Prayer & Fasting DAY 2
Sermon Title: MAKE ME BOLD
Scripture Text: ACTS 4: 1-31
By: BRO ARNOLD ALO
Sermon Notes:
“Make Me Bold is about the power of prayer.”
ACTS 4:1-31 (NIV)
The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. .
2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.
3 They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day.
4 But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.
5 The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem.
6 Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family.
7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people!
9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed,
10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.
11 Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’[a]
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
14 But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.
15 So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together.
16 “What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it.
17 But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”
18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
19 But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges!
20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
21 After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened.
22 For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.
23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them.
24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.
25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.[b]’[c]
27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.
28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
“Bold obedience comes from the Holy Spirit’s power through prayer.”
Unschooled (Greek = idiotes).
unskilled, unlearned, illiterate
Acts 4:23-31
The Believers Pray
ACTS 4:1-31 (NIV)
29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
ACTS 4:1-31 (NIV)
31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
“When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you can be naturally quiet, and suddenly filled with spiritual courage and boldness comes out as a result of the Holy Spirit. It’s not a personality trait, it is the work of the Spirit.” — Craig Groeschel
…Because following Jesus was never meant to be safe
3 Attributes of Boldness:
- Boldness almost always triggers spiritual opposition
- Boldness often releases God’s miracles
- Boldness always requires faith
I. Boldness almost always triggers spiritual opposition
ACTS 5:17-18 (NIV)
17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.
“If you’re not ready to face opposition for your obedience and service to God, you’re not ready to be used by God.”
II. Boldness often releases God’s miracles
ACTS 5:12 (NIV)
12 The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade.
ACTS 5:16 (NIV)
16 Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.
ACTS 5:19 (NIV)
19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out.
ACTS 5:22 (NIV)
22 But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, 23 “We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.”
“When you live with bold faith, you’ll often see the hand of God move miraculously IN and AROUND you.”
III. Boldness always requires faith
ACTS 5:21 (NIV)
21 At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.
Acts 5: 22-28
Peter’s reply: Acts 5: 29-32
ACTS 5:29-32 (NIV)
29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross.
ACTS 5:29-32 (NIV)
31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
“You cannot imagine the miracles that God will do, the amazing things that God will set into motion, through a single act of bold obedience.”
How to be Bold:
I. PRAY & Trust
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.[a]
II. PRAY & Obey
1 Samuel 15:22 (NIV)
But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
Psalm 128:1 (NIV)
Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in obedience to him.
Jeremiah 7:23 (NIV)
23 but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.
III. PRAY, have faith, & believe
Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Mark 9:23-24 (NIV)
23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
Mark 9:29 (NIV)
29 He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.
John 1:6 (NIV)
But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
“Bold obedience comes from the Holy Spirit’s power through prayer.”