1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,480 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people 2 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:06,440 and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to 3 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:09,120 them. When they heard this, they 4 00:00:09,120 --> 00:00:13,600 raised their voices together in prayer to God, Sovereign Lord, 5 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:17,720 they said, You made the heavens and the earth and the sea and 6 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:20,880 everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit 7 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:23,360 through the mouth of your servant, our Father David. 8 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:27,680 Why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain? 9 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:31,320 The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers 10 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:35,040 gathered together against the Lord and against His anointed 11 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:38,400 One. Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate 12 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:41,560 met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this 13 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:46,080 city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you 14 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:49,480 anointed. They did what Your power and 15 00:00:49,480 --> 00:00:53,280 will had decided beforehand should happen now. 16 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:57,000 Lord, consider their threats and enable Your servants to speak 17 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:01,240 Your Word with great boldness. Stretch out Your hand to heal 18 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,920 and perform miraculous signs and wonders for the name of Your 19 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:09,280 holy servant, Jesus. After they prayed, the place 20 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:12,520 where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled 21 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:15,920 with the Holy Spirit and spoke with the Word of God boldly. 22 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:25,040 So Acts chapter 4, we've got the writer of Acts, a man called 23 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:29,120 Luke is showing us something he thinks is really important. 24 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:32,880 He's showing us the early church when it prays. 25 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:36,840 So this bit of Acts 4 is an example of the earliest 26 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:39,960 followers of Jesus praying together. 27 00:01:39,960 --> 00:01:42,880 And Luke puts it in his history of the early church because he 28 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:46,480 knows we can learn a lot about what it means to pray as God's 29 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:51,200 people from this bit of Acts. But as we begin this morning, 30 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:55,040 I've just a question for all of us to think about for a moment. 31 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:59,240 Why do we often find it hard to pray? 32 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:03,560 That's a really big question, but I want you to take a few 33 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:05,680 minutes to think about that. So either just on your own, 34 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:08,039 reflect on that. Why do I find it hard to pray? 35 00:02:08,039 --> 00:02:11,000 Maybe you can turn to the person or people next you get some 36 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:13,400 suggestions why we often find it hard to pray. 37 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:15,320 But let's just take a few minutes to think that through 38 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:17,480 and then we're going to think how this passage might help us. 39 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:20,040 So take a few minutes, either talk to the person next to you 40 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:22,680 or think in your own. Why do we often find it hard to 41 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:24,160 pray? Go. 42 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:28,840 OK, I've given you a couple of minutes there. 43 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:33,560 Anyone to share things that you talked about why we often find 44 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,000 it hard to pray or have a microphone if you're willing for 45 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:39,120 you to point it in your face. But yes, why do we find it hard 46 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:40,880 to pray? Any suggestions from people that 47 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:43,960 you were talking about? The person sitting next to you, 48 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:45,640 if you like. OK, let's do that. 49 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:52,600 We can feel shame for what he thinks we don't feel. 50 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:55,200 We feel like we can't come to God with our prayers. 51 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:58,560 Richard, thank you so much. We just feel shame or guilt. 52 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:00,920 Why would I go to God? I feel shamed or guilty. 53 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:06,600 You don't want. To admit failure. 54 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:07,680 Or that you need. Help. 55 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:09,760 Really. OK, we don't want to admit 56 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:10,960 failure again. Prayer. 57 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:13,080 It seems like an admission that we need help. 58 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:19,280 We might not like that. Tiredness or distraction. 59 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:21,400 Tiredness or distraction very much so. 60 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:22,720 Yep, Yep, that could be another thing. 61 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:24,960 Maybe another suggestion if anyone has any more. 62 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:32,640 Oh, this is good. Where? 63 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:35,320 Oh, sorry. Sorry, Laura. 