A Praying Community
A Tangible Display Community • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Conclude series “A Tangible Display Community”
“As a community dependent on God’s empowering presence, we devote ourselves to communal and individual prayer that delights in His presence and persistently petitions Him to act in our world.”
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Intro.
at the beginning of ch. 3 Peter and John were going to the Temple in Jerusalem and at one of the Temple gates they encountered a 40 year old man who was lame and was begging for money. He asked Peter and John for money, but Peter looked at him and said, Silver or 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!.....and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong and he began to walk.
and of course people took notice.
Many came to Peter and John and they shared with the crowd that had gathered the news of Jesus’ death and resurrection and invited them to Repent, and turn to God so that their sins may be forgiven and times of refreshing would come from the Lord.
And following that invitation, they received trouble and threats from the religious authorities, the Sanhedrin......they commanded Peter and John not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus and issued more threats.
Well without a doubt....a time of refreshing came from the Lord to his disciples in the story we are about to read. And as we read it there will be a temptation for us. The temptation will be something like this: “this is one of those Bible stories.... a story that happened a very long time ago, and it’s wonderful, it’s encouraging, but they don’t happen anymore.... they don’t happen in our day....they won’t happen in our church, they won’t happen in your life or mine.
That will be the temptation for us..... but I’m pleading with us this morning…through the faith and power that comes from the Holy Spirit… to resist that temptation this morning and listen to this story, as though for the first time… let’s listen with that invitation from Peter in our mind..... “Repent, turn to God so that your sins may be forgiven and times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”
23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: “ ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 26 The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.’ 27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 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.
It’s not hard to imagine that the disciples were troubled by the threats of the religious authorities… very real threats, that later in this same book result in people being thrown in prison and even killed.
I want to notice with us this morning three things that we see as this story unfolds:
What the disciples did
How they prayed
and what they prayed for.
First, notice what the disciples did…or, if I can put it this way, notice what they didn’t do!
They didn’t file a complaint with their local government official....they didn’t organize a protest and march around outside the gates of the temple....they didn’t organize a group of zealots who could secretly plot to overthrow the religious leaders through violence....they didn’t write letters to their government representatives, they didn’t start some kind of social media campaign to smear the names of these religious leaders or try to have them cancelled.... notice what they didn’t do....
They went back to their own people and had a prayer meeting… they recognized the significance of all that was taking place and, rather than taking stock of all the resources that they could bring to bear on the situation, rather than sitting in committee meetings planning and strategizing about what they needed to do… they called upon the name of the Lord together in prayer.... they turned their hearts to the One who has all power and authority, and call upon the name of the Lord.
When this sermon series began, we were invited to pray along through a 40-day devotional, which many of you are receiving a copy of each morning through your email INBOX. Perhaps you notice that several of the devotions this week were on prayer....
On one day, I wrote about the “boiler room”....
In the large church building in London that Charles Spurgeon preached in, was located, what he called, a “boiler room”. This wasn’t a room with a physical boiler that we might expect. Under the large sanctuary, it was a basement room that would be filled each Sunday morning with upwards of a 100 people in prayer; fervently calling upon the Lord during the morning worship service while Spurgeon was preaching to thousands upstairs. As the power of the Gospel was being announced—as the sword of the Spirit (Eph.6:17) was wielded in battle—the upraised hands of the boiler-room “pray-ers” called on the Host of Heaven to secure victory.
The next day I told part of the story of a church in New York City, called the Brooklyn Tabernacle....led by a young pastor at the time, Jim Cymbala.
In his excellent book, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, Jim Cymbala tells about the beginnings of his congregation. Humanly speaking the light in that small gathering of believers had almost gone out. But the Lord ignited the heart of their new pastor, Jim Cymbala, with a word of the Lord he received during a season of ministry despair. This is the announcement that he shared with the small group of believers one day in the heart of Brooklyn, NY. “It’s not fancy or profound or spectacular. But I want to say to you today with all the seriousness I can muster: From this day on, the prayer meeting will be the barometer of our church. What happens on Tuesday night will be the gauge by which we will judge success or failure because that will be the measure by which God blesses us.” Later in the same book he puts it this way, “no matter what I preach or what we claim to believe in our heads, the future will depend upon our times of prayer. This is the engine that will drive the church.”
