Jeff Schreve - When God Shakes The House
We need to be encouraged to pray. The only safe ground in our walk with the Lord is when we’re on praying ground, when we’re on our knees. Now, we’ve been, for the last several weeks, in a series called «Bold as a Lion» from Proverbs 28, verse 1. «The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are bold as a lion». And today we wanna finish this series with a message on praying for boldness. It’s exactly what the disciples did, what the early church did. They would ask God to help them to be bold because, you know what? They’re not that much unlike us. They struggled with fear, just like you struggle with fear, just like I struggle with fear, just like we struggle with fear. And they were facing dangerous times as they preached Jesus and the resurrection and salvation only in His name.
And so, they had to pray to God to give them boldness. And the Lord answered when they prayed that prayer, Acts chapter 4, verse 29. Here’s the prayer: «'And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence,» with all boldness, «while You extend your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.' And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness».
Hey, prayer for boldness is a prayer God longs to answer. And so, here’s our question for today: what if we prayed like they prayed? Like the early church prayed. What do you think He would do in our lives together in our church if we prayed like they prayed? Because this little band of believers, just 120 in Acts chapter 1, by the time you come to Acts chapter 17, Paul and Silas on the second missionary journey, it was said of them, «These men who have come here have upset the world with their preaching and teaching». Well, what a testimony that that’s what they had done. God had used them in such a way to make them so bold that they upset the world with their teaching, and many came to faith in Christ. So, we wanna look today at this prayer from Acts chapter 4, and we wanna discover three truths concerning this prayer.
Truth number one: prayer that connects with God, to get Him to shake the house, so to speak. Where God just answers so quickly, so powerfully with a emphatic «Yes»! Prayer that connects with God is often fueled by trouble. By trouble. We don’t like trouble, but trouble, we have it in spades. «Man who is born of woman,» Job said, «is short-lived and full of trouble, full of turmoil, full of problems». And we’re gonna see that the early church, right off the bat, they started to have trouble. Now, when Jesus rose from the dead (Luke chapter 24) He met with the disciples in the room that that Sunday night. Remember, Thomas wasn’t there; he was a week late. But He met with them and He showed them that He was indeed alive, and the Bible says they could not believe it for joy.
They were so stunned that He was there and that He had risen from the dead, and Jesus said this. He gave them a command to witness in His name. To witness in His name. And he said this in Luke 24: «Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things». And then, in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, you remember the timeline. So Jesus rises on Sunday morning, He was crucified on Passover, He rises on Sunday morning. He’s with them for 40 days in different appearances, and then on the 40th day, He ascends to heaven, and He tells them, «Okay, you need to wait in Jerusalem until you’re clothed with power from on high».
And that happened ten days later, on the day of Pentecost. And that’s when the church was born and the Holy Spirit came, not to just be upon people, but to live inside people. And so, it was 50 days following his Resurrection the church was born. And not much time has passed, and we see that Peter, who was afraid to even say that he belonged to Jesus, he cursed and swore, «I don’t even know the man». Now we see him in Acts chapter 2, and he’s a firehouse, a powerhouse for the Lord, because the Holy Spirit had come upon him. «You shall receive power,» Jesus said, «when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to the remotest parts of the earth».
So that’s their marching orders from the King of kings and Lord of lords. So you have a problem. You have Jesus commanding His disciples to be His witnesses, to proclaim His name, repentance in His name. And then you have the religious leaders that they’re commanding the disciples to cease and desist. «You stop right now. Don’t speak anymore in Jesus’s name». And so, Peter and John say, «Whether it’s right in the sight of God to obey you or to obey God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking what we’ve seen and heard».
And they threaten them further and they let 'em go 'cause… what crime did they commit? They committed no crime. Well, here’s the thing. So, they’re being threatened to stop. And they’re not being threatened by the 12-year-old bully down the street. They’re being threatened by the Sanhedrin, the guys that do have the power to execute them. They can have them stoned. They can have them killed. They are the top echelon in Jerusalem, so it’s a real issue, and that’s what fuels the prayer time. That fuels the prayer meeting. Prayer that connects with God is often fueled by trouble. You think about it in your own life. When do you pray the best? When everything’s going great, or when things are hard and difficult? The prayer that connects with God is fueled by trouble.
Second discovery: prayer that connects with God has a traceable pattern. A traceable pattern. And, you know, when you look at the prayers in the Bible, you can see, well, how did they do it? You know, all of us learn by watching others. You know, when we have an apprenticeship program, what is that? In the medical community, you go to have classroom time. My daughter, who got a PA degree, she had classroom time. It was just all book learning, and then it was clinical trials and clinical time, where you work with docs and you see how they do it, and then they allow you to do some stuff. And so, both of those things are necessary, and… well, these guys spent 3 ½ years with Jesus. They saw how He prayed. They gleaned from Him, and so we can glean from them to see how they did it.
