Acts  Sermon Series

Wheelersburg Baptist Church 3/25/01 Brad Brandt

Acts 4:23-31 "Getting Serious about Prayer"**

You can tell a lot about people by their prayers. The following are prayers by young children:

You have to admit. Prayer is an amazing thing. The greatest being in the universe listens to us when we call on Him in the name of Jesus Christ. He invites us to pray. Indeed, He commands us to pray.

But unfortunately, when it comes to prayer, most of us struggle. Ponder the words of E. M. Bounds:

"This is not a praying age; it is an age of great activity, of great movements, but on in which the tendency is very strong to stress the seen and the material and to neglect and discount the unseen and the spiritual. Prayer is the greatest of all forces because it honors God and brings Him into active aid.

"There can be no substitute, no rival for prayer; it stands alone as the great spiritual force, and this force must be imminent and acting…We cannot run our spiritual operations on the prayers of the past generation. Many persons believe in the efficacy of prayer, but not many pray."

By the way, I should mention that E. M. Bounds penned those words about one hundred years ago. Edward McKendree Bounds was a lawyer in the 19^th century until God called him to preach the gospel. While serving as a chaplain during the Civil War, he was captured and held prisoner in Nashville, Tennessee. After his release he became a pastor. He is most remembered, however, as an ambassador for the importance of prayer.

He’s right, isn’t he? Many people do believe in the efficacy of prayer, but not many pray. Why is it that prayer services are the least attended events in the church?

Perhaps Bounds’ most well known statement is this one: "What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Spirit can use—men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Spirit does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men—men of prayer."

A church that’s serious about God will be serious about prayer. When people are serious about God they’ll be serious about prayer. It’s one thing to talk about prayer—after all, who would say prayer isn’t important? But it’s another thing to pray.

One of the things that strikes me about the record of the early church in the book of Acts is that God was real in their midst. And when God is real in a church there will be evidence of it.

We’re going to see two of the evidences in our next two studies. When God is real in a church, people will get serious about each other—that’s what happened in Acts 4:32-37 as we’ll see next time. But first of all, as we’ll see today, when God is real in a church, people will get serious about prayer.

The account of what the early church did in Acts 4:23-31 shows us how important it is to get serious about prayer. The incident involves three scenes.

Allow me to set the backdrop. A couple of months had passed since Jesus returned to heaven. The Holy Spirit had come, and the followers of Christ had begun to fulfill their mission of making Christ known in the world.

One day Peter and John healed a crippled beggar at the Temple, and used the event as an opportunity to proclaim the gospel of Jesus to the crowd. As a result, the church grew to some 5,000 men.

Motivated by jealousy, the Jewish leaders arrested Peter and John and put them on trial. Peter used the court setting, once again, as an occasion to proclaim Jesus. This infuriated the Sanhedrin, who told the apostles to stop preaching Jesus. In fact, the court commanded them to be quiet.

What happened next? Luke tells us in verse 23, "On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people." Stop there for a moment. That’s an interesting way to refer to the church, isn’t it? They went to "their own people" (to their "own company," as the KJV puts it]. In contrast with the world’s people, Peter and John went to their own people.

They’d just been with the world’s people and felt their hostility. Luke told us how the world’s people treated them in verses 5-22. In fact, he named some of them in verse 6: Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander. They are part of the world’s people. But once released, Peter and John went to their own people, that is, to the church.

Is that how you think of the church, as your people? Is that where you go when you face trouble? Sadly, some who profess Christ run from the church, and many more have no meaningful relationship with the church.

If you are a Christian, you must view the church not merely as a place you go once a week, but as a family to which you belong and are devoted. It’s in the church that you find your own people.

What did Peter and John do once they assembled with the church? Verse 23 continues, "And reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them." In other words, they told them about the threats, specifically about the prohibition to speak any more in Jesus’ name (18).

Herein was the problem. There was a conflict of messages.

A. God said one thing. But…

B. Man said the opposite. What was Jesus’ command to His church in Acts 1:8? "You will be My witnesses," He said. This wasn’t a suggestion, but a directive. Go, tell the world about Me.

But what did the Sanhedrin say? Don’t tell. This, too, wasn’t a suggestion, but a command. "Don’t speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus!" was the order.

Any time God says one thing and man says the opposite, you’ve got a problem on your hands. When God’s Word says that we are here by God’s creative act, and man says we are here by evolutionary process, we’ve got a problem. When God says marriage is supposed to be for life, and man says it’s okay to do whatever makes you happy, we’ve got a problem. Are we going to believe God’s Word or man’s word? Are we going to do what God says or what man says?

What should we do when we face problems like this? We ought to do what the early church did. This was a pivotal point for them. Think of what they could have done.

