When the early church prayed
Acts 4:23-31 The Apostles Prayer
And being let go they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said:
"Lord You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who by the mouth of your servant David have said:
’why did the nations rage, and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.’
For truly against your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your purpose determined before to be done. Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out our hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.
And when they had prayed the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. (NKJV)
Intro
If we just go back before we go forward we will see that the reason for this prayer meeting was the result of the lame man being healed. "silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth get up and walk." Immediately after he was healed Peter and John made the most of the situation and began to preach. As soon as the religious authorities heard about it they threw Peter and John into prison and left them there until the next day. Then they forbid them to preach in this name again and let them go.
1) Persecution foretold
This should have come as no real surprise to the apostles because of what Jesus had told them concerning persecution. Jesus said to them
John 16:2 the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God a service.
Matt 10:17 but beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues
John 15:20 Remember the word that I spoke to you, "a servant is not greater than his master," if they persecute Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also.
No one is greater than his master - our master is a suffering servant.
The disciples had plenty of warning for what lay in store for them. Jesus did not leave them without letting them know what lay ahead. They knew that they would be treated like Jesus.
Where He was given respect they would get respect but where Jesus was not respected then they would not be respected. When they watched their master die maybe they thought that they would possibly end up with the same end.
But one thing is for sure they certainly couldn’t turn round to Jesus in heaven and say, "Why didn’t you tell us?"
And we have the same understanding too
Philippians 1:21 "For me to live is Christ to die is gain."
2) The enemy threatens
It is clear from the passage that the reason that they were prompted to pray in this way was because they had their first taste of persecution from the authorities. It would seem that courage came no more easily to them as it does to us, to maintain courage they had to rely on the Holy Spirit.
Why does the enemy threaten?
He threatens to provoke fear to drive us away from our work, but it should work in the opposite way. Fear should drive us to pray for strength and boldness in the face of the enemy’s objections.
If you don’t feel welcome in a situation as an ambassador of Jesus then it may just be that the enemy doesn’t want you there because he knows the God we serve.
1Peter 5:8 "your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour"
The enemy the devil is no more than a roaring Lion - God is sovereign.
The devil makes a lot of noise. Trying to distract us from looking to Jesus. If we focus on the noise then fear sets in. we must always remember that God is God and the enemy is only an Angel and a fallen one at that.
We can not afford to walk away from a challenge because of fear. Our actions have serious consequences. It may be that you are instrumental in changing lives because you were obedient and resolved your determination to hang in and see it through. Walking away is like being ashamed of Jesus.
3) The Prayer
First response in their crisis - call out to God
When these guys prayed they didn’t’ pray:
Get the Sanhedrin off our backs
Give us an alternative strategy
Give us a quiet life.
They prayed
Consider the threats of the enemy
Boldness to speak
Evidence of the supernatural
They didn’t seek personal satisfaction, because they understood that God had placed them in a public office not for their own good but for the good of the community of faith and for those who would be saved. They were an example, they didn’t hide in a closet until it was safe to come out. They knew that to live was to die. They didn’t request a sabbatical but they depended on God. They found safety in the community and power in prayer to overturn their situation.
Evidence of their prayer seen in
Acts 5:12 "And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people."
With Paul,
Romans 15:19 "For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the gentiles obedient - in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ."
4) Boldness requested
This boldness can only come from one place. Do you remember Psalm 91 finding that secret place?
Boldness comes from being with Jesus
Acts 4:13 "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marvelled. And they realised that they had been with Jesus."
In John’s letter he writes,
In 1 John 1, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life."
John talks about touching Jesus and being with Jesus but Jesus himself says that if we believe without seeing Him we are blessed or happier as the Greek translates.
John 20:29 Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen Me yet have believed."
We are here because of their boldness, who will be here because of our boldness next week, month or year.
It was the Holy Spirit that enabled theses men to speak with boldness and Jesus says that the same Holy Spirit is freely available to any one that would ask (Luke 11:13) And it is the same Holy Spirit poured out on the early church. This same blessing is available to us today should we ask God to fill us with His Spirit.
