Spirit-Filled Prayer (4:23–31)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, May 26, 2024

Children are dismissed to junior church

Matt Wade will come up and read today’s passage:

Acts 4:23-31

I want to start out with something funny:

I heard about this minister that died. He was standing in line at the pearly gates. The man in front of him was dressed in a loud t-shirt, sunglasses and blue jeans. Saint Peter asked him, “What’s your name”? He said, “I’m Joe Cohen. Taxicab driver. New York City”. Peter checked his list and handed him a gold staff, silk robe, said, “Welcome to heaven”. The minister stepped up. He said, “I’m reverend Joseph snow, pastor of Saint Mary’s Cathedral”. Peter checked his list, handed him a wooden staff and cotton robe. He said, “Hey, that’s not right. The taxicab driver got a gold staff and this is all I got”? Peter said, “Sir, up here we work by results. When you preached people slept but when he drove people prayed“.

Memorial Day is a day we honor our fallen heroes. Our American heroes were brave, they were courageous, and they were bold. We see that theme in Acts as well. We will come back to that.

Has anyone seen the show “Band of Brothers”? It was a great show about a group of men going through Europe in WWII. It is based on a book and, I believe, a true story.

Has anyone seen the series, “The Pacific”?

These men and women were brave and bold.

Tom Brokaw shares:

In 1953, when I was living in a small town constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers along the Missouri River in South Dakota, I was surrounded by the young veterans of World War II who were busy making up for lost time: raising families, earning a living by building the large hydroelectric dam across the Missouri on this isolated stretch of the Great Plains, trying to forget what they had been through just a few years earlier. As a talkative kid, friendly to grown-ups, I heard lots of stories about their days during the Depression or their long-ago sports achievements or hunting and fishing lore, but I cannot recall any of the veterans sitting around telling war stories. It just wasn’t done. I do remember one startling comment, however. It came from Gordon Larsen, a popular member of the community. He was a stocky, cheerful young man who worked on a crew that kept the electrical, heating, and plumbing systems going in the town. He had such a lively sense of humor that it was almost worth it to have your furnace break down. Gordon always kept up a lively chatter while he worked on it.

So it was surprising that the morning after Halloween he came into the post office, where my mother worked, and complained about the rowdiness of the high school teenagers the night before. My mother, trying to play to his good humor, said, “Oh, Gordon, what were you doing when you were seventeen?” He looked at her for a moment and said, “I was landing on Guadalcanal.” Then he turned and left the post office. It was a moment that made a deep impression on Mother. She shared it with me when she came home that evening, and we have talked about it often. It was so representative of how quickly times had changed for young people. Gordon is now seventy-three. He’s retired from the Army Corps of Engineers after thirty-five years, having moved on from fixing furnaces to operating the sophisticated control systems in the powerhouses of dams in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Washington. He was surprised when I told him my mother and I remembered that moment in the post office. “I didn’t talk about the war much,” he said. “I spent most of my time trying to forget it.” Gordon quit high school in Omaha to join the Marines in 1941, following the path of his older brother, Jim. He trained in San Diego with the 3rd Marine Division, 9th Regiment, and immediately shipped out for the Pacific, where he carried the heavy Browning automatic rifle ashore at Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Guam, and Okinawa, participating in some of the heaviest fighting of the war. He hooked up with Jim, then nineteen, in the 3rd Marines, and they went ashore together at Bougainville. It was a bloody, unforgettable day for Gordon. His brother was hit almost instantly, severely wounded, on the beach. Gordon remembered it vividly. “He bounced around,” he said. “He was really hit.” Jim was down in an exposed position, and every time a rescue effort was launched, the Japanese opened up. Gordon’s commander told him they couldn’t do anything until dark. Jim lay there all day, his life draining from him. Finally, once it was nighttime, they were able to get him back to their lines and transported to a waiting ship. But too much damage had been done. Gordon’s brother died two weeks later in a Denver hospital. As he told me this story, unprompted, on a telephone call across forty-five years, Gordon’s voice grew husky and more distant. “I haven’t”—he hesitated and then went on—“I haven’t talked about this hardly ever.” He said he still has nightmares about his days in combat, and when I knew him, in the early fifties, when the memories were especially fresh, he said he thought about it all of the time, even when he was entertaining us while fixing our furnace. There were no psychiatrists in our small community for him to see, even if he had been inclined, which he wasn’t. “I just wanted to forget,” he said, “I just wanted to get on with my life.” Gordon said that when he went into a bar in those days and heard guys talking about combat, it made him sick, so sick he’d just walk out rather than stick around and share the painful memories. Besides, he always figured those who were willing to talk about combat had never really experienced it. After all the bloody fighting across the island chains leading to Japan, Gordon’s outfit was on Guam, preparing to board ships that would take them to the invasion of the mainland. Then word came of the surrender of the Japanese. Gordon’s shooting war was over. He came home with his unit. There had been 240 men in it when he left San Diego three years earlier. Only eight returned alive and uninjured. Gordon says he’s never been in touch with any of them. He doesn’t want to revisit those days. He does credit the Marines, however, and that awful experience during his formative years with giving direction to his life. He said he was a wild kid, and he didn’t know what would have happened without the discipline of the Marines and the sobering experiences of war. He came home a man, went to school nights to get his high school diploma, and worked days learning the trade of a furnace-and-heating-system technician. “I was never out of work,” he proudly recalled. “I never had to take the 52–20 program”—a government subsidy for returning veterans who couldn’t get work—twenty dollars a week for fifty-two weeks. Most returning veterans went to work or back to school as swiftly as possible. They were acutely aware of what they had lost in their training years. In fact many of them to this day just subtract three, four, or five years from their chronological age in good humor, laughingly explaining that those were the years they lost during the war.[1]

