Acts: Sovereign Suffering & Prayer

Well, I know what you're thinking, preacher. After that, you don't

even have to preach. Well, I'm gonna still ask you to turn your

Bibles to Act chapter four. I believe that God has a word for us

this morning, and I'm really glad that you're here with us. Whether you're

in person or watching the line or TV, We're really glad that you're here.

And I hope today that the Lord will speak to you through his word

as he's spoken to you through song this morning. So thank you for being

here. The title my message today is sovereign suffering. In prayer today,

I want to look at the Early Church and how they face suffering and how

they responded to suffering. It's amazing that I many years ago I preached this

sermon or this passage in actually in April or two thousand eleven, so almost

twelve years now that I've spoke this passage or looked at their study this passage

and in that message I looked and in my nose. In April two thousand

eleven, news articles reported that three thousand to ten thousand Christians had been misplaced

in Ethiopia. Muslim extremists had came into a community and had ravaged the community.

They had destroyed the churches, they destroyed homes, and one person had

died from the persecution that Muslims had brought upon the Christians there in Ethiopia.

That was in two thousand and eleven. In April two thousand eleven, it

is interesting this week, as I was getting ready and studying for this passage,

I before even looked through and notice read through my notes from many years

ago, I read an article that this week the News reported that in Pakistan

listen to this, Pakistan Muslim mob went through an air and in that area

the Muslims destroyed churches and destroyed homes. Christians were fleeing. In two thousand

eleven, the attacks came against the churches because there was a report that there

was a Christian there who who was going to write on the Bible right,

not the Bible, who was going to write Jesus's Lord in the Koran.

Instead of writing it on a Karan, he actually wrote on a piece of

cloth, and that what ignited the firestorm in two thousand and eleven. In

twenty twenty three, now in Pakistan, there was a story that went out

that there was a Christian that was going to tear the Kuran, and that

broke loose the firestorm. There's images young google it if you would like.

There's images. There's videos of people of Muslims rushing into churches, throwing furniture

through the windows, and then using flammable liquids to set the churches on fire.

They'd only did that to the churches. They actually went to homes and

they did the same thing to Christian's home. They ransack their homes, They

threw the furniture out of their homes, and they set their houses on fire.

People had their property stolen stolen. One deacon, his name Reverend Deacon

drawd our Side, I think is his name, is twenty eight years old.

He said these words this week in the article I saw with tears in

my eyes, how the mob desecrated crosses on the roof of churches in graveyards

and ruined church buildings. They burned so many Bibles and altars. One seminary

student who is in Pakistan said these words. He said, the condition of

Pakistan is very bad. He cast some doubt on the aggregations of blasphemy that

started the riots, but he said this about the mob. So much hatred

jealousy and envy and enmity from the Muslims towards Christians. It seems that we

Christians are like animals to them. Wherever they want to kill, they kill,

and wherever they want to spare, they spare. That's what's happening.

That's what's baffled me about this today. That this was something that was happening

in twenty eleven in Ethiopia, and we fast forward to twelve years later and

we're seeing this very same scenario happening in other parts of the world like Pakistan.

Accusations that someone's going to do something against Grant and then it leads to

a widespread persecution. You know, we come to that in our world today,

and I think it's hard for us to get our minds around that.

As Americans, we just do not see this type of persecution. We don't

have to worry about mobs of people coming to destroy our church or destroy our

homes because of our faith. But the reality is that's happening all across our

world today. There are people who are living in fear of persecution, persecution

of their very lives, day in and day out, for being Christians.

We in America, we don't see that type of persecution. But I will

say this summer, we were at camp with our students and the camp pastor

said something I thought was I'm really struck me and his words were that we

are living today in a cultural climate that now sees Christianity is no longer acceptable,

but actually sees Christianity as a threat. You know, I think he's

right. We've come from where our world was many years ago in the seventies,

eighties, and sixties, where Christianity was widespread, accepted in America,

to where Christianity now is seen as not acceptable but hostile, as a threat.

