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1Bt SM
A Study of the Book of Acts
Sermon # 10
When A Church Prays
Acts 4:23-31
And when they had prayed...
This morning I want to ask every person who
considers themselves a part of this church to join me in
a season of prayer for our church. November 3rd we
declared as our Fresh Start Sunday, that day is past
but our emphasis has not. We want this coming year to
be Fresh Start year for First Baptist Church. We will be
developing and giving you materials to help you to
reach out to your friends and neighbors throughout the
year. And I believe the key essential in an effort to
change the direction of our church is that everyone be
in prayer for our church. There is incredible power and
resources available to the church that prays. In conjunction with that thought, today I want to talk with you
about what we can expect when we as a church pray.
The records of the early church point to prayer as
its dominant feature. The early believers knew that they
were responsible for each others well being. They were
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to be salt and light to their world. One way they demonstrated that responsibility was by praying for the hurts
and needs around them.
Just as the members of the early church prayed
for the needs of the people around them, we are to pray.
Prayer unlocks the storehouse of Gods infinite grace
and power. All that God is and all that God has, is at
the disposal of prayer.
As I have already said, this morning I want to
extend to you the invitation to enter into a special
season for prayer for our church and its effectiveness in
this community. Paul likewise asked the church at
Rome to enter into special prayer with him. Now I
beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christs sake,
and for the love of the Spirit, that you strive together
with me in your prayers to God..... (Romans 15:30)
You will remember from last week that Peter and
John had been arrested and put in prison for preaching
"Jesus the resurrection from the dead" (Acts 4:2). As
they appeared before the religious authorities and the
high priest, Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit and
speaks with great boldness proclaiming about Jesus
that there is "no other name under heaven given among
men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) The
Apostles were then warned and threatened not to teach
or speak the name of Jesus. Peter responds by saying,
"Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you
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more than God, you judge, for we cannot but speak the
things we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:19-20) Then
after they were further threatened they were released.
What should we do and to whom should we go
when we are troubled and have more problems than we
can handle? The example of the Apostles was they went
to those who really cared about them and would pray
for them. It stands to reason that every Christian needs
to belong to a local body of believers. Refusal to be a
part of and to submit oneself to the authority of a local
church opposes the plan of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
builder of the church. It also causes such people to miss
out because they have no local church to go to when
troubles abound.
Do you have a church to go home to from the
world of persecution, pressures, troubles, trials, and
problems? Peter and John did, as we read in verse
twenty-three, "On their release Peter and John went
back to their own people." We see the same thing in
Acts 12. Herod had put Peter, in jail, but the angel of the
Lord rescued him. When he realized that he was really
free, Peter "went to the house of Mary the mother of
John, also called Mark, where people had gathered and
were praying" (Acts 12:12). Peter went home to his
church.
We need a place to go home to, and the church is
that place. There prayer is offered in behalf of those
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who are suffering and there we share our burdens and

joys with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Being a
member of a local church is a great privilege and
responsibility. In fact, in the New Testament, the most
severe punishment is to be expelled from the fellowship
of a local church.
Notice Three Things About Prayer.
First, Prayer As A Response To God. (4:23-24)
They Were Grateful To God.
And being let go.... they saw this as evidence of
the grace of God at work in their lives! Is God at work in
your life? Have you looked for the evidence? Have you
stopped to praise Him for what He has done for you?
Every manifestation of Gods grace is just cause for
prayer! And being let go......they lifted up their voice to
God. (vv. 23-24)
When Peter and John left the council they
rejoined the waiting Christians and had an impromptu
worship service, thanking God for the outcome of their
first significant encounter with the rulers of this dark
world. Apparently they broke into prayer instinctively.
They Were Committed To Unity.
they lifted up their voices with one accord v. 24
When members of the church heard the Apostles
report, they raised their voices together in prayer to
God. The effectual prayer is prayer offered to God by
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people who are united in the unity of the Spirit. At a

horse-pull in Canada, one horse pulled 9,000 pounds,
another pulled 8,000 pounds. Together, we might
assume that they could pull 17,000 pounds. However,
when harnessed together these mighty steeds pulled
30,000 pounds, over three times what either could pull
separately! [Coy Wylie. When God Comes to Church. Unpublished data file
(www.cornerstonebc.com/Sermons/50dsa7.htm) ]

