Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: Notice, the early church didn't pray that they might have a break from persecution. They prayed that they might have more boldness in persecution. And by the way, I think that's the kind of prayer that prevails.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador in scripture calls to pray not our will, but the Lord's will be done. Sometimes the Lord might have you in a predicament that you might be a witness to the world. That's what's going on here. They're not saying, "Lord, save us from the Sanhedrin." They're saying, "Lord, would these guys believe, seeing the miracle that you did in this man, and that they might come to know Jesus."

Guest (Male): From our study of the book of Acts, we've not only learned of the miracle of the beggar lame from birth who was healed, but the various reactions of the nearby crowds, as well as the opportunity of Peter and John to preach that would grieve the religious leaders. But coming up in today's word, Pastor Brett Meador also highlights the results of the prayerful support of the body of believers.

Brett Meador: Acts chapter 4, and really this chapter, I think kind of breaks into maybe four sections. The first section is verses 1 through 14, and it's really the apostles defending the name of Jesus Christ. Number two, the council opposing the name of Jesus Christ.

And then thirdly, as we keep reading in verses 23 through 30, we see the church calling on the name of Jesus Christ. Let's pick it up in verse 23. So now, you know, Peter and John are let go, free.

So verse 23: "And being let go, they went to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them." Can you picture Peter and John going back to all the church friends? "Hey you guys, you'll never believe what just happened. We were in big trouble and they couldn't say anything against the guy being healed and they let us go. They told us not to say the name of Jesus anymore."

So what do you do when you're the church and Peter and John show up and say, "Check out what just happened to us"? Do you have a pizza party? Do you slap them a high five? Well, let's see what the church actually does in verse 24: "And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said, 'Lord...'"

This is their prayer right here. "'Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is.'" Now, the starting of their prayer, they're noting God's greatness. That's always a good way to start prayer. I know it's almost trite and trivial to say, the creator and sustainer of all things. That's the way old Uncle Bob used to pray at dinner time.

But really, that's not a bad way to start, to remember who you're talking to. See, I think the early church, they sense the gravity of the moment. And they say, "Oh Lord God, the creator." I love how they lift up their voice and they're doing it all with one accord. The maker of heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them.

Verse 25, they go on: "Who by the mouth of thy servant David hath said, 'Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ.'"

Now, this is interesting. They're saying, "Let's pray." They all say, "Let's get to praying." What's this whole heathen rage thing? We'll talk about that in a second. But I love how the church goes right to prayer. They sense the gravity of the moment. So what should we do?

Getting in the word is always a great response to anything because the word is where it's at. But I think prayer, this is what I see the church—maybe we could do better as a church, all of us, the greater church with a capital C—is to be praying, but not just by yourself, but with one accord.

That's what it says here. They all lifted up their voice to God with one accord. They're like-mindedly praying and it says here that instead of "Let's celebrate, Peter and John are free," they said, "Let's pray." I think they sense that they were let free, but they probably knew the gravity is more dangerous than that.

C.H. Spurgeon said, "Prayer is the breath of faith. Prayer meetings are the lungs of the church." I think that's a true thing. I'm so thankful for the prayer warriors we have at Athey Creek. We have people and even groups that get together and pray just for Sunday mornings and Saturday nights, for Wednesday night Bible study.

We have people that are prayer warriors. We need that. And because of prayer, they were united together. They lifted up their voice with one accord. Did you know that that's what prayer does? I think that's how the church can be united. We do unite around the scripture, that's a part of it, but there's something about prayer when you pray together.

In Philippians chapter 2, Paul says, "Fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind." How does that happen? How can you get a bunch of people in the church to start thinking in the same way, have the one accord, one mind? I think prayer is one of the secrets to that is gathering in prayer.

There was a unity that happened. My favorite times are when our leadership gets together and pray. We get away for prayer retreats. We also prayer night for the elders. There's a lot to pray about. But we need more and more of that. So if a church wants to be united, I think one of the keys is a praying church.

The Bible doesn't say anything about being united around the worship department or music. It doesn't unite us around great events and harvest festivals and concerts. We don't come to church to be entertained, but when you come together to pray, there's a natural result of unity.

So what are they saying? Well, this verse 25 gets kind of strange. It says, "Who by the mouth of thy servant David hath said, 'Why did the heathen rage?'" Now, this is a signal. What are they doing? They're praying the Bible. If you don't know what to pray, pray the Bible. That's always a good way to go.

