A Bold Response to Difficulty: Acts 4:23-31

v23 - God’s people should be where we process

Where did the Apostles go? Acts 4:23 “When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.”

Who do you go to first to share?

Galatians 6:2 “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

v24 - Take each other to the Lord

What did the Church do after they heard about it?

Acts 4:24 “And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,”

Do you go to God together when difficulty occurs?

v25-28 - Interpret events through the lens of Scripture

a. Interpret your life through the lens of Scripture Acts 4:25–28 “who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “ ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’— for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”

Do you interpret events through the Scriptures?

b. God purposes difficulty to bring about His sovereign will

Do you trust God this is part of God’s plan?

v29-30 - Responding in faith, not fear - the type of prayer that brings heaven down

The essence of their prayer that became Scripture. The type of prayer that brings heaven down. Acts 4:29–30 “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.””

What are signs and wonders? A supernatural event that serve as a divine indicator of God’s presence

Burning bush, plagues in Egypt, Fire from heaven Mt Carmel, raising of dead, healing of sick, water into wine etc.

False signs

2 Thessalonians 2:9 “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,”

The heart of the Church

Hebrews 10:35–39 “Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.”

Do you step forward or shrink back?

v27 & 30 - Jesus is the focal point

Why were they focused on Jesus? Acts 4:13 “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.”

v31 - God’s response

What came of the prayer? Acts 4:31 “And 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.”

This is how we can continually be filled with the Holy Spirit - yield ourselves to the Lord.

v31 - Our response

Obedience again and immediately Acts 4:31 “And 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.”