Secret Church

---

What Do We Expect? Part 4 of 4 Posted: 19 Feb 2013 02:00 AM PST We’re concluding a four-part series in which Pastor David Platt instructs our prayers for the persecuted from the book of Acts. If you missed part 1 – “Why Do We Pray?”, part 2 – “Who Do We Pray To?”, or part 3 – “What Do We Pray For?”, we invite you to check them out. In what was the worst persecution believers had experienced up to that point, Peter and John were thrown into prison for proclaiming Christ. Immediately upon their release, amidst increasing disapproval from outside authorities, the believers prayed the words now found in Acts 4:24-31. Teaching from this passage, Pastor David now answers the question, “What do we expect?” World Watch List of countries in which Christians are most persecuted. ‘Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 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? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed”— for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.’ 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 (Acts 4:24-31). _________________________________________________________________ What Do We Expect? What do you expect when you pray like the believers in Acts 4 did? What happened in Acts 4 and what happens today when we really pray like that? I think three main things happened in this passage. And it's pretty awesome – they all parallel what had happened just two chapters before when the Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost. Number one, expect the earth to shake. The place where they were meeting was shaken. Now, I am not saying that if we pray some magical prayer that all of a sudden this auditorium begins to shake and we would have a really cool worship service at that point. That's not what I'm saying. But I am saying this: when God's people get on their knees and on their faces on behalf of brothers and sisters around the world, He will shake the earth for His glory and He will make His glory known. He will move in ways that can't be described or attributed to man. He will move in incredible ways if we will pray and then rise and put feet to those prayers. Expect the earth to shake. God wants to make His glory known in Sudan and in Birmingham and everywhere in between. So, let's be a people that pray for it. Number two, expect the Spirit to fill. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. They were filled with God's Spirit. Now, it wasn't that they didn't already have God's Spirit. Acts 2 tells us the Spirit had already come down on them. The Spirit was dwelling inside of them. We know that from the rest of the New Testament. But we also see that for the proclamation of the Word of God, He fills us, and gives us power—fresh power—to proclaim the gospel. Over and over and over again. That's exactly what He does here in Acts 4. And that's why in the verses that follow, they go out and they do. They proclaim the gospel with great boldness. That's why we see what happened with Stephen, with him standing up and proclaiming the gospel with great boldness and then them being scattered to Samaria and Judea and the ends of the earth. The Spirit fills His people. The Spirit is filling His people around the world. I pray that we are longing for the Spirit to fill His people in Birmingham for the proclamation of the gospel here and in all nations. Finally, expect the gospel to succeed. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the Word of God boldly. If you will notice what happens after this in Acts 4, it's great. Peter and John were put in jail for proclaiming the gospel. They preached to enough people that thousands of people were saved before they got put in jail. When they get out of jail, it didn't stop the church; it only fueled the church. It's exactly what we see throughout the book of Acts. The advancement of the kingdom, the proclamation of the gospel, does not happen in spite of persecution and suffering. It happens precisely by the means of persecution and suffering. That's how the gospel is proclaimed. Expect the gospel to succeed. _________________________________________________________________ The text from this blog post was taken from a sermon preached by Pastor David titled "Prayer and Persecution." You can listen to the message in its entirety here.

You are subscribed to email updates from Secret Church Blog To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610