In the book of Acts the people were bold, but where did it come from, it came from the Holy Spirit.

Okay, we are now almost through four chapters of Acts. What are some themes that you have sensed? Have you sensed the theme of the Holy Spirit? I hope you have. Have you sensed the theme of the boldness to proclaim the Gospel even when it is difficult? I hope so. Four weeks ago, we looked at a passage that had to do with the persecution of Peter and John. Fortunately, or unfortunately, that is not an isolated incident in the Book of Acts. Persecution is not isolated in church’s history at all, either.

I have titled my message, Spirit-Filled Prayer, because in the passage which I will read I see the disciple’s prayer as Holy Spirit-Filled or at least Holy Spirit Filling. We must also seek the same in our churches and in our prayer life.

Tim Keller shares:

Jonathan Edwards, some of you have heard of him. He was a Congregational minister in New England 200 years ago. Listen to this little note from his prayer diary: “Once, as I rode out into the woods for my health, in 1737 … I had a view that was for me extraordinary. [The inward eyes of my heart were opened and I saw the] glory of the Son of God … and his wonderful, great … pure and sweet grace and love.

The person of Christ appeared ineffably excellent with an excellency great enough to swallow up all thought and conception, which continued as near as I could judge [as a condition of me, for] about an hour, which kept me the greater part of the time in a flood of tears and weeping aloud. I felt an ardency of soul to be … full of Christ alone; to love him with a holy and pure love; to trust in him; to live upon him; to serve … him.”^[2]

Isn’t that powerful? That is Spirit-filled prayer.

Allow me to read:

Acts 4:23–31 (ESV)

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. 

1. First, notice that their prayer begins with worship and an acknowledgment that God is sovereign.
   1. Now, allow me to review what is happening in this passage:
   2. At the beginning of Acts chapter 3, Peter and John go to the Temple at the time of prayer. A lame beggar was there and asked for money. Peter said, “Silver or gold I don’t have, but what I have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” The man is healed. This attracted a lot of attention, and Peter preached a sermon. Peter’s message reached about 5000 people with the Gospel, but this aggravated the Jewish authorities, and Peter and John were thrown in prison for the night. The next day, Peter and John spoke before the Jewish leadership, and Peter again preached the Gospel (Acts 4:8 says that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit). Eventually, they had Peter and John released.
   3. Following their release from prison, they come back to meet with their own people.
   4. This term translated as “their own,” usually means family, but in this case, it means the other Christians.[3] But the point is they immediately went back to share with the other disciples what God had done.
   5. They didn’t go to take a shower first. They didn’t go to catch up on business, emails, Facebook, or other things. They went straight back to join their people.
   6. They may have gone back to the upper room or a location where they knew the church would be.
   7. They shared about the chief priests. The Chief Priests were a small group of priests within the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin would be the Jewish Supreme Court. The Sanhedrin would be composed of 70 people plus the High priest.[4]
   8. The chief Priests are composed of former high priests and members of influential priestly families.
   9. Notice in verse 24: When “they”—which I am thinking is the rest of the disciples—heard this, meaning what God had done, they went straight to prayer.

• We must always apply the Scripture to our lives. Let’s apply this narrative for a moment.
• Do we do the same?
• They could have gone to rest, but no, they went to prayer. Their prayer includes allusions to Old Testament prayers.

1. Let’s look at this Spirit-Filled
   1. They start their prayer by acknowledging who God is in relation to who we are. We should do the same. God created everything that we see and feel, including the stars in the sky.
   2. Verse 24 starts their prayer as “Sovereign Lord.” This means that God is in control. This means “absolute ruler.” The Greek word translated here is where we get the English word “despot.”[5] God is the absolute ruler, and they acknowledged that as they began their prayer.
   3. Let me also insert here that they were praying in unity. The Scripture says that they “raised their voices together in prayer…” This doesn’t mean they all prayed simultaneously, but they were praying in unity.
   4. Too often, our churches and prayers are hindered because of our divisions. Hence, I am going to say that our divisions hinder the Spirit’s work in our prayer life. In a few verses, we will see that this group of Christians experienced the Holy Spirit. I think we are missing the Holy Spirit because of our division.[6]
   5. Another statement about division: I strongly believe that the devil starts and fosters our division to take our focus off of evangelism. I strongly believe that reaching the lost will heal our division. We will realize the things we are divided over are not as important as sharing the Gospel with those who don’t even know the Lord.
   6. What we need to see here is that their prayer was in unity, and God blessed them with a special baptism of the Holy Spirit.
   7. Now, allow me to get back to their prayer and their acknowledgment of God as sovereign. Do we acknowledge that God is sovereign?
   8. Do you go about your day-to-day life thinking that God is in control? Or, are you in control?
   9. Acknowledging God as sovereign includes the idea that we must surrender to His will.

