One Power – United in Prayer | Acts 4:23–31

Amen.

You may be seated.

Well, good morning.

Welcome to life.

Add my greeting then to Chuck's and others that has already been extended to you.

It's good to see you.

My name's Andrew.

I'm one of the pastors here at Life.

And it's good to be here.

Good to be with you today.

Let's open God's word together, if you would, with me to Acts chapter 4.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 4.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

I hope you have a copy of the Bible.

We want you to know that.

Somebody tripped back there, so I don't know if you heard that or not, but uh we want you to know uh we want you to have a copy of God's word in your lap.

Uh we want you to own one.

If you don't own one, if you don't have a Bible, we give them away for free out at the Connection Center.

We want you to get one of those because we believe that you must see it, you should see it for yourself.

This isn't uh, this is what the Bible says.

Like we're gonna tell you what the Bible says.

This is a let's see what the Bible says, and then let's unpack it together and make application from it to our lives.

So we observe, we interpret, we apply, we understand what God has to say to us, and so we want you to see it for yourself.

And we're in a series gearing up for kind of what we think in our minds uh as staff and leaders, uh, we think of this season as kind of the beginning of a ministry year.

And the reason we do that is because June and July is kind of a reset, vacations happen, summer break is here.

Uh our fiscal year as a church runs from July to June.

So July is kind of a prep.

August is kind of let's get ready and let's go into a ministry year where small groups and studies are happening, and so try to start with something that really directs us and helps us enter into a new season, which I'm super excited about.

Uh helps us do this in unity.

So this series is entitled that United.

And we really want to try to figure out what should unite the church.

It's not political party, it's not uh ethnic background, it's not even location uh or mindset.

It is the gospel, one faith, that we would be people who strive side by side for the faith of the gospel.

That was last week.

So we have one faith, we gather around that, and that faith is in the gospel, and we exist to stand firm and to advance the gospel.

And today I want to talk for a few minutes about the idea that we have one power.

One power is the idea here.

And I want you to think about that.

Think about that often in church life.

Most of our attention in church and in our world, obviously, but even amongst Christians in church life, our attention naturally moves horizontally.

It's very horizontal.

We think, if we're not careful, only about how do we reach people, how do we influence people, how do we build relationships, how do we create community, how do we serve people, how do we serve our community in our city?

How do we make a difference in our city?

And all of those things matter, and we must be about the horizontal element of the Christian life and church life.

In fact, we we'll see in Acts, when we study Acts a little bit today, that the early church was deeply committed to one another and deeply engaged in the mission.

Those are both horizontal.

But when you read the book of Acts and we really kind of understand the first church, you discover that this church wasn't only concerned with what was happening horizontally between people.

They were deeply conscious, uh conscious of their vertical dependence upon God.

They understood something here in the first church that I think we can easily forget and desperately need to remember.

That we cannot accomplish horizontally what God has called us to do without depending vertically upon the power of God.

We cannot accomplish the mission.

We cannot accomplish discipleship, we cannot accomplish a gathering of followers of Jesus who love him and are growing in him without the power of God.

And one of the primary ways that we express that dependence upon the power of God is through prayer.

And so when we talk about one power, there's one power that we rely upon and that we are dependent for and that we are desperate for as a people and as individuals, and that's the power of God.

And we see modeled for us in the book of Acts that that power flows through his people when they pray.

Now, I want us to be a people of prayer.

Now, I want us to be people who pray individually.

I want that.

I want prayer to be a part of the regular rhythm of our lives, but I want something more than that.

I pray for something.

I'm desperate for something more than that, and I want us to be a church that prays together.

That prays together.

A church that recognizes together, corporately, out loud, in prayer, that we need God, that we need his wisdom, that we need his power, that we need his courage, that we need his direction, that we need him to accomplish things among us that we cannot accomplish ourselves.

Because that's really the heart of prayer.

That's what prayer is.

Now here's the thing: we can become incredibly busy.

Again, I've already alluded to that, managing everything horizontally while forgetting to communicate vertically.

Charles Spurgeon, an old pastor from England, uh, imagined and gave a story or thought through this as if it was a foreman working for a large builder.

So think construction, think uh homes being built.

There's a foreman and he's working for a large builder, and the foreman would be diligent managing the workers, assigning responsibilities, doing everything he's supposed to do, but never communicates with headquarters, never goes to the bank for the money needed to continue the work.

He's just horizontally managing without vertically communicating to his superiors or his upline.

And Spurgeon said it this way: keep up a constant communication with heaven, or your communications with earth will be of little worth.

That's horizontal power is affected by vertical relationship.

So I don't just want to be simply good at ministry.