And there are we have seen. I think we've seen in the last

few years more persecution of Christians in America than we ever have. And can

I say to you you as a word or warning today, it's only going

to get worse. I think if you, as a believer today, if

you want to live boldly for the Lord, if you want to live the

Lord for the Lord as Christ has commanded you in scripture, you will face

persecution. You will face suffering as a result of your faith. Maybe not

to the degree that we are seeing a Pakistan Indian brothers and sisters are facing,

but you will face persecution. And so today I want to see how

the early Church face suffering and persecution and how they responded to it. And

so I want us to think about how were we if we face persecution,

how will we face it? I think today for you, as you come

to a passage like this and you come to the subject of suffering and persecution

and your life as a believer, your persecution is going to look a little

different. Some of your persecution maybe every very simple. You go and try

to share the Gospel with the stranger, and that stranger did not want to

hear your message, you may have persecution and that you share the Gospel with

a family member, or you try to share something from scripture with a family

member and they don't want to hear that, and they persecute you for that.

You may have persecution from a classmate. If you're a student, you

try to share the Gospel with another student in your school with it doesn't want

to hear the gospel, you may face some persecution from that. You may

face some persecution of a co worker who's not living for the Lord. It

doesn't care about the Lord, and you try to live for the Lord.

You may try to share the Lord with them and they may not want to

hear about your message. You may have lost relationships as a result of trying

to share the Gospel with a classmate or a co worker or a family member,

and that may be your persecution, a strained relationship with a classmate,

with a co worker. And so today I want you to think through that,

what does my persecution look like? What does suffering look like from me

where I am is it? Is it something with a relationship with a family

member or a neighbor, or a co worker or a classmate that shuts you

down when you try to share? So what does that look like for me?

And then how am I responding to this suffering or this persecution? Maybe

as small as it is, or maybe how great it is. Maybe be

small that you just that person won't speak to you, or it may be

that as great as you have a family member that you love dearly and you

try to share Jesus with them and they have just totally cut you off.

So the question is, then, if you're facing some form of persecution,

how are you responding to that persecution? Well, I want to see how

they did this in scripture In the early Church, and how should we respond

to suffering of persecution today? So let's read Acts chapter four, and we're

going to start in verse twenty three. We stand with me unless read God's

were together, and it said these words. When they were released, they

went to their friends and reported the chief priests and the elders that said to

them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God

and said, Sovereign Lord, who made heaven and earth, and the sea

and everything in them, who, through the mouth of your father David,

your servants said, by the Holy Spirit, why did the gentiles rage and

the prophet's plot in vain? And the kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. For truly,

in this city there were gathered together against your Holy Servant, Jesus and

whom you annointed both herod and punscious pilot, along with the gentiles and the

people of visual to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take

place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your

servant to continue to speak with your word and 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 prayed, the place in which they

gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and

continue to speak the word of God with boldness. Let's pray together. Father.

I thank you Lord for the this morning. I thank you for Lord

leading us to the subject of suffering, of persecution and your sovereignty and suffering.

Today. Lord, Lord, you know what I've prepared, You know

the things that You've led me to. Lord. I pray today that God

you would give me clear to his speech and clear to the thought. Lord,

pray for us, as say body believers, as we come together,

we come to adore you, as Lord talked about. We come to worship

you through song and through your word. And I pray today that God,

may you today fall upon this place. May you feel our hearts. Lord,

May you speak to our hearts, and may you speak clearly to us

Lord about how this passage and how your word relates to us as a body

believers, as individual believers today. So Lord speak today. Lord, I

pray that you cleanse my heart, You cleanse my mind, Lord, and

Lord, I would speak just only Lord, the words that you would have

me to clear. Say, Lord, give me your words today, that

your people might hear a word from you. Cleves me use me today,

Father, Lord, we ask you today that you might fill us, Lord

Father, with Lord your spirit, that we might speak boldly to a lost

world around us. In your name, we pray, Amen, you may

be seated. So I wanted you to see how did the Church's early church

respond to suffering, and how are we to respond respond to suffering. First,

we are to seek strength and boldness and corporate prayer. We are to

seek strength and boldness in corporate prayer. So as you remember last week,

here Peter and John they heal this lamemen that was laying that temple gate.

