Turn to God When Witnessing

Introduction

Good morning LaFayette Baptist Family. It is great to be here with you all this Lord’s day morning. What a wonderful and treasured time this is together, getting to sing Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs together and learn from the Word together. Please go ahead and get out your Bible’s Our scripture today will be book of Acts , specifically from Acts 4:23-31. Acts 4:23-31, please go ahead and turn there in your Bible’s. As usual, the scripture will be on the screen for us in a few moments, but please have it open so that you can follow along.

Do you ever find yourself not doing something, when you know you would be; and doing that something you know would make everything better? I had a case like that this past Tuesday. You see, I had started my day off a little differently than others. Usually, once Emily leaves the house on weekdays, I will feed the dogs and then get straight into my daily devotional time, usually sometime around 7:15 in the morning. This past Tuesday, I didn’t though. Instead, I was caught up in something I found super exciting and that I spent a lot of time thinking about the night before, VBS. Especially, since the VBS materials had come on Sunday I up to that point hadn’t had a lot of time looking at it, and had already came across something that I didn’t understand. So, instead of fellowship with God, instead of my normal turning to God in the day, I found myself doing work. Annnndddd, guess what. I kept that up for several hours. In fact, as the morning went on, I felt more and more down, more and more confused, and more and more frustrated. That is, until 10:30 came along and I realized something, that I was so busy going about “The Lord’s work” that I forgot to turn to The Lord in the day. Instead of leaning into my own personal relationship with Him, instead I got caught up in works and found myself feel dry, frustrated, and unmotivated. The same can happen to us when we witness, when we share the good new of Jesus with others. If we aren’t in the vine, if we aren’t seeking God ourselves, then our efforts in and of themselves will not be saturated with God’s goodness in the service. This brings us to our main idea, our sermon title for today which is: Turn to God when witnessing is hard (or better yet, any time you witness!).

Scripture

If you would all please rise for the reading of God’s Word today. The words to the scripture will be on the screen, please read along with me as we are reading. When I am done I will say “this is The Word of The Lord” if you will all please respond with “Thanks be to God.” Let’s Practice that for a second. First, let’s pray.

Father God, we thank You for who You are what You are doing to each and every one of us. We ask this day, most precious heavenly Father, that You would make us grow and increase and desire to love and understand You more and more. Help us to do this, not just while we are hear at this church, but as we are at home, as we are at the doctors, as we are shopping, as we are on the road, or wherever it is that You have sent us. Make us a people, make me a person that is all about You. All about You, all about Your glory, and seeing you known in every situation that I may find myself in. We ask this day Father, that with this message that it is one that we would take to heart, and apply it every part of our lives, because we want to know You more and want to see You known by others. Help us be a people of action and on mission for You at all times. We also ask Father, during this time of refinement in Your Word, that You would sanctify us with it Father. And take away any distraction that we may have, either physical or mentally. Make it go as far away as it can possibly go, and we look expectantly towards whatever it is about Yourself that You are going to show us. It in these things that I ask, and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and Precious name that I pray, Amen.

23 After they were released, they went to their own people and reported everything the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Master, you are the one who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, and everything in them. 25 You said through the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David your servant: Why do the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot futile things? 26 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers assemble together against the Lord and against his Messiah., 27 “For, in fact, in this city both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, 28 to do whatever your hand and your will had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, consider their threats, and grant that your servants may speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand for healing, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God boldly. [1]

Context

We pick back up this week in our sermon series through the book of acts. We find ourselves at the tail-end of the story of the healed man in front of the temple by Peter and John. As you will recall, I great and very publicly seen miracle had just happened in the name of Jesus Christ. A man who had been unable to walk for his entire life, was able to get up and leap and praise God with a joy that he had never known or anyone had ever seen him have before. Well, this happening right in front of the temple and gathering a huge crowd of onlookers who would hear a sermon from Peter, the Priests, guards, and religious officials in the Temple were not happy. So, they arrested them and held them all on trial the next day.

This would have been a bit of a sham trial and questioning. In fact, the accusers (as Satan the accuser himself would like to do) wanted to punish them and beat and stamp out any remnant of this “Jesus Cult” that they hoped they had already destroyed. However, this could not happen, because of the public nature of the miracle, you see the people could clearly see and observe that God was at work through Peter and John, and their worked through God in the name of Jesus. So, because of the praise from God and fear of loosing political and religious face, the authorities could do nothing to them (other than threaten them not speak in this name anymore). So, they were let go. Peter and John though, replied in essence saying, “You may tell us that we cannot speak and teach in the name of Jesus, but God has told us that we must annnndd; we’re going to follow God, not you. This brings up to today’s text, which happened as they were being released. As move into to today’s text, I want you to see How we are to turn to God when witnessing seems hard.