I want us to be people who desperately depend on God.

And before we really dive into this, I want us to be clear about what prayer is.

Please understand, prayer is not pestering a reluctant God until he finally gives us what we want.

Please don't think of prayer as this.

I'm gonna pester him and I'm gonna bug him until he finally relents and gives in to me and gives me what I want.

I want I want you to think about it different.

Prayer is rather approaching a loving, good father, expressing our desires to him and depending upon him to accomplish what is best for us according to his will.

It's a posture of dependence, it's a it's an altering of our hearts and our minds and our approach to life.

Prayer is fundamentally then an expression of dependence.

So every time we genuinely pray, we are acknowledging that.

God, I need you.

And that's exactly what we're gonna see in Acts chapter 4.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

The context is this there's a church attempting great things for God.

They are seeing God do incredible things.

People are being saved, lives are being transformed, the gospel is advancing.

They are, Philippians chapter 2, standing firm and striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and there is an advancement happen.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

People are getting saved, people are turning from sin and turning from dead and false religions and trusting in Jesus Christ.

There is revival happening in Jerusalem and other places, but with the advancement comes intense opposition.

Opposition to the gospel.

And when the pressure increased upon the first church, the church does something incredibly important.

They pray.

Not merely individually, not alone in their private times.

They gather together, they unite together independent prayer.

So I'm gonna read from the text for you and us today, from Acts chapter 4, verse 23.

Acts 4:23

Persecution for the gospel, advancement of the gospel happening, people coming against it, extreme circumstances were taking place, and here's what happens.

Uh they uh um the the apostles were preaching, teaching, and there was uh they were released and they came to their brothers.

So look at what it says in verse 23.

And when they were released, Peter and John, 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.

If you're a highlighter, that's a great sentence to highlight.

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 where 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.

What a cool account.

To be a fly on the wall, right?

Just to be there in this first church and experience this firsthand.

So what I want you to see, I want us to learn.

Remember the book of Acts.

It's it's descriptive of what's taking place as the church is getting established.

It's not necessarily prescriptive, meaning that this is the way it's always going to be, but this certainly is a model for how we should approach dependence upon the Lord.

And so there's a big idea that sits over the top of this.

I need you to write down and think about.

A united church prays together independence on the power of God.

A church united.

When they are united, they together pray, they go to the Lord, and it is independence on the power of God.

So that's what we're seeing modeled for us right here in Acts chapter 4.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

This is what we're seeing laid out for us.

And I want to unpack this and see what it looks like then to be a church united in dependent prayer.

What does a church united in dependent prayer look like?

What do we look like when we actually are doing this?

What does it look like when we as a church people, we as a gathering, we as a community, we as small groups are actually doing this?

And let's learn from that and then let's do it.

Let's apply it.

Let's see what God will do in our church.

Okay, there's there's there's four results, there's four uh characteristics, let's say, of dependent prayer that I want you to see from the text, okay?

Number one, dependent prayer of a united church is prayer in response to extreme circumstances.

Now, think about what Peter and John have just experienced, okay?

Let's think about this.

Back in chapter 3, Peter and John are going to the temple.

They encounter a man who has been unable to walk since birth.

And God miraculously heals this man, and a crowd gathers naturally, right?

There's a bunch of people now gathered.

They're like, what is happening here?

And as the crowd gathers to see what's going on, Peter begins to preach Jesus.

And he's preaching and he's unpacking truths, and this is when he makes the incredible statement in chapter 4, verse 12 there is salvation in no one else.

Speaking of Jesus, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

I mean, boldness is coming out.

Peter, remember the guy who was was ashamed of Jesus not too long ago, is now standing up and saying, uh, yeah, I'm not ashamed anymore.

There's no other name by which you must be saved.

It is Jesus and Jesus alone, only Jesus.

And Acts chapter 4 tells us that the number of men who believed grew to about 5,000.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

So we're talking like massive movement of God here.

People are getting saved, the gospel is advancing, uh, lives are being transformed, sin is being broken, religion is being uh uh uh uh set off as dead and and broken, and immediately opposition arises because of the gospel.

Peter and John are then arrested and they're brought before the religious leaders and they are questioned.

What are you doing?

Why would you do this?

How dare you say that Jesus rose from the dead?

That's just ridiculousness.

You're you're you're you're disturbing everything in this city, you're messing up our religious system.

And eventually in chapter 4, verse 18, they are commanded.

Look what it says.

So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

So he says to them, you guys just need to be quiet.

Just stop.

Stop this whole name of Jesus stuff.

Stop declaring that he died, stop declaring he rose, stop preaching the gospel.