Have you ever thought, "What am I going to say in a prayer time?" If you're praying scripture, you're always on good, solid ground. And that's what they do. I love the model here for us to just pray scripture, and it's a scripture that they were familiar with, a Psalm from David.

What Psalm are they talking about? Well, Psalm chapter 2. And before we kind of break this down here in verse 25, verse 25 and 26, you'll notice your margin reference probably refers you to Psalm chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. You say, "Well, it's not an exact quote." But it is pretty close. Let's take a look. Keep your finger here and go with me to Psalm chapter 2.

It's not going to be word for word, but it's pretty close. Let's take a look. Psalm chapter 2, verse 1: "Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying..."

Now pause. Those are the two verses particularly that they quote. And what is this whole thing about the heathen raging? Well, in this story, this is speaking about the heathen, the Gentile nations that are against the Lord. This is the Psalmist sort of marveling about these different groups of people.

And the first group is the Gentiles. He says, "Why do the heathen rage?" And they go against his anointed. Now, in verse 2, they say his anointed is Christ. That's the way the early church interpreted that. They see Jesus Christ. This is a Psalm of Jesus and they use the name of Jesus instead of just the anointed like here in the Psalm.

So this is the liberty they're taking to interpret that Psalm 2 is speaking about Jesus. Are you guys with me on that? That's important. So who's his anointed? Jesus. But then there's groups. Verses 1 through 3 speak of the Gentile nations, the heathen that are raging.

Look at verse 3: "Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us." In verse 4: "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision." NIV says scoffs there. "Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure."

So this is where the Psalmist is saying for the Gentiles that reject Jesus, the anointed, there's going to be judgment and wrath. When is that going to happen? The second coming of Christ. Now, the next one that's talked about is Jesus himself, verses 7 through 9.

Let's keep reading. It says there in verse 7: "I will declare the decree of the Lord hath said unto me, 'Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and for the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.'"

What will it look like when Jesus returns? Some of the Gentiles will be an inheritance, that's the church. But the ones that reject Christ will be beaten with the rod of iron. So speaking of Christ and his second coming is all right there. Then in verse 10, we see the Holy Spirit.

It says, "Be wise now therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and ye perish from the way, and his wrath be kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him."

Boy, this is a good scripture for leaders of nations. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Boy, that's what we need to be praying for our president, that he would serve the Lord with the fear of the Lord, a healthy fear of the Lord, and rejoice trembling. It says kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you perish from the way. So believe in Jesus, trust in Jesus.

Now you say, "Okay Brett, this is a heavy scripture from the Psalmist. 'Why do the heathen rage and the Lord's going to cut them down and it's going to be brutal.' What does this have to do with the guys in the church?" Well, they're remembering what their holy scriptures say about Christ in his second coming.

And so this is where we have to kind of realize that this is the context. They're recognizing the leadership in Jerusalem is rejecting the leadership of Christ and rejecting God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

So here we see, back to the book of Acts, I love the context of that whole chapter. I wanted you to kind of see bit of that because it really does fit the predicament the disciples are in with the heathen, even though they're the religious leaders. It says that they had to basically apply this: "Why do the heathen rage?"

Why do the heathen rage? They're trying to pray for these guys that are about ready to martyr them or condemn them. So I think that's what you and I should be doing is be like this church, praying for the leaders for their repentance, for their following of the Lord. That's kind of what's going on here. It's a good model for us.

Well, verse 27, back to our point number 3 here, the church calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus, verse 25. They continue: "Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, 'Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up and rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ.'"

See, that's where they speak of Christ, which wasn't mentioned in that Psalm. So they added the word Christ to that. Why could they do that? Because it is about Christ. We know that. So that's that liberty I was talking about.

Verse 27: "For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together." Now, this is them just acknowledging before God in their prayer, "Lord, they've all been against Jesus. Herod, Pontius Pilate, all the Gentiles and the Jews, they were all gathered together against Jesus."

Now, there's a translational issue here. You might say, "Why does the church call him the holy child Jesus?" Well, your newer translations say what? Servant. That's a better translation. That's where I love the King James Bible and I love all the different translations that are real attempts at translating the Bible. I'm so thankful for even the newer ones, ESV, NIV.

But this is one of the places where King James just kind of got it wrong on the translation. "Brett, you're saying there's a error in the Bible?" And some of you are mad because I'm criticizing the King James. If you're a King James only, you believe this is just as inspired as was the original Greek text.