64 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:39,720 We forget or we think we can do things ourselves. 65 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:42,560 Yes, thank you. We forget or we think we can do 66 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:45,120 things ourselves again. Actually, prayer is just another 67 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:46,920 thing and we just kind of forget it sometimes. 68 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:49,800 There are loads of different answers we can give actually to 69 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:52,360 why we can find prayer difficult. 70 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:55,560 I think there's a couple of ones that this passage in particular 71 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:57,640 this week I was thinking really helps us with. 72 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:00,080 I mean, we link into some of things we've been saying. 73 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:05,480 The forgetting bit, I think particularly we forget who we're 74 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:09,640 praying to. We forget who God is and why we 75 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:11,960 can pray to him. We lose sight of God in the 76 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:15,520 midst of everything else. And so as we don't know how to 77 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:20,079 pray in hard times, again, we sometimes imagine that prayer is 78 00:04:20,079 --> 00:04:23,000 something that spiritually strong people do. 79 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:26,720 But when we're struggling or not sure what we believe, when we 80 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:29,640 just don't know where to start in prayer. 81 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:34,320 But this passage is an example of how the earliest Christians 82 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:40,200 pray together in hard times and brought their needs before God. 83 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:43,400 So let's just remind ourselves what has just happened in the 84 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:44,800 book of Acts. So if you look back at Acts 85 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:47,240 chapter 3 and 4, if you were here with us last few weeks, 86 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:50,760 Peter and John are just healed, a lame man in the temple in the 87 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:53,280 name of Jesus. Then they taught the crowds in 88 00:04:53,280 --> 00:04:56,720 the temple proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 89 00:04:56,720 --> 00:04:59,640 That's chapter 4, verse 2. And when the Jewish religious 90 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:03,560 leaders saw what Peter and John were doing, they didn't like it 91 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:07,520 because religious leaders are those who had rejected Jesus, 92 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:11,240 refused to believe he was God's anointed one. 93 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:15,520 They are the ones who had Jesus executed kneel to a cross just a 94 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:19,240 few months earlier, and they were threatened by what the 95 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:21,240 apostles were doing in the temple. 96 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:23,640 So we're told in the first bit of Acts 4, the religious leaders 97 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:26,840 had Peter and John arrested, thrown into prison overnight. 98 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:31,000 They put them on trial, all in order to silence them, and they 99 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:34,440 commanded the apostles. Peter and John do not speak to 100 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:38,040 anyone else in the name of Jesus. 101 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:40,800 And so this is what happens next. 102 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:46,200 The apostles are released. They go back to their people and 103 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:49,720 they respond by praying together. 104 00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:53,920 They see their needs. They don't claim they can do it 105 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:56,960 in their own strength. And so they get together and 106 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:00,080 they raise their voices to God in prayer. 107 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:03,080 And again, I think Luke is wanting to teach every church 108 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:06,200 principles about prayer here. I think Luke wants to show us 109 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:10,280 the God we pray to in our first little section and then how to 110 00:06:10,280 --> 00:06:13,120 pray in hard times in our second section. 111 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:14,880 And between those two bits, we're actually going to 112 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:17,040 celebrate the Lord's Supper, take some time to sing and 113 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:19,920 worship together as well. But let's look at the first bit, 114 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:24,360 then the God we pray to. That's verses 23 to 28. 115 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:27,640 So again, we saw that verse 23. On their release, Peter and John 116 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:30,480 went back to their own people and reported all that the chief 117 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:33,880 priests and elders had said to them, their own people. 118 00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:35,840 That's probably a reference just to other believers. 119 00:06:35,840 --> 00:06:38,640 It could involve their family and friends, but it's usually a 120 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:43,720 reference to the people of God. This early church in Jerusalem. 121 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:47,600 And actually we saw last week that Peter and John, Peter 122 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:51,240 Bertilli, and once as he'd had a really impressive performance in 123 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:54,040 front of the Jewish religious leaders, he refused to be 124 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:56,640 silenced by the religious leaders. 