And then Peter, in one of his epic responses in verse 19 and 20, says, But Peter and John answered them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge.

For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

You think it's better for us to disobey God and obey you?

Okay, you judge that, but we're not gonna judge that.

In fact, we've already made up our mind.

We cannot but speak the word of what of what we have seen and heard.

So the authorities, they threaten them further and then finally release them.

Now imagine being Peter and John.

They just got threatened, they just got told you keep doing this, standing up for the gospel, preaching Jesus Christ, teaching that he rose again from the dead.

If you keep doing this, bad things are gonna happen to you.

What do you do if you're Peter and John?

Where do you go?

And I love that verse 23 is recorded for us what they did when they were released.

They went to their friends.

They went back to church.

I love that.

Isn't that good?

Like they're like, yeah, maybe they told us to stop being the church, stop preaching the gospel.

I better, we better get back to church.

When they faced opposition, they didn't isolate themselves from God's people.

They didn't say, you know what, I'm just discouraged because it was just a rough day.

I'm gonna live stream the service from Jerusalem today.

You know what?

I'm just gonna I'm just gonna call out a small group this week because man, it's just that guy made fun of me at work today for being a Christian, and I'm just so discouraged.

They told the church what had happened.

And how did the church respond?

They didn't panic, they didn't complain, they didn't immediately develop a revenge strategy.

What did they do?

They prayed.

Verse 24 they lifted their voices together to God.

They went to God.

Peter wasn't uh uh making prayer his last resort.

The church wasn't making prayer their last resort, it was making it their first priority.

This is beyond us.

We better get to it.

We better get to him.

Oswald Chambers said it this way: we tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense.

We pray when there's nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.

That's how we are, right?

We pray when there's nothing else to do.

Well, we don't have anything else to do, we might as well pray about this.

And he's saying God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.

So their circumstances drove them to prayer.

And I think this is something we need to stop and just apply and recognize.

Pressure reveals where our dependence really lies.

When pressure increases in your life, where do you run first?

Some of us run to worry.

Like, I'm gonna worry about this, I'm gonna stress about this.

Some of us run to another person.

When something happens, you you think I need to call that, I need to call my friend, I need to call my mom, I need to call my dad, I need to call my my my whatever.

Some of us run to our phones and Chat GPT or grok, right?

How do I deal with evil leaders that are threatening to kill me?

I'm sure ChatGPT has a great answer, but I wouldn't trust that.

Some of us run to Google, some of us run to fixing, some of us scheme and build something up.

Some of us immediately start strategizing.

How can I solve this?

How can I fix this?

How can I control this?

And none of those things are necessarily immoral or wrong, but there's a better question.

It is this do I run to God?

Because prayer says, God is bigger than me, but isn't bigger than you.

God, this is bigger than me.

God, this is bigger than me, but not bigger than you.

In fact, Martin Lloyd Jones once gave this advice always respond to every impulse to pray.

I love that because our instinct is often the opposite.

We think, I need to deal with this first, I need to make the phone call, I need to solve the problem, I need to develop a plan, then I will pray.

But if prayer becomes our reflex, what if the pressure itself becomes the trigger that reminds us to prayer?

That's what happens here.

Opposition didn't push them away from God, opposition pushed them towards God together.

And notice that they didn't pray individually.

Again, verse 24, they lifted their voices together to God.

This is something powerful I love about God's people here coming together and saying, We need God.

Just together.

See, a united church doesn't merely talk to one another about its problems.

A united church talks to God together about its problems.

Their dependence was directly connected to their engagement in God's mission.

They were being threatened because they were preaching Jesus and the church rallied around them.

And here's here's what I think is so important.

We say in church, we're very good at being American Christians, right?

We got the lingo, we've got the thing, we just say, Oh, bless your heart, I'll pray for you on that.

Right?

And sometimes you will, sometimes you forget, sometimes it's genuine, sometimes it's not.

Sometimes it's just it's just built into Christian church language.

And I would say, instead of saying, I will pray for you about that, let's say, let's pray about that right now.

Hey, brothers, sisters, sister so-and-so needs help.

She's going through a situation, circumstances are extreme.

Let's rally, let's gather, let's come around her.

And this is because for them they were living on mission.

Now, the question I asked when I read this for the first time was this could it be that one reason the American church doesn't pray desperately is because we aren't attempting very much that desperately requires God.

Could it be that I'm comfortable?

Like my paycheck is coming every two weeks.

My mortgage is paid, my car runs, my seat is comfortable, for the most part, the air conditioner at the church works for the most part.

It's pretty comfortable around here.

And so I I mean, God's just been good.

