Please notice their spiritual instinct. They get threatened. What do they do? They lift their voice to God. You know what some people do? They lift their voice to the government and pick it and riot.
No, their first instinct wasn't to go pick it and riot and have a formal complaint written down, names on a list. They took it to God in prayer. Today on Connect with Skip Hytak, Pastor Skip takes a look at how the early Christians responded and prayed in the face of persecution. Now here's more about this month's resource to help you remember the sacrifice of Christian martyrs who came before you. Today's modern martyrs actions mirror the courage of a long line of brave Christians. And as believers, it's important that we know the heroic sacrifice of those who gave it all for the Christian faith so that we too can boldly stand for Christ.
But most of these modern stories are unknown. We want to help encourage and strengthen you with the stories of those who've paid the ultimate price to share their faith so you can hold fast to the truth by sending you a copy of the new book of Christian martyrs. In this update to Fox's Book of Martyrs, Johnny Moore and Jerry Patengale highlight key martyrs of past centuries and feature stories of contemporary martyrs around the world. You'll be encouraged and inspired as you discover that men and women are still standing firm for the truth. The New Book of Christian Martyrs is our thanks for your gift of $50 or more to keep messages like this one today on the air for you and others, equipping you to know God's word and follow His will.
Call 800-922-1888 or give securely online at connectwithskip.com slash offer. Now let's turn to Acts 4 as Skip begins today's lesson. The temple was almost done and they were missing the capstone, the cornerstone. And they say, you know, we have every stone, but go tell the quarry that they need to send the cornerstone, the capstone. And the quarry said, what do you mean send the capstone? We've sent it already.
We sent it months ago. Then somebody remembered, I think I know what happened. That was the stone we marginalized because we said it doesn't fit anywhere. And we pushed it out and rejected it.
They found that stone, brought it back up and put it in place. This messianic Psalm, and he is quoting a messianic Psalm. He's going to quote Psalm 2 later on in chapter 4. Now he's quoting Psalm 18. There are 16 of the 150 Psalms in the Old Testament that were regarded as messianic Psalms.
And this is one of them. Psalm 118. Nor is there salvation in any other, verse 12, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Now, verse 13. Here it goes. This is one of my favorite verses.
Okay. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. Notice the verbs in that verse. They saw, they perceived, they realized. What's the first one? They saw.
What did they see? The boldness of Peter and John. Now, you might say, well, you know, Peter was always bold by nature. No, he wasn't. Peter was always impetuous by nature.
Peter wanted to cut off ears of high-pre servants. He always made impetuous moves, impetuous moves, but he had a hard time telling a servant girl, admitting to her that he was a follower of Jesus. That's not boldness.
That's timidity. He was impetuous, but he was not bold. Now he's bold. Now there's a holy boldness.
As he stands and gives his testimony and preaches using the scripture, so they saw the boldness of Peter and John. Second, and they perceived, notice this, what did they perceive? That they were uneducated and untrained men. Don't get the wrong idea that they're being accused of being idiots or illiterate. When they say they're uneducated or untrained, it simply means they didn't have a rabbinical background. They didn't have a higher education. They were not trained in the seminaries of the rabbis of the day.
They didn't have the schooling. They looked at these fishermen, these simple guys, and they go, I don't get it. They're so good at quoting the scripture and interpreting the meaning of this messianic text. They marveled. And then third, and they realized that they had been with Jesus.
Ah, that's the secret. You can tell when a person has been hanging around Jesus. And let me just put it this way. There are people who know the word of God. Then there are those who know the God of the word. You can just tell.
There's something different, man. These people have a relationship with this God. Now, you can have both. You can know the word of God and know the God of the word. You don't have to have one or the other, but sometimes people just know the word but don't really know the Lord that well. They realize they have been with Jesus. They gave something off that identified them with Him.
I'm going to jog your memory. In 1 John, I think it's chapter 1. I know it's chapter 1.
John writes to three different groups. He goes, I write unto you, children, because your sins have been forgiven. I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one.
I write unto you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. Levels of spiritual maturity. There's the young children, new men, the young men, young children, new members in the household of faith. All they know is their sins are forgiven. Then there are those who are maturing and growing and overcoming the evil of the wicked one, but then there are those spiritual fathers and spiritual mothers who know the Lord. They're with Jesus.
I love that. I love that verse. They realize they had been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, talk about evidence, talk about proof, he's not like on the ground anymore begging. He's standing with them. Remember, he's been leaping and praising.
So just to get this guy standing is kind of miraculous. They could say nothing against it. But when they commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves saying, what shall we do to these men?
For indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so that it spreads no further among the people, here's what we'll do. We'll severely threaten them. That's all they could do. Well, I guess they could have killed them.
