Acts 4:13 – “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”
Peter and John stand before the very council that once held authority over Jesus Himself. What surprises everyone is not their background or ability, but their courage. The reason is simple: they had been with Jesus.
This is no longer the same Peter who once denied Christ. The change is not personality or confidence, but presence. Life with Jesus has reshaped who they are.
There are moments in life that quietly expose our limits—illness, uncertainty, weakness, even silence. In those moments we are reminded that we are not in control. We are held by God’s grace.
As this truth settles in, fear does not disappear, but it loses its grip. We begin to live from the awareness that our lives are sustained by God, not by ourselves.
This is why courage is not natural confidence. It is formed in those who stay close to Christ. The nearer we walk with Him, the more fear gives way to trust.
Yet we know the pressure around us. Faith is often not opposed, but quietly pushed aside. The temptation is to blend in, stay silent, and not be too clearly identified with Christ. Slowly, fear shapes our choices.
But the Gospel does not only call us to believe differently—it calls us to become different, and to influence the world differently.
This is what it means to become the fearless troublemakers of Christ—ordinary people who have been with Jesus, and because of that, carry a quiet influence that disturbs fear, breaks silence, and pushes back indifference.
The early believers were “ordinary men,” yet they could not be ignored because people recognised the presence of God in them.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit: to fill ordinary lives with divine presence so they quietly transform the world for Christ—at home, at work, and in daily life.
At the centre of this is the cross, where weakness and failure are redefined. What we hide becomes the place where grace is revealed. In Christ, failure is not final, and fear does not have the last word.
Acts 4:13 reminds us that the mark of discipleship is not ability, but proximity: they had been with Jesus.
And when that is true, ordinary lives carry quiet influence—faith that steadies others, love that crosses boundaries, and courage that shapes environments for Christ.
This is what it means to become the fearless troublemakers of Christ—not by noise or force, but by the undeniable presence of Jesus within us.
Rev. Alan Lau of the Chinese Methodist Church in Australia is a member of the board of NCCA