So I mean, I'll just thank him.

I'll I'll praise, pray to him in gratitude.

But I just wonder if it could be that one of the reasons that we aren't desperate for him to work is because we're really not that interested or uh involved in that which desperately requires God to work.

If our engagement in the mission of Jesus never brings us to dependent prayer, perhaps we aren't as engaged in the mission as we ought to be.

Or maybe you just aren't aware of how desperately you need him.

When you begin attempting things that only God can accomplish, you quickly discover how much you need God.

When we desperately want people to come to meet Jesus as their savior, we are reminded we can't save anyone.

When you become burdened for the person whose heart is darkened and desperately wicked and lost, we we then need his power because we realize we can't regenerate a heart.

When we're desperate for people to love Jesus and experience the fullness of a relationship with him, and we long for our family or our friends or our kids or our spouse to desperately know him, and we realize we can't do that on our own, so we can't make someone love Jesus.

We can't transform someone's life, we can't manufacture a spiritual awakening.

See, when we long for America to see a revival, when we long for Las Vegas to be transformed, when we have such a burden that God would do something in our church that would transform our city and our country, then we are aware of the fact that we lack the power to accomplish it.

So we go to Him in desperate prayer.

And what the church was doing here was they were standing up and they were saying, Hey, y'all, there's no salvation in any other name other than Jesus, and y'all need to believe him.

Y'all need to repent, y'all need to be saved.

And when they stepped out and did that, opposition came and dependence grew.

So opposition drives them to prayer.

In every situation, by the way, our faith, when it is stretched and circumstances overwhelm us.

God never intended for us to carry the pressure.

We are to be a people who run to God.

First, we run to God's people, and then we together run to God.

I love the picture.

But notice what happens when they begin praying.

They don't begin with their problem, they begin with their God.

So number two is this dependent prayer of a United Church is prayer in recognition of divine sovereignty.

Now, notice what happens in verse 24.

It's fascinating.

They have just received threats from some very powerful people.

The religious establishment has told them stop preaching Jesus.

And their first words out of their mouth in prayer are sovereign Lord.

What a cool phrase.

It's despotes.

It means one who possesses undisputed ownership and absolute unrestricted authority.

This is often referring to a leader who was like a tyrant, like a like a person who was cruel in their tyranny as leader.

It's not applying to the cruel tyranny, it's just saying he has absolute authority.

That's what their recognition is.

They start there.

In other words, what they were doing is this: they were saying, they may have authority, but you, God, have ultimate authority.

So before they ever make a request, before they come to him and say, This is what we need, here's our plan, bless it.

They remind themselves who God is.

That is important.

Because dependent prayer begins by recognizing that the God we are praying to is greater than what we are praying about.

Sometimes we come into prayer and we're so consumed by the size of our problem, don't we?

I know I do that.

My problem is big, God.

I got some things I need to talk to you about.

And sometimes we come to prayer so consumed with the size of our problems that we forget the size of our God.

And Acts 4 reverses that.

They don't begin by telling God how big their enemies are, they begin by reminding themselves how big their God is.

And they remembered three things about it.

Notice their prayer.

I want you to see this, okay?

There's three things they notice about him in their prayer.

First, they acknowledge that God is sovereign over creation.

Look at it in verse 24.

Sovereign Lord who made the what?

It's okay.

Hey, I I wake your partner up, wake him up next to you.

Let's think about that.

Sovereign Lord who made the heaven and the earth and the and everything in them.

So, so listen, what's missing from that list?

Nothing.

Everything.

The God who made heaven, the God who made earth, the God who made the sea, the God that made everything that exists.

So think about their perspective that this is giving them.

The Sanhedrin looks powerful until you remember who made the Sanhedrin.

Herod looks powerful until you remember who made Herod.

Rome looks intimidating and powerful until you remember who made the world that Rome occupies and allows Rome to live in it like they do.

Whatever circumstance you're facing may be bigger than you, but it isn't bigger than your God.

Independent prayer starts there.

Sovereign Lord who created all things.

Listen, let's just make it a habit when we go together in prayer that the first thing we do is we declare in prayer sovereignty of God.

God, you are bigger, you are stronger, you are more powerful than cancer, you are more powerful than opposition, you are more powerful than sin, you are more powerful than this thing that I'm bearing to you today.

God who is sovereign over creation.

And then I want you to see what they do, and they teach us that God is sovereign over scripture.

In verse 25, they quote Psalm 2, who, I love this, through the mouth of your father, our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit.

By the way, inspiration of scripture.

David said by the Spirit.

This is what's happening.

David was recording the word of God that was given to him by the Spirit of God.

