Things Get a Little Shaky

if you have your Bible with you we're going to be in Acts chapter 4 again today we're in the book of Acts for a period of time so encourage you to uh if encourage you to continue reading I couple thoughts went through my mind right there we started this off and I want to remind you of this um this year we're reading through the book of Acts so you're capable of doing that at your pace and at your speed but keep going through it um more times you can read through it the more you will become familiar with it and the more have an opportunity to impact how you think uh how you live and so I encourage you continue to read in the book of Acts um I was reminded last sometime in the last couple of weeks just and I I know I had said it before good material out there if you're looking for anything that wants to support that um the Bible project has great uh expl uh explanations and videos to explain and walk through the overview of the book of Acts so I encourage you to check that out um very good material so just reminding you we want to be in what we're studying so spend the time there get to Know It uh if by the end you have it memorized then see you're that much better off so and it is possible some you go I could never memorize a whole book yeah you can you could do it uh you'd be surprised so we want God's word to change us we need to be in it and that's where we are today now we ended this last song um I really like that we run to the father again and again how do we do that we sing it how do we do it praying exactly yeah it's one of the best and greatest gifts that that we were given and have made available to us and in Jesus um he even said he released the power of Heaven on our behalf that we can pray in his name we can approach the throne of grace we can be uh living in the presence of God um too much of our time we spend in ways where we make prayer into a um it's kind of our desperation point so it's down at the bottom it's kind of what catches me then I'll run to God I I guess maybe the question we should ask ourselves and do you think that's how God intended prayer to function did he give prayer so you have a catchall when everything goes wrong in your processes of what you're wanting to do no I easy answer in that is it's no so we're going to talk about prayer today and we have the privilege of in the book of Acts one of the prayers that uh is in the midst of a very interesting circumstance and I believe we have this recorded for us specifically so that we can learn how to pray you go wait a minute Jesus taught his disciples how to pray we have the The Lord's Prayer absolutely we do but it doesn't mean that we the application remember these are the followers of Jesus first time uh First Church they are Jesus has ascended to heaven and they are learning that the the kingdom has been handed to them they are to give that Kingdom away and they are learning that um not everybody's super excited about that and they do face opposition and things aren't always just easy uh though we would like them to be and they discover that they need to pray we saw that in Acts chapter 2 it was a foundational uh uh element to how they existed prayer was woven into everything that they were doing and now in chapter 4 we come back in the midst of a a challenging circumstance it's not over yet by the way uh they demonstrate what prayer the the necessity for prayer but also how to pray and so we're going to look at that today I'm going to forn you make some even nervous here we are going to spend some time in prayer at the end of our service together because it never makes sense to me to talk about a truth especially one that we can immediately apply and then just skip right past being involved in it so we're going to spend some time in prayer today so if that you know if you're like oh I don't know how to pray or I'm nervous praying around somebody it's okay prayer is talking to God and he's not judging you and he doesn't have a checklist and he there's not certain things you have to live up to and you don't have to out pray your neighbor just need to have a mindset that begins and a spirit that surrenders that allows you to run to the father again and again and again we need to be those who learn how to pray um I honestly believe if the church learned and began to pray the world world would be a different place and we would see the activity of God much more clearly than we do we're often look around what what's God doing if we were praying we would know what God is doing then we would know his good pleasing and perfect will we're told that you see we often only use prayer as a last resort let's move off of that mentality let's move into a a consistency in prayer and let's see what we can learn from this first century First Church Acts chapter 4 four in fact it goes back into chapter 3 remember this is a conflict now that has been arising between a challenge between really the two temples we've talked about that I won't go into great detail on it but at the heart of the two temples is what is Faith that's the question that's being dealt with and how does faith impact life the Jewish process of tradition has created uh there's the temple that God that God came down to dwell in but but the processes created a a means of authority and uh hierarchy that kept people really from God I'm going to simplify things real quick here just so we can think about this together and as a process then the religious leaders were able to use um access to God as a means to control people and put into place things that U needed to happen for one to be righteous and in the process of that they didn't realize that God had left the building and so where did he go when Jesus died on that cross and and we celebrate this at Pentecost God's spirit came to dwell in those who put their faith in Jesus God now became personal there's the point of conflict Peter and John are going into the temple one day to what to pray and as they're going into that Temple they see a man sitting outside the temple who had been there it tells us he was 40 years old and the uh implication in that is that he had been and it tells us that he came there every day he had been there and been seen by all those people going into the temple by all the religious leaders for year upon year upon year upon year and there was no effect but yet that man was so close to God close in the proximity and those who you see he wasn't allowed to go into the temple but everybody else was and there was no effect on those coming out that actually touched him changed his life but one day Peter and John are going in and they see the man and they say we don't have any silver or gold to give you what we have is faith in Jesus and we're going to give that to you today stand up and walk and that their faith in Jesus transformed his life and he for the first time gets to go into the temple and he's rejoicing and jumping and shouting and praising God and it causes a great stir and uh thousands of people are coming to put their faith in Jesus and the religion ious leaders are getting upset so they have Peter and John arrested and once they they hold him in jail overnight and then they bring him before the Sanhedrin the top uh Court of authority in their

