READ Acts 4:8–12
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.”
MEDITATE
Our first Easter together, in 1981, Priscilla left a basket at my door with an $8 gift certificate for a haircut. That same spring, I had to get a job ticketing parked cars to supplement my scholarship. My mainstay meal was boiled carrots in a white flour sauce. I was a graduate student, after all. I was broke. Then my roommate’s girlfriend, a church organist, told me that her little Baptist church in Durham, North Carolina, needed a Sunday night preacher. So I took to preaching.
Sometimes I attended Sunday mornings, where the preacher thundered. He was a genuine Bible-thumping, stage strutting, sweat drenched, feet-off-the-ground and knees-to-the-chin preacher. There was a lot of repetition, a mountain of hallelujahs, and plenty of Amens! He even caught me up occasionally—although he offered precious little content.
The Holy Spirit, the preacher believed, charged him with his high-octane energy.
But in my graduate studies I was learning that, in the Bible, the Holy Spirit values preparation, thoughtfulness, and planning most of all. When John and Peter are put on trial early in the book of Acts, for instance, Peter preaches a surprisingly short sermon. What does the sermon consist of? The Old Testament, for the most part. The centerpiece—and substance—is Psalm 118:22: “This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone’” (Acts 4:11).
Filled with the Spirit, Peter doesn’t babble or bounce or strut or scream.
Filled with the Spirit, Peter digs into the Scriptures and quotes from Psalm 118. Did this psalm dawn on Peter in a flash of inspiration? No. It was used widely in the early church. In 1 Peter 2:1–10, the same verse occurs alongside a list of other biblical texts, as if these passages were meant to be memorized. It was part and parcel of early Christian testimonies to Jesus.
At the end of his sermon, we discover another clue to how Peter knew the psalm: “When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus” (Acts 4:13). Those listening to Peter’s sermon realized that he and those with him were Jesus’s companions. How so? Jesus had used the same verse in his parable of the wicked tenants (Mark 12:10–11; Matthew 21:42; Luke 20:17). Peter learned it, in other words, straight from Jesus.
Peter’s sermon teaches us that the Holy Spirit doesn’t only inspire spontaneity. The works of the Spirit aren’t just strutting, amen-ing, hallelujah-ing. You can prepare for an experience of the Holy Spirit. You can study in anticipation of the Holy Spirit’s work in your life. You can learn what makes you a powerful witness to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Peter did. You can too.
BREATHE 
PRAY
Holy Spirit
A daily practice of memory-making
Verses learned well, inside and out
A daily dose of meditation
Passages studied well, backwards and forwards
A daily diet of everyday education
Texts read well, high and low
Holy Spirit, ready me for inspiration
mark me as a companion of Jesus
Amen