How It Should Be
Acts 4:23-31
March 3, 2002
Intro:
A. I clipped this article out of The Banner-Graphic [Greencastle, IN] in August of 1999, and saved it just for this sermon today…[This really is a true story!]
Gator halts couple’s midnight dip
KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP)—A woman was nearly dragged underwater by a 7-foot alligator before her boyfriend kicked the gator and managed to pull her out of a pond.
Deirdre Dozois, and her boyfriend, Stuart chandler, were cooling themselves off in their favorite pond behind the Jolly Time Bar early Tuesday.
"We were sitting in about 2 feet of water being real quiet, and then I felt her body jerk," said Chandler, 41.
Ms. Dozois, 45, tried to leap into the air with the gator’s jaws lock on her right calf.
"It felt like a Rottweiler had grabbed me and wouldn’t let go," she said. "It started to twist me into the water."
Chandler began kicking it, and the gator released its grip. He pulled her out and tied a shirt around her thigh to slow the bleeding.
[Listen to this response to the incident…]
"We had been siting near the water talking before it got dark and saw the gator stick its head out of the water a couple of times," she said.
B. What a response!
1. That women is lucky to be alive in more ways than one!
2. There are all kinds of responses that can be made to different situations!
3. Today, we’re going to look at the first church’s response to Peter and John’s imprisonment in Acts 4:23-31. (It is certainly better than that woman’s! J)
I. What they did.
Acts 4:23-31, On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25 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.’ 27 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. 29 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." 31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
A. Peter and John reported (23).
1. This is what I have been calling the never-ending story.
2. It is one of the longest stories in the book of Acts.
3. Of course the whole book of Acts can be considered a continuous story.
4. But this part of the story of Acts, began back in chapter 3 with the healing of the unlovely crippled beggar.
5. Peter then preached a sermon about the incident telling the people that Jesus was alive and that Jesus had healed this crippled beggar and was driving towards the invitation hymn when the Sanhedrin showed up a the beginning of chapter 4 and threw Peter and John into prison over night.
6. They questioned Peter and John, but couldn’t find any way to punish them because they knew that the people were sympathetic to Peter and John.
7. They knew there would be problems if they people heard that they had done anything to Peter and John.
8. So the Sanhedrin decided to just threaten them about doing this again, (Acts 4:18) Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
9. Acts 4:19-20, But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. 20 For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."
10. Acts 4:21, After further threats they let them go…
11. Acts 4:23, On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
12. So what do you think they did about this? Did they quit speaking about Jesus?
13. Did they run away to another city or another country? What do you think they did?
14. They had a prayer meeting!
B. People prayed (24-30)
1. They prayed about God’s sovereignty as displayed in creation (24).
a. These people where threatened by their government about proselytizing and they decided to have a prayer meeting.
b. Their government told them not to speak about Jesus anymore in public and they had a prayer meeting.
c. Their government said that people had the right to freedom of religion in their country and if these people keep talking about Jesus, it might offend someone who didn’t believe in Jesus..
d. So they had a prayer meeting and the first thing they prayed about was God’s sovereignty.
e. They prayed about God being all-powerful.
f. They prayed how they saw His all-powerfulness displayed in creation.
g. God’s ability to rule over everything was displayed in the ways that He created the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.
h. God is above all kingdoms and all powers and they prayed to God and told Him that they believed this.
2. Then they prayed about God’s Scripture as it related to the situation (25-26).
a. They prayed a Scripture back to God.
b. They prayed His own Word back to Him.
c. They prayed Psalm of David back to God.
d. They knew that this was a powerful way of knowing God’s will.
e. They knew the Scripture and they knew it certainly applied to recent events that they had encountered with the crucifixion of Christ and the imprisonment of Peter and John.
f. They knew that what they were seeing, believing, and praying were God’s will because they were praying God’s Scripture back to Him.
g. They knew that since this Psalm was in the Word of God, they were certainly praying within God’s will.
3. They prayed about God’s seeing events as they are happening (27-28).
a. They prayed that God would look down at the recent events as they were unfolding.
b. They prayed that God would take note that these people had killed His Holy One.
c. They prayed that God would look down and take note that these people were now threatening His servants who were obediently preaching about Jesus.
d. They prayed that God would look down and take note that their government had threatened "them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus."