day and you going say wait a minute the Romans were in charge we can go into that in Jewish culture the authority and power rested with the Sanhedrin and here are Peter and John two as we are told ordinary uneducated men standing before these religious well-educated powerful men and they want to know by whose authority and by whose power did you heal this man we don't remember you asking us and they say if you allow me to paraphrase well it's in the name of Jesus and there is no no name that is more powerful and has more Authority than Jesus the one you crucified but God raised him from the dead and the proof of his power is in that Resurrection we celebrated it last week and they say Peter and John say to these religious leaders you need to turn to Jesus you crucified him repent turn to him well the religious leaders don't know what to do with them as it says the the man who was healed still standing with them the people have been uh are just amazed and are flocking to to hear what is going on and how they did this and uh I pointed this out maybe you picked up on it um in Acts chapter 4 there actually are more people that come to put their faith in Jesus through this event than at Pentecost we always see Pentecost as this big explosion it exploded even more in the temple that day when the lame man's in there lumping lumping jumping in praising God and people come to put their faith in Jesus you see what's happening a faith in Jesus is invading the temple

and there's a bound conflict to take place because it's resting around the authority who has it and the religious leaders don't want to give it up they can't fight against what Jesus did when he rose from the dead and so God is reclaiming his Temple and he's reclaiming lives through faith in Jesus and there's conflict well the religious leaders don't know what to do oh here I want to give you just a little preview for coming up weeks this conflict's not over by the way we just have a little interlude and we see what the disciples do the conflict's going to really start to heat up next after this prayer but I want you to know that because I want you to to concentrate on how the disciples prayed and how God responded to their prayer and the result of that that's coming up in coming weeks but if we we got to understand the prayer and what was going on on and the power of prayer if we're going to learn from it so the religious leaders said to the disciples they said among themselves first we don't know what to do with these guys because we're kind of in a catch 22 because so many people and they even say all of Jerusalem's heard about what's going on and so if we do anything to these guys we actually are standing in in the eyes of the people in opposition to God we can't we can't put ourselves in that spot and so we've got to figure out way to just quietly dismiss them so they come back and call Peter and John back in and say look here's what we've decided you can't say or do anything else again in the name of Jesus stop doing it just stop it and Peter and John said okay and they left now what' they