Similarly, God's power through His church is

greater than the sum of His power in our lives individually. It is important to recognize that this prayer is
prayed by people just like you and I.
The occasion for this prayer is very dangerous
threats against the preaching of God's word in the
name of Jesus. There were extraordinary obstacles in
the way of the spread of Jesus' name. This prayer is
relevant for us because of its occasion. We face tremendous obstacles too for even short of persecution, the
obstacles we face making Christ known are great -the entertainment industry that keeps people
saturated with the world and numb to spiritual things;
a thoroughly God-ignoring culture; a medical
technology so advanced and so available that people
seldom think of resorting to God for help; and on top of
all this the relative weakness of the church entangled in
the very values of the world they are supposed to
confront with a radically different Christ. [John Piper. A
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Prayer That Brought the Holy Spirit Down. Unpub. data file. (www. sound of grace
.com/piper 91/02-03-91 htm) p. 3]

Prayer As A Response To God and

Secondly, Prayer As Recognition Of God. (4:24-28)
So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God
with one accord and said: Lord, You are God, who
made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in
them, (25) who by the mouth of Your servant David
have said: Why did the nations rage, and the people
plot vain things?(26) The kings of the earth took their
stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against
the LORD and against His Christ. (27) For truly against
Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both
Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the
people of Israel, were gathered together (28) to do
whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined
before to be done.
We find that most of this prayer is an affirmation
of the Sovereignty of God!! Notice first of all that they
prayed Lord, You are God they literally called upon
God as "Sovereign Lord." The word translated sovereign is a very strong word it is the Greek word
despotes is the word we get the English word despot
from and it means one who has absolute authority and
here it means that God has absolute authority over His
universe and His church. They were appealing to the
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highest authority in the Universe for their protection.

However, important and powerful the Sanhedrin
thought themselves to be they were no match for the
almighty power of God. The early church presented
themselves as His servants (v. 29) literally doulos or
slaves. They were not making demands of Him, but
rather seeking to be his faithful servants.
An envoy from the Pope once met the reformer
Martin Luther and threatened him with what would
follow if he persisted in his course of action. He warned
him that in the end all his supporters would desert him.
Where will you be then? he asked. Luther replied,
Then as now, in the hands of God. [Barclay. p.42]
They Recognized His Sovereignty As The God
Of Creation. v.24 you made
We need to have a view of God that is large
before we see how small our problems really are. We
must understand that this God our God - is the God of
creation, who created all, maintains all, rules all, and
owns all. The implication of course is that the creator is
more powerful than those who He has created.
They Recognized His Sovereignty As The God
Of Revelation. v. 25 you spoke
Verses twenty-five and twenty-six are a quotation
from Psalm 2:1-2 concerning the power of those who
are opposed to God. The verse says that the nations
rage which in the original Greek was used to describe
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the sound produced by high-spirited horses. William

Barclay comments, They may stomp their feet
(trample) and toss their heads; but in the end they will
have to accept the discipline of the reins. [William Barclay.
Acts. p. 42]

The enemies of God may have great plans but

they are in vain, which means empty. Even what
seemed as the greatest defeat - Christ death on the
Cross, God foresaw and turned in the greatest of all
victories, salvation.
They Recognized His Sovereignty As The God
Of History. v. 28 you decided
When we going through a crisis and the enemy
seems so powerful and his schemes so well planned that
we feel weak in comparison. Perhaps nothing is more
important to believers when they are going through
times of crisis than the understanding that God is still in
control. The early church found great comfort in the
fact that the God to who whom they prayed was the
creator of heaven and earth, who was the sovereign
God of the universe, who was totally in control of all
that happened.
Should they be concerned that mere men have
threatened them and are seeking to stamp out Gods
kingdom? Of course not!!! They are on the right side,
the side of God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the
Sovereign of the Universe, the God of History, the God of
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Revelation. What could mere men do to them? Because