The traceable pattern, verse 23. «And when they had been released, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, 'O Lord, it is You who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM, who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Your servant, said, „Why DID THE GENTILES RAGE, AND THE PEOPLES DEVISE FUTILE THINGS? The KINGS OF THE EARTH TOOK THEIR STAND, AND THE RULERS WERE GATHERED TOGETHER AGAINST THE LORD AND AGAINST HIS CHRIST“. For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.'»
That was the beginning of their prayer. And that prayer has a traceable pattern. Now, they don’t get into the request until verse 29, but let’s learn from their prayer and from the pattern of prayer. First of all, the people are unified. So they get released by the Sanhedrin (Peter and John) and they go to home base. They go to the church. They go to the people. They’re their companions, those who are like-minded, those who love the Lord with all their hearts, and they declare to them, «This is what happened. This is what the chief priests and the rulers said to us. This is how they were threatening us». And once they report, then it says, «When they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord».
The people are unified. There is one accord. That means one mind, one purpose, one passion. Says in verse 32 of chapter 4, «And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul». They’re together. They’re unified. Hey, there’s power when we pray together, and there’s unity. And when a church loses unity, it loses power. Do you remember as a kid when you would get a magnifying glass? You know, I still remember as a kid, my brother was showing me his magnifying glass and how you could harness the sun and burn leaves. And then he would burn ants, and then he had some trouble. And I just, you know, just starts burning me, you know. «Hey, does this hurt if this beam goes on your finger»?
Yes, it starts to burn. There’s power, you know, you can be out in the sun, but you can’t be under a magnifying glass because that’s all harnessed, that’s all unified, and it forms a powerful beam. Well, the people were unified. That’s the first thing we see about their pattern in prayer. Secondly, the prayer begins with praise. They don’t just ask God, «Lord, this is our request». They just start praising the Lord. And it says in verse 24, «O Lord, it is You who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them». They start off praising God. «O Lord,» now, the normal word for Lord in the New Testament is kurios, but they don’t use the word kurious. They use the word despotes, or despotes is how you pronounce it. That means we get our English word despot from that.
A despotes is an absolute ruler and master. And so, they were praising God. They call Him, «Lord, You are the Absolute Ruler and Master. You are over everything, and You are the God who created everything, the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them. You are Creator God». And they were praising the Lord for who He is, for all the wonderful things that He has done in creation. Now, when you start your prayer off, and you’ll find many prayers in the Bible where God is spoken of as Creator God. Why is that important? Because it helps you to get your eyes on the fact that there is nothing too difficult for Him. «Ah Lord God»! Jeremiah 32:17, «Ah Lord God! Thou hast made the heavens and the earth by Thy great power and by Thine outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You».
If you’re the God who can speak the worlds into existence, well, how could there ever be an issue in my life, in my family, in our community, in our nation, in the world? How could there ever be an issue that would be big to God, that would be too great for God? God just spoke, as it says in Psalm 33, verse 9. «He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast». My help comes from the God who created it all. And how did He create it all? He just spoke it into existence. He wasn’t working on it for, you know, «Well, it took me 50,000 years to get Mount Everest up». He just spoke it, and boom, it’s there. And so, that’s the God that we serve. The God who is in charge. The God who is able in any and every situation. So the people are unified, the prayer begins with praise in Psalm 22. The Lord inhabits the praises of Israel. He inhabits the praises of his people.
And then thirdly, the prayer is steeped in Scripture, and they prayed with the Scripture. In Acts chapter 6, verse 4, we read these words from the disciples: «But we will devote ourselves to prayer, and the ministry of the Word». Those things go together. They’re inseparably linked, prayer and the ministry of the Word. I talk to people a lot, and when it comes to prayer, prayer is a difficult thing. «I don’t know what to pray. I can’t pray. I run out of», you know, «I go to pray», especially praying out loud in front of people. Well, how do you grow in prayer? Through the Word. You pray the Word back to God. God loves His Word.
Psalm 138, verse 2, «I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word». God loves his Word. And so, it’s great, as you read the Bible, to pray. And sometimes we look at, like, «Well, I’m gonna read the Bible. I have to read the Bible for so long, maybe it’s 15 minutes. I’m gonna be 15 minutes in the Bible, and then I’m gonna try and pray for 15 minutes». And some people, you know, like I said, you start praying and you run out of things to pray, and then you just kind of, like, reading a laundry list of things. «And bless Bob, and bless Bill, and bless Aunt Susie; she’s got bunions. And», you know, all this stuff.
And, you know, it can just become monotonous, and you’re just kind of, it’s just wrote. You’re not really thinking through what you’re praying. Better to read and pray at the same time. Better as you’re reading the scripture and something jumps out off the page, you’re like, «Well, Lord, I need that. I need You to do that work in my heart. Lord, I wanna fear You like they feared You. Lord, I want you to show Yourself to me and to my family like You showed yourself to Gideon. And it won’t be exactly the same, but in that same vein. Lord, I’m a lot like Gideon. I’m afraid, and so, God, I need a sign from You. Show me a sign for good,» as it says in the book of Psalms. And you take the Word, and you pray the Word. They were praying the Word, and they were using the Word in their prayers.