say well we got a little problem let me ask you a question would you say that we should obey you or obey God well religious leaders realize they've got to say obey God okay good because if that's the case we're going to listen to Jesus and Proclaim his name because there is no other name under Heaven given to humanity by which we must be saved no greater Authority no greater power we're listening to God see you later so they let him go and this is where we pick up today Acts chapter 4 we're looking at verse 25 it says this or 23 it says this on their release Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all the chief priests and Elders had said to them when they heard this they raised their voices together in prayer to God okay question for you what do you think they prayed about before we get into it and if you've been reading you should already know but I just want you to think for a minute do you think they were it was a prayer of panic do you think it was a prayer of God the religious leaders seem a little bit upset can you calm them down just a little bit they seem to be threatening us God please protect us we're scared see let me ask you that and then I ask you in light of this how would you pray if you had just faced this and been threatened by let's make it the Supreme Court of the United States don't ever speak in the name of Jesus again or there will be consequences God stop them see we tend to to pray in a uh defensive manner gotta protect myself God's my protection we layer ourselves out make sure that we're not going to

offend let me ask the next question that becomes obvious in my mind then who is your God does God need to defend himself or is he so powerful that just his choosing what to do is its own defense think about it as we go into this so they gather together and they pray and I want you to notice it's their first response and it's a group response it wasn't just Peter and John sat alone in the corner had to shake off how difficult that had been they'd been a little scared so they sat there and prayed for a little while while everybody else had a barbecue no they prayed as one prayed together it says now let's look at what they prayed 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 you spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant Our Father David why do the Nations rage and the people's plot in vain the kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one that's uh that last section there is out of Psalms uh written by David and David is speaking about uh at his point in his life there are those that are seeking after him and he's been anointed as God's chosen King but when he speaks of the anointed one he is and it's an understood a pro again a prophetic Psalm he's speaking of the coming Messiah that he that there is going to be um the rage and anger of humanity against God's anointed one David had experienced it himself as God's anointed king but God had promised and David had even spoken about that God's anointed one would come and in this case he's talking about when God's anointed one comes as to the promise given to him that one of his descendants would sit on the throne forever but it wouldn't be accepted easily by all and they would be the Raging of humanity against God's chosen one why What's significant about starting the prayer the way they did let's let's break it down for just a minute first thing they say is Sovereign Lord what does that mean what's the what's the significance of that statement it determines the rest of what they're going to say I'm going to tell you that it's a recognition of the absolute Authority and power of God they're making a statement God you're in control of everything not just a little bit your power to to control doesn't stop with with just us and and you're afraid of the religious leaders you're not a god are are you afraid of Rome God where do you know no you're Sovereign Lord you're over everything and now they're going to reinforce that statement here's how I want you to think about this in their prayer remember they're speaking this to God why are they speaking this to God there is a principle for us to learn about prayer being displayed play for us right here when we pray we need to remember to whom we pray often times I am afraid I hope this is not true for you but I'm afraid that people pray to a god that looks a lot like them and is maybe just a little more powerful we maybe picture our perfect self able to do great things when we're feeling good and we're not too tired and we're not cranky and we've eaten recently so we hope that God doesn't have the angries because he might not be as effective today you see that's I'm afraid the limitations of our concept of God so what are they doing they are reminding themselves before whom it is they go before they are not saying that God is you're pretty powerful we'll rank you up a little higher they are recognizing that God is the creator of all things the sustainer of all things the one through whom all things determine their purpose their will and their direction God's will will be accomplished what is significant in praying ourselves a reminder before God of who he is does it not produce a reverence and also with it an understanding of expectation too often I'll go back to this again we make God in our image so when we pray we pray a prayer that is much like we feel like we're gambling come on come on God come on God come on I need a winner

so we limit the power of God to what we can

imagine these first Believers would say to you don't be a fool you can't solve these problems and it's not your will that's being accomplished it's God so recognize God is at work I'm in the process of what he's doing surrender to his power and give him praise that he's in control now now we're ready to pray now we're beginning to see who it is that we're talking to you've heard me say before and I'll say it again this morning the greatest benefit to come out of prayer is humility I you think about that the greatest benefit to come out of prayer is humility because the biggest thing we need our greatest need is humility oh I'm pretty hum I have poor self-image that must count for something no that's

