Transformissional Prayer
1 Amens
Acts 4:21-37: "And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old. 23 When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, ‘Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, "Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? 26 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed"-- 27 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, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.' 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. 32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet."
INTRODUCTION
If we really want a city-shaping movement of the Gospel, we're going to need to pray.
Multiple Revivals and Renewals in the Old Testament
In the Old Testament there was a history of revivals or renewals. Some of them were leader-lead and were major renewals in which the Children of Israel went back to the covenant, and went back to the Scriptures to revisit their history and become the people God had originally called them to be.
This happened before they went into the Promised Land; it happened before they built the temple; it happened before they crowned their first king; and it happened after they came back from the exile.
There were also grass-roots revivals which we see in the book of Judges over and over again. The Children of Israel would fall under the oppression of a neighboring nation and they would cry out to the Lord because they realized they had lost their first love. They would cry out and pray for forgiveness and renewal.
If you look at the entire Old Testament, you notice that these revivals were very different. Some were very formal, some were spontaneous, some were led by a strong central leader, some seem to come out of a grass-roots movement and no leader is mentioned. The one thing that is stated again and again is that they "cried out to the Lord." It's the one constant no matter who's doing it or what's happening. Some are more priestly revivals, some are more kingly revivals, and some are more prophetic revivals, but the theme is the same in that the people God began to cry out to the Lord, not just, "said their prayers."
Pentecost and mini-Pentecosts in the New Testament
In the OT the Children of Israel are called out and constituted as God's people at Mount Sinai in a covenant-making ceremony, and then they have covenant renewal ceremonies throughout the OT. The get back to their roots and remember their calling and recommit to who they are.
When you look at Acts in the NT, the people of God are constituted at Pentecost in the upper room as the fullness of the Spirit comes down and binds them together as the Church, God's people, to be empowered for mission.
In the book of Acts, though Pentecost had occurred, there is a constant renewal and refreshing of new fillings of the Holy Spirit. As we're looking in this chapter, the pattern is that something happens, some opposition comes and they cry out to God and they are all "filled with the Holy Spirit" (v. 31), which results in increased faith and activity in the Church for the witness of the Gospel.
So we see that it's not that we get filled once and then we work hard to maintain that filling of God's Spirit and there is no need for renewal and refreshing. We're given the Holy Spirit once, but there is a need for us to be refreshed and filled again in fullness as we seek after God's Spirit to enable and empower us for mission. The Holy Spirit is given at our conversion and is never taken away. But, as in Acts, there is a need for a new filling of the Spirit.
What are distracting in the book of Acts are the incredible and spectacular activities that come along with it. You read about the miracles, the ground shaking, the evangelistic tongues, and scholars' debate about whether or not this kind of thing should happen today since it was to validate the testimony of the Apostles, etc.
The problem is that we end up missing the forest for the trees. When you look at every place in the NT where there is a new filling of the Holy Spirit, a new fullness coming down, you always see two things.
What these occurrences have in common in the coming of the fullness of the Spirit, and the one thing they have in common when the Spirit comes in power, is prayer. Sometimes there's an Apostle, sometimes there's not; sometimes there's tongues, sometimes there's not; sometimes there's healing, sometimes there's not; sometimes it's a whole group of people, sometimes it's just a couple of people or only one person-but the one constant that's always there is prayer.
Church History, Awakenings and Revivals
Through the history of the Church there are revivals from 100 AD, through the Reformation and Great Awakening up to modern revivals back in the 1800's in New York, Scotland, and Ireland, as well as small revivals taking place throughout the 1900's in various spots in the US as well as Korea and now in China.
What you see when you survey the history of revivals is that they vary much like the OT and NT. Some are preaching-led, some are formal, some are congregation-led and some are informal, some are led by one person who is burdened for the city, some are led by groups of churches coming together, but the one constant in every revival is corporate, prevailing, Kingdom-centered, intense prayer. They cry out to God in a way they had not previously and their own personal prayers become front-line Kingdom prayers that are bold and courageous.
What does it mean to pray in this way?
Jack Miller describes the difference between maintenance prayers and front-line prayers. Our maintenance prayers, which are necessary, are short prayers in which we ask for our basic needs, health, and for God to consider our personal situations. These are important and needful. We should pray to God for ourselves. We should seek Him for comfort for various personal trials. But, what we're talking about as we looked at the OT, NT, and Church history is front-line prayers in which we are seeking God for something much bigger than our own needs. We begin to pray in a way that we are considering God and His passions and desires more and more.