125 00:06:56,640 --> 00:07:01,280 The Holy Spirit filled him and gave him the courage to live for 126 00:07:01,280 --> 00:07:03,160 Jesus. But you see, being filled by the 127 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:04,840 Spirit, someone saying that means, well, that just means 128 00:07:04,840 --> 00:07:06,840 you're superhuman and you can just do anything. 129 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:10,360 But actually being filled with the Spirit doesn't mean you 130 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:13,520 still don't need other people or that you don't need God's help 131 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:15,960 the next day. You can't just live off past 132 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:18,680 victories, past experiences in your life. 133 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:23,720 We always need God's help every moment of every day. 134 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:26,360 So Peter and John came to the other believers. 135 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:30,520 They said they needed the love and support of other Christians 136 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:34,440 in this difficult time. They needed God to meet with 137 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:36,880 them and help them keep living for Jesus. 138 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:41,880 So verse 24, they raise their voices together in prayer to 139 00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:44,880 God. Again, I think it's amazing what 140 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:47,680 Peter and John show us here. They don't just keep their 141 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:49,560 struggles bottled up to themselves. 142 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:51,880 They don't say, well, let's not tell the other Christians what 143 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:53,760 happened because we don't want to look weak. 144 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:55,600 They say, no, actually Christians, here's what 145 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:58,840 happened. Please, let's pray together for 146 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:01,680 courage to keep living for Jesus. 147 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:03,680 And also they could do something else. 148 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:05,840 They could just have gotten together and just complained 149 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:07,680 about the religious leaders. They could have just moaned 150 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:10,640 about what happened, get angry about what had happened. 151 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:14,360 But no, they prayed together. They did the best thing they 152 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:16,960 could do is they said, God, we need your help. 153 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:22,160 We can't do this on our own. And they reminded themselves of 154 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:26,960 the gods that they trusted in because as Anne said, actually 155 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:29,040 in Montes, we can, we can forget to pray. 156 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:32,440 Life is busy. We can lose sight of who God is. 157 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:36,720 And so they begin this prayer by reminding themselves who the God 158 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:39,919 of the gospel is. And the first thing they said to 159 00:08:39,919 --> 00:08:43,720 remind us is that he is the sovereign Lord who made us. 160 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:48,480 That's that's verse 24. That is so if you look down 161 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:51,720 there, sovereign Lord, they said you made the heavens and the 162 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:57,280 earth and the sea and everything in them Again, you might say, 163 00:08:57,280 --> 00:08:59,240 well, what's that got to do with religious leaders? 164 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:01,200 What's that got to do with all the early Christians are 165 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:03,560 struggling with? Well, well, one reason why we 166 00:09:03,560 --> 00:09:08,360 often don't pray much in our lives is our God is too small. 167 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:13,560 We make God a very small God. So our problems and our 168 00:09:13,560 --> 00:09:17,920 struggles seem massive and God is small by comparison. 169 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:22,680 The the things that threaten us seem huge and God seems small by 170 00:09:22,680 --> 00:09:24,360 comparison. And in the case of the early 171 00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:26,840 church, the religious leaders would have looked huge to them. 172 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:28,360 They had huge power in Jerusalem. 173 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:31,440 They had the power to arrest the apostles. 174 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:34,880 They are the guys who even had Jesus executed. 175 00:09:35,640 --> 00:09:39,080 It'll be very easy for the early church to feel overwhelmed by 176 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:43,760 the forces ranged against them, but that's why they opened their 177 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:46,600 prayer by reminding themselves who God is. 178 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:49,960 God is the sovereign Lord who made us. 179 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:53,840 God is the sovereign Lord. That word sovereign, What does 180 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:54,960 it mean? It basically means the living 181 00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:59,280 God is the king and ruler over the whole universe. 182 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:03,320 It means that every human ruler we can think about, every human 183 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:05,840 ruler we might be scared of, whether that's a king or an 184 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:08,040 emperor or a president or a military leader. 