not okay humility is a recognition of God's authority over me and I submit to his will his Direction his purpose his power same God same purpose Same Spirit same powerit do as you please you see if we fall and fter on this first step we will not be praying for the significant activity of God and our anticipation and expectation will be simply deliverance and nothing more stop praying for

deliverance I'm going to say that again stop praying for deliverance and pray for God to be God in your life and in your circumstance you don't want to be delivered from the activity of God do you I don't and we trip ourselves up and we start praying for deliverance it doesn't mean God won't deliver it means God I'm surrendering to your will let me see as you want to move let me be humble enough to allow you to do what you want to do in my life I've said this before and this is where humility becomes so important God does not compete do you understand what that means there is absolutely no reason for the God of all creation to compete with you so here's what happens when you try to make God compete how do we make God compete when we refuse to Humble ourselves to his absolute Authority and character and understanding for who he is when we are trying to manipulate the outcome of what we think his will should be God does not compete it is his will that is accomplished not mine so when you try to make God live up to your expectations you've already made God smaller than yourself and guess what he's not going to go there so you can deal with the Deliverance on your own and I don't say that in a sarcastic or mean way the reality is we're not allowing God to be God in the circumstances of Our Lives when we're praying for

deliverance pray for God's will God may your will be done and not mine because we need to surrender to the very even to the beginning concept of God's will is far greater than my understanding am I going to trust it will I live it you see these uh disciples lived their faith we've talked about that they had a faith they could give away how is that possible because their faith became tangible because it became the very expression of their existence and their existence was founded in the resurrection of Jesus they were giving away the resurrection you see how powerful that is they couldn't raise the dead they can't come back from the dead but Jesus did we'll surrender to him and let him work through us to do and express the power that exists with him there is no other name under Heaven given to humanity by which we must be saved do you believe that God is at work surrender in humility to the power and authority of God the religious leaders they had been before were demanding they submit to their power and authority but how can we do that do we obey you or do we obey God you see for Peter and John they could see a vast difference between these religious men who had all kinds of practices and rituals but didn't know God and The God Who had risen from the grave and they knew his power who are you going to submit to we have the same Jesus risen from the grave same God same purpose Same Spirit same power will you surrender to him that's the beginning of prayer and so they start to prayer off of recognizing who God is because they want to remind themselves we need to surrender to your will then they do something very interesting they go back did you notice they said um you you made Heaven and the Earth the sea and everything in them so they're seeing and recognizing Authority and power of God then they say you spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant Our Father David have you noticed so far in Acts to show the authority of God they keep going back in the history of God's activity they've gone to Abraham they've gone to David they've gone to Samuel uh they've gone to the prophets they they keep going back because they know that God has been active and God has never failed and always been consistent so they go back but not with a faith that looks back and goes I sure wish that God would do that today but with one that says to David and here's what you said important we catch this because the next thing they pray becomes the direct application in their lives here's what they say and this is quoting from uh from David why did the Nations rage and the people plot in vain the kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one David's saying and and is expressing what he has experienced Nations rage against God that is the expression of when it talks about the Kings and they talks about the people and it the rising up against God it's he's talking about this is the pattern of humanity to rage against God