They'll do that later. But they severely threaten them that from now on, they speak to no man in this name, the name of Jesus. There's something powerful about the name of Jesus Christ that Satan fears that the world hates. It brings up all sorts of emotion.
Now, you could do a little experiment if you're so inclined. The next time you're in a room with a group of people at work, relatives, unbelievers, you're talking about, just talk about stuff, just drop in a conversation the name of Jesus Christ, not as they drop the name of Jesus Christ as an expletive. But in a friendly manner, drop the name Jesus and just watch the reaction. You'll see at the very minimum, heads turn, like, who's getting religious around here? They get uncomfortable with that. If you talk about my faith or my church or my religion, they're okay.
If you talk about Jesus Christ, the person with whom I love and have a relationship with, they get really weird, really quick, really quick, sort of fun to do. There's power in the name of Jesus. So verse 18 tells us a law has now been passed by the religious establishment, making personal evangelism illegal. But Peter and John answered and said to them, now this is not what they expect. The authorities expect them to answer and say, okay, whatever you say, we'll roll over.
We'll obey our authorities. But Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. But we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. Ooh, Sadducees did not expect to hear that. It's not the answer they were banking on.
They were banking on, yes, sir. But Peter and John now appeal to a higher court, the Supreme Court, not the Supreme Court of the United States, a higher court, not the Supreme Court of Judaism, the Sanhedrin, a higher court, God, the courts of heaven, the throne room of heaven. Whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you decide, you judge.
But we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. Now, what was the issue to the apostles? The issue was what is right. What is right.
That's the issue with them. We're going to do what is right, not what is safe, not what is popular, not what is easy, what is right. And what is right, in this case, is to not do what you say we should do. What is right is what God says we should do. Now, if there was a way for Peter and John to obey both their authorities on earth and God, the authority in heaven, they would have done that. Because they said that.
They wrote that. Peter said to submit to every authority, what is right, to every authority, whether it's as to the king supreme or to governors who are dispatched from the king, 2 Peter chapter 2, 1 Peter chapter 2. Paul, Romans 13, said, submit yourself to every authority, pay your taxes, etc. If there's a way to obey human government, human institutions, and God, we do both. But if one collides with the other, you have to appeal to the Supreme Court, the court of heaven. We must obey God rather than men. We're not going to listen to you as much as listen to God. There's a great story about one of the church fathers named Athanasius.
Now, some of you who are well-read already know this story. Athanasius contra mundum against the world at the Council of Nicaea. Many people were swayed over the Arian heresy, demoting Jesus to being God, to simply being a created being who created everything else.
He wasn't really God, the second person of the Trinity. And Athanasius stood against that. And at one point, somebody said to him, Athanasius, the whole world is against you. And Athanasius said, well, if the whole world is against me, then Athanasius will be against the whole world. And he stood contra mundum against the world, as does Peter and John here. We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. Now, I just need to say, no, I don't.
I need to keep going. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. For the man was over 40 years old, on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.
And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders said to them. Did you notice in verse 22, it says the man was over 40 years old. He'd been paralyzed from birth.
He'd been at the gate beautiful of the temple. Again, I just bring up something I brought up in a previous study. What that means is, Jesus walked by him many times and never healed him. So don't think Jesus healed everybody. He saw everybody who had a sickness. Oh, there's one I missed. I better get him.
Like Pokemon, you know, you got to just capture them all. No, he walked by him and didn't heal him. And this shows you the wisdom of God's timing. This was the perfect time for maximum glory to God, because you have living proof in Jerusalem.
All the people, all the leaders see it and have to deal with it. So Jesus walked by him, probably thinking, your day's coming, buddy. Hang on. So verse 24, when they heard that, they heard the threats, they raised their voice to God. Now you're going to eavesdrop on their prayer. They raised their voice to God in one accord and said, now their prayer is begun and recorded. Would you please notice their spiritual instinct? They get threatened. What do they do? They lift their voice to God. You know what some people do? They lift their voice to the government and pick it and riot.
No, their first instinct wasn't to go pick it and riot and have a formal complaint written down, names on a list. They took it to God in prayer. And I want you to notice a few things about their prayer. First of all, they pray with perspective.
Notice what they say. Lord, you are God who made the heaven, the earth and the sea and all that is in them, who by the mouth of your servant, David, have said, why did the nations rage and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand against the rulers and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ for truly against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. Now, Lord, look on their threats and grant to your servants that with all boldness, they may speak your word by stretching out your hand to heal, that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant, Jesus.
And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the word of God with boldness. Now, I'm looking at the time that I have left and I realize I can't cover the whole chapter. I could read it and end it, but I wouldn't deal with it well. So I'm just going to not finish the whole chapter. I'm just going to end where I think it's appropriate to end.