They go into the temple and everybody, the crowd of people who have gathered

in the temple are all astounded by this miraculous healing of this lamemen. They're

all asking how did this happen? And of course Peter speaks up and he

preaches, and people come to receive the Lord. People are moved in the

sand. Heedron and the Jewish leaders here about this, and they are not

happy that Peter and John are preaching. They're not happy that this namen has

been healed, and so they bring them, they actually arrest them. They

bring them them for them before the council, and they questioned them. And

last week we see how they threatened them. They tell them no longer to

speak in the name of Jesus, and that threat is we know that in

historical instances there's kind of this first a warning, there's a threat, don't

do this again. And if they continued in doing what they were told not

to, then there was ramifications later maybe imprisonment, there would be beating,

different things. And so here's the first step for the Jewish leadership. They

threatened them, they tell them not to speak in the name of Jesus again,

and then they release them too out and I don't you see after being

questioned by the Jewish leaders, after being arrested, after being threatened not to

ever speak in the name of Jesus again, I won't you see what these

Peter and John do. Scripture tells them verse twenty three. When they release

them. It shows you the imagery that they had been arrested. Listen to

what says they did first? What did they first do in response to this

persecution of the suffering, the Bible says, and they went to their friends

and reported what the chief priests and the elders have said. Now, I

want you to remind you as you come to this passage and you hear the

word chief priests want you to remind you. The same people who interrogated Jesus,

Caiaphas that we saw in last week. The same Caiaphas that interrogratigated Jesus,

who brought the charges against Jesus that was brought before Punch's pilot, was

the same Caiaphas that interrogated Peter and John, and the same Caiaphas that's threatened

them never to speak again in the name of Jesus. So, after being

in front of Caiaphas and all these Jewish leaders that killed Jesus, they released

them. And the Bible says, what did Peter and John do? They

didn't run home and hide, They didn't go out to I don't I don't

know Bojangles or whatever it is that the Bible says. They were released and

they went to their friends. Those word friends in the Greek is actually the

Greek meaning their own. It shows a level of intimacy, a friendship,

a camaraderie. Who are these friends? The friends here as the church?

Who did they run to? They run to the church. And I want

you to see this because I think it's important that Peter and John didn't see

the church just as this broad body that I come to be a part of

on a Sunday morning, and I just have a we have services together,

worship together, we sing some songs together, we listened to our sermon together,

and we kind of go out our own way. They saw the Body

Believers as a group of friends, a friends that they could count on,

a community of mutually supportive friends. Man, these are the people that walk

with me through life. These are my friends who are there who have my

back when things come against me? And who did what did they do?

What did they run to? They rent to their church, They rent to

their church body. And I just I don't want to spend too much time

on this, but I want you to think about in your life, when

you face attacks, or you face persecution, or you face suffering in your

life, what do you run to? You run to YouTube or Facebook,

or you run somewhere to a hobby, to the lake or something to get

away from your troubles or your problems, or do you run to the church

body? They say, God, you gave me a community of supportive friends

that there are be that are to be there to have my back, that

I know that will be there for me in times of trouble. And I

want you to see what did they do? Okay? Not only did they

Scripture tells the first twenty three then went when they released, they went to

their friends, They went to the church body. The Bible says, they

reported what chief priests and the elders had said. They kind of reay.

They told us, they threatened us, They told us never to do this.

They told them everything that happened. And the Bible says, and when

they heard it that that pronoun they is demonstrating the whole church body coming together

hearing these words. And what did they do as a church body? What

did they do? They prayed? Scriptures said, they prayed together. I

think it's interesting if you go to Acts chapter one, and and just I

won't go there for now, But in Acts chapter one, verse fourteen,

it says that the early Church, Jesus told the early Church, right,

these disciples wait for the promised one and acts one fourteen. And asually,

wait, what did they do? They gathered together in one fourteen? And

what do they do? They prayed? And as that body believers gathered together

and pray and waiting for the Holy Spirit. The first church was founded and

started by prayer. Now you fast forward, the churches exploded through Pentecosts.

There's three to five thousand people, and here comes the first opposition against God's

Church. Think about that for just a second. The first major attack against

God's Church its persecution. And how did the church respond to opposition? They

prayed. They what they started out doing before the church exploded was pray.