185 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:11,480 Every spiritual authority we might be frightened of, every 186 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:15,920 single one of them is ruled over by the living God, by the 187 00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:19,120 Sovereign Lord, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 188 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:21,840 the God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 189 00:10:22,680 --> 00:10:25,880 And the early believers remind themselves here, our God is 190 00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:29,560 greater than any of the forces raged against us. 191 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:33,000 So we go to him and ask him to help us. 192 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:36,360 Yeah, it's amazing. They just stop and go. 193 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:38,520 Actually, let's remind ourselves who God is. 194 00:10:39,680 --> 00:10:42,760 He's the God who made us. He made the heavens and the 195 00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:45,120 earth and the sea. And somebody just really help 196 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:46,640 you just to stop and think about that. 197 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:50,840 Think about the vastness of the universe, the stars in the sky, 198 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:54,040 solar systems and galaxies we know nothing about. 199 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:57,680 Think of the sky at night or the sky in the morning when the sun 200 00:10:57,680 --> 00:10:59,520 is rising. There's this vast expanse. 201 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:02,880 God made that. Think of some of the wonders of 202 00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:04,800 the world, the place maybe you've been to, you've seen on 203 00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:07,320 TV. Think about the Grand Canyon or 204 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:11,600 the Pacific Ocean or the French Alps or Victoria Park, these 205 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:15,320 wonders of the world and God made them. 206 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:18,200 Think of the most awe inspiring thing you've ever seen. 207 00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:22,840 God is the God who made us and that reminds these Christians 208 00:11:23,560 --> 00:11:26,920 He's the sovereign Lord. He's greater and more powerful 209 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:31,040 than any people or forces that threaten us. 210 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:36,120 That's why we pray to him. And even more than that, it's 211 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:38,800 not just that he's powerful and big because again, as as we 212 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:41,080 said, that might just make us just to want to hide from him. 213 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:45,720 But actually, secondly, they realize he's the God who speaks 214 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:48,800 to us. That's verses 25 to 26. 215 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:52,360 He's the God who speaks to us. God hasn't left us in the dark. 216 00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:55,600 Just to guess what he might be like from looking at the world 217 00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:59,000 around us. Know the God we pray to is the 218 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:02,120 God who speaks to us. That's what the early church 219 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:05,760 remember here, look at verse 25. They say you spoke by the Holy 220 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:09,800 Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our Father David. 221 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:14,640 Now, there's a whole doctrine of Scripture in that one verse. 222 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:17,560 What Christians believe about the Bible, the Bible, what we're 223 00:12:17,560 --> 00:12:21,200 looking at this morning is God speaking to us by the Holy 224 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:23,320 Spirit. He does that through the mouths 225 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:25,120 of human authors like King David. 226 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:28,920 It's written by human authors. But the Bible is God's word 227 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:31,480 speaking to us by the Holy Spirit. 228 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:37,160 The living God is speaking to us right now by His Spirit as we 229 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:40,200 look at his words. And what's that got to do with 230 00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:42,280 prayer? Well, that's got everything to 231 00:12:42,280 --> 00:12:44,600 do with prayer because prayer isn't just a one way 232 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:47,080 conversation. I think one of the reasons why I 233 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:49,240 suddenly struggle with prayer is it feels like I'm just talking 234 00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:51,800 to the ceiling and I'm not getting much back. 235 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:53,880 I'm just, I think what Shakespeare said. 236 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:57,720 I troubled deaf heaven with my bootless cries, which is a nice 237 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:00,360 line, but it feels like heaven's deaf is all. 238 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:02,880 Like, is God really there? Is God really listening? 239 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:06,960 But actually the Bible reminds us we are speaking to the God 240 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:12,040 who has already spoken to us. It's actually a two way 241 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:15,200 conversation. We hear God in his word and we 242 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:19,480 speak to him in prayer. Prayer is US speaking to the God 243 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:24,480 who speaks to us in his Word. And that changes the 244 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:27,600 relationship. And it's a particular bit of the 245 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:29,600 Bible the early church looks at here. 246 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:33,320 It's Psalm 2, which is one of the kind of foundational Psalms 247 00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:36,280 he looked at in the summer. Here sets the tone for all the 248 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:40,200 Psalms that follow and and the bit the Kurdish church quotes is 249 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:41,840 this. They say, why do the nation's 250 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:43,760 rage and the people's plot in vain? 251 00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:47,240 The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together 252 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:50,400 against the Lord and against his anointed one. 253 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:53,800 It's kind of a weird thing to to cool from maybe but but it 254 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:56,560 really fits with what's going on for the early church and in fact 255 00:13:56,560 --> 00:14:01,160 for any local church like ours. This sum reminds us that we've 256 00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:03,880 seen a few times already, there will always be people who oppose 257 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:06,960 God and God's people in this world. 