PT-1 "Be Desirous of Greater Boldness" (Acts 4:29-31)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/30/2017 10:31 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  Be Desirous of Greater Boldness

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 4:29-31

            Message of the verses:  “29 "And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, 30 while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus." 31 And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

            The first thing that I want to do is to quote a portion of my prayer for my pastors that I use each Saturday in praying for them.  It is not the entire prayer list that I use to pray for my pastors but a short portion of it that I believe fits nicely with this section of verses. 

“4 Effectiveness in Proclamation:  Scriptural Example is from Ephesians 6:19:  “and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.”  I want to pray for our Pastors effectiveness in proclamation. 

 

The following is a quote from John MacArthur, “Now remember, Paul was a prisoner when he wrote that. He didn't say, "Pray...pray for my ankles, they've been rubbed raw. They're bleeding from the shackles." He didn't say, "Pray for my healing." He didn't say, "Pray for my deliverance." He didn't say, "I'm being abused. Pray for my suffering to end." He didn't want prayer for those things, he said, "Pray for my boldness in speaking the Word of God." Chains were incidental, absolutely incidental.”  Now this does not mean not to pray for our Pastors when they are sick.  Another Scriptural example is Colossians 4:2-4“2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; 4 that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.”  2 Thessalonians 3:1 “Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you.”  MacArthur writes what this means:  “Pray that I’ll have an opportunity to speak.  Secondly, when that opportunity presents itself pray that I will speak as I ought to speak.  And how I ought to speak is boldly and clearly.  And then the third component is when I have spoken in that opportunity boldly and clearly, pray that the Word may spread from there and be glorified.  What is that?  The right response, that men will honor it, they will glorify it by obeying it.  The word ‘spread rapidly’ literally in the Greek is the word to run.  It’s a track word.  Pray that it will sprint and be honored by everybody who hears it.”

            I think that as we look at this quote we can see that it goes along with what Peter and John’s desires were, and that is to preach the gospel, preach it so that souls will be saved.  They were more concerned about preaching the gospel that to worry about what the Sanhedrin would do to them as we will see when we look at the end of chapter five.

            As I looked at these verses closely I noticed something that I did not notice when I read them before and that is the phrase “take note of their threats.”  Peter and John were asking the Lord to take note of the threats that the Sanhedrin were putting on them, which actually meant they were putting these threats against the Lord Jesus Christ, as all believers make up the body of Christ here on earth.  Peter and John were doing the right thing in obeying the Lord as they were preaching the gospel and like today in so many places around the world people are trying to stop the preaching of God’s Word, but it won’t happen.

            When I first became a believer and was being mentored by a man who owned a Christian book store he would from time to time rent a large high school building and bring concerts into it and I would attend them.  Bill Gathier singers would come and I remember one of the songs that they would sing and it actually had a speaking part in it.  The name of the song is “The Church Triumph,” and the lyrics of the song, including the speaking part help us see that the church will not go away until the Lord descends from heaven to take it up in the Rapture, but until then it will not be stopped as Jesus stated “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not overpower it.  We will conclude this SD with the lyrics of this song and then finish out the commentary on these verses in our next SD.

 Let the Church be the Church
Let the people rejoice
For we've settled the question
We've made our choice
Let the anthems ring out, songs of victory swell
For the church triumphant, is alive and well
You know, this ship's been through battles before
The storms and the tempests and all the rocks on the shore
Though the hull may be battered
Inside it's safe and dry
It's gonna carry its cargo to the port in the sky
God has always had a people.
Many a foolish conqueror has made the mistake of thinking that because he had forced the church of Jesus Christ out of site, he had stilled its voice and snuffed out its life, but God has always had a people.
The powerful current of a rushing river is not diminished because it's forced to flow underground.
Now the purest water is the stream that burst crystal clear into the sunlight after it has forced its way through solid rock.
There have been those who like Simon The Magician sought to barter on the open market that power which cannot be bought or sold, but God has always had a people.
Men who could not be bought and women who were beyond purchase.
God has always had a people.
There have been times of affluence and prosperity when the church's message has been nearly deluded into oblivion by those who sought to make it socially attractive, neatly organized, financially profitable, but God has always had a people.
Yes it's been gold platted, draped in purple and encrusted with jewels.
It has been misrepresented, ridiculed, lauded and scorned but God has always had a people.
And these followers of Jesus Christ have been, according to the whim of the times, elevated sacred leaders and modern heretics.
Yet through it all, their march is on that powerful army of the meek.
God's chosen people who cannot be bought, blabbered, murdered or stilled.
On through the ages they march, the church!
God's church triumphant!
Listen child of God, its alive.
Discouraged pastor, it's his church and it's still alive.
Lonely missionary, sow that seed with confidence.
The church is still alive.
Old saint, you're not alone or forgotten.
The church is still alive.
Its alive my broken-hearted friend, it's still alive.
Busy mothers, just keep trusting in Jesus, the church is alive.
You're not alone out there [?], just keep looking to Jesus.
The church is alive.
And faithful fathers, there's rest in the Lord.
God's church is still alive.
So family of God lift your hands, lift your hands and praise the Lord.
The church, God's church triumphant is alive, it's alive my friends.
Alive and well

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “All wise and knowing.”

Today’s Bible question:  “How did Jezebel die?”

Answer in our next SD.

9/30/2017 11:01 AM