Time to Speak, Together - Acts 4

In Acts 4:29-31, the first church is praying for boldness to speak the gospel message, to heal, and to do the signs and wonders they are led to do.  This comes after Peter and John had been part of the healing of a 40 year old lame man.  Because of this and their preaching of his being healed by Jesus the leaders of the day threatened them to not speak of Jesus in this way again.  Peter and John responded asking the question, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you [the leaders] more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. (Acts 4:19-20)”

Every Christian in America should take a stand on this.  Is it right for Christians to listen to this society that tells us to not speak of Jesus or of His Word, or is it right to listen to God and follow Jesus and His Word?  Then every Christian must to decide that we (Christians) cannot help but speak of the things in our lives that we’ve seen and heard (experienced). 

It is much to the same question that Joshua asked the Hebrews (Joshua 25:15), “if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served …, or the gods of [society], in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  There are too many carnal Christians unwilling to stand and choose God and Godly morals, standards of conduct, and belief in Jesus as Savior.  They might in the privacy of their own thoughts or when their world falls apart, but in the view of society, they work to “fit” in awkwardly.

As American society tells every Christian to be quiet and refuses to acknowledge their rights to believe in Jesus as the Son of the One and Only Living God and in His precepts, Christians must decide that they cannot help but speak of the things they know that are real, which is repentance and salvation through Jesus.

Because of their persecution, the first church prayed: 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, and 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.

Notice that the church prayed together.  Next to the average Christian's timidness to proclaim the truth as Christ, the American churches refusal to pray together as one body of believers is our greatest fault.  Christians need to pray as one body just as this first church did and for the same thing: boldness to speak God’s Word.  Where are the bold preachers, community leaders, teachers, and politicians?  Can anyone imagine a politician who would speak unapologetically and openly about Jesus?  Isn’t it remarkable that we have to ask that question when almost all the founding Fathers did so and that this land was sought as a place to go so Christians could worship without persecution? 

When the first church prayed for boldness in unity something remarkable happened.  The ground shook, the Spirit of God descended upon them and their prayer was answered: they spoke the Word of God with boldness.  They continued, in spite of the threats and in direct opposition to their society, to speak of Jesus as the Son of God and the only path to salvation from sin. 

Now is the time for American Christians and the churches in America to decide to listen to God and speak upon the things they know and have experienced, and for the churches to pray together for the boldness for that speaking.