And so, I understand you're mad at me right now, but can I just say unless you're reading from the original Greek text or Hebrew text of the Old Testament or Aramaic and some of the Old Testament passages, we don't have those original texts.

But we do have these translations. And good news, good news: nothing translated in the King James or in any of the major translations we have change anything about our doctrine or faith or theology or anything like that. There's nothing like that, nothing that's jolting, like is he the baby Jesus or is he the servant Jesus?

Well, it says servant in the original text. But it does imply a boy servant, which is interesting, the Greek word there. But there's reasons why they should have translated it more like your modern translations. Don't let that jolt you. Don't let that shake you.

As long as you're not in the cult Bibles like the New World Translation of the Jehovah's Witness, they've changed stuff that's just wrong. The Book of Mormon, off. We got to understand that it's the Bible that we read and I love that we have these translations.

But at the same time, it's worth studying the original language. I say that because I don't want you to be shaken by that. But why were they all gathered together to crucify Jesus? That's what verse 27 is saying.

And verse 28: "For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." The Lord had always planned for these things to happen. It was already pre-determined that God would send his Son to die for the sins of the world. This is a part of his plan.

Verse 29: "And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, by stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child [there's that servant again] Jesus."

So, I love this. This is their prayer. What was their prayer? They're praying that they might see the miracles that Jesus did and see the miracle that was just done by Peter through Jesus: "By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." Their prayer is that they might see that it's truly Jesus.

Notice, the early church didn't pray that they might have a break from persecution. Notice that they prayed that they might have more boldness in persecution. And by the way, I think that's the kind of prayer that prevails when you're not praying, "Get me out of my predicament."

Sometimes the Lord might have you in a predicament that you might be a witness. That's what's going on here. They're not saying, "Lord, save us from the Sanhedrin." They're saying, "Lord, would these guys believe, seeing the miracle that you did in this man, and that they might come to know Jesus." That's a good way to pray.

When you're in troubled times, do you always pray for your saving? Sometimes I wonder if we should pray, "Lord, not my will but your will be done. And if it's not to be saved out of my predicament, show me what is the reason I'm in this place that I might be used by you."

Maybe you're a single. "Lord, why am I still single? I want to meet someone. I want to be married." Well, that's a desire of your heart and you should let that be known to the Lord. But maybe you should ask Lord, "Lord, for what purpose am I single? Lord, for what purpose do you have me in this state where I'm single?"

And maybe it's he wants to do great things through you. Paul makes that argument by the way in the New Testament saying, "I would that ye all be single like me." And he makes the case because you can do a lot more stuff if you're not married. And those of you that are married are like, "That is true." It's just true.

And so I love that these guys aren't praying, "Lord, get us out of our persecution." I think that's kind of an important thing. Okay, so now we've seen the church calling on the name of Jesus through this beautiful prayer of the church, all in one accord, with one mind, like-mindedness. I love that.

And so now we get to this next section, and that is the report now of what happens after those three things. What three things? The apostles were defending the name of Jesus, the council was opposing the name of Jesus, the church was calling on the name of Jesus, and now what happens? Well, this is where the big stuff happens.

Verse 31: "And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness." Don't you love that? We often pray when we're shaken up, but these guys prayed so that they could be shaken up. I like that.

Prayer answered. They go out now and they're bold. They're going to be bold, and you'll see that in chapter 5. This is the prayer we have for Athey Creek, that the Lord will shake us up spiritually. Not just doing weird stuff, gyrating for Jesus, flopping on the ground for Jesus. No, that we'd get up and go and be bold.

That's why the Holy Ghost came. The Holy Ghost did not come to make people flop on the floor. Why did the Holy Spirit come? Acts chapter 1, does anybody remember? Turn back to Acts chapter 1, verse 5: "For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence."

And verse 7: "He said unto them, 'It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.'"

That's why the Holy Spirit came, not to flop in the aisle or to speak in tongues even. The Holy Spirit came so that they might be witnesses. And I love that this is their prayer that they'll be more bold by the power of the Spirit.

They're all filled with the Holy Ghost and they're speaking, not in tongues now, but they're speaking the word of God. And never forget that. The empowering of the Spirit is not that we just speak in tongues, but the purpose of the power of the Spirit is that we might be bold witnesses. Just remember that, Acts chapter 1, verse 8.