258 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:10,800 That's because we all have a problem without God's help. 259 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:14,360 We are all dominated by what the Bible calls sin. 260 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:17,840 And sin's not just bad things we do though. 261 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:21,400 It is that it's actually an attitude in our hearts towards 262 00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:23,200 God. Years ago, someone help me with 263 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:26,640 this in a kids worker, it was shove off God, I'm in charge. 264 00:14:26,640 --> 00:14:28,320 No to your ways. That's a good way of thinking of 265 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:30,840 sin. Sin's an attitude in our heart. 266 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:32,640 So it goes. I don't want God, I don't want 267 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:34,680 to listen to Him. And that's exactly what the 268 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:37,040 religious leaders were guilty of here. 269 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:39,760 And that's exactly what a lot of people in our world are. 270 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:43,160 They don't want to know God. And the early Christians remind 271 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:45,320 themselves of this. Amazingly, in Psalm 2, it says 272 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:47,320 the nation's rage for Israelites. 273 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:49,000 They thought that meant the Gentiles. 274 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:51,680 But here the early church goes. Actually, even the Jewish 275 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:55,880 religious leaders who reject Jesus are in this Psalm. 276 00:14:57,160 --> 00:14:59,600 But then they also remember from this Psalm that Jesus, he is 277 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:02,440 God's king, come to put things right. 278 00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:07,080 Jesus the focus of the hatred of of people, but that's because 279 00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:09,800 he's God's king. He's God's king come to put 280 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:11,960 things right and to follow Jesus. 281 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:14,960 The early Christians say that means we're on the winning side. 282 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:17,600 That means no matter what the religious leaders say, actually 283 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:21,600 we are following God's king. We're on the winning side, we're 284 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:25,600 on the right side and they want to hold on to that truth here. 285 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:29,320 I think the final thing we get from Psalm 2 is that they're 286 00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:34,000 remembering that as Christians, we share in Jesus suffering and 287 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:37,520 Jesus shares in our suffering. They might think, well, maybe 288 00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:39,680 we're doing it wrong, Lord, are we doing it wrong that the 289 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:42,000 originators don't like us? Maybe they should like us more. 290 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:46,240 But no, Sam too reminds them that the opposition they were 291 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:50,480 facing is a sign that they were being treated the same way Jesus 292 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:53,000 was treated. They were sharing in the 293 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:56,000 sufferings of Jesus. It was actually a sign that they 294 00:15:56,000 --> 00:16:00,280 truly belonged to Jesus, that this was happening. 295 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:03,600 It's amazing to think they're not alone in their suffering. 296 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:07,360 Jesus knows what it's like to face opposition, and he's able 297 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:10,360 to help us when we face opposition. 298 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:14,480 So again, these early Christians remind themselves, who is the 299 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:16,840 God we're praying to? He's He's the sovereign Lord who 300 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:19,760 made us, the God who speaks to us. 301 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:24,840 And finally, he's the God who works all things for our good. 302 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:28,800 Again, the early church gathered in that room in Acts 4. 303 00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:30,760 They must have felt pretty scared. 304 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:35,400 The religious leaders have told them do not speak to anyone else 305 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:37,720 in the name of Jesus. And the religious leaders, they 306 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:39,880 are stronger than the early church. 307 00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:43,240 They had greater resources. The early church looks small and 308 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:47,720 weak by comparison. But by raising their voices 309 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:50,800 together in prayer to God, they're remembering the God we 310 00:16:50,800 --> 00:16:54,360 pray to is the God who works all things for our good. 311 00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:59,720 Even when things look hopeless and bleak, God is working for 312 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:01,920 good. And the greatest example of that 313 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:05,560 they remember is the cross of Jesus. 