• Next, part of the prayer: Do we begin our prayer with worship? That is what they are doing.
• Then, their prayer includes Scripture. They quote Psalm 2:1-2 in reference to Jesus.
• Lastly about God’s sovereignty, their prayer acknowledged that God’s plan included threats against Christians. Verse 27 references the crucifixion of Christ. Verse 28 references that in God’s sovereignty, this was planned beforehand.
• But they never complained, and that is my transition to their one request.

• They prayed for boldness and an expansion of the Gospel
  1. They never complained. We would expect that they would pray that their threats would stop, but they don’t. They pray that God considers their threats. They had just been thrown in prison, and they prayed nothing about that.
  2. They ask that God allows them to preach God’s Word with great boldness.
  3. Notice they say “preach.”
  4. Verse 30 is a prayer for miracles.
  5. Do we pray for miracles? I must ask if I am praying for miracles. That is a challenge. We serve a God who brings about miracles.
  6. Verse 31 is a confirmation of their Spirit-filled prayer.
  7. The place is shaken.
  8. Did this really happen? It may be metaphorical, but I favor this is literal. God is so great that when He is present, I mean truly present, there are consequences that defy natural laws.
  9. They also speak the Word of God boldly. That is the answer to their prayer.

We are New Testament Christians living in an increasingly secular world. Because of this we must go to the Word of God to be filled up with the Holy Spirit. Now, Christians are filled with the Spirit when we receive Christ as Savior and Lord; however, I believe as we grow in Christ, we can experience special times of being filled with the Spirit. We should pray for this every day. I think this will mostly happen in small prayer circles, and we need these as Christians. I think this will mostly also happen when our prayers are in the manner expressed in this passage. We must pray with worship, acknowledging God as sovereign. We must pray in petition with our basic needs, but we must also pray for the greater good, submitting to God’s sovereign will. This prayer is for the building up of the church, and it is spirit-filled. Verse 31 says that they were filled with the Spirit.

Christians, let’s do the same. Whether or not you are a preacher, preach God’s Word including the Gospel. Do this with boldness. Pray in groups of Christians, pray in this manner, experience the Holy Spirit, and get ready. Lastly, set aside diversity and instead embrace unity for the cause of the Gospel. Then, you ought to be ready for the Holy Spirit’s work.

We need the type of prayer illustrated in this passage. I certainly do. We need, I need, Spirit-filled prayer meetings in our churches.

So, I began about WW2 men. They were bold. There is a new show on Apple TV called “Master of the Air.” It is a great show about the B17 pilots. It shows what they went through.

At the very end it shows them dropping food at the locations they just conquered. I watched that and thought we are such a great nation. I remembered in high school a teacher saying, “We are the greatest country that will annihilate an enemy and then help them rebuild.

Our men and women of uniform were very bold. As Christians we need that and it really only comes from the Holy Spirit.

Go and be Spirit-filled, living as post-resurrection Christians.

Listen as I read the words to a worship song:

Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble

Did you feel the mountains tremble?
Did you hear the oceans roar?
When the people rose to sing of
Jesus Christ the risen one

Did you feel the people tremble?
Did you hear the singers roar?
When the lost began to sing of
Jesus Christ the risen one

And we can see that God you’re moving
A mighty river through the nations
And young and old will turn to Jesus
Fling wide your heavenly gates
Prepare the way of the risen Lord

Open up the doors and let the music play
Let the streets resound with singing
Songs that bring your hope
Songs that bring your joy
Dancers who dance upon injustice

Did you feel the darkness tremble?
When all the saints join in one song
And all the streams flow as one river
To wash away our brokeness

And here we see that God you’re moving
A time of Jubilee is coming
When young and old return to Jesus
Fling wide your heavenly gates
Prepare the way of the risen Lord

Written by Martin Smith ©1995 Curious? Music UK

Let’s pray.

[1] Brokaw, Tom. The Greatest Generation (pp. 101-106). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

^[2] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

[3] Witherington III, Ben. The Acts of the Apostles : A Socio-Rhetorical

Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997.  Page 201.

[4] Arnold, Clinton E. Acts. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary.

Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007. Page 32

[5] Witherington III 201

[6] We may be able to take 1 Peter 3:7 which references our relationship with our spouse as hindering our prayer life to also mean if we are divided as a church it hinders our prayer life. Psalm 66:18 talks about cherished sin hindering our prayers.