And when the church was growing and the opposition attacks came, what did they

continue in? They continued in prayer. They prayed, They prayed together.

At Peterson was a pastor and he says, there's never been a spiritual waking

in our country or locality that did not begin in united prayer. Matthew Henry

said, once, when God attends great mercy, first people, he first

sets them to pray. Can I tell you there's some power. There's great

power in corporate prayer. Now, don't don't misunderstand me. There's vital importance,

and I'm gonna talk about that in a minute. There's vital importance of

your prayer life personally and you praying for something individually in your life when you're

facing certain things. But there is some unique God ordained power and the body

believers coming together in one accord praying together over something. I think sometimes we

neglect that, We neglect the importance of corporate prayer, coming together and praying

for God over something. I'll be honest with you. Every Wednesday night,

we have a family. We have a prayer meeting. It's very simple.

We come together in our library here at six thirty. We come together and

you know what, the very first thing we do before we do anything,

we spend about thirty minutes in prayer praying over you, many of you.

We pray for you every week. Every week. We'd pray for a new

church member that's in our body. We pray for a deacon, we pray

for an elder, we pray for a teacher at our academy, we pray

for a church in our community. There is power in the Body of Christ

coming together and praying. And so what did they do? They found support,

They found strength and boldness and corporate prayer. What did they pray for?

Well, I don't want you to see what happens here. The Bible

says in verse twenty three, when they release the chief priests, they reported

what the chief priests and the elders had said in verse twenty four. And

when they heard it, they lifted their voice together to God and said,

Sovereign Lord, who made heaven and earth and to see and everything in it.

What did they pray for? The Bible says they prayed for boldness.

Scripture says, we see that in verses twenty nine. Continue to speak your

word with all boldness. I think it's interesting, and as they come together,

we're gonna look at this in a little bit more depth in just a

minute. That when they came together and they prayed, they didn't pray for

judgment over Caiaphas. They didn't pray for judgment over the religious leaders. They

didn't pray that God, may you stop it, that the God, may

you spare us from any further persecution. No, they prayed for boldness.

They prayed that God would strengthen them. Their prayer here was not for those

who were coming against them. Their prayer was for God to give them strength

to endure what was coming against them, that God would listen, not give

them a spirit of weakness and withdraw that. God, we're going to stop.

But God give us strength that we might continue to be bold, that

we might continue to be strong even against their threats. I think many times

we get this in reverse. When we have opposition that comes against us.

We pray again against the person who's brought get opposition. We pray that God,

may you, may you work on them do different things. But how

many times do we pray God, maybe you spare me from me any more

of this? Or often do we pray, God, may you continue just

to give me strength. May you continue to let me be bold even in

the midst of threats. You ever heard of the game how far? The

game fil far is really simple. You fill up your tank of gas and

you drive as far as you can before you run out of gas. Now

have you ever done that in your life? You have, you have your

car, and you're like I was a teenager in college. I was notorious

for like waiting to the very last minute. I mean that little light would

come on and I would just it wouldn't even it would even phase me,

I just said, oh you're not you know, you don't mean anything to

me, and I'll just keep going. And I'd watch that little line go

down and then you know, it has the light comes on, and then

there's the empty mark, and then I would see how far it would go

underneath the empty mark. Well, I felt many times at the game,

at the game because many times Daddy or somebody had to come and get me

because I was stranded on the side of the road without any gas. I

tell you that because sometimes spiritually speaking, that's how we approach our prayer life.

God, how far can I go through what I'm enduring today or what

I'm enduring my life without prayer? How can I keep? How far can

I do this on my own before I take it to some church body,

our church, take it to the church family. I encourage you today.

