The Power Of The Presence Series

About 350 years before Christ was born in Bethlehem, there was a man they called Alexander the Great.

Over a period of 15 years Alexander the Great was in almost constant warfare and conquered most of known world. He never defended a walled city, almost always met his enemy in the open field, and he never lost a battle because - he knew his enemy, and he knew his men, and he was always in the very thick of every battle. In all the wars and battles that he ever fought, Alexander was pretty much was outnumbered 95% of the time. In fact, he fought two major pitched battles against one of the most powerful nations of the day – the Persians – and the Persians outnumbered him by at least two to one with approximately 10,000 more men than he had (Pete Feigal, quora.com)

But his army always won, because whenever they went to war Alexander the Great always right there… fighting alongside his men.

This is the last in our series of sermons called “Thinking Outside the Walls.” I’ve repeatedly said that Jesus has called us to go to war against Satan. We are not called to defend the walls of our church building, but instead we are to storm the very gates of Hell. It’s a battle we can’t lose because Jesus said those gates will not prevail against us. And the reason we can’t lose is because God will always be right there fighting the battles beside us.

That’s what we’re seeing in our text this morning. Peter and John are standing in front of a very angry Sanhedrin (the religious rulers of the day), and the Sanhedrin was angry because these men had been preaching about Jesus… and they didn’t like that! They essentially asked Peter and John “Who gave you PERMISSION to preach about Jesus.”

Notice what we’re told: Peter, FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead — by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:5-12

That’s pretty bold stuff!

But the Bible wants us to understand that the reason Peter was so bold was because God was right there with him. Peter was FILLED with the Holy Spirit. Acts 4:5 (PAUSE)

But it didn’t stop there: After the Sanhedrin conferred over this, they called Peter and John back in and “charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” (Acts 4:18) So what did Peter and John do? They went back and gathered the church together for a time of prayer and we’re told that: “when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. Acts 4:31

The Holy Spirit filled Peter and HE SPOKE with boldness to the Sanhedrin. And then the Holy Spirit filled all those gathered in prayer and THEY SPOKE the word of God with boldness.

When they went to war against Satan (by witnessing about their faith) GOD was right there with them - the Holy Spirit filled them - and they were able to speak the Word of God with boldness.

Now the question is… how does this apply to us? Does God still go to war alongside of us when we try to speak up for God? Well, there’s 2 schools of thought on this.

One school believes that the Spirit is a dormant presence in our lives. He doesn’t really DO anything… He just kind of sits there.

Now me… I’m more of the school of thought that the Spirit is an active and vibrant force in the life of the believer. He doesn’t just SIT THERE - He is involved with us.

For example, Romans 8:26 tells us “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

Now, I’m NOT inclined to believe the gift of Tongues exists today, but I believe the Spirit is actively involved in interceding for us when we don’t know how to pray as we should. In other words, the Spirit does stuff for us. And I’m also inclined to believe the Spirit STILL works inside believers helping us when we speak up for our faith.