4. They prayed about God’s servants as they were being threatened (29).
a. They asked God to consider the threats made against them.
b. They asked God to enable them to continue to speak His Word with boldness.
c. They asked God to enable them to muster the courage to continue to speak the name of Jesus boldly to penetrate people’s hearts despite the threats against them.
5. They prayed about God’s signs as showing that He is still sovereign (30).
a. They prayed for God to stretch out His hand and heal people.
b. They prayed for God to stretch out His hand and perform miracles.
c. They prayed for God to stretch out His hand and perform wonders.
d. Why? To prove His sovereignty over everything and everyone.
6. Now, how did they know that this was what God wanted in that situation?
a. How did they know that was what God wanted to do in that situation?
b. "I thought Christians should just be meek."
c. "I thought Christians should just turn the other check?"
d. "I thought Christians were supposed to be obedient to the government?"
e. Wouldn’t continuing to speak boldly in the name of Jesus be considered rebelliousness against the government and therefore sinful?
f. Wouldn’t continuing to speak boldly the name of Jesus be arrogant and not meek?
g. Wouldn’t asking God to perform miraculous signs and wonders be the wrong thing to pray in this situation?
h. How did they knew that was what God wanted to do in that situation?
i. Well let’s go back and the rest of David’s words in Psalm 2 together… Psalms 2, Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. 3 "Let us break their chains," they say, "and throw off their fetters." 4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. 5 Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, 6 "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill." 7 I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my Son ; today I have become your Father. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You will rule them with an iron scepter ; you will dash them to pieces like pottery." 10 Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
j. Makes it pretty clear that the prayers that the believers prayed on this day were right in line with God’s will.
k. And therefore, it is no wonder what happened after they prayed!
C. God shook (31).
1. God shook the place.
a. God shook the place where they were having the prayer meeting.
b. May have been an earthquake; may have just been the building they were in.
c. God was shaking the place to tell them that He’d heard their prayer.
d. I’m afraid that many today would have feared they’d prayed the wrong prayer when the place was shaken, but that was God’s way of saying, "I hear ya people! You’re exactly right and I’m gonna take care ya all!’
2. God shook the people (filled with the HS).
a. I mentioned this last week.
b. Last week I asked why verse 8 said Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit.
c. Why does it keep saying this if they were all filled with the HS on Pentecost?
d. Why does the Scripture say that he was filled again when he began to speak to the Sanhedrin?
e. And why does it say that they were all filled again after this prayer meeting?
f. Its because the Spirit is coming upon them again in a fresh way to give them renewed power for the circumstances they were about to face.
g. Jesus had promised the disciples that He would be there for them in these exact instances.
h. Luke 21:12-15, "But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. 13 This will result in your being witnesses to them. 14 But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.
i. And Jesus had told them the way He would speak to them would be through His HS.
j. John 14:26, But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
k. That’s why they keep getting filled with the Spirit over and over and again and this time it is God’s way of saying that He was answering their prayers.
3. God shook the powers (they spoke the Word boldly despite the threats).
a. There’s no question that the Sanhedrin was shaken by the continued boldness of the disciples to speak the name of Jesus.
b. There’s no question that the Sanhedrin was shaken by the miraculous signs that were being performed in the name of Jesus.
c. V. 2 told us that they were greatly disturbed the first time, and you know that didn’t end after they had jailed them and threatened them.
4. God shook the place, the people, and the powers as His way of saying that they were doing the right things and He was going to take care of them.
Transition: That’s what they did…the people prayed. Now we need to think about…
II. What we did.
A. In 1963, the US Supreme Court told us that we were no longer to pray to Jesus in the public schools.
1. And, of course, that no prayer thing has been broadened to include no teaching about Jesus at all.
2. What was the church’s response?
3. What was Christianity’s response when the Supreme Court told us that we were no longer allowed to talk about Jesus in the schools?
4. How many of you here were a part of the Body of Christ at that time?
5. Do any of you remember the response of churches to the threat from our government that we should no longer speak about Jesus in the schools?
6. I had 20 Bible college professors and ministers, plus the research team of Wall Builders in Texas searching for some sort of information to document Christianity’s response this week.
