Review:
I Want to Be Bold for Jesus.
- So I need the church to Encourage me. (Acts 4:23)
- So I need the bible to Equip me. (Acts 4:24-28)
- So I need prayer to Empower me. (Acts 4:29-31)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:04
Open up your Bibles with me please to the book of Acts in chapter 4.
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While you're turning there, if you've been around here for a while, you realize that we are a church - we say this from time to time - we're a church that's built on four pillars.
00:17-00:21
Our first pillar is proclaiming the authority of God's Word without apology.
00:22-00:28
God said some things in His Word, and we're not going to apologize for repeating them.
00:29-00:35
Our second pillar is lifting high the name of Jesus in worship as we had done earlier and as we do every week.
00:35-00:39
Coming together and lifting our voices up in praise and adoration.
00:39-00:43
Our third pillar is believing firmly in the power of prayer.
00:44-00:51
Our fourth pillar is sharing the good news of Jesus with boldness.
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And today we're going to be talking about those last two pillars.
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We're going to be talking about prayer, and we're going to be talking about boldness.
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What is boldness?
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Understand, when we talk about boldness, sometimes our minds go immediately to obnoxiousness.
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That's not boldness.
01:10-01:14
Boldness also is not being self-righteous when it comes to sharing our beliefs.
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Boldness is simply this - if you don't know the definition, you need to write it down - but boldness biblically is this - when God gives me opportunity, God will share His Word with others.
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That's boldness.
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It's not overly assertive.
01:29-01:35
It's not "you're going to hear this whether you want to or not, so sit down." That's not boldness.
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Boldness is when God gives me opportunity to share His Word.
01:40-01:43
I'm going to open my mouth and share His Word.
01:43-01:51
And we're getting back to the book of Acts after our series "Incomparable God" through the book of Isaiah.
01:51-01:54
But just a quick review We're all in the same page.
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Where are we in the book of Acts?
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In Acts 1, we saw that Jesus promised you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
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Jesus promised that when He left, His followers would receive power so that we might be His witnesses.
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In Acts 2, Pentecost.
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The Holy Spirit came bringing the power that Jesus promised and we saw 3,000 people saved as Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, got up to preach.
02:32-02:44
And in Acts 3, if you recall, Peter and John on their way to the temple healed a lame man that was well known by everyone.
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It gathered quite a crowd.
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So Peter preached the Gospel to the crowd.
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It did not go over well.
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Because in Acts 4, Peter and John were arrested by the temple guard and put on trial and had to stand before the Sanhedrin who couldn't deny that this man that everyone knew was lame was now walking around.
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They couldn't deny the healing, so they had no choice but to let them go because the crowds were so excited about what was happening.
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I recall way back when we shared that message about the healing and the fallout with the trial, we saw a real boldness from Peter and John.
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Just take note of this.
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In the book of Acts, and in the United States of America, being bold for Jesus comes at greater and greater prices.
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Here's what I mean.
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In Acts 4, which we read and studied, They were threatened.
03:48-03:51
They were basically told, "Ok, you guys can go, but shut your mouths.
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Stop preaching Jesus." They were threatened.
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When you get to Acts 5, you see that they were beaten for sharing the Gospel.
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When you get to Acts 7, you see that they were being killed for sharing the Gospel.
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This sort of escalation is coming to America.
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witnessing to Jesus once upon a time, "Well, it's discouraged." And then you're warned not to do it.
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Then you're threatened not to do it.
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And then you're sued for doing it.
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What's next?
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Is it really inconceivable that the days might be coming that we are going to be beaten and imprisoned?
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Some of us executed for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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We see the Bible. Those days are coming.
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We see the pattern in Acts.
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I think we're on that track in America.
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So what's our response?
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What's our response to that?
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Well, Jesus gives us power to witness, and the world says, "Stop witnessing!" True followers of Jesus Christ want to be bold, no matter the cost.
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I understand that this message today is not going to resonate people here.
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If you're sitting here, and you are a true follower of Jesus Christ, if you have been born again, if you understand all this that we've been talking about, if you understand we have the power of the Holy Spirit, because God wants me to be His witness, then you're sitting here saying what I have on your outline, you're saying, "I want to be bold for Jesus." I want to give you a chance to say that.
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Okay, so prepare yourself.
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I want to be bold for Jesus.
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Now you say it.
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That was great out of the gate.
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Because we are not ashamed.
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Let's say it again.
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Do you mean that?
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Do you really mean that?
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What about when things get hard?
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What about when people tell you to shut up with your stupid church talk?
