Praying for Boldness for the Preaching Business
Study Text: Acts 4:29-31
Introduction:
- The Bible encourages Christians to pray in very many places. But in the New Testament we don’t actually have many examples of the prayers Christians used. Here is one of them.
- They didn’t pray that the opposition would stop, but that God will show up for them in the midst of it all. If we are truly following Jesus, sometimes life will get hard. Sometimes, people will react against the difference Jesus makes in our lives. Sometimes, our words of testimony will cause people to turn against us. There have been times in our lives when standing up for Jesus has got us into trouble.
- The first Christians didn’t complain when that happened to them. They didn't pray to be delivered from opposition and persecution. They rather prayed for boldness to be able to preach better.
- Some of the characteristics which marked the early Church were courage and boldness.
- Courage and boldness can be defined as an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles. We see that when someone is filled with the Spirit, a distinguished sense of boldness characterizes that person.
- The Holy Spirit empowers us to be bold witnesses of the gospel. Acts 1:8
- Whatever your role, wherever you are, whether you are a college student or working, whether young or old, strong or weak, God intends to fill all of us with the Spirit so we may partner with Him in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20).
- We shall be discussing the topic under three subheadings:
1. A Challenging Situation
2. A Commendable Supplication
3. A Comforting Solution
1. A Challenging Situation:
- Two of the Church’s leaders, the Apostles John and Peter, had just been arrested by the Jewish religious authorities. They had been put in prison for preaching about Jesus.
- Imprisoned for telling people that he had risen from the dead. Persecuted for inviting sinners to turn to Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
- It is no surprise that John and Peter’s preaching was not well received by the religious rulers in Jerusalem. Because they were the same rulers who some weeks earlier, had accused Jesus of blasphemy and condemned him to death.
- These Jewish leaders could not tolerate the message that the first Christians were proclaiming, and commanded them to be silent.
- John and Peter have just been released from jail and return to their Church fellowship. No doubt with the threats and warnings of the authorities ringing in their ears.
- This presented the first Church with a great problem and a challenging situation. They knew God wanted them to keep telling the people the good news about Jesus. But the ‘powers that be’ in Jerusalem were telling them to be silent, to keep quiet. How frustrating! What a challenge! What was the church to do?
- Before we look at what the early church did, we need to appreciate the fact that we face a similar situation in our days:
- Like the early Church in Acts, we too are under orders from God to proclaim the Gospel and make disciples of Jesus. It is the Great Commission we have all been given.
- Telling people in our community about Jesus has to be our number one priority. Helping people to follow Jesus must be every Church’s chief concern.
- But like the early Church we also face frustrations. Like the first Christians, the Church today have obstacles to overcome too.
- For example, we live in an increasingly secular and materialistic society. A society in which Christians who are open about their faith are viewed with suspicion or even hostility. A society in which more and more people believe they have no need of God.
- We also face internal challenges as well. The Church today faces challenges financially. The Church also need more people to serve in various offices and responsibilities within the Church.
- Even at home, many Members and Ministers face personal frustrations and anxieties, caused by poor health, job insecurity, financial hardship, relationship difficulties and so on.
- Faced by such challenges and frustrations, what should we do? Should we throw our hands in the air in despair? Should we abandon all hope?
- No. We should do what the first Church did when faced with frustrations. We should turn to prayer. Acts 4: 23-24
- God has invited us to call upon Him in difficult situations with a word of assurance that He will answer and help us. Jeremiah 33:3
2. A Commendable Supplication:
- When the disciples were faced with challenges and frustrations, prayer was their first reaction, their first instinct. And it should be ours too.
- Prayer should be our first response to any challenge or frustration we face. Prayer should replace anxiety and should come before any action or important decision. Philippians 4:6-7
- Considering their prayers, we can look at why the early Church prayed, what they prayed for, and the lessons we can learn from their prayers.
A. Why do they Pray?
- It was because they believed that God is in control. Acts 4: 24-28
- Firstly, we should pray because we are sure that God is in control. The early Church prayed because they believed God was powerful. The first Christians knew that God and God alone had the power to help them.
- Our passage today reminds us that God can do all things and has no limitations and difficulties.
- In the opening words of their prayer they remind us of God’s power over the material world, and His power over mankind. They acknowledge God as the creator of the material world: “Sovereign Lord,’ they said, ‘you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.”
- The early Church knew the Scripture, and they were approaching God with the promises in His Words.
- The first Church reminds us of another passage from Psalm 2: ‘“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.”
- In other words, this inspired Psalm is teaching that any human effort to challenge God’s good purposes is ultimately doomed to failure. Any effort by powerful men and women to thwart God’s great plans for the world is in vain. Specifically, any human effort to oppose God’s ‘anointed one’ will not succeed.
- Our Sovereign Lord can transform even the worst human actions and intentions, and use them for good. He can work through the most challenging circumstances to achieve wonderful things.
- The great news is that if we are Christians, we are on first name terms with the most High , the Almighty God. We have access, through Jesus, to the throne room of Heaven.
- As we pray, we can speak to a Sovereign God who can create a universe out of nothing. We are speaking to a Heavenly Father who carries far more authority than any human ruler. We are addressing a Lord who can even raise the dead. No wonder the first Church was eager to pray, and so should we be.
B. What do they Pray for?
- They prayed for God’s will to be done, and for God’s power to manifest.
- We can and should pray for anything that concerns us, anything that could causes us anxiety. For example, the Lord’s Prayer says we should pray for things as basic as our daily bread.
- But what should be our priority for prayer? What should be the first topic on our tongues when we talk to God?
- The answer in our passage today is that God’s will should be our first concern. The first thing we should ask for in prayer is for God’s will to shape our lives. For God’s agenda to be our agenda. For God’s mission to be our mission. Or, to use the words of the Lord’s Prayer, our priority should be to say to God: “your kingdom come, your will be done”.
- When faced with the threats and demands of the Jewish authorities, the first Christians didn’t pray for physical protection. They didn’t pray for a quiet life, they didn’t pray for fame and fortune, or for health and happiness.
- No, they prayed that God’s will, God’s plans, God’s mission would continue. They prayed that God would help them to keep boldly speaking of Jesus. They asked God to give them all the strength, stamina, courage and miraculous power they needed to keep serving him and telling people about Jesus.
- It was a great prayer to a great God.
3. A Comforting Solution:
- The Church’s prayer was answered in a most spectacular way. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. Acts 4:31
- It was very comforting to those first Christians that God approved of their prayer, and that he had responded positively to their request.
- The applications for us from today’s passage are obvious:
1. It is very clear that prayer is worthwhile:
- Whenever we pray we are coming before the Almighty God who can do all things. We are approaching a Sovereign God with the resources to help us in any situation and in every circumstance. Someone with whom we can share our greatest joys and our deepest frustrations. So let’s all give serious time to prayer in our daily lives.
2. It is very clear from today’s passage what we should most be praying for.
- As individuals and as a Church, we should be praying that God will be at work through us. He would say: “When we work, we work. But when we pray – God works!”
3. It is very clear that we need the empower ment of the Holy Spirit.
- This afford us the comfort, strength and boldness that we need to do the work.
- This enables us to operate in the supernatural and experience the manifestations of God's power for signs and wonders which will help the work.
Conclusion:
- God delights in the prayer of His people, and He will surely answer when they pray in faith and according to His will.
- Whatever happens, we should not murmur nor complain, but we should pray, and we shall have the comfort of an answered prayer.
