preaching to myself.
Speaker 1:I was having some health issues, some infirmities in my body. The very thing that I should run to Jesus with was the very thing that I was going. Hmm, I'm keeping him at arm's length. I wonder why that was. I was afraid he wouldn't heal me. I didn't expect his promises to be true today. For me, that enemy is a liar and doesn't want us to come to the one place, the one person, where we can be healed, where we can be renewed, where we can be refreshed. The word is just as true today as it was yesterday. Let's come with an expectant heart. Let's have great expectations of what God is doing. And you, my sweet friend, this is an amazing time to be on planet earth. Can't you just feel the desperateness of the earth right now, of people on the earth. They're desperate to hear who God is and how much he loves them.
Speaker 1:I was in a coffee shop just a month or so ago. It was packed, it was full of college kids, and then I noticed there were Bibles on almost every table. Bibles on every table. And a young lady came in and met up with another group of girls. When they stood to meet her, they ended up praying right there in the middle of the coffee shop. And then I was watching this one girl. She was reading her Bible and another lady comes and sits next to her and the one girl that had just come in looks over, sees the girl reading the Bible and said, wow, I need to be in the word, I hadn't been in it. And she ends up praying for her right there. This was all happening in this one coffee shop. How cool is that Y'all.
Speaker 1:I think revival is here, but it's not a big flashy foo-foo weird, a lot of screaming and stuff. It is a quiet. Two arms and two feet, hands to the plow word of God on their lips and they are boldly proclaiming Jesus. That's exciting. Can we stop waiting for the other shoe to drop? Can we stop expecting the worst? The word of God will change your perspective. Good Sunday preaching will change your perspective. Hearing testimonies that'll change your perspective. Stop feeding yourself doubt and feed yourself life. God is a now God, a miracle, working God. Let's lift our expectations. Let's say his name boldly. All right, you guys, I'm going to wrap this up, but listen, if you are questioning yourself if I can be bold now, you just stop spreading that dum-dum sauce on pork chops and calling it gravy. Okay, because you are filled with the Holy Spirit. You ask for boldness. You tell God I want to be bold, give me your boldness and he will do it. Won't he do it? Okay, I love you guys. I'll see you next time on Preach it Girl.