Well, we wrap it up here in verse 32: "And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all."

Doesn't this sound great? The church is all getting along like for ten minutes the early church is going to get along really well. What makes the church get divided? Oh man, we're going to see that as we study the New Testament. Some are going to start saying, "Well, we're of Paul," and they'll say, "No, no, no, we're of Apollos," or "We're of Jesus only."

There was a division right there that was called out. And it's funny how people get all caught up in divisions in the church. We need to be looking for ways to be more united, coming alongside of each other. Well, great grace. I love that. May that be on the Church of Jesus Christ today.

But verse 34: "Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

"And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, [which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,] a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet."

Interesting way to end this chapter. The people are all loving each other, they sell all their possessions, pile it up at the apostles' feet, say, "Here, let's have everything in common, let's just take care of each other." But this is in the context of persecution. Should we all be Marxists and sell all our possessions and give to the poor?

Is that—there's people that try to make a biblical case for that using this scripture. It's not really the case. Here, it's the early church heading into persecution and a lot of them were from out of town. Remember they all came into Jerusalem and got saved and now they're wanting to be a part of the church.

So they're helping each other out, and the church should definitely do that. But to make everybody sell their possessions... By the way, why is this one guy Barnabas named? Because it says they sold their houses and brought the money, but then this one story is drawn out. It's kind of an interesting thing because this guy was a Levite.

If you were a Jew keeping the law, were you supposed to have property? If you were a Levite, you were not supposed to have property. That's kind of an interesting thing. The Levites had an inheritance, but not like that.

So it's kind of funny, this guy Joses, surnamed Barnabas, son of consolation, a Levite from Cyprus having land, sold it. It's almost like they did this just to be right. This is what they needed to do. This is what the Lord put on their hearts to give.

You know, another note in this section: distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. That's something that Athey Creek we do want to do. If people are needy or in poverty or in trouble, we try to help people as much as we know how.

And if you ever find yourself in a place where you're totally broke and you're going down and there's no hope for you, the church should be a place you can go and get—now, if you have a house by the lake and your boat's not working, you need to get it fixed, we're not going to help you with that.

But if you're a single mom and you lost your job and you're in a real pickle and you're going to be kicked out of your home, that's the kind of stuff we want to know about. And we want to help. And that's something the church we do, and it's a blessing for us to do that.

So keep that in mind. And that's something I think the church really should be a part of, caring for one another. They shared together not out of compulsion, but out of compassion, not out of obligation, but it seems like they had a love one for another. That's the way the church should roll. Amen? Amen.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador drawing great insight of the unifying power of prayer from the example of the early church of Acts chapter 4 in today's word. And leading us in a closing prayer is what Pastor Brett will do in just a moment, so I hope you'll stick around for that.

Let me tell you a little bit more about Brett Meador. He's the senior pastor of Athey Creek Church just outside of Portland, Oregon. Brett's been the pastor of Athey Creek for 30 years. We invite you to find out more by going to todayswordradio.com.

If you've missed any portion of this study, you'll find all of Pastor Brett's messages online at todayswordradio.com. Our vision on today's word is to proclaim the hope of salvation and help people know Jesus through careful study of the Bible.

We invite you to find out more by going to todayswordradio.com. I also want to mention that in addition to the main Athey Creek campus in West Linn, Oregon, we also have locations in Hillsboro and McMinnville. For more information, go to todayswordradio.com and click on the link "locations". Well, as promised, with that closing word of prayer, here again is Pastor Brett Meador.

Brett Meador: Well Lord, as we close this chapter out, I pray that you'd give us wisdom in these things. Help us to apply these things Lord. I love the prayer of the saints. I love how Peter was bold and he wasn't backing down from these scary Sanhedrin guys.

Lord, give us a boldness, but may it be bold but also surrounded by love and kindness. Lord, I pray that we'd have that perfect balance, especially in these days of contention. As so many people are divided today, I pray that we would live peaceably as much as lieth within us with all men, Lord, as your word says.

Help us to love one another, but at the same time be bold. So give us that balance. Bless these your people, may they bring forth good fruit in their lives as they continue through your word Lord. And we pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.

Guest (Male): Amen. Pastor Brett Meador closing our time here on today's word. Well, next time Pastor Brett will reveal in the early church how hypocrisy can quietly grow when people care more about appearing spiritual than a genuine surrendering to God. Today's word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.