And listen, just like it says in verse 28, «To do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur». They were letting God know that they knew He was in charge. It’s obvious from the very first word of their prayer. «O Lord». «O despotes». «O Master, Ruler of all things, we know that You’re in charge. We are threatened, but we know that You are in charge of all things». Now, God didn’t make Pilate and Herod and the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel. He didn’t make them do what they did. To say, «Not this man, but Barabbas». To not deliver Jesus up to them. God didn’t make 'em do that. God just knew that they were gonna do that, and God gave them free will, and He accomplished His will through their free will. But the Lord has it all worked out. He is in charge. So, prayer has a traceable pattern.
And discovery number three: prayer that connects with God has a Kingdom focus. A Kingdom focus. So they praise to God, and they were unified, and they used the scripture as they prayed, as they just explained things to God. Have you noticed they haven’t asked the Lord for anything yet? They asked the Lord, their request comes in verse 29. «And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants, Your douloses,» the lowest servant. A slave is a better translation. «Grant that Your slaves may speak Your word with all confidence, all boldness». That’s what that word means.
«'All frankness, all outspokenness, while you extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.' And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness». The Lord loved that prayer. Obvious that he loved that prayer. Because this is almost like a small recreation of Acts 2, although there’s only one day of Pentecost. There’s not gonna be another day of Pentecost, but this is another moment where the Lord is saying, «Yes, that is what I want to do in your lives». See, God wants us to pray for power to be bold witnesses. That’s what they asked for.
Now, they’re being threatened, and the Sanhedrin hasn’t told them yet what’s the penalty going to be. They just threatened them, «Don’t do this anymore». And the idea that «We had the power to arrest Jesus and have Him crucified, well, that’s coming to you if you don’t stop». And so, that’s kind of in the backgrounds, implied. Well, they don’t know. They just know they’re being threatened, and it’s a menacing threat. «Speak no more in this name». And they don’t pray and ask the Lord, «Lord, protect us. Lord, you heard what they said. Lord, please protect us. Lord, keep us from harm. Lord, we don’t want to get in trouble with them. Lord, help us to play ball with the Sanhedrin».
No, they’re not playing any of that. They pray, and listen, why did they pray for boldness? Because they knew that they could get afraid. Peter was doing great walking on the water when he kept his eyes on Jesus, but seeing the wind, he became afraid. That’s a danger for all of us. And so they knew that they could get afraid, so, «Lord, grant that your servants would speak your Word with all boldness». That was their prayer. They wanted to be good witnesses for the Lord. «Enable us, Lord, to do our job». What’s your job? «But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you shall be My witnesses». Now, when you boil down the Christian life, what is the Christian life? What is our purpose for being on the earth? It’s to be His witnesses. That’s the only reason that you are here. You say, «Well, it’s to love God and love people».
Well, you can do that in heaven. You can love God better in heaven, I would say, and you can love people better in heaven. You don’t have your sinful flesh that is… you’re battling when you’re there in heaven. But God leaves us here. Why does He leave us here? What is our job for being here? To be His witnesses. You are witnesses of these things. So, they didn’t get their job pushed to the side. They kept the main thing. The main thing: «What am I here for? I’m here to witness. So how am I gonna do that? Lord, I need boldness. I need boldness to speak as I ought to speak».
So God wants us to pray to be a bold witness. That’s what Paul asked people to pray for him. Ephesians chapter 6, where he gives the armor of God passage. He says this: «And pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak». Same words, same thing that they’re praying for. For boldness to speak as I ought to speak. Why? Because we always need courage to speak up for the Lord. Because every single one of us deals with fear. And all of us, we can identify with being afraid, especially, you know, it’s one thing to say things in church 'cause everybody is on the same team.
It’s another thing to say something out there. It’s another thing to say something at your job. It’s another thing to say something at school. It’s another thing to stand up by yourself and be counted. That’s where the rubber hits the road. That’s where we pray, «God, give me boldness to speak as I ought to speak». And then one other thing they pray for: «That You, Lord, would stretch out your hand to heal, and power and signs and wonders would take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus».
So God wants us to pray for power to be bold witnesses. He wants us to pray for power to authenticate our witness. That’s what they were asking for. «Lord, as we witness in your name, we need Your power. We need You to extend Your hand. We need You to do what only You can do, 'cause we can’t do any of that. We can’t heal. You are the healer. And we can’t do signs and we can’t do wonders». But those would authenticate that these are apostles. That these people come from the Lord. That the message is true. They didn’t have the New Testament. This is the early days of the church. Jesus has ascended to heaven. He’s only been gone for a few months. In the early days of the church, they needed the signs and the wonders and the miracles. We don’t need that like they did because we have the completed work and finished Word of God. So we pray for boldness, and we pray, «God, put Your hand upon me. Give me power. Let people see You in me».