to stand in opposition to him and then he points to even against your one now I want to jump down to verse 27 because this is where it begins to become a personal application goes from the truth of understanding who God is what his will is how he has shown himself to be true and looking back that God said to David is because that quote is there is actually that God has told David that Humanity would Rage Against the anointed one goes on in fact this has happened here so this is part of their prayer they're saying you said this was going to happen it's happened here we've witnessed it we see it you know God when you said that to David hundreds of years before it's still true of humanity today and you are still the God who is in control happened right here so we're going to let you continue to be in control but they don't end there this this gets really interesting it's kind of a fascinating response it's happened here in this very City for Herod uh Antipas Pontius Pilate the governor the Gentiles and the people of Israel all United against Jesus your holy servant whom you anointed does that sound familiar to the verse that we just read you see what they do is they take the words of David recognizing what he's done and they turn them into their current circumstance of what they've SE they actually literally are repeated what David said but within the application of the present so in David talks about the Nations they refer to the Gentiles talks about the people they talk about Israel talk about the kings of the earth and they he lifts off or they LT off Herod and and anus and and Pontius Pilate so the rulers he's going through it's it's the it's the nations of the world it's your very people the people of Israel it's the rulers and the Kings they all stand against your anointed one Jesus you had said it would happen and we witnessed it it has happened so they have a faith in the god who's always been faithful and shown his will to happen and they reference back to that that's the foundation we have we know it's true we have witnessed it in the present and they've railed against your anointed one what do we do but everything they did was determined beforehand according to your will did you catch the meaning of what they're saying your will God is the will that is accomplished Humanity can rail against God we can try to determine our own morality we can try to determine what we is right we can twist the laws of nature we can we can uh deny reality and yet God is not even touched his will will still be accomplished how do we know that because the nation railed against Jesus the people of Israel refused their Messiah and they hung him on a cross and yet God raised him from the dead God's will is always done now you see why humility is so important because if I am not humbling myself before God I will not see what God has done I'll refuse to see it how do I know that let's go back a little bit in the chapter and the Very men that hung Jesus on the cross required and requested a guard placed before his tomb that spread the rumor that Jesus body had been stolen were the very ones who were still trying to do what silence the name of

Jesus and so in their prayer they're recognizing that this is nothing new to you God

we've witnessed it again what you say of humanity cons is consistent again but here's what's even more important more powerful your will is being done so now what have they done they by looking at the past moving to the present in the midst of their prayer not only are they humbling themselves but they are putting themselves where into the center of the will of God did you catch that God we've seen all this but your will is being done we want to be in the center of your will we want to know what you are doing we want to be an expression of your will let's look further because it gets clarified for

us verse 29 it says now Lord consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your words with great boldness stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus now we're at the heart of their prayer but that prayer is shaped by what they have just expressed God is in control of all things and we have the opportunity today even what we're experiencing to be at the center of God's will let me put it to you this way one of the maybe if I'm giving you some some points of to consider about prayer um prayer needs to be an expression of your faith it will be an expression of your faith so let's let's put that into practical application I'm not going to try to be unkind here but I want to ask you this if you do not pray what does that say about your faith if you pray from the center uh perspective of God deliver me give me what I want and give me a blessed and good day what does that say about your faith you see prayer is a direct mirror on your faith and these disciples were praying according to their faith God you have always done according to your will you have told us that our sinful nature our response to you is always to rail against you and try to stop you and stand against your will but we cannot do affect it in the least little bit and we've seen that here in the present day father we saw your Chosen One Jesus crucified died on the cross but your will was accomplished when he rose from the grave and so we'll pray according to your will because we have faith in what we have seen they said this just a few minutes ago to the Sanhedrin they're going to have faith in what they've seen and heard what did they seen and heard the resurrected Jesus standing before them telling them this was the will of the father here's how you have a relationship with him so our prayer prayers become our prayer life is a of our faith and here I went back a minute ago if we're not praying too often our faith is simply yeah I believe in God and Jesus somehow does something in between there and me and yay

Jesus and I go about my day and somewhere in there I think H maybe I uh should ask God to do something good so he'll feel good about me and we we simply are reflecting our faith so let's start right there my encouragement to each of us me right the front of the line let's start living the faith that we have been given Jesus we celebrated last week Rose from the grave that's got to change how we live what we expect God's will is being compated clearly in the resurrection and I still see him active and know he is alive today same God same purpose and so I'm going to start praying and I'm going to pray with an expectation from The God Who is in control of all things your will be done not mine I want my faith to become an expression of my prayer and my prayer is an expression of my faith so as they say say here in this in verse

