Episode 8

Good morning everyone…I am so glad to be here this morning and have the opportunity to open the word together with you. Before we get going too far, I would like to take this time to welcome our kids to gather back in the back of the room and join together to attend kids church together. I love so much the fact that we have teachers that are willing to sacrifice and teach the kids on their own level. It is such a blessing as a church that we have men and women that have chosen to be a part of the discipleship of kids . I mean, how amazing is that! You know that is really one of the things that I love about this church. There is a real value with having people learn according to where their needs are. For instance, we have our kids classes, but we also have our online experience. Welcome those of you that are joining us online. Whether you are online becuase of illness, or injury, or geography or any other reason we truly are honored that you have chosen to join us this morning, or this afternoon depending on when you are listening. The online experience has allowed us to expand out spiritual family over the years and it is such a blessing. that said, if you are in the Ogle county area and you are searching for a spiritual family we would love to see you on any Sunday morning. We have coffee, snacks, amazing people, worship and a quality time in the scriptures together.

You see, there is something really powerful about joining together with a spiritual family. When you are with family you are typically encouraged and loved. You experience healing and care when you are with the ones you love. There is a reason that whenever you experience something traumatic you tend to want to see your loved ones. You tend to want to be with family. Listen, I want to share with you about a time that our family was without a church home. We were without that spiritual family that you find within a church home. It was around 2010 and we had just left the church were I was serving as youth pastor. We spent a couple of weeks worshiping at home as we relied on the Lord to give wisdom and guidance. Listen, finding a church home is not an easy task. You are essentially making decisions about who your spiritual family is going to be. So, we spent a few weeks worshiping at home and praying. We attended a couple of churches but had not made any kind of decisions about any particular church. Then we had a pretty hard situation arise within our extended family. There was profound loss and uncertainty that we were experiencing. We spent the next couple of months traveling alot to be with extended family and we spent a great deal of time essentially alone. Listen, we did not have a spiritual family, we had not yet commited to a local church and we endured hardships seemingly alone. Yes, we had our physical family, and they are amazing…However, there is just something different about a spiritual family. That said, I want to encourage you if you are in the area and if you are looking for a spiritual family, join us in person, or if not us, there are a number of other Bible believing and Scripture teaching churches in the area. Let me encourage you to take the step and make a commitment to join a spiritual family as soon as you can. You do not want to be outside and alone when tragedy and hardships arise.

You know, that is actually something that Peter and John knew as well. You see, we are in the middle of this series called The Book of Acts: and origin story. We are in season one, episode 9 of this series. We are looking at this in terms of a season becuase this is truly a story that build on itself every week. We are getting further and further into the story every week. Listen, we all love origin stories, we love to learn about the backstory and why someone or something exist the way that it does. That is why we have taken the last few weeks to learn a little about why the church is the way the church is. We also want to discover why we exist locally here. As a matter of fact, did you know that back in 1984 LRBC formed and they took up a very specific mission. The mission of Leaf River Baptist Church is to “Guide people to a life of faith in Jesus Christ then on to lives that are fully devoted to Him.” Thats a really important piece of information, becuase it is actually why we exist as a church today. That historical mission of LRBC is still true today. Yeah, we may do things a little differently that they were done back in 1984, but our overall mission is the same.

The same is true about the eternal church that was started back in the book of Acts. You see, way back then we have seen that Jesus gave a job to the church. He said that we would be his witnesses, right? This is an incredibly important job…as a matter of fact I have occasionally asked you the question, Have you personally participated in the mission of the church? You see, that question is relevant both to the mission given to the eternal church as well as this local expression here at LRBC. But that is not all that has happened, you see we have also seen that the disciples, they knew they could not accomplish this job alone. So, we saw that the early Christians devoted themselves to Spiritual growth and fellowship . Then last week we saw that Peter and John were arrested and that they were able to speak boldly in the face of persecution. Ultimately what we really saw is that The Holy Spirit provides boldness to proclaim the gospel in the face of persecution. . But what about after that moment of boldness? I mean, are you able to continue alone, are they able to continue with just the two of them? That is where we join Peter and John again this morning as we learn how they recuperated from this potentially dangerous opposition that they just experienced. We will see this morning that these men knew that being alone and not part of a spiritual family is not beneficial to them. We will see this morning that they left jail and immediately went to be with their family…who was already praying for them and for the situation. Lets dive in and look at how

They joined their family

OK, let’s read this passage together and see why I said they went to be with their family.