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What are you going to say?
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I want to be bold for Jesus.
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Maybe you're kind of saying that today.
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You believe and you have been born again and you understand the need for it.
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I want you to look at this text with me today because when we look at the world, being bold looks like a tall order.
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But when we look at His Word, we see that we are well equipped.
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Obviously, because we have the power of the Holy Spirit.
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Our theme is for the whole year, Acts 1-8.
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But what we're going to see in this text today is we have some other things that are going to help us along the way to be bold for Jesus Christ.
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It's all right here in the text.
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I want to be bold for Jesus, number one.
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So I need the church to encourage me.
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I need the church to encourage me.
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Look at verse 23, Acts 4.
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because when they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and elders had said to them.
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Let's stop right there.
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So when Peter and John were released, what does your Bible say?
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They went to their associates.
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No, that's not what my Bible says.
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It says when they were released, they went to their colleagues.
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My Bible doesn't say that either.
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They went to their co-workers, their associates, their - what was it?
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What does your Bible say?
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They went to their what?
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They went to their friends.
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And you need to make note first of all that this is how you should view the church.
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This is how you should view the church.
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If you don't view this church as a place where you come and where your friends are here, this is where I belong.
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I say this with all the love I can muster.
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Maybe you should find a church where that is happening.
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Because this should be the place where you say, "These are my friends." Where else can we be?
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Where else can we go to be helped in our Christian walk by like-minded people?
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Where else is that going to happen?
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At your workplace? At the gym?
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Where else can you go to be with people to understand a besetting sin or a struggle that you're having, where else can you go to get that kind of understanding?
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Where else can you go where people are going to be sympathizing with whatever is causing you sorrow?
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Where else can you go to be encouraged when you're discouraged?
08:55-09:02
Notice the first thing that Peter and John did after this trial, after the threats, It looked like a scary ordeal.
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The Bible doesn't say they were scared, but I'll tell you, if you put yourself in the scenario, you have to note the first place they went after this encounter was to be with their friends.
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The church.
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There's boldness in groups.
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I don't have to sell you on that.
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We see it with kids, don't we?
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You get a kid by himself versus that same kid with a group of other kids will say and do things that he would never do when he's by himself.
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I could tell you several stories of that.
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Kids getting awfully bold when their friends are around.
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Now that's a negative example, but the principle is the same.
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There's safety, strength, and boldness when you're part of a group.
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Let me ask you, who's encouraging you?
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Who's encouraging you in your Christian walk right now?
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Whether you're going through persecution on any level, or whatever hardship you might be going through, who's encouraging you right now?
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That's why we encourage you at Harvest Bible Chapel, you have to be plugged in.
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Not just attending the church, but identifying with the church.
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That's why we're always encouraging you to join a small group if you haven't already.
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Email smallgroups@harvestpittsburghnorth.org you plugged in.
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But listen, you were never meant to do this on your own.
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The Bible says you were called to be a part of the body.
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You need the church to encourage you.
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I need the church to encourage me.
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We were never meant to do it on our own.
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Secondly, I want to be bold for Jesus, so I need the church to encourage me.
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Secondly, I need the Bible to equip me.
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I need the Bible to equip me You pick up in verse 24 to the end of the passage we're looking at today.
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This is all a prayer.
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And I want you to notice ahead of time, be looking for this.
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They prayed Scripture.
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They prayed God's Word back to Him.
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Look at verses 24 through 26.
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It says, "And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, 'Sovereign God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who threw through the mouth of our Father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit." Why did the Gentiles rage and the people's plot in vain?
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The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His anointed.
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That's a quote from Psalm 2.
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The first two verses.
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Why? Why are the Gentiles, the peoples, the kings and rulers - Why are they all going against the Lord and His Anointed?
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You see what the disciples were doing here, what they were praying, they were saying, God, this is exactly - what's happening to us today is exactly what Your Word says is going to happen.
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It is the whole world versus the Lord and His Anointed.
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In other words, it's the whole world versus God and Jesus Christ.
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"Yeah, that's what your Word says, and that's what we see." Verse 27, "For truly in this city..." They're commenting on this verse.
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"For truly in this city, there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed..." That's the one he's talking about in verse 2.
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Psalm 2.
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"...whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel." You know, God, way back in the 2nd Psalm, it's the world versus You and Your Christ.
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We certainly saw that.
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Verse 28, "To do whatever Your hand and Your plan had predestined to take place." You see, God didn't just know about these events.
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God was in control of these events.