Is that fair? Not that you would have a say in it, but I'm glad that you're agreeing and consenting to that anyway. It just makes me feel better. Okay.
So I skipped over something. I just want to draw your attention to it because this prayer is so good and so meaty and has such a good template and example for our prayer life, for talking to God, and it's encouraging for that, that I want to kind of deal with it a little more. So go back in verse 20 and notice what I believe is the best definition of a witness. So what does it mean to witness for the Lord? It simply means this, speaking the things which you have seen and heard. You tell other people what you have seen, what you have heard. Tell your testimony, what you have seen the Lord do in your life, what you have heard is truth from His word. A witness is somebody who speaks to others what they see and what they hear. That's the definition of a witness. So they're speaking and they're not going to stop speaking, but they're going to speak what they have seen and what they have heard.
Here's a principle. If you find it hard to speak for the Lord, perhaps it's because you haven't seen or heard much of the Lord lately. When you see and hear what God is doing and working, you're going to speak it. If you have nothing to say, it's because you haven't seen or heard anything. But if you have seen and you have heard, you will speak.
And that's what His point is. Look, I'm compelled to just tell you what I've actually seen and what I actually have heard, and that's a witness. So they got together, they gathered together, and I love that as their spiritual instinct. First thing they did is gather together in fellowship, not separate, not see you later. They got together. They went through it together, and they prayed.
And I'm going to close with this. I'm going to just give you one element of powerful prayer. It was a prayer that had perspective. Notice how they begin their prayer. They don't say, God help. God, this is messed up.
I need this and I need that. They go, Lord, you are God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them. Why did they say that? Why did they pray this way first? Why did they do that before just telling the Lord what they need, what they want?
Here's why. They needed to gain the right perspective before they asked the Lord anything. And the right perspective is to realize who you're talking to. We're not talking to Herod. We're not talking to Annas. We're not talking to Caiaphas.
We're not talking to the presidential cabinet of the White House or to the Roman government. We're talking to God. We're talking to God who made everything and everyone everywhere. So what that does is elevate your faith. When you realize that you're dealing with, talking to, asking from, the God of the universe, nothing's too hard for Him. By the way, it may have been they were actually copying the prayer of Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 32, Jeremiah was in a pickle, not literally a pickle, but you know what I mean by the nuance. And he said, Lord, or he said, Ah, Lord God, who made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm, there is nothing too hard for you. So when you pray with perspective and you realize to whom you're talking, it brings you into that place of faith, confidence, believing.
Something else about that. Notice the word Lord. It says, Lord, you are God. Now, if you're a Greek student or you know a little bit of Greek from because you've attended here, you would probably think that the English word Lord is from the Greek word kurios. But that is not the word that is used for Lord here.
A very rare New Testament word was chosen in this prayer. It is the word despota. Despotas, we get the word despot from. Despot is an autocratic, absolute ruler, a dictator. We talk about a despot, usually talk about a guy who has this iron rule over a nation and nobody can vote. He's just in charge. They're calling God that. You are despota, the Lord, the autocrat, the absolute ruler of the universe. So they're framing, they're getting the perspective that they're dealing with this Lord.
Lord, you are God who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them. And we'll get to it the rest next week. But let me close with this thought. How often, when we pray, and I'll put myself in this camp, when we pray, we pray with such desperation. Almost like, I don't know if this is going to work. I don't know if this is going to work. I might get the end of my rope. This is so tough. There's really nothing left for me to do except pray. And why is it we approach God and we carry our human limitations over to the divine sphere? Almost as if, God, I don't know if you're up to this.
This is really hard. Maybe on your best day, you might be able to pull part of this off. No, it's a whole lot better to say, Lord, autocrat of the universe, you are God. You made it all. So therefore, all I need is a physical healing. So because you're the autocrat of the universe, you made everything, therefore, all I need is a changed relationship.
All I need is this economic problem my life dealt with. All I need, can you see when you have that elevation of that frame of faith? It's like Jeremiah, you did it all. Nothing's too hard for you. I mean, if you can go, and the universe existed, well, then it's all shortchanged. It's all small stuff.
This is icing on the cake. No problem. Learn to pray with that elevated posture of faith. A powerful reminder to turn to God when you face persecution. That's Skip Heitzig with a message from the series Expound Acts. Find the full message as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com. We're glad you've joined us today. Connect with Skip Heitzig exists to bring more people into God's family and connect listeners like you to his unchanging truth. That's why we make teachings like this one today available to you and others on air and online.
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That's connectwithskip.com slash donate. Thank you. Come back next time as Skip continues his teaching on the power of prayer. We're not speaking to somebody who is weak. We're not talking into the air. We're not talking to somebody with even earthly authority. We're talking to the sovereign God of whom nothing, nothing is too hard. Nothing is too hard. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times.