They could have become disillusioned or depressed, "Oh, no! What are we going to do about this problem? Maybe we should write our Congressmen and see if he can put some pressure on the court system. No, that won’t work. We don’t have a Congressman.

Well, then, maybe we should get a petition together and send it to Caesar. No, that won’t work. Caesar doesn’t like Christians. He wants everybody to worship him.

Oh, no! What are we going to do? Maybe we should just lie low for awhile."

Don’t take me wrong. I’m not opposed to writing letters to Congressmen. But I don’t want you to miss this. That wasn’t the early church’s first response to a problem, nor should it be ours. What was their instinctive reaction?

I read the story about a man who took his small son with him to town one day to run some errands. When lunch time arrived, the two of them went to a familiar diner for a sandwich. The father sat down on one of the stools at the counter and lifted the boy up to the seat beside him. They ordered lunch, and when the waiter brought the food, the father said, "Son, we'll just have a silent prayer." Dad got through praying first and waited for the boy to finish his prayer, but he just sat with his head bowed for an unusually long time. When he finally looked up, his father asked him, "What in the world were you praying about all that time?" With the innocence and honesty of a child, he replied, "How do I know? It was a silent prayer."

When the church met, they had a prayer meeting. I mean, they had a real prayer meeting. They didn’t just mouth words. They engaged in vibrant, meaningful conversation with God.

And I mean they. According to verse 24, they all prayed, not just the leaders. "When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God." How did they all pray together? It’s hard to imagine that they uttered aloud the following prayer in unison. One commentator suggests that possibly early Christian congregations repeated prayers one phrase at a time following a leader. Perhaps one person spoke as a representative for the whole congregation. Perhaps several participated vocally while they all prayed in their hearts.

One thing is for sure. They all prayed, and here’s why. It was crisis time. If God didn’t act, the church would perish.

What do you do when you know God wants you to do something that someone else is opposing? The early church prayed. Then they took action.

We can learn from them. Before us is one of the most amazing prayers in all of the Bible. What are the ingredients of real, God-honoring prayer? We see four of them right here.

A. Prayer should express what God is like (24). Notice how they began their prayer, "’Sovereign Lord,’ they said, ‘you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.’"

When we pray we mustn’t just rush into the presence of God in a flippant manner. We are talking with One who is unique in power and majesty. Thus, the first ingredient of an appropriate prayer is a high view of God.

The believers in Jerusalem began their prayer with the acknowledgement of what God is like, namely, by rehearsing two of His attributes.

1. He is sovereign. "Sovereign Lord," they said. The Greek word is despota, an uncommon title for God in the New Testament. The term appears only five other times (such as in Luke 2:29; 2 Tim 2:21; Jude 4), and is the word from which we get our English word "despot." It signifies that God is the absolute master. He is the Lord.

Let that sink in. True prayer doesn’t tell God what to do, but asks Him to do His will. When praying biblically we’re seeking God’s will to be done on earth, not man’s will in heaven. He is the despota, the Sovereign One.

2. He is the Creator. "You made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them," the believers prayed.

Why did they tell God that? Why did they begin their prayer acknowledging that God is the Creator? Had God forgotten? No, God doesn’t forget that but we often do.

We need the reminder. We need to express this truth to God. Why? If God made everything, then two things follow. One, He deserves honor from it all. It’s His world, all of it. And two, if He could make the universe, then there’s nothing He can’t do.

What a great way to begin a prayer—by acknowledging what God is like. Right here is one of the reasons why the prayers of some are so wimpish. They have a wimpish view of God. Once we’re gripped by the reality that God is the Sovereign Lord and Creator of this universe, it will affect the way we talk to Him.

B. Prayer should express what God says (25-26). "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 take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.'"

Do you ever struggle to know what to say to God? Is it ever hard for you to find the right words? It is for me. I find some practical help right here, however. Notice how the believers did two things in this second portion of their prayer.

1. They quoted Scripture. Specifically, they recited the first two verses of Psalm 2: "Why do the nations rage…?"

This is key. When God’s people truly worship God, they always do two things. One, they reflect on the Scriptures. And two, they pray. It’s been well said that prayer is our talking to God, while in the Scriptures God talks to us.

The two always go together. In fact, if we want to pray rightly we must study the Scriptures rightly. And if we want to study the Scriptures rightly, we must pray rightly.

When the early church prayed, the words of Scripture came flowing off their lips. Does that happen when you pray? Do you pray Scripture back to God?

You say, "But why did they pray Psalm 2?" It wasn’t coincidental. In fact, they weren’t merely quoting Scripture to God. Instead…

2. They interpreted the present in light of what God said in the past. Psalm 2 was a royal psalm. It was originally composed for the coronation of Israel’s kings. When a new king was installed in Israel, it was cause for celebration. And for potential rebellion.