7. Do you want to know what they found? Nothing.
B. In 1980, the Supreme Court told us that the 10 Commandments were no longer appropriate in the public schools.
1. Now, not only could we not talk about Jesus, we couldn’t even talk about or read about God in the schools.
2. And of course that has been broadened to mean that we are no longer allowed to talk about Jesus or God anywhere in public any more.
3. What was the church’s response?
4. What was Christianity’s response when the Supreme Court told us that we were no longer allowed to talk about God in public?
5. How many of you here today were a part of the Body of Christ in 1980?
6. Do any of you remember the response of churches to the threat from our government that we should no longer speak about God in public?
7. I had 20 Bible college professors and ministers plus the research team of Wall Builders in Texas searching for some sort of information to document Christianity’s response this week.
8. Do you want to know what they found? Nothing.
C. In 1992, the Supreme Court said that clergy aren’t allowed to pray in the schools.
1. How many of you were a part of the body of Christ in 1992?
2. Do any of you remember the response of churches to the threat from the government to not have preachers praying at graduations and football games?
D. Where has the church been the past 50 years?
1. Yes, there have been sermons preached against the evilness of the Supreme Court.
2. Yes, we have tried to educate our people as to the beliefs of the founding fathers and to the actual words of the Constitution and that there is no such thing as a Separation of Church and Sate in the Constitution.
3. But did we, have we, responded the way they did it in Acts chapter 4?
E. Have we seen the same results that they saw as a result of what they did?
1. I have some slides that I want to show you from a group in Texas called, Wall Builders.
2. From the time of the separation of religious principles in 1963 to 1983 (most recent statistics I have), pregnancies to girls ages 10-14 went up 553%.
3. Divorce rates between 1963 and 1983 increased by 117%.
4. Cases of violent crimes have increased between 1963 and 1990 794%.
5. Percentage of unmarried couples between 1963 and 1989 increased 536% (which you know has increased even more since then).
6. Gonorrhea in children ages 15-19 increased from 1963 to 1985 226%.
7. Average S.A.T. scores DECREASED from 1963 to 1990 from about 970 to about 900.
8. Contrast those things with… After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
9. Are we speaking the word of God boldly in public?
10. Are we speaking the Word of God boldly in public schools?
11. Why not? Its because we haven’t prayed!
III. What we need to do.
A. We have tried to respond in our own wisdom!
1. We have not turned to the Word of God to get our answers.
a. You know there are a lot of things in our society that are difficult to figure out what the Scriptures have to say about them because the Scripture doesn’t say specific things about things in our modern times.
b. But, let me ask you, Does the Word of God have anything to say to people whose government threatens them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus?
c. The first thing we need to do is go back to the Scriptures and see what God has to say.
d. We’ve done that today; I believe God has made it abundantly clear to us what His will is in this situation.
2. We have not prayed the Scriptures back to God.
a. We have not prayed to God about His sovereignty over the US Supreme Court.
b. We have not prayed about God’s sovereignty over the US Congress.
c. We have not prayed about God’s sovereignty over the President of the US.
d. We haven’t acknowledged our obedience to God above our obedience to the Government.
e. We have not prayed the will of God over the situation.
f. We need to prayed these Scriptures back to Him.
g. I’m not sure we believed God is Sovereign.
h. Who is Sovereign the Supreme Court or God?
i. GOD FORGIVE US FOR OUR UNBELIEF!
j. We need to start earnestly praying God’s Word over this situation!
3. We have not prayed for God to give us boldness to go back into the schools and preach Jesus.
a. We have not prayed for God to give us the boldness to go back into the workplace and teach about Jesus.
b. When our government threatened us about talking about Jesus, we quit talking about Jesus!
c. GOD FORGIVE US!!
d. Acts 4:18-20, Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. 20 For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."
e. GOD FORGIVE US!!
B. Today, for our time of commitment, we are not going to sing a song.
1. Today, for our time of commitment, we are going to PRAY!
2. And I mean we’re going to pray about this like we’ve never prayed about it before!
3. We’re going to cry out to God to FORGIVE us for our unbelief!
4. We’re going to cry out to God to give us the boldness to speak about Jesus, no matter what our government says or does!
5. We’re going to cry out to God for the refilling of the HS to give us that boldness for this specific purpose!
6. [We are going to have an extended time of whole church prayer and allow any and all who wish to verbally pray to do so, and encourage everyone to pray privately in their own hearts.]