Our prayer has to be prevailing. It can't be sporadic which shows a lack of need for God to show up. We need to lay out an altar where the fire of God can show up. We can't make God's fire show up, but we can prepare our hearts by seeking God intensely until He does show up. If it takes months, years, or decades, when He does show up in power, it will make it all worth it. God is shaping our hearts in this process. If He granted to us every answer to every whim of prayer we had, we'd be self-sufficient, and we'd probably pray for things we don't really need. But to have to wait, to have to seek Him continuously shapes our hearts and drives out our self-sufficiency as we come to realize that unless He shows up, we can do nothing.
We need to pray together to keep ourselves hot for God. It's like coals, when you spread them out the fire dies down, when you bring them together the fire begins to roar. We need to gather together corporately and pray.
Revival is not something you can manipulate. You can't just push a button and demand that God do what we want. But, we also don't sit back and wait for this kind of enabling power of the Spirit. We don't simply say, "When God wants to send a revival He will," and let that be that! The best illustration I see is what Elijah did. He built an altar, he laid the sacrifice out, and down came the fire.
What's good about that is the metaphor. On the one hand, God's fire does not come down into the unprepared mud. He's not just going to come down anywhere. On the other hand, building the altar doesn't make God's fire show up. God has to send the fire. What does it mean to build an altar to ask God to send down His fire?
It's four things which we're going to pray about right now:
Acts 1:13-14: "And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers."
Acts 1:24-25: "And they prayed and said, ‘You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.'"
Acts 2:42-43: "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles."
STUDY
How do the apostles' react to the threats and ban of the council? We're told in verse 23:
Verse 23-24: "When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God..."
They ran back to their brothers and sisters, reported everything that had been said and done to them, and then immediately they united together to pray to God.
This is the power of corporate prayer. It is the koin_nia in action. We saw the apostles in the council and now we see them in fellowship with the Church. They were bold witnesses before their accusers and now they were bold in prayer.
The Sanhedrin might threaten them and warn them, and even try to silence the preaching of the Gospel, but their authority was subject to a higher authority, and the edicts of men can never overturn the decrees of God.
They begin to pray by recognizing the power of God. They cry out, "Sovereign Lord..." (v. 24) and see themselves as subject to this mighty King.
They start by praying to fill their mind with thoughts of a mighty God.
Verse 24: "And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, ‘Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them'"
First, he is the God of creation, "who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them."
Verse 25-26: "who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? 26 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed'"
Second, He is the God of revelation who spoke to us "by the Holy Spirit...through the mouth of David." God had already told them and us that the world would oppose Christ: nations raging, peoples plotting, kings standing and rulers assembling against the Lord's anointed.
Verses 27-28: "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, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place."
Third, He is the God of history, who caused even His enemies (Herod and Pilate, Gentiles and Jews), united in a conspiracy against Jesus to do what His "power and will had decided beforehand should happen."
This was how the Church understood their God. They saw Him as the God of creation, revelation, and history. You made, You spoke, You decided.
It's only after they have their vision of God clear in their minds that they begin to give God their petitions to Him.
1-Remember us when we're threatened
Verse 29a: "And now, Lord, look upon their threats..."
It wasn't a prayer that their threats would fail, or that God would protect them, it was only that God would consider them, or would keep them in His mind. This is amazing because they're not asking for safety and peace.
2-Cause us to be bold and unafraid of the threats of the world or of our own hearts.
Verse 29b: "and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness"
3-God, stretch out your hand and heal, perform miracles of grace through the name of Jesus.
Verse 30: "while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
Their demand now is not for miracles of destruction, such as fire from heaven, but for miracles of mercy. Our words and deeds must go together.
At this time, the way in which the message was validated and shown to be true was through miraculous healings. In our day, we ask for healing as well, but God's Word is now penned, and His Word is sure. We're asking for God to supernaturally heal the hearts of those we are bringing Christ's Gospel to.
What is far more significant, that a man be healed of sickness, so that he will one day die anyway, or that a man's sins are forgiven as God works the miracle of grace upon Him and removes his hard heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh?
My fear is that we spend more time asking for physical healings in our day than spiritual healing.
The Results
1-They were filled again with the Holy Spirit
Verse 31a: "And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit"
2-They were given boldness to speak the Gospel
Verse 31b: "and continued to speak the word of God with boldness."