First we have to see or : Know the urgency

23 After they were released, they went to their own people and reported everything the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

As we had just said, Peter and John were arrested and held under trail. And this is what happens right after. They were released and they went home. But they didn’t do what you would expect someone who had just been wrongly arrested would do. They didn’t just “lay low” for a bit, they went right back to doing what got them in trouble and right back to the people that they were getting in trouble with. What were they getting in trouble for? For sharing Jesus with others. For doing exactly what God had planned and empowered them and told them to do. To go and share The Word with others, tell people about Jesus, and go make disciples who in turn go and make new disciples themselves. So, the text makes it clear, they left the temple and went back to their people, back to the Newly formed Church and shared with everyone what had happened to them. This included of course the threats that they had (and thus everyone in the room, in the new church), to not share the name of Jesus with anyone else.

Have you ever been threatened by anyone? If you are like me, than conflict is not something you like to do or be in, in fact many if not most or all of us will do whatever it takes it to stay out of conflict and stay on the good side of whoever it was that threatened you; even if you knew their threats were more bark than bite and had nothing behind them. Threats can be big or small about both big and small things and everywhere in between. Either way, they have a power behind them. However this, is often an illusion of power, because all to often the one making a threat is very vulnerable or sees that they are weak in that moment, so they turn to violence and anger to try to preserve his/herself in their fear. Well, this was the case here. And think about who was making the threats in this situation. It was the people who in the world should have known (MORE THAN ANYONE) that they should not and have no room to make threats. This was the religious elites of the day. These are the people who, if they were doing what they were supposed to be doing, everyone would never dare speak against or work against them, because these were supposed to be the people who served almighty God. But here was Ohhhhh to clear that they were not serving Him, but many were serving themselves or their own earthly masters, or perhaps even Satan and sin. Make no mistake believer, and make no mistake pastor, this is a trap that we can all easily fall into, but it’s not really the point here.

The point here, is that if these men, who were supposed to be serving God (but clearly were not) were urgently telling them not to witness in the name of Jesus. Then, it must be urgent that we witness in the name of Jesus, because the need in the world is so Great! This was true for the apostles and for them, and it remains true for us, true for you today. Know the urgency that is your witness of Christ to others. All around us, all day every day are lost people who are so deep in the slimy bog of sin, that they don’t even know and they think the cold darkness and suffocating deepness of it is normal. It’s not, it shouldn’t be. It’s actually part of a curse, the curse of sin that is passed down from generation to generation, a curse that is only lifted when someone comes into saving faith in Jesus Christ. Sharing Jesus with other people, not just inviting them to church, or living a good/virtuous life, or being active in church, but telling them who Jesus is to you and what He can do for them is not just important, it’s urgent. It must be done. Because without Jesus, that person that has come to your mind just now, is doomed; doomed to eternal separation from God. So, know this, Know the urgency of sharing the gospel.

We also have to see that we are to Pray for boldness.

24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Master, you are the one who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, and everything in them. 25 You said through the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David your servant: Why do the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot futile things? 26 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers assemble together against the Lord and against his Messiah., 27 “For, in fact, in this city both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, 28 to do whatever your hand and your will had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, consider their threats, and grant that your servants may speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand for healing, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

So, after hearing this, after hearing about how two of their key leaders were arrested and threatened for doing the work of God, how did they respond? Did, they complain about it? No. Did they send a complaint to the authorities? No. Did they give up? Nope. Did they run away or complain about where the “culture is going these days?” No and No. They did exactly what they should have done, they did exactly what we are supposed to do in these hard and difficult times that they are in and are before them, they prayed to God about it. What’s more they came together and prayed to God together. They turned to the mighty one in which they serve, the one who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, everything in them, the one that made everything and looked to Him. They remembered the Holy scriptures, the promises of God and quoted Psalm 2, Why do the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot futile things? 26 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers assemble together against the Lord and against his Messiah., They remembered that the Gentiles (the romans) and the peoples (their people, the Israelites), and how they plotted together and stood against their Lord and Messiah, Jesus. In who’s name they forbid them to speak, and teach, and share with others.

In this, in these words, they fortified themselves, knowing that God is all powerful and that His Hand is in this all. They asked Him (God) to consider the threats against them, to keep the miracles that are being performed in Jesus’ name going, and to give each and every one of them boldness, and not fear, that they can speak and tell and share with others about Jesus.

In our weekly Pre-Service prayer meeting, we have been working through a book on prayer in addition to prayer for this church, the community, and our church service. Early in the book, it compared prayer to breathing. That both prayer and breathing are essential for life, but not just for the single person, but for an entire congregation. Without prayer, without breath, a person dies. Without prayer, without breath, a congregation dies. Why? Because the air that we breath in is God, and if we don’t take Him in, then our spiritual self is cut off and will die because it does not have the oxygen you need to survive. The book also shares that breathing (prayer) is not always easy. And this could be for many reasons, like you have asthma, your lungs could be damaged, or you have exerted yourself or ran to hard. For the spiritual self, this could be because of a personal sin you are battling.