Hope stimulates our boldness to speak.
2 Cor 3:12 "therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech" (hope in Christ for eternal salvation)
Matthew Henry says, "When we are sent on an errand by God to speak then we go in boldness and deliver the message boldly. We have the liberty of speech not reluctant to speak the whole counsel of God. It doesn’t matter if the message causes offence and we shouldn’t be shy of speaking even if we know that offence may be taken. We go in the authority of God not doubting what we say nor feeling the burden of saying it."
5) Evidence given at close of prayer when the place was shaken.
When these guys had finished praying God answered immediately. The place was shaken demonstrating that He was certainly listening but also that He was there in the room with them.
But the evidence didn’t stop here. When you read through the book of Acts you can see miracle after miracle as the word is preached and God acts with a demonstration of power.
What does the evidence of the supernatural do for us.
Miracles increase faith.
provokes faith.
confirms the message.
shows that Jesus is alive and acting with us.
confirms our witness.
They asked for boldness and that God would stretch out His hand to heal and cause signs and wonders. The Greek literally means give us boldness "while you reach out and" heal.
Signs and wonders testify to the fact that God is with us.
Matt 27:54 Centurion convinced (read passage 50-54)
Luke 5:7-8 convicts of Sin (Peter and the fishing trip)
Luke 7:16 When Jesus raised back to life the son of a widow the people remarked "God has visited his people"
John 2:23 awakens faith - Many people saw the signs that Jesus did and believed in His name.
Go back to chapter 3 healing of the lame man.
"Silver and Gold I do not have, but what I have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk."
This one healing did the apostles a greater witness than anything else could have done. And then they preached bringing light and revelation to what had transpired.
Acts 4:4 many who heard the words believed and the number of men came to about 5,000.
This kind of evidence convinces people of the reality of God but confounds the enemy.
Jesus promised the disciples power to perform the miraculous.
Matt 10:5-8 "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received freely give." Sending out the 12
And after Jesus was resurrected he said to the disciples,
Mark 16:15-18 "and these signs will follow those who believe; in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
As a church we should take note of their example. Although it was promised they still asked God to do the signs and wonders.
Do you think God will answer our prayer if we were to ask Him to do the same thing?
6) disciples acted according to their prayer
They asked for boldness and then preached in boldness
They didn’t wait for 20 miracles before they felt brave enough to do something about it. They acted in faith and preached the gospel fully expecting God to do His thing.
Have you ever considered how costly our prayers are to us personally. The big danger is to pray for something and mistakenly think that that is as far as our involvement goes.
When we say Amen to a prayer it means that "I agree" but it means more, it means that you are putting your life on the line.
If we sit here and pray that God would send people into this town to preach the gospel then we had best be prepared to go ourselves. Each one of us is commissioned to preach the gospel and make disciples.
With Paul we can say that it is not with persuasive words of mans wisdom but with the demonstration of the Spirit and of power. (1Cor2:4-5) What is the power of God. The Bible clearly says that the power of God is the gospel.
Romans 1:16 "for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes"
If we want to see people set free and enter into a new life, to have their destinies changed then the gospel must be preached.
Romans 10:13-15 "for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
When we pray we should act in accordance with our prayers.
Conclusion
INVESTING IN ETERNITY
Williams James: "The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it"
We have one life to invest in the kingdom invest it wisely.
Do you think that God can change this town?
Do you think that God can change this town with you?
We have our own crisis in this town that requires our prayer and action.
It’s time to search our hearts to change the comfy for the challenging to change the familiar for the adventure to change the watching to the participating.
Will you stand with me as an outward sign of your commitment to see this place change?
We may be small in number and to a degree living in the past of the good things that God has done. Last week a prophecy was brought to the church that God wants to do a new thing.
When you stand you draw a line across your life and across the life of the church and say thank you for what you have done now Lord please do a new thing with us.
Pray "Father Grant to us your servants that with all boldness we may speak your word, by stretching out your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus. Father, fill me with Your Spirit in Jesus name, for your glory and honour, Amen"