3-They were unified in heart
Verse 32a: "Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul"
4-They became radically generous
Verse 32b: "and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common."
Verses 34-37: "There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet."
5-The leaders were empowered to give their testimony to the Gospel of Jesus
Verse 33: "And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus"
6-Great grace was upon them all
Verse 33b: "and great grace was upon them all."
Read MoreINTRODUCTION
If we really want a city-shaping movement of the Gospel, we're going to need to pray.
Multiple Revivals and Renewals in the Old Testament
In the Old Testament there was a history of revivals or renewals. Some of them were leader-lead and were major renewals in which the Children of Israel went back to the covenant, and went back to the Scriptures to revisit their history and become the people God had originally called them to be.
This happened before they went into the Promised Land; it happened before they built the temple; it happened before they crowned their first king; and it happened after they came back from the exile.
There were also grass-roots revivals which we see in the book of Judges over and over again. The Children of Israel would fall under the oppression of a neighboring nation and they would cry out to the Lord because they realized they had lost their first love. They would cry out and pray for forgiveness and renewal.
If you look at the entire Old Testament, you notice that these revivals were very different. Some were very formal, some were spontaneous, some were led by a strong central leader, some seem to come out of a grass-roots movement and no leader is mentioned. The one thing that is stated again and again is that they "cried out to the Lord." It's the one constant no matter who's doing it or what's happening. Some are more priestly revivals, some are more kingly revivals, and some are more prophetic revivals, but the theme is the same in that the people God began to cry out to the Lord, not just, "said their prayers."
Pentecost and mini-Pentecosts in the New Testament
In the OT the Children of Israel are called out and constituted as God's people at Mount Sinai in a covenant-making ceremony, and then they have covenant renewal ceremonies throughout the OT. The get back to their roots and remember their calling and recommit to who they are.
When you look at Acts in the NT, the people of God are constituted at Pentecost in the upper room as the fullness of the Spirit comes down and binds them together as the Church, God's people, to be empowered for mission.
In the book of Acts, though Pentecost had occurred, there is a constant renewal and refreshing of new fillings of the Holy Spirit. As we're looking in this chapter, the pattern is that something happens, some opposition comes and they cry out to God and they are all "filled with the Holy Spirit" (v. 31), which results in increased faith and activity in the Church for the witness of the Gospel.
So we see that it's not that we get filled once and then we work hard to maintain that filling of God's Spirit and there is no need for renewal and refreshing. We're given the Holy Spirit once, but there is a need for us to be refreshed and filled again in fullness as we seek after God's Spirit to enable and empower us for mission. The Holy Spirit is given at our conversion and is never taken away. But, as in Acts, there is a need for a new filling of the Spirit.
What are distracting in the book of Acts are the incredible and spectacular activities that come along with it. You read about the miracles, the ground shaking, the evangelistic tongues, and scholars' debate about whether or not this kind of thing should happen today since it was to validate the testimony of the Apostles, etc.
The problem is that we end up missing the forest for the trees. When you look at every place in the NT where there is a new filling of the Holy Spirit, a new fullness coming down, you always see two things.
What these occurrences have in common in the coming of the fullness of the Spirit, and the one thing they have in common when the Spirit comes in power, is prayer. Sometimes there's an Apostle, sometimes there's not; sometimes there's tongues, sometimes there's not; sometimes there's healing, sometimes there's not; sometimes it's a whole group of people, sometimes it's just a couple of people or only one person-but the one constant that's always there is prayer.
Church History, Awakenings and Revivals
Through the history of the Church there are revivals from 100 AD, through the Reformation and Great Awakening up to modern revivals back in the 1800's in New York, Scotland, and Ireland, as well as small revivals taking place throughout the 1900's in various spots in the US as well as Korea and now in China.
What you see when you survey the history of revivals is that they vary much like the OT and NT. Some are preaching-led, some are formal, some are congregation-led and some are informal, some are led by one person who is burdened for the city, some are led by groups of churches coming together, but the one constant in every revival is corporate, prevailing, Kingdom-centered, intense prayer. They cry out to God in a way they had not previously and their own personal prayers become front-line Kingdom prayers that are bold and courageous.
What does it mean to pray in this way?
Jack Miller describes the difference between maintenance prayers and front-line prayers. Our maintenance prayers, which are necessary, are short prayers in which we ask for our basic needs, health, and for God to consider our personal situations. These are important and needful. We should pray to God for ourselves. We should seek Him for comfort for various personal trials. But, what we're talking about as we looked at the OT, NT, and Church history is front-line prayers in which we are seeking God for something much bigger than our own needs. We begin to pray in a way that we are considering God and His passions and desires more and more.