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Did you notice they opened the prayer about creation, and then they mentioned fulfilled prophecy, and then they stated God's sovereignty.
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Did you see that? In other words, here's what they were praying. "God, you're in control.
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God, you're in control. God, you're in control. God, you're in control." Do you see that?
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"God, you're in control You called it and you controlled it.
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Even if it doesn't look like it.
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Even if it doesn't feel like it.
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You have to catch this today.
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If you don't catch anything else I say today, you have to listen to this.
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Church, you have to learn to let God's Word equip you to evaluate life.
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In other words, you need to learn to look at life - your life, your family's lives, world events - these things through the lens of God's Word.
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Because some people are genuinely shocked at hardship in life.
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And please hear me, I don't want this to come across as being calloused.
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I want you to hear what I'm saying.
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Hardship is normal for now.
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Some people seem so genuinely shocked.
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The Bible actually tells us in 1 Peter 4:12, Peter says, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you." So many people seem like they're caught so off guard when hardship comes.
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Like, "I can't believe this!
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I thought life was going to be easy!" I just told you that.
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But I thought my life was going to be perfect.
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It was never advertised to be that way.
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Peter says don't be surprised like something strange is happening to you.
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Like bad stuff happens to other people.
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Bad stuff doesn't happen to me.
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Bad stuff's going to happen to you.
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Bad stuff happens to me.
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Please hear me, I'm telling you this because I love you.
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Too many people just get completely - all the wind knocked out of their spiritual sails so to speak, because hardship seems like such a strange thing.
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I've talked to people who have said things like this.
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Things like this.
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"I'm mad at God because He took my mother from me." "God took my mother from me, so I'm mad at God." "I was yelling at God." God allowed my husband to leave me.
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You know, God could have stopped that, but God allowed it.
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I'm mad at God for what He allowed to happen in my life.
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God allowed my kid to be sick.
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My kid could have been born healthy, and He allowed my kid to be sick.
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I'm mad at God for that.
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When we say those things, when we are mad at God for hardships, we are not looking at life from a biblical perspective.
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We're just not.
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The Bible says when Adam brought sin into the world, the whole world came under a curse.
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We're not going to turn there. You can read this.
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But Genesis 3 says the results of sin being in the world - struggling relationships, struggling to survive in a hard world, and death.
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That's what the Bible promises because of sin in this world now.
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Christ redeemed us and is preparing a new place for us - a place of perfection.
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And He said if He goes to prepare a place for us, He will come again to take us to be with Him.
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Someday we will join Christ in this place of perfection.
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But in the meantime, what should we expect?
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What should we expect in the meantime?
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We should expect life to hurt.
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We should expect life to hurt a lot.
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I've had my share.
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Many of you know my story.
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Our story of some of the things that we've been through.
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I'm not saying my story's any better or any worse than yours.
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I'm not saying that at all.
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Here's what I am saying - we all have our share.
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We all have our share.
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But when you are equipped by God's Word The disciples were, "You're expecting hardships to be part of living in this world." You know, I found this verse in the Bible.
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John 16:33, Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble." I found that verse. Did you find that verse?
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I found that verse.
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It says, "In this world you will have trouble." So I kept looking.
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I was trying to find a verse that said something like, "In this world, life will be perfect." "In this world, you will have that you want. In this world everything will be optimal all the time. I could not find that verse. The Bible speaks of heaven with such terminology. This world was never advertised to be like that. And in our passage, the particular context we're looking at today, you can't be surprised that following Christ is going to become harder, less popular, and more costly. You thought you'd be popular?
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You thought following Jesus would make you popular?
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Well, the Bible says the world's going to hate you purely by association.
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Jesus said, Mark 13, 13, He said, "And you will be hated by all for my name's sake." Jesus never sugarcoated it.
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He says, "You follow me, people are going to hate you." Why?
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"Just because you're following me, that's why." So we're not surprised at this.
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hasn't blindsided us or surprised us. The disciples didn't run home and hide under the bed after this trial. I thought this was gonna be easy. Did you hear the mean things the Sanhedrin said about us?
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They didn't do that. They ran to their friends and they prayed to God together and they said basically their prayer they said yeah the Bible's true Everyone hates God and Jesus, just like you said.
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They were equipped to handle this persecution because they knew and they trusted God's Word.
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Notice they said in verse 25, "Through the mouth of our father David, your servants said by the Holy Spirit." They were acknowledging David said this stuff, but it wasn't really David saying this stuff.
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It was the Holy Spirit, God. It was you speaking these things through David.
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They were equipped because they knew and trusted God's Word.