The political transition from one king to another gave surrounding nations an opportunity to rattle their sabers. If the new king didn’t have enough power, they might resist him—or even attack him.

You see, then as now, the world didn’t like God nor God’s people. And that’s why the early church identified with the beginning of Psalm 2, "Why do the nations rage…against the Lord and His Anointed One?"

William Barclay comments, "The word translated rage is used of the neighing of spirited horses. They may trample and toss their heads; in the end they will have to accept the discipline of the reins."

It’s no different for men. They may rage against God and God’s people, yet in the end God will prevail. But that doesn’t keep them from raging.

Beloved, the battle isn’t new. It was raging ten centuries before Christ in David’s day. It was raging 1,900+ years ago in the days of the early church. The world hates the Lord and the Lord’s Anointed One, and desperately wants to snuff out both.

By the way, the rest of Psalm 2 (which the early Christians new well, though they didn’t mention it in their prayer here) shows how God responds to man’s opposition. Do you know what He does? Psalm 2:4 says, "The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them." He laughs! Not because it’s funny but because it’s tragic.

Then in verses 5-6, "He rebukes them in His anger and terrifies them in His wrath, saying, ‘I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.’"

What’s this King going to do to His rebels? The King shares a special message God gave Him in verses 7-9, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery."

Do you see what the early believers were doing? They were making sense of the present by looking to what God said in the past—in His Word.

Moms and Dads, we need to do more than just tell our kids to study their Bibles. We need to help them understand why. Why should we study God’s Word? For many reasons, but here’s a vital one. So we can make sense of what’s happening in the world around us, and then pray in a God-honoring way about it. Prayer should express what God says.

C. Prayer should express what God is doing (27-28). "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."

I’m impressed by the church’s perspective in prayer. Biblical prayers should reflect a high view of God and a high view of Scripture. But they should also exhibit a realistic view of what God is doing in the present. This prayer certainly did. Notice what they said about the present conflict. First, they acknowledged that…

1. Men rejected God’s Messiah. Why did Jesus die? Because Herod and Pontius Pilate formed a wicked coalition, along with the Gentiles and Israelites. The rejection of Jesus was a combined effort. All of these parties conspired against Jesus and killed Him.

Did you realize that prior to Jesus’ trial Herod and Pontius Pilate were enemies? They were, but according to Luke 23:12, their mutual hatred of Jesus brought them together.

It’s ironic, isn’t it? Yes, love can bring people together, but so can hatred, in a perverted sort of way. When a group of self-centered people rally together in opposition against a mutual enemy, they have a twisted, devilish sort of fellowship.

In fact, that’s why Jesus died—because evil men conspired against Him. Men rejected God’s Messiah. But that’s not the ultimate reason Jesus died. This is…

2. God fulfilled His plan. Don’t miss verse 28, "They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen."

Would you note that the early believers acknowledged their belief in the sovereignty of God as they prayed? In fact, the sovereignty of God is a great them throughout Acts (1:16; 2:23, 39, 47; 3:18).

Did Herod and Pilate catch God off guard? Not on your life! Nothing does. It’s been rightly said that God is the supreme historian who wrote all history before it ever began.

Who was responsible for Jesus’ death? Herod and Pilate were. The Jews were. We were, for our sins put Him on the tree. But God orchestrated it. He did what His hand and counsel determined beforehand would be done.

That conviction affected how the church prayed. It should us, too. In prayer, we should express what God is doing. Fourthly…

D. Prayer should express what we need God to do (29-30). "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 miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.""

John Bunyan once said, "You can do more than pray, after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed."

Beloved, if we’re going to pray biblical prayers, we need to express in clear, specific ways what we need God to do.

I’m intrigued by what these believers didn’t ask God to do. They didn’t ask Him to change their circumstances. They didn’t ask Him to put their enemies out of office. They didn’t ask Him to cause the persecution to ease up. Their concern wasn’t for personal well-being or comfort. Instead, they asked God to do three things.

1. Give ear to the opposition. "Consider their threats," they said.

Martin Luther faced severe opposition many times. Once the pope’s envoy threatened him with what would happen if he didn’t stop preaching the Word. They warned him that in the end he would be deserted by all his supporters.

"Where will you be then?" demanded the envoy. Luther answered, "Then as now, in the hands of God."

2. Give us boldness. Not relief, but boldness. Their specific words, "Enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness."

Why did they ask for boldness? So they could speak the word. Why did they want to want to speak the Word? Because that’s what God told them to do. That’s also what the Sanhedrin prohibited them to do.