Acts 4:23–31 (ESV)

When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 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, 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. 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.” 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.

So right off the bat here I want to ask you a question. What does a family do? Well, a family listens to your hurts. However, in this case there is a very specific thing that a spiritual family does with you, so let me rephrase this question for you. What does a spiritual family do? Well, a spiritual family takes your hurts to the Lord....a spiritual family prays. Ok, so then of coarse when we read this passage it does not necessarily say that when they were released they went to family does it? No, it says that they went to friends. However, I want to show you something pretty cool. You see, the original language for the word “friends” is not quite so simple. No, the word used is the word ἴδιος. This word idios means fellow Christians, or…family, to be more specific it means relatives. So here we have Peter and John leaving the Sanhedrin who has just threatened them and immediately going to their spiritual family. You see, that is actually one of the most profound things that we can do as beleivers. Our physical family is immensely important and God willing they are part of your spiritual family as well becuase their is something unique about being with your spiritual family. Do you know what that uniqueness is? Your spiritual family includes the Holy Spirit. In fact, that is the bond that holds us together in the midst of suffering and persecution.

So they are now together and the first thing they do is listen to what happened. They are genuinely interested in what has happened. However, the next and most important thing that they did is pray together. Now for the next few minutes I would like to take a look at how they prayed and see what we can learn from the way that they prayed. I think together we will see

3 themes of their prayer together.

And if we can incorporate these into our own prayer lives and I believe we will be blessed. Now, that is not to say there is some magic formula, other than what Jesus gave s through the Lords prayer, but listen to how this spiritual family prayed together and see what we can learn.First of all when we look at the prayer of this spiritual family we will see that

1. They acknowledged God

We see that immediately they begin to reflect back to God who he is. Look at this,

Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them—Christians

You see they are reflecting back to God that they acknowledge his sovereignty and his oversight of these events. They continue to remember what was said through David as he wrote Ps. 2 relating to God’s triumph over Israels enemies. Now the Christians are seeing this as an example to remember.

Can we do that? I mean, can we look at Scripture and remember the amazingness of our Lord? Can we look at Scripture and be encouraged that God is actually sovereign over our circumstances and praise him for that, or would we rather feel sorry for ourselves? You see, many times we are in situations that we have no control over. Our own decisions did not put us there, and in those moment we have to choose whether to focus on ourselves, or on our God. These Christians when they joined together they choose to focus on their God, then after they took a moment to reflect and acknowledge God,

2. They acknowledged their suffering

You can see their turn in focus in vs. 29

And now, Lord, look upon their threats—Christians

You see, these Christians were acknowledging the reality in the threats that have been made against them. The sanhedrin has been very clear that they do not want the Christians to continue teaching about Jesus and about the resurrection. Peter and John already told these men that they would rather obey God and not man. However, now that they have told their spiritual family about these issues others need to make their own decisions. Everyone in that room, everyone that heard those words, everyone that reads these words has to make their own decisions. Will I obey man or God? You see, we face circumstances still today do we not? I mean, as brother Jim acknowledged a few weeks ago there are pastors around the globe today that are being threatened to either stop preaching the Gospel or go to jail. There are Christians that are being threatened to go against their Biblical beliefs for various reasons or lose their jobs. People all around the globe are being told to deny Christ or you will have to live as an outcast, or maybe you will not be allowed to live. We think of those in Afghanistan who recently fell back to the Taliban rule who actively hunts and kills Christians. Millions of dollars has been raised to send over secret missions to rescue missionaries from the midst of this evil. Still, others stay where they are in the midst of the promise of persecution becuase that is what God has led them to do. They must acknowledge their suffering....they must acknowledge their threats…But what do we do with these threats? What did the early church do in the face of these threats...