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And I'm telling you today that you can handle anything when you know the Word of God.
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Yes, it's going to hurt.
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I'm not minimizing that.
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Life is going to hurt.
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Yes, you're going to experience disappointment.
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But like the disciples, you're going to be able to take a step back I say, you know, as hard as it is, God said this is the way that it's going to be for now.
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For my few years of shuffling my feet on this earth, God said it was going to be like this.
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But it's not going to be like this forever.
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So if you want to be bold for Jesus, first of all, you need the church.
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I need the church to encourage me.
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I need the Bible to equip me.
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Finally for today, I need prayer to empower me.
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I need prayer to empower me.
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Let's pick up in our text.
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Verse 29, they're still praying.
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"And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to Your servants to continue to speak Your Word with all boldness." Stop there. Look at the words.
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Every word's important.
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I'm praying that this church leads the charge to bring that concept back.
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We're not entitled people.
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We're not presumptuous people.
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We're not demanding people.
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The disciple says, "We're just your servants, God.
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You are an awesome, loving, and merciful Master, and we are your servants." And we're not entitled people.
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"No, I'm too good for persecution.
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This stuff shouldn't happen to me. I'm entitled." They're like, "Yeah, well, we're just servants." "We're just servants." "Servants to do what?" "To continue to speak Your Word." Do you see that?
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"Continue to speak Your Word." The Gospel.
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They're saying, "We don't want to lose focus." You have to know something, I pray for this church all the time.
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I pray this all the time for the church, is that we would stay on mission.
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Because it's so easy when it gets hard, when people aren't responding to the gospel and sharing the word of God and trying to be a genuine, authentic church.
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It's hard when that's not the popular thing.
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And it's easy to start thinking about shortcuts.
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Well, what if we tried to be more culturally relevant?
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Maybe if we just kind of watered it down or sugarcoated it just a little, not denying the message, but what if we just turned it back just a little bit and made it just a little more comfortable for people.
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And I never want to do that.
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I pray constantly, God, keep us on mission.
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I don't want to get distracted spending three hours in an elder meeting talking about what flavor of muffins are we going to sell.
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I don't care.
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I want to stay on focus the mission that Jesus Christ gave us.
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Speak Your Word, the Gospel.
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Speak it how?
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Again, verse 29.
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"Grant Your servants to continue to speak Your Word with all..." What?
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"...with all boldness." "With all boldness." Look at what they prayed for.
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You should underline and highlight the word "boldness" in your Bible because I want you to see what they prayed for.
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contextualize a little bit. Let's pretend for a second my good friend, elder of the church, bass player, small group leader Jay Naur, let's pretend that he got arrested because he was sharing the gospel. And it became this big thing and it was on the news and he's being publicly berated by all the news stations and there's just you know all these Facebook posts are going out sharing the link about this you know fool talking about Jesus and why didn't and keep his mouth shut, and why doesn't he just mind his own business, and put on trial for it.
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Publicly humiliated.
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Comes through the trial, and he shows up back to church.
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It's his first day back to church since this huge media mess went down, and all the stuff that put his family through.
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Okay, so Jay's here.
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And I say, hey, after service today, we're going to bring Jay up front, we're going to pray for him.
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What do you think we'd pray for?
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be honest okay don't give me church answer let's just be honest what do you think we'd pray for we'd be tempted to pray for revenge say God you saw how those people treated Jay and I pray that you strike them down you know maybe give them a case of the leprosy some of the more mature of us I didn't say that I didn't say that was me but some of the more mature of us might say we need to pray for justice like this is America and people shouldn't get treated like that in America and we need to pray for justice you know which amendment is it that we're gonna pray for that's the amendment we're gonna pray for First Amendment right First Amendment that's we're gonna pray for justice some of the more mature might want to say you know we need to pray for we need to pray for for the persecution to stop.
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Let's pray that these people stop persecuting Christians.
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We need to pray that they are going to develop a tolerance for the gospel.
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You see in the text, the disciples prayed for none of those things.
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They didn't pray for revenge.
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They didn't even pray for justice.
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But you have to see, they didn't even pray for the persecution to stop.
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What did they pray for?
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Shout it out.
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Some of you got it.
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The rest of you - what did they pray for?
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Boldness. Do you see that?
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It blows my mind.
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That's the thing that they prayed for.
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Their biggest fear wasn't the persecution.
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Their biggest fear was being afraid to preach the Gospel while they were being persecuted.
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Do you see that?
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Like this is what we need to pray for because this stuff is going to keep happening.
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And it's going to be less popular.