Listen to me, Church family, listen to me. Believers today. I

encourage you today. God did not intendue for you to live your faith and

your relationship with Jesus alone. God gave you a church body that you were

to come with your needs and your troubles with that you were to share those

troubles with them, and a church body that corporately together is commanded to pray

with you and pray that you would have strength, and you pray bold you

would have boldness. So I encourage you to here today, if you're watching

here or you're watching online, I encourage you to be a come and be

a part of this church body and listen. Find the community of a growth

group or a men's Bible study or a woman's lady's Bible study that you could

be a part of that you can share with what the things that you're struggling

with that you know that will be there to pray for you. That's one

of the things that God has given this church body for. So you to

find that community to find that strength. We how are we? How are

we to handle persecution and suffering? We are to seek strength and boldness and

corporate prayer. But you can't have corporate prayer if you're not attached to the

body. Hear me, I want you to see. Secondly, we are

seek strength and boldness from God. I love this passage. The Bible says,

what did they do when they heard it? They lifted their voices together

to who to God. They lifted them their voices to prayer they saw that

their tanks were empty. They needed the Lord, and say they sought the

Lord. Scripture says, Sovereign Lord, who made heaven and earth and to

see and everything in it, They sought strength from boldness from God. I

want you to see something in this passage. I think here in this passage

scripture, we see that they sought strength and boldness from the Lord. And

boldness and strength and a God centered prayer. Say they really saw God as

a source of their strength, and so they prayed that way. Want you

to see how they prayed in this passage scripture. You see this God's centered

prayer first, and there's once you see there's four aspects of God's center prayer.

And we see in this passage of scripture. First a surrender to God's

sovereign plan. Look what happens in this passage scripture, Sovereign Lord, who

made heaven and earth and the sea and everything in them, who threw the

mouth of your father David and your servants said, by the Holy Spirit,

why did the gentiles? Gentiles rage and the people plot in vain, and

the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers gathered together against the

Lord and against the Lord's annointed he talks about. As they prayed together,

the church body declared in one unity and harmony that God, you're a sovereign

sovereign mean, God, You're in control. Starts out with God, you're

in control of creation. Right, who made heaven and Earth and the sea

and everything in them? Heavens speak of the stars and the galaxies. Right,

the earth is the earth that we live in. To see the oceans,

right, and everything in them, everything in heaven, everything on earth,

everything in the sea. God, you are in control of all of

your creation. You are the creator, and you have sovereign control over all

creation. And then they take that idea that God. Think about that idea,

God, God, You're in control of every living thing that's on this

earth. Everything is in your hands. And so therefore Lord, as Peter

and John says, Lord, in the midst of our sovereign I mean,

the persecution that we're going through Caiaphas is in your hands. The Jewish leaders

are in your hands. And Lord, we are in your hands. And

listen to this sovereign control. Therefore, you have control or your sovereign over

persecution. And they do this by recounting what happened to Jesus. He prophees

that he reminds or or quotes Psalm two one through two. And in Psalm

two David the Psalmist prophesies about Jesus, and the Psalm two one through two

says, why does it is this very passage? Why does the people,

I mean the nation's range of the people applot in vain. The kings of

the air set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and

against his anointed. So this is the prophecy David had about Jesus. Peter

and John and the Church quotes this Psalm and says, Lord, you knew

way before Jesus would come, how the people would come against Jesus. This

is part of your plan. This is what you prophesied. And Herod and

Pachas Pilot and the Jewish leaders were followed or fulfillment, and the persecution they

brought against Jesus was a fulfillment of this prophecy. Look at verse twenty seven,

for truly in this city they were gathered just as you said, and

verse twenty six through David, the rulers were gathered together verse twenty seven,

and this truly in this city, they were gathered against your holy servant,

Jesus. Jesus, we fulfillment. They did gather. And listen what says

and whom you anointed God you appointed, You have in control all people,

and you were in control of ponscious Pilot and Herod. Listen to what says

in whom you anointed Herod and ponscious Pilot, and along with the Gentiles and

the people of visual God, this was all a part of your sovereign hand.

You are in control over those who persecute. You're in control of the

Jews Jewish leaders. And listen to what says, and because they were in

your hand, they were in your control. Listen to what says in verse

twenty eight to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

What happened to Jesus and the persecution of suffering his face was all a

part of your plan and your sovereign And so in their in their prayer,

there was a surrender to God's sovereign plan. You know. In John Jesus

John fifteen twenty, Jesus tells his followers, remember the words I said to

you. A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecute me,

there will also persecute you. If they keep my word, they will

also keep yours. You know what the early church believed, Jesus Lord,

the persecution that Jesus face was all a part of your plan. And you

in control of that persecution. And hear me therefore, Lord, today you

have persecution under your control. You are a sovereign over it. It may

seem like it's out of control, and it may seem over my head or

over my ability, but it's not over yours Lord. And so therefore,

Lord, help me be faithful knowing that you are the one who's in control,

not me. They surrender to God's sovereign plan. God, this is

the plan of being a Christian. Persecution came against Jesus, Persecution will come

