Are You Praying for Comfort or Courage? | Acts 4:20-31 | Kevin Queen

Hey, CrossPoint, welcome to church. Won't you stand to your feet, greet your neighbor beside you, say, good morning. Good morning. If you're joining us for the first time, welcome. If you're joining us not for the first time, we're so glad you're here. And if you're joining us online or at God Behind Bars, we love you, Jesus loves you, and welcome to church. Guys, the church is not a building. It's not walls, it's not a sanctuary. The church is me and you and the people around you, amen. So come on, let's remind ourselves of this church, that it belongs to Jesus, and let's worship Him today. Come on. Oh, I'm ready to worship the Lord. We're here to meet with you, Lord. We're here to meet with you, Lord. Amen. Sing praise the one. Thank you, Lord. The one who calls us by His name. Let's go. Amen. ♪ On Christ alone ♪ ♪ He is our rock, our cornerstone ♪ ♪ Here and now, here and now we pray His will be done ♪ ♪ Here and now Your will be done ♪ ♪ Here and now His kingdom reign in us ♪ ♪ Lift up your hands, you blood-bought saints ♪

♪ Swing wide the doors and bless His name ♪ ♪ We are His house, His people ♪ ♪ This church belongs to Jesus ♪ ♪ We belong, we belong ♪ ♪ This church belongs to Jesus ♪ ♪ All glory, all honour, all power, all authority ♪ ♪ All wisdom, all dominion forever to our Lord and King ♪ Come on, church. ♪ All glory, all honour, all honour, all power, all authority ♪ ♪ All wisdom, all dominion forever to our Lord and King ♪ ♪ To our Lord and King, your Spirit, your presence ♪ ♪ Here with us, you are all we need, our Saviour, our Shepherd ♪ ♪ King Jesus, you are everything ♪ Let's go. ♪ Lift up your hands, you blood-bought saints ♪ ♪ Swing wide the doors and bless His name ♪ ♪ We are His house, His people, this church belongs to Jesus ♪ ♪ Lift up your hands, you blood-bought saints ♪ ♪ Swing wide the doors and bless His name ♪ ♪ We are His house, His people, this church belongs to Jesus ♪ ♪ This church belongs to Jesus, we belong to Jesus, we belong ♪ ♪ This church belongs to Jesus, your kingdom come ♪ ♪ Your will be done here and now ♪ ♪ This church belongs to Jesus, amen ♪ Come on now. Jesus is mine. He's been my fourth man in the fire. Time after time. I'm born of his spirit and I'm washed in his blood and what he did for me, he did for me. What he did for me on Calvary is more than enough. So I trust in God, my savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. It's perfect submission and knowledge at rest. And I know the author of tomorrow has foiled my steps. So this is my story. Yes, it is. And this is my song. I'm praising my risen King and Savior all the day long. Lifted up that I trust in God, my savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail.

Oh, I trust in you, Jesus, my savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. And I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered. That's why I trust you. That's why I trust you. I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered. I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered. I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered. That's why I trust you. Oh, lifted up. And he heard and he answered. I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered. I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered. That's why I trust you. That's why I trust you. I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered. I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered. I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered. I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered. That's why I trust him. That's why I trust him. God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. Oh, I trust in you, God. My Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. I saw the Lord and I saw the Lord. And he heard and he answered. I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered. I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered. That's why I trust him. That's why I trust him. I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered. I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered. I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered.

That's why I trust him. That's why I trust him. God, my slave, you're the one. He will never fail. He will never fail. Oh, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. As we continue to seek the Lord this morning, the invitation is still open. If you're holding on to yours, you've got time to bring it up. There's no one like the Lord. No one better to trust. No one better to seek. No one better to trust with whatever you want to lay down this morning. There's no one, no one like you, Lord. There is one on the throne, Jesus, holy. Yes, you are. He is worthy of praise, honor, and glory. Sing it again. Sing, there is one on the throne. You sing, come on. Holy. Oh, there's no one like you, Lord. He is worthy of praise, honor, and glory. We sing, worthy is the Lamb who was slain and seated on the throne. There's no one like the Lord. No one. Elders, creatures bow, giving praise to Him and Him alone. There's no one like the Lord. There is one on the throne, Jesus, holy. And He is worthy of praise, honor, and glory. All the glory, we sing, worthy is the Lamb who was slain and seated on the throne. There's no one like the Lord. And the elders, creatures bow, giving praise to Him and Him alone. There's no one like the Lord. We sing, worthy, worthy. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain and seated on the throne. There's no one like the Lord.

