Acts 4:23-31 The Message
One Heart, One Mind
23-26 As soon as Peter and John were let go, they went to their friends and told them what the high priests and religious leaders had said. Hearing the report, they lifted their voices in a wonderful harmony in prayer: “Strong God, you made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. By the Holy Spirit you spoke through the mouth of your servant and our father, David:
Why the big noise, nations?
Why the mean plots, peoples?
Earth’s leaders push for position,
Potentates meet for summit talks,
The God-deniers, the Messiah-defiers!
27-28 “For in fact they did meet—Herod and Pontius Pilate with nations and peoples, even Israel itself!—met in this very city to plot against your holy Son Jesus, the One you made Messiah, to carry out the plans you long ago set in motion.
29-30 “And now they’re at it again! Take care of their threats and give your servants fearless confidence in preaching your Message, as you stretch out your hand to us in healings and miracles and wonders done in the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
31 While they were praying, the place where they were meeting trembled and shook. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak God’s Word with fearless confidence.
Word of God for the Children of God
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
The apostles, Peter and John, were arrested for healing a man who was lame and giving credit to Jesus.
After spending a night in jail, they boldly claimed that the religious leaders who imprisoned them were murderers.
They tell the religious leaders to their face that Jesus, whom they crucified, is the fulfillment of God’s promises.
He is the Messiah who provides salvation. There is no other name by which we must be saved.
These statements were bold enough to offend the religious leaders, but they could not harm these apostles because they had just healed a man who was lame in front of the temple for the last forty years!
Peter and John went to their friends to let them know the details about what happened.
Imagine how you would feel after going through this.
Would you be excited to be set free?
Would you complain about how you were treated?
Notice that they don’t turn to their friends to complain.
They aren’t angry or rebellious.
They and their friends lift their voices together in praise and prayer unto God.
What do they say?
When it comes to our prayer life, sometimes we start off passionately praying only to end up with routine lifeless prayers or nothing at all.
I along with many others have experienced this.
The reasons we may have dull prayer lives are vast.
Maintaining fervency in prayer is often difficult to do every day, especially during a challenging season.
We may feel as though our words are insufficient and stop short of the ceiling: never making it to God’s ears.
At times, we might even feel like our prayers are ineffective because life’s situations seem to remain the same.
Although this is sometimes our reality it doesn’t have to stay this way.
Fervent prayer doesn’t rest on what we can do alone but it is impacted by the power of God.
When our prayer life seems powerless, we can ask God to make them powerful through the intervention of the Holy Spirit.
We see this in Acts chapter 3 and 4.
Peter healed a lame beggar and then he and John taught the people and also proclaimed in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.
This displeased the priest, captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees so they came up and seized Peter and John and put them in jail until the next day.
They threatened them but ultimately let them go because of the crowd.
Once they were released the immediate and collective response of the believers was prayer to God.
They acknowledged the sovereignty of God, the plots of mankind, and then asked the Lord to enable His servants to speak His word with great boldness.
At a time when they could have been fearful of what might happen to them they boldly prayed to God.
They did not shrink back.
These believers chose to pray more fervently in the midst of a dangerous time.
In Acts, 4:30 they said, “Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
What does shaken mean in Acts 4:31?
The place was shaken – The word which is translated “was shaken” commonly denotes “violent agitation,” as the raging of the seas, the convulsions of an earthquake, or trees vigorously shaken by the wind, Matthew 11:7; Acts 16:26; Hebrews 12:26. The language here is suited to express the idea of an earthquake.
The believers moved forward, surged forward, indeed marched, courageously and in Acts 4:31 we see the whole place where they were meeting was shaken.
This illustrates the power of prayer in a physical way.
Our prayers have the power to shake the very hardest grounds of our heart and the circumstances of our lives.
Just like the early believers we must trust in God and not doubt.
We must make a conscious decision to pray bold prayers.
As we grow closer to God, He, by the power of His Holy Spirit, causes us to pray these types of prayers.