314 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:10,680 If you look at verses 27 to 28, they remember the events leading 315 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:14,359 up to Jesus death on the cross. They remember the conspiracy 316 00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:17,359 against Jesus. Powerful rulers united against 317 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:19,319 him. King Herod, Pontius Pilate, the 318 00:17:19,319 --> 00:17:21,960 Roman governor, the Gentiles, the people of Israel. 319 00:17:22,079 --> 00:17:25,000 There's a huge number of people all out to get Jesus. 320 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:27,599 And it looks hopeless. It looks like Jesus is defeated. 321 00:17:27,599 --> 00:17:30,160 He's on the cross, he dies, he's buried. 322 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:34,840 Game over. But even at the cross, 323 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:41,200 especially at the cross, God is working for the good of His 324 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:43,000 people. God was still sovereign. 325 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:46,080 He was still in control. He was still working out his 326 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:48,920 saving purposes. Verse 28 All of Jesus enemies 327 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:53,520 did what God's power and will had decided beforehand should 328 00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:56,280 happen. Both enemies didn't win at the 329 00:17:56,280 --> 00:17:59,640 cross. Jesus won at the cross, and it's 330 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:01,480 the same for the early church. God's enemies aren't going to 331 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:04,960 win against them. Jesus is going to win. 332 00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:09,200 And that is why we pray to God in hard times, why we look to 333 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:13,960 God to help us in hard times. Because the God we pray to is 334 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:16,760 the God who works all things for our good. 335 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:20,800 He's the God who made us. He's the God who speaks to us. 336 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:26,120 So we come to him and ask Him to help us in hard times. 337 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:31,200 So we take the Lord's Supper. We remember the way the early 338 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:34,240 church remembered who the God is that we pray to. 339 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:36,920 And we're going to finish our time really briefly thinking of 340 00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:39,520 actually how do they pray? The first bit of the prayer is 341 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:43,360 all about them talking to God about who He is and about how 342 00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:46,400 they can trust him, what He's done for us. 343 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:51,280 But how do they actually pray? How do we pray in hard times? 344 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:53,320 Just a couple of things as we finish. 345 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:56,040 What's really striking when you look at the prayer of the early 346 00:18:56,040 --> 00:19:00,360 church's praise is they don't ask God to destroy their enemies 347 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:03,320 or to remove their enemies. You might expect that just 348 00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:05,520 Sovereign Lord destroy our enemies. 349 00:19:05,520 --> 00:19:09,320 They don't do that. Instead, they pray for boldness 350 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:13,360 and courage to keep speaking the word of God in the midst of 351 00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:15,360 their enemies. So their prayers less about 352 00:19:15,360 --> 00:19:19,720 changing their situation and more on asking God to be with 353 00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:23,760 them in their situation. So we look at the prayers they 354 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:27,520 pray, they say, first of all, consider their threats, Lord, 355 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:30,520 they ask God, God, see what the religious leaders are saying, 356 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:33,760 see what they're saying to us. Keep a record of it. 357 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:36,480 Don't, don't miss the way they're treating us. 358 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:41,240 They're asking God to judge his enemies when the time is right 359 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:44,800 to do that because they take confident the fact that living 360 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:49,400 God will one day judge all evil and all evildoers. 361 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:52,560 And because of that, we Christians don't have to take 362 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:54,720 revenge. We don't have to take matters 363 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:58,440 into our own hands. We can trust God to do what's 364 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:02,000 right so they don't have to set up a freedom fighting movement 365 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:04,200 against the religious leaders, the early church. 366 00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:06,720 Do they say consider their threats? 367 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:09,080 Lord, you see this. Consider it. 368 00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:12,760 Do what is right when the time is right. 369 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:15,000 And that's a precious thing we can do. 370 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:18,160 We look at our world, we look at the situations we're in, maybe, 371 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:20,320 maybe challenges in our family and our workplace. 372 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:21,960 We kind of think, how do I fix this? 373 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:23,120 I've got to, I've got to do something. 374 00:20:23,120 --> 00:20:24,840 I've got to take matters into my own hands. 