Know this. It’s always right to ask God to help you do what He commands. Always. We need to learn to do what the believers did, base our prayers on God’s character, God’s promises, and God’s will. They asked God to help them do what He had commanded them to do.

Augustine said, "Pray as though everything depended on God, and work as though everything depended on you." Phillips Brooks wrote, "Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men and women. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Prayer for powers equal to your tasks."

That’s how the early Christians prayed. They didn’t ask for protection. They asked for power. Give ear to the opposition. Give us boldness. Then came a third petition.

3. Give evidence of the power of Jesus. "Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus." That’s what God had just done, right? In the name of Jesus, He’d just restored the limbs of a forty year old cripple. Now they were asking Him to do more of the same. Why? The miracles would confirm the message.

Does God still do "signs and wonders" today? I don’t believe so. I believe God did signs and wonders to confirm the message of the apostles during the transition time prior to the completion of the New Testament (Heb 2:4). There are no apostles today, so there’s no need for signs and wonders.

But that doesn’t mean God doesn’t still do amazing things, even miraculous things, to get people’s attention and authenticate the truth of His Word. He does. He can restore broken marriages. He can set men and women free who’ve been enslaved to alcohol addiction. At times He may even give physical healing. He can do whatever He chooses to do because He is the omnipotent God.

Indeed, every time God saves a sinner it’s the miraculous evidence of the power of Jesus’ name. No one is too far gone for Jesus. No one.

Beloved, I believe we ought to be asking God to do great things in our day. Not to bring attention to us, but to give evidence of the power of Jesus’ name—all to His glory.

Scene #1—the church had a problem. Scene #2—the church had a prayer meeting.

"After they prayed." Stop there. We can do more than pray, but we should do nothing until we pray! So after they prayed here’s what happened…

"The place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly." God gave two amazing demonstrations of His power that day.

A. God did something to the place. The building shook. That was one of the signs of a theophany in the Old Testament (Ex 19:18; Isa 6:4). God gave them a physical manifestation of His presence, just like He did at Pentecost. He wanted them to know He’d heard their plea, so He did something to the place.

B. God did something to His people. So that two things happened…

1. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. This wasn’t a "second Pentecost." There can’t be another Pentecost any more than there can be another Calvary. Pentecost was a one-time historical event. The Holy Spirit came to earth and formed the Church one time, and He hasn’t left since.

But His filling is different. We experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit one time, the moment we trust Christ. But we experience His filling more than once. This was a fresh filling in Acts 4:31. Some of these very people were filled back in Acts 2:4, but they needed a fresh filling for the task at hand.

2. They spoke the Word boldly. Don’t miss the connection. The evidence of the Spirit’s filling is the people’s bold speaking.

Do you see the significance? What did the people pray for in verse 29? Boldness to speak. And what did God give them in verse 31? Boldness to speak. God answered their prayer!

A tale is told about a small town that had historically been "dry," but then a local businessman decided to build a tavern. A group of Christians from a local church were concerned and planned an all-night prayer meeting to ask God to intervene. It just so happened that shortly thereafter lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground. The owner of the bar sued the church, claiming that the prayers of the congregation were responsible, but the church hired a lawyer to argue in court that they were not responsible. The presiding judge, after his initial review of the case, stated that "no matter how this case comes out, one thing is clear. The tavern owner believes in prayer and the Christians do not."

Why don’t we see more answers to prayer? Maybe it’s because we’re not really praying much. It could be because we’re asking for the wrong things. But just maybe it’s because we really don’t expect God to answer.

1. We admit our need for it. When asked to explain the secret of his remarkable ministry, Charles Spurgeon said, "My people pray for me."

Many of us in the American church seem to have forgotten something very basic. We need God. We really need God!

The early church knew that. They were desperate for God. The essence of their prayer in Acts 4 was this, "If you don’t help us, God, it’s all over!"

We lack that kind of "holy desperation." We’ve lost our sense of urgency. Know this. We won’t experience power in prayer until we admit our need for it.

2. We ask for it. You may know you need God and His power, but still miss out for this reason. You refuse to ask.

Some of you have never asked God to save you. Granted, the very ability to ask is gift of His grace, but you have no excuse.

Have you admitted your need for God and His power? Have you asked God to save you? Are you asking Him to enable you to live for His honor? First, admit. Then, ask.

We’ll never experience God’s power in prayer until we first, admit, then secondly, ask, and thirdly…

3. We’re willing to do something with it. God doesn’t give us power to hoard. He gives us His power to use to fulfill our mission. If God gives you the boldness, will you speak His Word to the lost around you? He will give it, so get ready to speak!

Acts  Sermon Series