Our prayer life is not meant to solely focus on us and our problems.
It is meant to be a global battleground where we lay the foundation for God to work in and through us.
If our prayers have grown route and lifeless we can take our cues from the believers in Acts 4.
In doing so we also will acknowledge the sovereignty of God, man’s failed plots to stop the spread of the Gospel, to keep praying and asking the Holy Spirit to enable us to keep speaking the Word of the living God with a great boldness.
This will ensure our faith and our prayer life is anything but dull and boring. Choosing to pray this way might cause us to have the same type of hang-on-by-the-seat-of-your-pants adventures that the early believers experienced.
What is the significance of Acts 4 31?
The emphasis in Acts 4:31 is on “speaking” the Word.
This was the validation of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
I have emphasized this point previously; miracles and signs and wonders are not random. They are uniquely sacred opportunities given by God to either open the door for a verbal gospel witness or confirm the message and the messenger.
Why Should We Speak?
So often, we refuse to speak. Why?
Is it because we know that the world is going to reject it?
Do we think telling people the truth will destroy our relationship with them?
If we speak the truth in love, their rejection is their fault.
If we stay humble, they shouldn’t be proud.
They will be proud and reject the truth, but that’s not on you!
Please don’t feel guilty because people reject the truth.
Please do not be surprised by this or disheartened by this.
Look at the disciples.
They understand that this is to be expected.
But did you know that you will fail to reap if we refuse to spread seed?
Ecclesiastes (Spread your seed)
Luke (Cast your nets on the other side)
Romans (The power is in the gospel)
In Nehemiah, there was an excellent resistance to building the wall.
The greatest thing a church can have?
Are a few people who are persistently bullheaded about evangelism, like Nehemiah was bullheaded about building the wall.
We build anyway.
Conclusion
Acts 4:1-12 New American Standard Bible
Peter and John Arrested
4 As they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them, 2 being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming [a]in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they laid hands on them and put them in prison until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 But many of those who had heard the [b]message believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
5 On the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem; 6 and Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of high-priestly descent. 7 When they had placed them in the center, they began to inquire, “By what power, or in what name, have you done this?” 8 Then Peter, [c]filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “[d]Rulers and elders of the people, 9 if we are [e]on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to [f]how this man has been made well, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that [g]by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—[h]by [i]this name this man stands here before you in good health. 11 [j]He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved.”
Before we close, please understand and pray through these poignant Acts 4 scriptures that, ultimately God will accomplish his will through evil people.
Isaiah 55:8-11 New American Standard Bible
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it produce and sprout,
And providing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
11 So will My word be which goes out of My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the purpose for which I sent it.
He will spread His Word, His purpose whether it’s through us or someone else.
He will create a love for him, his word, his people, the lost world in someone.
It will be with a denomination up the road if it’s not you.
1 Corinthians 15:50-58 English Standard Version
Mystery and Victory
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
If you lack boldness, ask for it.
If you are afraid, I understand why you are afraid.
But don’t pray for people to stop resisting the light.
That’s not going to happen.
Instead, let’s ask for boldness to speak the truth in the face of resistance.
Let’s be bullheaded about God’s mission for us.
If the government tells us, threatens us to be silent about God, let’s speak out courageously, even if it means people won’t understand what we are doing.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Praying …
Psalm 27 English Standard Version
The Lord Is My Light and My Salvation
Of David.
27 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold[a] of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evildoers assail me
to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.
3 Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet[b] I will be confident.
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire[c] in his temple.
5 For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift me high upon a rock.
6 And now my head shall be lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
8 You have said, “Seek[d] my face.”
My heart says to you,
“Your face, Lord, do I seek.”[e]
9 Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
O God of my salvation!
10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
but the Lord will take me in.
11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
and lead me on a level path
because of my enemies.
12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
for false witnesses have risen against me,
and they breathe out violence.
13 I believe that I shall look[f] upon the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living!
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 