375 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:28,360 But actually the, the place we start is going, Lord, you see 376 00:20:28,360 --> 00:20:30,600 this. Lord, remind me that you see 377 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:32,680 what's happening. Consider what's going. 378 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,840 Will you do what is right in the end? 379 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:39,360 They trust God and they trust God's justice. 380 00:20:39,360 --> 00:20:42,760 And so can we when we pray about our world, about situations, 381 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:46,920 it's not all on us. We go, Lord, you see, consider 382 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:49,520 their threats. The heart of the prayer really 383 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:52,600 is verse 29. Enable us to speak your word 384 00:20:52,840 --> 00:20:55,920 boldly. Now again, in one sense, the 385 00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:58,480 Spirit's already done that for Peter and John in the early bit 386 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:01,520 of of chapter 4. Again Peter filled with the Holy 387 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:04,400 Spirit declared boldly the good news about Jesus. 388 00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:06,480 But again, they don't just say, well, I did it in the past, so 389 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:10,040 it's I can do it again. No, they say, Lord, we need your 390 00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:12,600 help. Keep giving us the courage and 391 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:15,120 the love we need to live for you. 392 00:21:15,120 --> 00:21:19,200 Prayer is a day by day, moment by moment dependence on God. 393 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:22,120 We can't just go, well, yeah, I did some great things for you a 394 00:21:22,120 --> 00:21:23,840 few years ago, Jesus, so I'm fine. 395 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:25,960 You go. Even if, even if you were really 396 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:28,000 used powerfully by God yesterday, you need to come to 397 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:31,800 him today and say, Lord, just enable me to follow you. 398 00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:34,320 Enable me to live as your witness. 399 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:37,240 There are people around us who need to know the good news of 400 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:40,520 Jesus, People in our community of Clarendon Park, on the 401 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:43,160 streets where we live, in our families and our workplaces. 402 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:45,280 This is a prayer. We need to pray. 403 00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:48,440 Enable us to speak your word boldly. 404 00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:51,200 It is frightening someone's living as witnesses of Jesus. 405 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:53,520 We can get it badly wrong. That's why we need to come to 406 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:55,600 God and OK, Lord, show us what to do. 407 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:58,360 Enable us to speak your word boldly. 408 00:21:59,360 --> 00:22:02,360 And the last thing they pray is they say stretch out your hand 409 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:05,880 to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your 410 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:08,560 holy servant Jesus. That's verse 30. 411 00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:11,600 How are we meant to understand that verse as a church family 412 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:15,680 here at Ave. today? Well, if you hear last week, we 413 00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:18,640 we said this in the time for questions that Ave. we're kind 414 00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:21,960 of we're call, we'll call it as cautiously continuationist, 415 00:22:22,120 --> 00:22:24,480 which there was a very bit of a word for our mindful. 416 00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:28,600 But that means we believe as a church that God has the power to 417 00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:32,920 step in and heal people. If that is his will, we can ask 418 00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:35,120 him to do that and we rejoice when he does do that. 419 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:38,480 He has done that in recent years for some people in our church 420 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:43,200 family and we rejoice in that. But the cautious part of that 421 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:46,480 says we can't demand it or insist, but you have to heal 422 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:47,960 this person because I want you to. 423 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:51,520 No, we have to trust Him. We're not in the new creation 424 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:54,000 yet. We still live in a fallen world. 425 00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:56,760 Our situations may not always change, just like the early 426 00:22:56,760 --> 00:22:59,440 churches situation didn't change. 427 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:02,040 I see. What they ask God to do is to 428 00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:07,600 stretch out your hand. Be at work among us and be at 429 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:10,280 work through US. Lord, the early church knows 430 00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:13,120 they need God to work. It's not just up to them to be 431 00:23:13,120 --> 00:23:15,280 witness of Jesus. Say, Lord, stretch out your 432 00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:17,920 hand. Make us more like Jesus. 433 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:20,400 Give us boldness to speak for Jesus. 434 00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:22,360 Give us courage and love in this world. 435 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:24,840 And stretch out your hand not only in our lives, but in the 436 00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:27,840 lives of the people around us. Transform the lives of the 437 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:31,040 people we spend time with, just as God transformed the life of 438 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:34,240 that lame man in the temple. We should be praying. 