This is all scripture is breathed out by God.

This is a little proof text for the inspiration of scripture.

And Psalm chapter 2, he says this.

Psalms 2 · chapter mention

This is what they quoted.

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.

So they're quoting Psalm 2 in their prayers.

What is happening is that they are interpreting what is happening to them through Scripture.

And Scripture is informing the way they pray.

Think about what is happening.

Circumstances say, powerful people are against us.

But Scripture says God already told us the nations would rage against his anointed.

Circumstances are saying everything is getting out of control.

But Scripture says, nah, God's still on his throne.

Circumstances say maybe the mission is in danger and we're not going to accomplish it.

Scripture says, why do the people plot in vain?

They can't thwart this, they can't stop this, throw all they have at you, and they can't do this because God is on the throne.

They are plotting in vain.

So they are allowing God's word to interpret their circumstances rather than allowing their circumstances to interpret God.

Amen.

That's a good point right there.

I will sit on the front row and amen the preacher if I have to, just to make sure that I know we are all still here.

They are saying, God's word tells us this about you, God, and I'm speaking it back to you in prayer because you're the sovereign Lord who is sovereign over Scripture.

We often do the opposite.

Something painful happens and suddenly question whether God is good.

Something unexpected happens and suddenly question whether God is sovereign.

Something big, difficult happens and suddenly we question whether God knows what he's doing.

But dependent in prayer says this I will not interpret God through my circumstances.

I will interpret my circumstances through what God has revealed to me about himself in his word.

Their theology shaped their prayer.

And their theology was shaped by scripture.

Listen, this is why you should be in God's word.

This is why we say we give Bibles out there away for free.

This is why we have studies.

This is why we have small groups.

This is why we open God's word together.

Because God's word informs the way we prayer and how we see God and how we interpret circumstances.

And when we come together, informed by Scripture, run to the throne room together and pray for God's help, we have something that is supernatural that takes place in response.

But notice what else he says.

They don't stop there.

The theology of this church was deep.

He says that, or they recognize that God is sovereign over history.

So he's sovereign over creation.

He's sovereign over scripture.

God's word told us this was going to happen.

And he's sovereign over history.

Notice what they say.

For truly in this city, in this city, Jerusalem, there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with Gentiles and the peoples of Israel.

So think about that group.

Herod, Pilate, Gentiles, Israel.

So we're talking political power, we're talking religious power, we're talking human rebellion.

He pretty much covered them all.

All of them united against Jesus.

And look what this says in verse 28.

It says they gathered to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

See, there's this idea that, well, the the Jesus came to reign and yet then they they they overthrew the plan of God and they killed him.

Can you believe that?

They messed up the plan of God and they killed him.

God's like, what do I do now?

I guess I gotta raise him from the dead.

Oh no.

And his point here, the theology of the church is like, no, like we recognize that Herod, yeah, he he was part of your plan.

Uh Pontius Pilate, yeah, he was part of your plan.

The religious leaders, yeah, they were they were part of your plan.

So here's what's crazy is that the most evil act in human history was the crucifixion that perfectly killed or killed the perfectly innocent son of God.

And humans meant it for evil, and yet somehow, without God being the author of their sin, their sinful actions accomplished the sovereign purposes of God.

They were looking at this, and at first they probably were like, God, what are you doing?

That's the Messiah.

Why would you lose control of this?

And looking at it from the bottom up, we might see it like the back of a tapestry where all the threads are just going everywhere.

But God on the top side is saying, I got this, it's perfect.

The plan is unfolding just as I planned it to.

The cross looked like the moment everything had gone wrong, but the cross was actually the centerpiece of God's plan of redemption.

What appeared to be the greatest defeat for God and his people was accomplishing God's greatest victory.

So when Peter and John were threatened, the church remembers the cross.

That's a great thing to do.

Remember the cross.

When circumstances are severe, when opposition is coming, when something seems inexplainable, remember the cross, and the cross reminds you: human opposition cannot overthrow the purposes of God.

Disease cannot overthrow the purposes of God.

Reminding us is the cross that stands for all the world to see.

Jesus suffered, and Jesus did that according to the predestined sovereign plan of God because He is a God who had this from the beginning.

It doesn't mean more nothing painful will ever happen.

Certainly not.

Jesus suffered, the apostles suffered, the church suffered.

The sovereignty of God doesn't mean that God's people will never experience pain.

It doesn't mean that you'll never get a bad diagnosis.

It doesn't mean that you will never get thrown in jail.

In fact, that might be good for the church in America.

Listen, it doesn't mean that nothing bad can happen to us.