Prayer doesn’t always come naturally too, all to often it doesn’t seem natural to us. When we have a crisis, how common and logical it is to try to solve it yourself. When your church is arguing and no one seems to be working together, prayer should be but is often not the first solution we turn to, we may want vengeance for whatever was done. The flesh wants vengeance, but your God wants you to turn to Him in prayer. Maybe your health is waning and you know that you have someone you still need to take care of. So, your nature tells you to ignore your health. Instead, God may be pushing you to give over your worry to Him. Perhaps you are scared. Perhaps you know you have work to do, perhaps you know you have a sin that needs to be removed in your life but you are to scared of it being shown. Pray to God for boldness and He will give it to you. Maybe the thought of sharing your faith with anyone, be it a stranger or someone you know, seems so scary or so odd that you don’t know how to go forward (and you know you are suppose to, we know God tells each of us to evangelize, no exceptions), do what they did. Pray for boldness. When you do this,

Another thing to see is that God gives boldness.

31 When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God boldly. [2]

So, here it is. What did they pray for? They prayed for boldness. They didn’t ask for relief from the oppression or even judgement or bad things to happen to those that were threatening them. Instead, they prayed for boldness to be able to continue the work that they were doing in the Holy name of Jesus. They were so caught up in one thing, they were concerned about one thing, that Christ’s name would be glorified through the church’s witness. We can say assuredly, that God would be please with this prayer; and it in and of itself serves and as a good model or pattern for us to pray ourselves both individually and together.

For them, God showed them that He was pleased with this request. The text here says that the place was shaken and once again they were filled with the Holy Spirit. He, the Holy Spirit empowered them to do just what their prayer request was, to speak Jesus name, to speak about God boldly. To witness boldly.

It’s often hard to think about boldness, especially boldness that is good. Usually, to be bold means that something unpleasant is about to happen to you, but your pushed to go and do whatever it is. Kind of like a firefighter. I think we can all agree, it takes a bold and brave person to run into a burning house. Even with all the safety equipment the modern firefighter has, very little can rescue you from a burning beam that falls onto you. Or a door way, the way out, that was opened a second ago no longer being an escape option. Non-the-less firefighters run into burning buildings every day and rescue someone who was in the building that could not escape on their own. These men or women are heroes, rescuers. Sometimes though, despite all their training, and teamwork, and equipment, a firefighter does not get out.

The same is true for you Christian. The only difference is, that God specifically gifts and equips you to witness. He gives you the words, the thoughts, the patience, and most of all Himself so that His work can be done through you. He gives you the boldness too. And I’ll tell you this for free, He can and will give you more boldness than a firefighter needs, should you need it and ask for it. In the same way that a firefighter rescues a child from a burning building, so too does the Christian evangelist (and if you can hear my voice right now and are a Christian, then yes you are a Christian evangelist) takes part in the rescue of a person’s eternal soul; which is infinitely more important and more valuable than the flesh and blood bodies that we wear. So yes, my brothers and sisters, when you ask for boldness in your faith, in your witness; fully expect that God will do this for you, and be prepared for action!

Conclusion

So, beloved. Do you know the urgency that is your witness? It’s so urgent, it’s so important the powers of the world are actively working against you. So, this means that we cannot and should not do this, share Jesus, on our own. It means we need God to empower us more than anyone and more than any method or teacher we may use or listen to. This means that we must pray for boldness because God gives boldness. Ultimately, what I’m saying is: Turn to God when witnessing is hard. It’s going to be hard, in fact I would say it is hard every time you do it. So, better yet, turn to God EVERY time you witness! That is the key, this is the key to seeing change in the people’s lives who are around you. This is the key to seeing change in your children or family members that have turned away from God. This is the key to seeing a community that has turned their backs on God or seem indifferent to Him turn and run towards Him. Evangelism done right doesn’t begin with a method, or a book, or education, or what have you. It starts with turning to God for help, it starts in prayer; and it’s one of the reasons we will have a special guest join us this fall (Sunday nights in September) to teach us more about prayer and ways to come together to it more. In the meantime, if you are having trouble sharing Christ with others. Repent from your hard heart and turn to Him to not only soften it, but to empower you as you go.

To the non-believer in the room right now. Friend I want to tell you something very very important. First, I want to thank you for coming here today. But I want to tell you most assuredly that no matter how many more times you come here and join us, you will not be any closer to salvation if you don’t take Jesus with you on the way out. You see, you can only be saved by taking the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross to free you from your sin. You do this by submitting to His Lordship in your life and accepting His payment for your penalty, which was so great that there is no other way. Period. No other way. So, if you need to talk more about this or have more questions, during our last song together and after the service, I will be here. Don’t leave without Jesus.

With that let’s conclude. Brothers and sisters, I love you all. Let’s pray. Father God, we thank you for your word and how it spoke to us today. Father, refine us with the message and make us like new people. Help us take it home and apply it to every part of our lives, but not just for the sake of keeping it to ourselves, but for the sake of us going out and sharing the Gospel with others, that You would be glorified. Give us boldness, and help us grow in our witness, and share our witness with others every day. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

[1] Christian Standard Bible. Holman Bible Publishers, 2020, p. Ac 4:23–31. [2] Christian Standard Bible. Holman Bible Publishers, 2020, p. Ac 4:23–31.