3. They requested boldness

Ok, I have to say this is itself amazing. I mean, did you catch what they are asking God for. They are not asking God to remove these threats or to protect them from the consequences of their actions. no, they are asking God for courage to do what they have been called to do…They are asking for courage to stand up for the Gospel. When is the last time you put that in your prayer? I mean, I just wanna put the pressure on a little, and this is on me as well…When is the last time you were faced with persecution or suffering of some sort and you asked God for Gospel courage instead of asking God to remove the obstacles in your life? Thats a bit convicting isn’t it? I mean, its super easy to pray and ask God to protect me and remove my struggles. Its a whole other prayer when I acknowledge that this is what God has called me to do and I ask God for the courage to do what he has called me to do. That kind of takes courage itself, doesn’t it? I mean, look at what they said,

grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness—Christians

Grant to continue to speak boldly…Lord, I know things are not going to be easy…Lord, I know that things are about to get hairy, but give us the courage to continue to speak boldly. Not to continue to speak easily…but to continue to speak boldly…I mean wow. Lord grant us the courage to put targets on our backs against this current culture that we live in. Lord grant me the courage to confront sin in the lives of my brothers and call them to repentance. Lord grant me the courage to speak boldly about you to my coworkers or even to my family. Lord, I know I may face some repercussions for following you, so grant me the courage to follow you boldly.

Here is the best part…They prayed for this boldness, and do you know what happened?

God moved

Yes, God moved…he responded in the most affirmative way that we can imagine. God’s response to these Christians is one of power and boldness in itself. The house shook and the Holy Spirit filled them all. Now, there is a common question here…Is this a new filling of the Holy Spirit? No, as a matter of fact here is what theologian John Polhill says,

It was a fresh filling, a renewed awareness of the Spirit’s power and presence in their life and witness—John Polhill

In other words, this is a reminder to this group of new Christians in the early church that the Holy Spirit has empowered them to do exactly what God has called them to do.

Now…here we are this morning and we are all faced with some sort of suffering or some particular circumstance. I know what your thinking…but Pastor Billy, you just don’t understand my situation…its different. Well, maybe I don’t understand, but I know the one who does understand? Do you know that God is sovereign and already knows how this situation is going to come to a conclusion? Do you know how good of a God we actually serve…or are you going to be focused on your particular situation?

Christian let me talk to you for a moment…Did you know that it is prideful for you to feel badly for yourself. You see, the whole idea of pride is being focused on yourself. Do you know how to move forward from feeling down about your situation and feeling worried or scared about what might happen in your life…Stop focusing on yourself and start focusing on God. You see, when these early Christians acknowledged God and acknowledged their circumstances,...then, they asked God for the courage to share the Gospel boldly. To share the Gospel in the midst of opposition…to share the Gospel in the midst of certain death…to share the Gospel in every situation. So, Christian, I want to encourage you…I want to admonish you to pray for this boldness to speak the Gospel into every situation. Listen, we have plenty of opportunity and if we are honest we all struggle to do this well at times, but that is why this prayer is so important. You see, the early church didn’t rely on their own strength to do what God called, and neither should we...

Now, if you are here this morning and you are wondering what all of this family stuff is all about…if you have never experienced this spiritual family that the early church experienced, or that we are always talking about here, then I want to ask you to reach out to me or one of the elders and lets talk about the Gospel and how the Gospel actually intersects with your life and your circumstance.

But right now, for this moment, let’s go to the Lord in prayer and ask him for the boldness to stand firm in the Gospel...

prayer