What it does mean is nothing that happens can stop what God intends to accomplish in us.

It means that God has a perfect plan for the North Korean Christians right now.

Can you understand it?

I can't.

I don't have to, though.

That's the relieving part.

That God has a plan for the Christians who are in a world right now where they are secretly meeting because the enemy will come and arrest them because they are standing up for the gospel.

God has a plan.

God doesn't lose them in South Asia.

Like, where are they?

We don't know.

They're somewhere down there meeting.

We're gonna find them something.

He's got a plan for them, refining them and advancing the gospel.

So here's what they did: this the church here together, running after God, they look at creation and remember God's power.

They look at scripture and remember God's promise, and they look at the cross and remember God's plan.

And all of that was what they started with before they ever came to pester God about something they wanted.

That's so good, man.

Thank you, church, for modeling this for us.

Now they're ready to make their request.

So they start in response to extreme circumstances, they go to second recognition of God's sovereignty, and then last, third, they pray in reliance for divine courage.

So here they said, verse 29.

Now, Lord, look upon the threats grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.

Wow.

I think this is the most surprising part of the prayer for me.

It's cool to read, and I'm like, yes! Like, like I'm watching a movie here, and I'm like, get on, that's great, but but these are real people.

Humans, flesh and blood, worries and concerns and weaknesses, and just got their lives threatened.

They didn't pray, God, make the threat stop.

Did they want that?

Sure.

Sure they did.

They didn't pray, God, remove these people from power.

They didn't pray, God, make our lives easier.

They didn't pray, God, keep us from suffering.

The prayer isn't primarily God, change our circumstances.

Their prayer ultimately was, God, empower our obedience.

Dependent prayer.

Look at what he does.

Look upon their threats.

I love that.

Look upon their threats.

In other words, God, you see them.

We are acknowledging the fact that God sees them.

He is not ignorant of the fact that they just threatened to kill us for standing up for Jesus.

They don't have to control their enemies because God sees their enemies.

They don't have to obsess over the threats because they have placed their threats into the hands of a sovereign God and said, God, see them, look upon them.

We know you are.

God, see what they're doing.

We're trusting them to you.

Then he says, Grant to your servants.

I love that word, servants.

They just began their prayer by calling God sovereign Lord, and now they call themselves your servants.

If he is the master, they are the servants.

And if we are servants, then the primary question is not what would make me most comfortable.

The primary question we ask is, what does my master want me to do?

Christianity is ultimately about getting God to accomplish not our agenda, but it's surrendering ourselves to accomplish his agenda.

And that's what they're doing right here.

God, we know we're clear.

It is clear what you want us to do.

In fact, they even say it in the next part of their prayer to continue to speak your word.

They know their assignment, they understood it.

The authorities have said, stop speaking.

But Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel.

You have opposing authorities telling you two different things.

One authority who has the power to take your life says, stop speaking.

The ultimate authority who has the power to take your soul says, go into all the world and preach the gospel.

And so they know who they must obey.

They were clear.

Clarity was not the option.

Their prayer wasn't for clarity, it was for boldness.

They wanted to speak the boldness, with boldness, the word of God.

In fact, that's their last prayer.

To speak your word with all boldness.

They know what God has called them to do, that is clarity.

They know what they need, that is courage.

They recognize that they cannot do what they are called to in their own strength.

So essentially their prayer is this God, give us what we don't have so we can do what you've called us to do.

What a great prayer.

Dad, that would be a great prayer for you, Dad.

God, you've you called me to father children and make little disciples of these heathens.

And I lack the power and the wisdom to do this.

So God, give me what I don't have so I can do what you've called me to do.

Mom, that would be a great prayer.

I'm called to care for and love and nurture and graze these children up.

So God, I know I don't have the power.

I know I don't have the wisdom.

I know I don't have the clarity.

So God, give me what I don't have so I can do what you've called me to do.

I have clarity, I know what it is.

I just need the courage and boldness to do it.

God, I know this would be great for all of you Christians who know and feel the weight that I want to share Jesus with my neighbors and my friends and my co-workers, and you recognize that you sometimes get a little nervous.

Your hands start sweating, your heart rate goes up because you're at the water cooler, and there's Bill, and you know that Bill meets Jesus, and you know that you may be in Bill's life to share the gospel with Bill.

And the Spirit of God is saying, Hey, you should probably share the gospel with Bill.

And now you're nervous, and now you're worried, and now you're like, hey, so how was your day?

Right?

And you're sitting there thinking, I need to unpack the gospel to him.

And I don't want to be a jerk about this, but I want to do it in a kind way, in a truth-giving way.

And so you say that prayer, God, give me what I don't have so I can do what you've called me to do.