1-It is prayer that is focused on God's power, presence, and Kingdom.
As I mentioned, prayer for ourselves and our needs are important. We should pray for our family and pray for our needs. What we are talking about though is when we are seeking after the renewal of the Church and the renewal of the city, our prayers become larger and more intense. This has been what brings renewal and revival in the hearts of God's people to go out in Christ's name.
What brings this renewal is corporate prayer where God's people gather together and cry out and "lift their voices together" (v. 24). We pray in the Kingdom by seeking after those things which will show of God's Kingdom in this world. Instead of moving on to our "daily bread" we stay and pray for "thy Kingdom come, they will be done" much longer and intensely.
Frontline prayer seeks after God's grace and recognizes that nothing can be done without it. When the Gospel becomes more than a concept, and the love of Jesus for you becomes so real to you and you're certain of it, there becomes a foundation of stone beneath you which holds you up. When that happens, and you are no longer tossed about by insecurities of His not loving you, when you're sure, it allows you the freedom to admit what's really wrong with you.
You have to be incredibly happy to be sad in the right way. I know that sounds like it doesn't make sense. But it is what grace produces. You are freed to confess your shortcomings and this is not only liberating to your soul, it creates a dynamic of strength out of weakness that is compelling and attractive to those around you.
When your identity is based upon living up to standards, you can never rest and be sure of God's love for you which means you can never really call others to delight in God with any confidence. You can finally move out of denial about your fear, your lack of love for others, and your pride that keeps you from trusting in Christ and His Gospel. It is seeking for the power of His Gospel and the reality of His love for you to be present in your heart.
2-It is prayer that asks God for the flourishing and renewal of the Church. You begin to pray for its peace, for the bickering and backstabbing to stop, for the gossip to be squashed, for the critical attitudes of others to be quieted, for the joy of the Church to grow, you desire the Church to mature, for it to grow in members, for the worship to move from being mechanical to living and vibrant, for the prayer life of the Church to grow, for the Church to get out of it's apathy, for the knowledge of the Gospel to explode, for the confidence of Christ's bride to shine in the city in humility. You are basically asking for the Church to be what it's supposed to be.
3-It is a yearning to know God more and more. We begin to seek after God's presence more and more. We start asking Him to open the eyes of our heart so that we can see Him more clearly. We begin to ask to see His glory, even if it kills us! We start to go hard after Him when we gather because we want to sense His presence in our midst.
4-It is bold, specific and persistent prayer. We begin to pray for particular people groups and neighborhoods. We seek out God's grace for them and don't let Him go until we see people becoming converted. We refuse to let up in our prayers and instead of our prayers waning, they intensify.
There is a great story about Alexander the Great. He had a general who was about to get married. He came to Alexander and told him the news and also said that he needed money to give the dowry and pay for the wedding. Alexander said, "Sure how much do you need?" The general asked for an enormous sum of money, and those watching were stunned by the amount. Instead of Alexander grimacing, he got this radiant look and lit up. With incredible delight he said to the man, "Of course, go to my treasurer and he'll give you all that you've asked for." Those watching came up to him afterwards and asked, "Why did you give him so much money, and why were you delighted to do it?" Alexander responded with a smile and said, "This man has done me a great honor. By asking for such a ridiculous sum, he shows me that he believes that I am fabulously wealthy and incredibly generous."
Thou are coming to a King
Large petitions with thee bring
For His grace and power are such
None can ever ask too much
Our prayer has to be prevailing. It can't be sporadic which shows a lack of need for God to show up. We need to lay out an altar where the fire of God can show up. We can't make God's fire show up, but we can prepare our hearts by seeking God intensely until He does show up. If it takes months, years, or decades, when He does show up in power, it will make it all worth it. God is shaping our hearts in this process. If He granted to us every answer to every whim of prayer we had, we'd be self-sufficient, and we'd probably pray for things we don't really need. But to have to wait, to have to seek Him continuously shapes our hearts and drives out our self-sufficiency as we come to realize that unless He shows up, we can do nothing.
We need to pray together to keep ourselves hot for God. It's like coals, when you spread them out the fire dies down, when you bring them together the fire begins to roar. We need to gather together corporately and pray.