against me. Can I say to you today, all sincerity and truth according

to God's word, Listen to me. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ,

listen to me. You will face persecution. It's not a matter if,

it's a matter of when. And we need to ask ourselves a Christian,

I mean a question, if I am being a Christian that God called

me to be, then that means I'll face persecution. Then today, if

I'm not facing persecution, am I being the Christian that God called me to

be? That's tough, that's reality. If you say today my life is

my life is not marked by persecution, And maybe there's a question today,

am I really being the witness that God has called me to be? Because

if I am being the witness boldly that God called me to be and I'm

speaking truth to a loss in nine world around me, I will face persecution

no no matter if I will. It's a mark of a believer is we

will face persecution. Here's what I want us to hear. We don't want

this. We want to share God's word boldly without persecution. We're like we

want our cake and eat it too right. We want to be the witness

that God calls to be. We want to be what God wants to be.

But we don't want any opposition and we don't want any difficulty. We

don't want to even hardship. We don't want anything to come against us.

Can I tell you, folks, that's just not If it wasn't the way

Jesus faced the world, he faced persecution, why do we think if he

wasn't spared. Why do we think we will be spared? He faced persecution.

So will we accept that's part of God's sovereign plan for Peter John and

the church. There they said, Lord, you're in control. This is

all part of your plan. God help us. And therefore when you see

three other things they prayed for the First, they surrendered to God's sovereign plan

for persecution. Secondly, they asked for strength. God. I know that

if I'm going to be a believer that you called me to be and speak

boldly, if I'm going to be the witness, then God, it's going

to come. So therefore, God, here's the next part verse twenty nine.

And now, Lord, look upon their rits and grant to your servants

what to continue to speak your words. God, give us strength and the

mince the persecution, give us strength to continue to speak. Which is I

think about that for just a minute in your life. When you face that

loved one and you go share the gospel with them and they don't want to

hear it, and they shut you down, your temptation is to do what

I don't want to do. That Again, that wasn't comfortable. It was

felt uncomfortable for me. They were not uncomfortable, and they threw out all

kinds of whatever to stop me from doing it. I don't want to do

that again. And here's the thing, and I don't want to risk losing

that relationship. So I'm just going to what. I'm going to just keep

my mouth shut from now on, and I'm not going to do that again.

That was not their approach in the in the church, the early Church,

and say, you know what, Caiaphas told us never to speak in

the name of Jesus again. He threatened us that he would throw us in

prison and do worse things to us if we did it again. And so

they first, we didn't get a well received audience here, We were not

received well by the people that we were speaking to. So I tell you

what, we just won't do that again. No. Their prayer was,

God, this is a part of your plan. And then secondly, God

give us the strength. God. You heard what they said, you heard

you saw how they react that, God give us the strength to keep speaking.

You know why, I think they wanted that so fervently because they know

that if Caiaphas doesn't found the Lord, he's going to hell. And you

know what, The persecution on this life may be bad. But what would

you rather? Would you rather keep on speaking and keep on speaking, and

they may come to easus and be safe from hell, or you keep silent

and you allow them to continue in their way, destined from eternity, separated

from a God that loves them. I think they prayed for strength because they

knew what was on the line. Secondly, they prayed for boldness. Listen

to this God, you heard what they said. Listen when it says.

And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to

continue to speak with what boldness? God help us continue to speak, But

God, help us continue to be bold? Right, and not only do

we when we get that family member that pushes us back, or that or

that classmate, or that neighbor, or that person that we're just sharing the

Gospel with a stranger and we get pushed back to them, we say,

oh, well, I don't know if I want to do that again.

And then sometimes we think maybe I need to be more careful. I need

to just say a few little things. I won't be so bold next time.

No, they prayed for what boldness, And then lastly, They prayed

for a power. That's so what scripture says. Look upon their threat,

Jesus painting and all to