We can apply this in every area.

That's dependent prayer.

Maybe that's what we need to pray.

Give me wisdom, I don't have.

Give me courage, I don't have, give me patience, I don't have.

Give me strength, I don't have, give me boldness I have, give me what I don't have so I can do what you've called me to do.

And then look at verse 30.

I love this because this wasn't, we own all of the responsibility to make something happen.

Because then in verse 30 they said, we pray for you to do in us something we don't have while you stretch out your hand to heal.

While you do the work, while you do some stuff, the stuff only you can do.

And signs and wonders will be performed or are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

Like we want boldness to just do what we're called to do, but we're gonna trust you for the results to do the thing only you can do, which is to heal and save and do incredible things through the name of Jesus.

We will open our mouths, God, you stretch out your hand.

What a cool phrase.

God, I'm gonna obey you and open my mouth, but I'm gonna trust you to stretch out your hand and heal.

God, I'm gonna open my mouth to share the gospel, but I'm gonna trust you to stretch out your hand and save the soul.

I will obediently do what you have commanded me to do, and I'm gonna trust you to do what only you can do.

That's dependence.

Dependent prayer doesn't replace obedience, it empowers obedience.

Prayer isn't God, do what you've told me to do.

This prayer is, God, give me the power to do what you've told me to do and accomplish through my obedience what only you can accomplish.

That's what's happening here.

They were in reliance upon missional courage.

They weren't asking just for courage to make the right vote or stand up for a political party or or be some sort of conservative voice.

They wanted courage to preach the gospel to a lost world so that salvation can come upon people.

Reliant prayer.

Now look what happens.

This is the best part.

Like I get all chill bumped and giddy about this, because this prayer of a dependent united people is prayer that results in divine empowerment.

So here's what he says.

When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken.

I don't, I don't, I don't, there's some sort of earthquake, God, a God-initiated earthquake, some kind of like movement of the spirit.

I don't know.

I don't, I don't know.

I'm not saying this is what happens when we pray.

That's but they were filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

So can you imagine being in that room?

You're like praying, God, do something great here, and then and you're like, whoa! Like that's incredible.

And they finished praying, and suddenly the building shook, and God gave them a visible, tangible reminder.

I am here.

But you don't here here's what thing that I want you to see.

Please don't miss this.

The greatest evidence that God answered their prayer isn't that the building shook, it's what happens next.

And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

What did they ask for in verse 29?

Did they ask for an earthquake?

No, they asked for boldness.

And what did God give them in verse 31?

Boldness.

God answered their prayer.

But but the answer isn't merely that they feel more courageous.

They continued to speak the word of God.

They obeyed.

That was what they were praying for.

I just want courage to feel stronger.

I don't want to feel encouraged.

I I want I want the courage to speak.

And then they went and spoke.

They obeyed.

The evidence that God answered their prayer wasn't merely that they had experienced a shaking in the room, it was that they what they did when they left the room.

Here's the application.

Don't miss it.

We can gather together.

We can sing, we can pray, we can be moved, we can have an emotional experience, we can sense God's presence, but the question is: what happens when we leave the room?

Does prayer produce obedience?

Does our time together running after God produce courage?

Does it produce mission?

Does prayer cause us to walk back into the same world with greater dependence upon the Spirit of God?

I feel encouraged on Sunday, but I gotta go face Bill on Monday.

And that's scary.

See, in Acts 4, the circumstances didn't change, the threats didn't disappear, the opposition didn't stop.

In fact, we're read the rest of Acts.

The opposition only became more severe.

But the people changed.

Why?

Because they were united in dependent prayer before God.

They walked back into the same circumstances, filled with the same Spirit, filled with the Holy Spirit, and empowered to accomplish the mission that God had given them.

They had courage that God provided.

C.

H.

Spurgeon said, prayer is the engine of the church, it supplies the force.

That's what we need.

So there's an awesome progression that's going on here.

Opposition drove them to prayer.

Sovereignty settled them in prayer.

Mission directed them in prayer, and the Spirit empowered them through prayer.

And underneath all of it was that they knew they needed God.

That we would gather to know him and scatter to make him known, encouraged and strengthened in boldness through his spirit.

I wonder if one of the greatest dangers facing the church today isn't simply opposition, it's self-sufficiency.

We've become very good at doing church and playing the Christian.

I thank God for everything that we get to do here, but here's the danger.

We can become good enough at doing church that we attempt to do God's work without desperately depending upon God's power.

We got to remember our inability to save and change lives.

The mission of God requires the power of God.

And if the mission requires the power of God, then the mission must drive the people to God in prayer.