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and we're going to be more tempted to not want to share the Gospel.
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So do you know what we need to pray for right now?
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We need to pray that we're going to be bold when these opportunities come.
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That we don't shrink back from sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.
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That's what we need to pray for.
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Persecution's not going to stop, so the boldness has to come, and it only comes from the Holy Spirit.
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That's what we've been talking about all year.
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You will receive power.
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will be my witnesses." As we close, see that they also asked the same thing that I pray for often for our church - signs of God at work.
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Look at v. 30.
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"While you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus..." They're saying, "God, please, God, and see you at work.
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Talk about an immediate answer to prayer.
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Look at verse 31.
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"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." That is a direct answer to prayer.
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Verse 29, "they're praying that we may continue to speak the Word with boldness." And then you get down to verse 31.
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It's all the same words.
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to speak the Word of God.
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They asked for a sign of God at work.
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I prayed that.
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God, I need to know.
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I need to know that the message is going out faithfully.
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God, I need to know that the Gospel is changing people.
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God, I need to know that You are being glorified in what we're trying to do in this church by Your power, by Your grace, according to Your will.
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God, can You show us?
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You're at work.
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And as encouraged as they were by their friends, as equipped as they were by the Word of God, as empowered as they were by prayer, I imagine for the disciples on this day, the icing on the cake was this personal verification by God as the place in which they were gathered together was shaken.
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Awesome!
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"God, we want to see your hand at work." God just grabs the place where they were and gives it a shake.
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He's like, "Come here.
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"I see what's happening.
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"I'm behind what's happening." So I thought, what better way to close this message than by putting the Word of God into practice right now.
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I want you to stand with me as the worship team comes forward, and we're going to pray.
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that we're going to pray as the disciples prayed.
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Father, as we close our time here, we want to put Your Word into practice.
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Right now, God, we are just asking, first of all, that You would give us opportunity to share the Word.
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Give us eyes to see the people that You are putting into our lives with whom You want us to share the good news of Jesus Christ; that He died for our sins, that He rose from the dead to give us eternal life.
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Give us opportunity, Father.
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And when that opportunity comes, Father, I pray for boldness.
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Father, we never want to come across as obnoxious or know-it-alls or self-righteous.
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But we want to come across clearly.
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We want to come across with simplicity.
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I want to come across with urgency.
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Father, make us bold.
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We can't muster up boldness in ourselves, Father.
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We can't decide today, I want to be bold.
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It has to come from You.
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And that's why we're asking You now, Father, to make us bold witnesses.
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Show us, Father.
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Give us the words to say when these opportunities arise.
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And might we lovingly and graciously share the words.
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Father, like the disciples, I just want to unashamedly pray for confirmation.
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I thank You for what we have seen in this little church.
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People getting saved.
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People getting baptized.
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Just last week, we celebrated with two more people who made the public profession of faith in baptism, announcing that they're identifying with the death and resurrection of Jesus.
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Father, I thank You for that confirmation.
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And I pray that would continue to happen.
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Father, I pray that this church would grow, not because we're trying to be the biggest church in town or it's some kind of a mark of macho-ness.
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We want to grow as we see people come to You.
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As we see people not only become disciples, but become disciple-makers themselves.
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to also increase our capacity and influence in Jesus Christ.
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Serve Him, Father, to make His name known.
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Father, I pray that You would confirm this by not just people being saved and baptized, but Father, people growing into roles of leadership where they are serving this church and Your kingdom by leading.
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Father, I know that You can reach down right now and grab Marshall Middle School and give it a shake.
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I know You can.
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God, You've given us much greater signs.
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Much greater verification of Your hand at work.
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And it's not when you shake a building.
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It's when you turn a dead person into an alive person.
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It's when somebody gets saved.
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Father, that's what I pray for this church.
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It's not going to happen by accident.
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It's going to happen as You are proclaiming Your Gospel through Your servants here, boldly.
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Grant us that boldness, Father.
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We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Acts 4:23-31
Why do you think Peter and John went straight to their friends (Acts 4:23)? What does this say about the purpose and importance of Christian fellowship?
Why did their prayer mention creation (Acts 4:24)? Why did they mention that in praying in the aftermath of persecution?
*How does the verse they quoted (Psalm 2:1-2) apply to Jesus and their current situation? What does this tell you about why knowing God’s Word is important?
*How does understanding God’s sovereignty help us in persecution (Acts 4:28)?
What signs does God give us today to confirm His message (Acts 4:30-31)?
Breakout Questions:
Pray specifically for boldness.