Scripture of the Day:

Acts 4:31

“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.”

Prayer in the Early Church

When you get to the place where you can get serious with God…when you get the place that you don’t care who sees you, hears you praying or hears about you praying – THEN you will begin to see the results. Amen!

We’ve been studying the past few days about God shaking the places the disciples were praying from. Prisons, rooms with other believers, etc.

But I want to look at what actually caused Peter and John to get in trouble in the first place.

In Acts chapter 3, verses 6-8, you can read the story about how they healed, in the Name of Jesus, the crippled man at the Gate Beautiful. And how this was done openly, publicly and word spread quickly that this notable healing had occurred.

This word soon got back to the Pharisees who sent the Temple Guard to bring Peter and John in for questioning.

They wanted to beat them and lock them up…but someone reported this news had already spread all over town. It could not be swept under the rug or denied.

So, they decided to threaten Peter and John before they let them go.

This happens in our society today. If you preach against homosexuality or transgenderism or anything the left says is normal but the Bible calls an abomination – you will be threatened…

I was preaching up in Canada a few years back and was told by the pastor, “Please don’t say anything about the gays. The government will shut down our church.” This cancel culture syndrome is now in the United States – especially with this administration that is running the show now.

Anyway – we are here to talk about prayer and the power of prayer, amen!

We covered yesterday Peter’s reply from verses 19 & 20 about “whether it is right in the sight of God to obey you or Him, you decide, but we are going to keep on preaching…” Glory to God (that was my paraphrase, by the way).

We also covered how they went back to their own church members and reported what had happened and then they all prayed TOGETHER, verbally and in one accord and how God shook the building they were in…

He did not send an earthquake to the area. He did not shake other buildings. He did not destroy anything. He simply shook the building and answered their prayer for BOLDNESS. Amen!

That’s what they asked for in verse 29 – BOLDNESS as they were determined to keep on preaching and teaching, despite the threats. Amen!

In verse 31, we see God immediately answering their prayers with a confirming sign! The shaking and the filling with the Holy Spirit to have a spirit of BOLDNESS!

The exact thing the Pharisees did not want to happen is the thing that did happen!

They told two disciples to shut up and go home…

Those two told their friends and they all started to pray that ALL of them would receive BOLDNESS to preach the Gospel – and God granted their request and answered their prayers.

Now, instead of two bold disciples of Jesus – there was a whole ROOM FULL of disciples hitting the streets, declaring the Name and Power of the Name of Jesus and healing all sorts of manner of diseases – all in the face of the Pharisees! Glory to God! Don’t shout me down when I’m preaching good! Amen!

We will pick it up there again tomorrow. I want to pray for you to receive that kind of BOLDNESS in the Name of Jesus! Amen!

Until next time, this is Pastor Bob Thibodeau reminding you from 1 Thessalonians 5:17 in the Living Bible to “Always Keep on Praying!”  Be blessed in...