Revival is not something you can manipulate. You can't just push a button and demand that God do what we want. But, we also don't sit back and wait for this kind of enabling power of the Spirit. We don't simply say, "When God wants to send a revival He will," and let that be that! The best illustration I see is what Elijah did. He built an altar, he laid the sacrifice out, and down came the fire.
What's good about that is the metaphor. On the one hand, God's fire does not come down into the unprepared mud. He's not just going to come down anywhere. On the other hand, building the altar doesn't make God's fire show up. God has to send the fire. What does it mean to build an altar to ask God to send down His fire?
It's four things which we're going to pray about right now:
1-A renewed church is vision-driven. It has to be led by a clear vision of what it wants for the city. We need to clarify what we want for this city and ask for it.
2-A renewed church is Gospel-driven. Without an understanding of the Gospel, this kind of prayer and renewal will not happen because our hearts will be cold.
3-A renewed church is a prayer-driven church.
4-A renewed church is a leader-driven church. If any of you here are Christians, you're leaders. You're kings and priests. If you're willing to step up and live for God's glory in San Diego, you're a leader.
Acts 1:13-14: "And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers."
Acts 1:24-25: "And they prayed and said, ‘You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.'"
Acts 2:42-43: "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles."
STUDY
How do the apostles' react to the threats and ban of the council? We're told in verse 23:
Verse 23-24: "When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God..."
They ran back to their brothers and sisters, reported everything that had been said and done to them, and then immediately they united together to pray to God.
This is the power of corporate prayer. It is the koin_nia in action. We saw the apostles in the council and now we see them in fellowship with the Church. They were bold witnesses before their accusers and now they were bold in prayer.
The Sanhedrin might threaten them and warn them, and even try to silence the preaching of the Gospel, but their authority was subject to a higher authority, and the edicts of men can never overturn the decrees of God.
They begin to pray by recognizing the power of God. They cry out, "Sovereign Lord..." (v. 24) and see themselves as subject to this mighty King.
They start by praying to fill their mind with thoughts of a mighty God.
Verse 24: "And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, ‘Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them'"
First, he is the God of creation, "who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them."
Verse 25-26: "who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? 26 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed'"
Second, He is the God of revelation who spoke to us "by the Holy Spirit...through the mouth of David." God had already told them and us that the world would oppose Christ: nations raging, peoples plotting, kings standing and rulers assembling against the Lord's anointed.
Verses 27-28: "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, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place."
Third, He is the God of history, who caused even His enemies (Herod and Pilate, Gentiles and Jews), united in a conspiracy against Jesus to do what His "power and will had decided beforehand should happen."
This was how the Church understood their God. They saw Him as the God of creation, revelation, and history. You made, You spoke, You decided.
It's only after they have their vision of God clear in their minds that they begin to give God their petitions to Him.
1-Remember us when we're threatened
Verse 29a: "And now, Lord, look upon their threats..."
It wasn't a prayer that their threats would fail, or that God would protect them, it was only that God would consider them, or would keep them in His mind. This is amazing because they're not asking for safety and peace.
2-Cause us to be bold and unafraid of the threats of the world or of our own hearts.
Verse 29b: "and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness"
3-God, stretch out your hand and heal, perform miracles of grace through the name of Jesus.
Verse 30: "while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
Their demand now is not for miracles of destruction, such as fire from heaven, but for miracles of mercy. Our words and deeds must go together.
At this time, the way in which the message was validated and shown to be true was through miraculous healings. In our day, we ask for healing as well, but God's Word is now penned, and His Word is sure. We're asking for God to supernaturally heal the hearts of those we are bringing Christ's Gospel to.
What is far more significant, that a man be healed of sickness, so that he will one day die anyway, or that a man's sins are forgiven as God works the miracle of grace upon Him and removes his hard heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh?
My fear is that we spend more time asking for physical healings in our day than spiritual healing.
The Results
1-They were filled again with the Holy Spirit
Verse 31a: "And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit"
2-They were given boldness to speak the Gospel
Verse 31b: "and continued to speak the word of God with boldness."
3-They were unified in heart
Verse 32a: "Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul"
4-They became radically generous
Verse 32b: "and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common."
Verses 34-37: "There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet."
5-The leaders were empowered to give their testimony to the Gospel of Jesus
Verse 33: "And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus"
6-Great grace was upon them all
Verse 33b: "and great grace was upon them all."
30 Day D+L
AMEN'd this Sermon:
Comments:
Login to post comments