29 they've stated all that background to get to the point of instead of saying God protect us God make life easy make sure we have enough food on the table and that nobody's unkind to us and Lord we just want to be popular help us with that no that's not really what they said now Lord consider the threats I love it they're not denying the threats against them no no denial they recognition of their faith God is greater than the threats they've already said that to the guys making the threats consider their threats now look at their response this is a response that sees the will of God and acts in faith enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness they're going the opposite direction of what the threat's said to do why because the authority in their life is greater than those making the threat

and we're going to see more here this is important remember this day as we're talking about this when we get a couple of chapters further ahead because the threats go up and the actions on those threats begin to become real and we'll see does the prayer change actually no it becomes more bold they see and do they start to doubt the will of God absolutely not because their life belongs to to God they surrendered to the will of God and so they're asking God give us your power that we may accomplish your will we want the privilege of being expression of your will in this world you can pray the same thing I can pray the same thing how do I know that same God same purpose Same Spirit same power I know you're getting tired of that phrase but I want it to sink in so deep that we begin to it begins to motivate and maybe break loose what's been holding on to our faith God God wants to set us free that we can live faith is to be so defining of us that we can give it away to other people and it transforms their lives and it starts with our prayers so they say consider the threats God you heard them now enable us to be those who speak your word with great boldness we don't want to go backwards we want to go forwards because we know who you are and then they continue stretch out your hand catch how they State this this is important they say stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant

Jesus what did Peter and John do when they met the man sitting outside the

temple the answer to that is they stretched out their hand they touched a man that probably most people had ignored for years they stretched out their hand whose hand are they asking to be stretched out right here the hand of God let's put the two of those together what is their prayer that God's hand will be extended through them they actually literally see themselves as an extension of the hand of God this is not some cute little churchy phrase this is the reality of their belief they believe because they have seen what God has been doing through them and they're not satisfied they want God to continue to stretch out his hand through them they want to be the living expression of Jesus in their community in powerful by signs and wonders by full expressions of the presence of God they know who God is they know what God has done they know that they have the privilege to submitting to the will of God and they want to be that full expression of the will of God in the lives of people around around them how cool is that let me ask you a question why can't we be the hand of God what stops US I'll tell you this because maybe this helps the beginning it's not God that's stopping

us it's not God it's our lack of faith and again I want you to catch we t talked about this before faith is not sitting there going I hope I hope I hope you'll do this please God God do this come on God come on I'm straining here your physical strain does not produce more activity of God okay mental physical anything else faith is living what you know to be true and when you come up against opposition and threat turn to God and say your will be done not mine it's seeing the world under the authority of God not under the authority of man not within the reach of my abilities it is under the authority and power of Our Risen Savior that is the power of our prayer that is what we need to understand and that is a faith coming alive that is faith that not only transforms me but takes me transformed and allows me to be the hand of God do you see the subtle difference there we limit ourselves by limiting our faith because our faith be is so often grounded in who we are and our abilities and what we know rather than the God we know and what he's always done we get to live the will of God how cool is that so let's allow ourselves to be humbled before God and say God your will be done you're the same God who was alive then you did all of those things in the past we look back to the book of Acts and we look at this church that was facing opposition and we say in our culture today we may be facing opposition sometimes it's out of our own stupidity but we will face opposition and we say God you're greater than the opposition or the threat we have to give into you have to teach this you can't say that you have to be politically correct with this you got to surrender over here we say no we don't we've surrendered to God and we will live out our faith to be the hand of God in love in Mercy and in Grace and bring the power of healing to a world that is desperate and and Christians keeping by him and walking by him and walking by him because we don't have a faith in God we celebrate the resurrection but we will not live the resurrection it's time to live our faith and stop living and cowering in fear of the ragings of man God knows all about him he said long ago man will rage against me but my will will be done and he's looking for people of Faith who say God your will be done in me and suddenly the hand of God is touching people who never thought God even knew they existed it's what our world needs we've got to learn to pray as an expression of our faith and allow our prayers to transform our faith so we grow stronger we go out grow deeper in our knowledge but deeper in our dependence sinking to our knees in humility Desiring for God to show himself through us let me just read that verse one more time now Lord consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders to the name of your holy servant Jesus is Jesus here is he if he's here what does he want to do he wants us to be stretching out our hands so that he can stretch out his hand and his name can be known because there's no other name under Heaven by which we must be saved we need to pray I'm going to encourage you I know that and this is a good starting point maybe you're uncomfortable to pray with somebody else I'm going to say a very spiritual thing here get over it now here I understand I I'll be sensitive to you as well but however it's this Jesus is calling you to pray and we need to begin those who begin to see and and pray according to our faith allow our prayers to become an expression of of our faith so that our lives can be fully bringing Jesus into this world we limit the expression of God it's time to pray so I'm going to encourage you this if you aren't comfortable praying with somebody else nobody's keeping track but I want you to pray and I'm going to give walk back through here in a second on start praying just kind of remind you here's what we're praying for