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Having received trouble and threats from the religious establishment, we read that Peter and John went back to their own people and together they called upon the name of the Lord in a prayer meeting.
The second thing we notice is HOW they prayed.
Sovereign Lord they prayed.... and notice what Luke writes for us. He says this is how they prayed..... the church rooted their prayers in the Word of the Lord and in God’s sovereign PLAN....they anchored their prayers in the Scriptures and in God’s sovereign PURPOSE.
Sovereign Lord, you made the heavens and the earth and the seas and everything in them. In fact they reminded themselves of what the people in Nehemiah prayed when they were together as one people praying before God...
6 You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
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even the experience that they were going through, they realized, was in some way part of God’s sovereign plan.
And they knew that because of what God’s Word said.... they remind themselves of what the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the words of David in Psalm 2. Words written about a 1000 years prior.
1 Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,
Now let me pause here....as we study the Bible we realize something very important is being taught concerning how we read the Bible.... this passage applied to the moment in history that David was living in, but it also applies to other times and experiences..... Most importantly this passage in Psalm 2 intended to point ahead to the true anointed one of God, namely, Jesus Christ.
It’s almost like this text in Psalm 2 has simultaneously three time horizons in mind:
David’s day
Jesus’
other historical instances.
As they think about how God’s Word speaks into their particular situation, they are deeply encouraged by the fact that their life and their experience is all part of God’s will and purpose.
When they read in Psalm 2 about kings and rulers rising up together against the Lord and his anointed one, they say that in their day those people are Herod, Pontius Pilate, Gentiles, and even the people of Israel.....
They took great comfort and great confidence in knowing that God’s all powerful hand and sovereign purpose was at work in even this most difficult and challenging situation.
Listen to what they call to mind....
28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
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I hear them praying something like....“Lord, our trouble has not escaped you. Our circumstance has not caught you off guard. In fact even the most difficult, the most challenging, the most heart aching experience can be used by you to accomplish your good purpose.....
Without a doubt they were calling to mind what they had earlier shared with a crowd of people in ch. 3....
13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see. 17 “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer.
That is the kind of mighty and majestic God that we serve. No doubt they called that to mind and they were in that prayer meeting together.
28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
It seems to me that thinking about God’s sovereign purpose and power can create in us both CONFLICT and COMFORT.... explain....
God gives us prayers of lament to express our conflict / tension.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
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…notice HOW they prayed.... anchored their prayers in Scripture and in God’s sovereign plan.
Third, notice WHAT they prayed for!
it’s not hard for me to imagine that the prayers of this group of believers might go something like this:
Lord, frustrate the plans of the religious leaders to bring us harm
Lord, oppose the religious leaders and strike them down with your powerful hand
Lord, protect us and our families from their threats
29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
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their prayers centered on the church being an effective witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. Their prayers centered on the community being a tangible display of God’s power through healing and signs and wonders
Their prayers were less on solving their problems, less on providing them with comforts or benefits or resources, and much more on being an effective witness of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom.
31 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.
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I think this is exactly what Peter promised would happen when he spoke to the crowd in ch. 3.... when he said times of refreshing would come from the Lord.
not a Pentecost filling..... but a subsequent filling for empowerment and refreshment.
God still works in wonderful ways…I know you all know that.... God still can and does work in wonderful ways that reveal his sovereign purpose and almighty power. As you know, often in my sermons I’ll share some story or experience that I hope illustrates the very Word of God that we are considering together....this morning I’d like to invite one of our newer members to share some of her story and her experience to encourage us.
Questions for Nams
You grew up in a very committed Hindu home. Can you describe for us how your Hindu faith impacted your daily life?
How did you come to meet Jesus and become a Christian?
You have shared with me that prayer is a very important part of your walk with the Lord. Can you share with us an experience when the Lord greatly encouraged you through prayer?
As you think about the text of this morning’s sermon (Acts 4:23-31) what stands out for you and why?
It might be tempting to think that this is just one of those “Bible stories” yes it is, but it is also intended to teach us about God’s ongoing story..... a call to prayer, a reminder to anchor those prayers in the Word of God so that God can speak a fresh Word into our lives today, and an invitation to call upon the name of the Lord together and pray, “Enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness....and give us fresh power for signs and wonders that tangibly display the renewing power of Jesus Christ to bring healing and unity to all aspects of our daily lives.