439 00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:37,400 Lord, stretch out your hand to do what only you can do. 440 00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:40,760 The danger, we just go, well, well, what can we do as a group 441 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:42,640 of people? That's all God can ever do 442 00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:44,560 through us. But as you know, God is the 443 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:48,120 sovereign Lord who made us. He's the powerful, loving God, 444 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:50,600 and we need to pray. Lord, stretch out your hand. 445 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:54,160 Be at work among us and be at work through us. 446 00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:58,400 An older friend of mine once, he says that the job of the local 447 00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:01,600 church is to show people around us, this is what God's Kingdom 448 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:04,320 looks like. This is what it looks like to be 449 00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:07,920 part of the Kingdom of God. This is what a loving community 450 00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:10,040 look like. This is what a forgiving 451 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:13,760 community looks like. This is what people who share 452 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:16,480 their lives together. That's what it looks like. 453 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:19,720 People who boldly proclaim Jesus, who pray for their 454 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:23,000 enemies, who seek to love the people around them. 455 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:28,360 We need to God to stretch out his hands to make us like those 456 00:24:28,360 --> 00:24:33,520 people that we need to be if we are to be witnesses for Jesus. 457 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:36,800 So this prayer, stretch out your hand, heal us, change us, 458 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:44,480 transform us, make us more like Jesus and verse 31, God 459 00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:47,360 reassures them that he is with them by his Spirit. 460 00:24:47,360 --> 00:24:50,240 After they pray, the place that they were meeting was shaken. 461 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:53,360 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word 462 00:24:53,360 --> 00:24:58,240 of God boldly. This group of people who grew in 463 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:01,600 their love for God and their love for people, speaking the 464 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:04,000 word of God boldly wherever they went. 465 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:07,640 This is a powerful passage. It's it's a passage that 466 00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:11,320 stretches us because do we really believe this is the God 467 00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:13,360 we pray to? Do we really believe God can 468 00:25:13,360 --> 00:25:16,680 work among us and through us as a church family and as 469 00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:19,560 individuals in this particular place? 470 00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:23,360 Do we trust God's justice, not take matters into our own hands? 471 00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:25,720 Do we ask for boldness to speak for Him? 472 00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:30,200 Do we ask God to change us in ways that only He can? 473 00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:35,200 Next Sunday night, we've got opportunities to pray together 474 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:38,800 as a church, our family meeting. Every month we have an 475 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:41,440 opportunity to pray together as a church, our home groups. 476 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:44,840 We've opportunities to pray for each other as a church family. 477 00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:48,760 We do that because of the God we pray to and because even in hard 478 00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:54,040 times, even especially in hard times, He draws near to us and 479 00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:58,600 we can worship him and see his work in our lives. 480 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:02,440 So let me pray for us now as we prepare to leave this passage. 481 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:08,120 Let me let me pray. Father God, we started this 482 00:26:08,120 --> 00:26:11,640 morning thinking each one of us actually can find it hard to 483 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:15,160 pray to you. Lord, we, we, we don't see you 484 00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:18,480 the way we want to. We have such busy lives. 485 00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:19,800 There's loads of other things around us. 486 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:22,160 It feels like that the people and the situations around us are 487 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:25,880 big and you are small. But Lord, please, would you 488 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:28,480 forgive us for that? And would you open our eyes by 489 00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:32,280 your Spirit to your majesty, Your goodness, Your love, and 490 00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:36,320 Your power at work among us? Would we rejoice in your 491 00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:39,400 sovereignty? And will we ask you give us 492 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:42,760 boldness, Stretch out your hand to change us. 493 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:45,520 Help us to trust you in this world. 494 00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:49,000 Lord, if we're going to live as witnesses for Jesus, we need you 495 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,760 to work among us, and we need to learn the dependence on You that 496 00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:55,040 the early church knew all about South. 497 00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:58,040 Lord, as a result of this time together, would you teach us how 498 00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:01,920 to pray and teach us how to live as your people in this world. 499 00:27:02,360 --> 00:27:06,040 For we ask it in Jesus precious name, Amen.