PT-2 Be Desirous of Greater Boldness (Acts 4:29-31)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/1/2017 9:31 PM

My Worship Time                                                   Focus:  PT-2 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.”

            In our Sunday school class this morning I mentioned that the words “loud noise” is used 19 times in the book of Revelation, and the word “noise” is used 2 times making a total of 21 times that the Lord would use a loud noise to get the attention of those He wanted to give attention too.  In the case of our verses today we see that God got the attentions of the believers who were probably in the upper room praying by sending an earthquake.  I guess that I have to assume it was an earthquake, but at any rate the place where they were was shaking as God got the attentions of these believers as they were praying to Him. 

            We also see that these believers were filled with the Holy Spirit, and this is the third time it is mentioned thus far in the book of Acts.  We saw in chapter two that the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and it manifested itself with being able to speak in other languages, and not the shaking of the building was the manifestation of the Holy Spirit.  Because of this filling of the Holy Spirit they began to speak the Word of God with boldness. 

            John MacArthur concludes this section and this chapter (11) with these words:  “The church had successfully faced its initial trial of opposition.  Instead of succumbing to the temptation to compromise the gospel, it became even bolder.  The persecution also served to draw the congregation closer together and to their Lord.  In what was to become a recurring theme in church history, opposition only made the church grow stronger.  As He had with Joseph (Gen. 50:20), God took the evil intentions of men and used them for His own purposes.”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “She was thrown out of a window and eaten by dogs” (2 Kings 9:30-36).

Today’s Bible question:  “To what place will the living righteous be caught up when Christ returns?”

Answer in our next SD.

10/1/2017 9:44 PM