So maybe the question for us is simply not, do we pray?

The question might be, what are we attempting together that requires us to pray together?

Church can accomplish a surprising amount of things through talent and money and organizational skill and organizational leadership, personality, and strategy, but we cannot accomplish the mission Jesus gave us without the power of God.

So may we never become so capable that we stop being dependent.

May we never become so organized.

That we stop being desperate.

May we never become so confident in what we can do that we forget what only God can do.

May opposition drive us to prayer.

May God's sovereignty settle us in prayer.

May God's mission direct us in prayer.

And may God's spirit empower us through prayer.

Amen?

All right.

Three quick truth to life questions.

Let me give them to you.

Jot these down.

These are in the first person for you to write.

To ask for yourself that application might come to your life, that the truth of God's word might come to bear on you in your life today.

And there's three of them that I want you to think about.

The first one, I'm going to say it this way: Ask yourself this.

What side of the mission am I on?

In Acts as in life, we see that there are people on different sides of the gospel mission.

There are people who are the missionaries on offense for the gospel.

They are sharing Jesus, they're trying to push back the darkness and have God use them to bring their friends and family and neighbors to salvation.

I hope that's the side you see yourself on.

But there are other people who are the mission field.

These are those of you who have never placed faith in Jesus Christ, repented of your self-dependence, and have ever never been saved.

And we we don't we're not trying to make you feel uncomfortable.

We just want you to know that we're here to help you know Jesus saves.

Jesus is the answer.

He's the only one who can save.

And if that's where you are, then your response is I'm I'm I want to run to this Savior.

I want to know this Savior.

There are people who are on defense opposing the gospel.

They're those actively trying to hinder the advancement of the gospel in this world.

There are also people in our church even today who are saved and have met Jesus as their Savior, but our spectators.

They're the ones saying, that's someone else's job.

I think each of us know how we should respond.

Which one are you?

Respond accordingly.

Number two, where do I most desperately need the Lord?

Where in your life right now are you facing something you cannot fix?

It may not be opposition from high priests and the religious people or even political, it may not be that.

Maybe that you're just facing something that's beyond your ability, your marriage, your children, a decision, your finances, maybe someone you're trying to reach with the gospel.

Maybe it's an area of sin and temptation.

Maybe it's something God has called you that's to that scares you.

Where do you desperately need what uh God to do what you cannot do and only He can do?

And then run to your people and together run to your God.

Number three, who needs to be, who needs me to be clear and courageous about Jesus?

Christian, follower of Jesus, this is specifically for you.

You are in a context of life where God has sovereignly placed you to be on mission for Him.

So who needs you to share Jesus with them?

I'm not talking about courage to just be a conservative.

I'm talking about courage to stand up for Jesus, to preach the gospel, to stand and share Jesus and the hope that he can bring with the lost around you.

Who is that?

Let's pray about that.

Let's go to him in prayer about that.

A united church prays together independence on the power of God.

They lifted their voices together to God.

May that be true of us.

Let me pray.

Then we're going to turn our attention to remember the cross through the bread and the cup of communion.

Well, Father, thank you for giving us the example of the church in Acts.

How they were bold.

How they shared Christ.

How they preached.

How they lived on mission.

And how they dealt with opposition.

There's an easy way for us as a church just to kind of maintain.

Let's just let's just get into cruise control, holding pattern.

We're good.

Don't rock the boat.

Don't shake things up.

Don't draw any uh attention.

Let's just this is good.

Why mess it up?

And uh I don't I don't want to live that way, Father.

I want to I want to live in such a way that we're we're out moving, pushing back darkness, spreading the gospel, preaching Jesus, getting the attention of the enemy, stepping out by faith.

And then come desperately to you for help.

Fully aware that we are facing things we have no ability to handle.

So we want to pray together.

Be a people who pray together.

God, we are people who recognize that we have the access in prayer to you because of what Jesus has done for us and the salvation that we have.

And there's a real possibility that there's some in this room who don't know Jesus as their Savior.

They've never trusted Christ and turned to him in faith.

And before they even start to try to pray, I pray that they would just run in faith to Christ.

Save them now.

We turn our attention now, Father, to the bread and the cup that we're about to take to remember the cross.

I'm thankful that this church remembered the cross in a way that we should today.

That that wasn't an accident, that wasn't plan B.

That wasn't a thwarted plan that you had to figure out how to fix.

That was your plan for our salvation.

That Jesus died for us.

His blood was shed, he was buried, and he rose again.

May that be uh met, may that be looked again at with us by us with worship and awe.

Bless this time as we observe in Jesus' name.

Amen.