and otherwise I would love for you to gather with somebody else because remember In this passage it said they all gathered together as one and prayed prayer is a community powerful event one that we should be experiencing much

more you know it would never bother me if we came in together on a Sunday and found ourselves breaking out in prayer and that's all we did

best thing we could ever do I encourage you now find somebody to pray with I'm going to direct us through it just a little bit like I said don't feel threatened but also on the same side there's power in praying

together and as you start to pray or you gather together here's what I want you to consider one I want you to begin by praying recognizing who God is okay make that the first expression of what you pray pray who God is he is the god who has always been in control he is Sovereign over all things he's never lost control and he hasn't forgotten us pray to who God is two pray according to your faith you know Jesus has been resurrected you know God has been at work you know God's will is being accomplished pray that God's will will be accomplished through you and then pray just as they prayed there boldly God allow us to become an expression of the hand of God give us boldness to speak the truth that we know help us to expect your activity that you will move in Us in miraculous ways not limited by our understanding but according to who you are move in us I invite you to pray

verse 31 of chapter 4 it says after they prayed the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and work spoke the word of God boldly the word shaken there is one if you go back and study it through the through the Old Testament is an expression of the presence of God God joins those who pray and seek Him and when we pray it says that that that whole building shook but then what was the result God immediately began to answer their prayer immediately began to answer their prayer and we will see moving forward starting next week the expressions of God answering those that prayer don't stop praying if you need help and resources or just encouragement you need somebody to pray with give me a call we need to pray because prayer is an expression of our faith and until we start living our faith we will not understand the power of Jesus in our lives I believe same God same purpose Same Spirit same power he wants to express himself and reach out his hand in your life and in my life to those who need to know his existence let's become a people of Prayer by humbling ourselves it's not perfect prayer there's not certain words you have to say it's humility before God God your will not mine if that's all you can pray you're miles ahead of

me Father you are so good to us may we understand and begin to be those who want to just be close to you know who you are as our Sovereign Lord ruler over all things creator of all things sustainer of all things the one who forgives and gives Mercy the one whose Grace has been extended the one who brings healing who brings health who brings Joy who gives peace who who conquers all

things may we live what we pray and what we know and God we pray too give us boldness to speak the truth of Jesus in a world that so desperately needs him give us a boldness that's unshakable only by your presence may we be shaken and father I pray and Jesus because of your Resurrection we pray that we will release your power through us that we can reach out your hand to a hurting world do miraculous things through us bring healing through us bring joy and peace into broken relationships through us let us and help us through your PR presence and your power be those who bring your healing to this world help us to be those who are willing to submit to your will so much that we're willing to be used in ways we never comprehended or determined but simply Want Jesus to be known and reach out to those who have been walked by for years and lift them up with healing let us be your expression in this world work through us we give ourselves to you and your will be done and all the God's people said amen