of their focus on God the apostles and the early church
saw the persecution they faced as an ongoing
resistance to Christ and his kingdom. And in the light of
what God has said, they saw this resistance as futile and
foolish. The Kingdom of God cannot be stopped and
thus, they could not be silenced.
Prayer As Recognition Of God and
Third, Prayer As A Request Of God. (4:29-30)
Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your
servants that with all boldness they may speak Your
word, (30) by stretching out Your hand to heal, and
that signs and wonders may be done through the name
of Your holy Servant Jesus.
They Prayed For the Opportunity To Serve.
Their concern about the danger around them
was not for their safety but that it might rob them of
the ability to serve. The church prayed for three things,
they prayed that God would hear their enemies threats,
they prayed that they would be granted boldness and
they prayed that the world would see Gods power
working through them. The threats from the religious
leaders were intended to silence the church from
speaking the name of Jesus. And so their requests were
to have boldness in their speech. The prayer for boldness and confidence was an admission of their own
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weakness as Christians. How easy it is to draw back and

to lighten up when the heat is on! It would be easy to
shrink back and pray for safety. Let your speech
always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may
know how you ought to answer each one. (Colossians
4:6)
They Prayed With The Expectation Of Results.
(v. 31)
And when they had prayed, the place where they were
assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled
with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God
with boldness.
As we read verse thirty-one it is hard to miss the
connected that Luke wants us to see between prayer
and power. Certainly when we encounter God in a fresh
way, one of the first by-products is courage. The
revelation of God makes us agree with Paul when he
said, If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans
8:31) It is not surprising to find verse thirty-one ending
with the announcement that the believers spoke the
word of God with boldness.
Conclusion
Is the church in the books of Acts any different
than the church today? Should it be? No. The God they
prayed to is the God we pray to. The God who shook
them is the God who will shake us. The God who filled
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them is the God who desires to fill us with His Holy

Spirit. The God who empowered them to speak is the
God who empowers you and I to speak boldly about
Jesus Christ.
What I want to do today is challenge you. I dont
want to be an ordinary Christian and I dont want to be
the pastor of an ordinary church. I dont really care
about the size of our church, I do care a great deal
about the spirit of our church. I want to challenge you
to do three things with me
1. Wherever you are spiritually, commit your heart
anew to God.
2. Commit yourself to the body of Christ.
3. Commit yourself to be used of God in this local
assembly.
Now is the time to get involved.
We need you to pray for our church.
We need you to work, to reach this community.

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WHEN A CHURCH PRAYS

Acts 4:23-31

First, Prayer As A Response To God. (4:23-24)

They Were Grateful To God.

They Were Committed To Unity.

Secondly, Prayer As Recognition Of God. (4:24-28)

They Recognized His Sovereignty As The God Of

Creation. v.24 you made

They Recognized His Sovereignty As The God Of

Revelation. v. 25 you spoke (Ps. 2: 1-2)

They recognized His sovereignty as the God of

History. v. 28 you decided

Third, Power As a Request Of God. (4:29-30)

They Prayed For The Opportunity To Serve.

(Col. 4:6)

They Prayed With The Expectation Of Results.

(v. 31) (Romans 8:31)
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WHEN A CHURCH PRAYS

Acts 4:23-31

First, Prayer As A ___________________ To God. (4:23-24)

They Were ____________ To God.

They Were Committed To ___________.

Secondly, Prayer As _________________________ Of God. (4:24-28)

They Recognized His Sovereignty As The God Of

__________________. v.24 you made

They Recognized His Sovereignty As The God Of

_____________________ v. 25 you spoke (Ps. 2: 1-2)

They recognized His Sovereignty As The God Of

_________________. v. 28 you decided

Third, Power As a _________________Of God. (4:29-30)

They Prayed For the Opportunity To _____________.

(Col. 4:6)

They Prayed With The Expectation Of ______________.

(v. 31) (Romans 8:31)
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