Elders, creatures bow, giving praise to Him and Him alone. There's no one like the Lord. We crown You, King of glory. We crown You, King of glory. We crown You, Lord. Come on, church! We crown You, You are worthy. He's worthy. We crown You, You are worthy. We crown You, Lord of all. We crown You, King of glory. We crown You, King of glory. We crown You, King of glory. We crown You, Lord of all. We crown You, you are worthy. We crown You, you are worthy. We crown You, you are worthy. We crown You, Lord of all. Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain and seated on the throne. There's no one like the Lord. There's no one like the Lord. Elders, preachers bow. Giving praise to Him in Him alone There's no one like the Lord Worthy is the one Who was slain in the teeth of a bone There's no one like the Lord And the elders' creatures bow Giving praise to Him in Him alone

There's no one like the Lord We sing Worthy is the one Lift it up Who was slain in the teeth of a bone Tell Him There's no one like the Lord There's no one like you, Lord Elders' creatures bow Giving praise to Him in Him alone There's no one like the Lord No one like the Lord Welcome to Crosspoint. It is so good to be together today and worship together. It is great to be back up here preaching. Normally the summers are a bit of a study break and different rhythm for us. It gives an opportunity for us to church get to hear from some of our other pastors and preachers and teachers and it gives an opportunity for for me to take a study break and for our family to worship in a different way and that we we get to attend campuses. We get to sit and to receive and I'm going to tell you last weekend was incredible. All of our campus pastors preaching. We have the best campus pastors. Can we just honor campus pastors across all of our campuses? It was fun to just sit and say amen and just just a shout a shout down and shout out those pastors and preachers who are teaching today.

We are we're continuing in our study in the book of Acts and and you know, I want to want to preach this this pastors today as we're as we're moving toward 4th of July weekend. I've been thinking about maybe a movie if you're looking for a movie to watch over 4th of July weekend. It's a great one. It's a movie called Apollo 13 and and it's a classic came out in the 1900s and and it is it's a it's a true story is a true story. It's about a NASA mission to the moon and there's some of us that believe that those things happened and and it was a there was an oxygen tank that that exploded on the way. There's true story oxygen tank exploded and because of the explosion these astronauts three astronauts, they were in all kind of trouble in the mission became just about survival. It was just how do we get them back home and because of the problems with the electrical system? Well, it caused them to be deficient and because it caused them to to really be running low on power heat water and breathable air all the kind of things that you really need when you're in a tin can 200,000 miles away from Earth. In the atmosphere and so then the mission became how do we get them back home and it was these astronauts working with mission control and now how do we survive? How do we get them back? How do you repair the spacecraft and get them back home? And so for four days they were stranded in space and then finally they made their descent and and it was there's this moment where we're in the capsule there. They're hidden behind as they're entering into the atmosphere.

They're hidden behind this wall of fire and all communication ceases and so the world is is waiting without communication. The families are waiting mission control is waiting. Everyone is waiting. Will they survive? Minutes. And then finally they they break through and and radio contact continues and and they survive and in that moment you you realize that that you've been holding your breath. You finally breathe and thinking about that that clip from that movie reminds me of a verse from Proverbs chapter 13 12. It says hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life and hope deferred that that phrase if you want to know what that. It feels like, well, it feels like that moment in the movie where you're waiting, where the future is uncertain and you don't know how things are gonna turn out. And maybe you've experienced hope deferred. Maybe you're there right now, maybe in a waiting room while a loved one is having surgery, or maybe waiting on the results from a biopsy that was sent off this week to come back. Maybe you're checking your bank account, you're checking the app obsessively, wondering is there gonna be enough money for some unforeseen bills, or maybe you applied for a job, or maybe you applied to a program, or maybe to the school of your dreams, and you're waiting for a callback or to see if you'd be admitted,

or maybe it's waiting for a legal issue or a verdict that could change your future. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but longing fulfilled is the tree of life. Hope deferred is where Peter and John are at, if you remember where we're at in the text in Acts chapter four, Peter and John, they've been put in prison. And they've been in prison for healing someone, for healing someone. There's a miracle that took place. They prayed for a man and he was healed. He couldn't walk for 40 years, and then he gets up and he can walk. And so the miracle takes place, and as a result of the miracle, they get to share the gospel. They share the gospel and 2,000 people are saved. This is a really good day in the early church. 2,000 people come to Christ after they share the gospel. And I was thinking about in the gospel, in the New Testament, whenever a miracle takes place, it's a sign and wonder is not just in and for itself. It always points to something. A sign always points to something. You're driving down the road and you see a sign that says Nashville, 10 miles. You don't get out of the car and admire that sign. The sign is not the destination. The destination is where you're going.

And in the New Testament, all of these miracles are these pointers. They're signs that point people to Jesus. I think about a man who came on a Tuesday. We have Tuesday prayer at the Nashville campus. Every Tuesday at 11, it's my favorite hour of the week. Don't tell anybody. And it is the best kept secret. Hopefully it's becoming known. Some friends shared with this man, he had some challenges in his life, and they shared, if you go there, they'll pray for you. And so he showed up. And he didn't tell the group of people what he needed prayer for. He just said, he didn't tell them specifics. He just said he needed prayer, but he knew that the doctors had found a tumor and that there had been other tumors, that he had had tumors in the past in his brain. And this time it didn't look good, the way everything was coming together. In fact, the doctors had given him a prognosis that there was nothing more they could do. And so he came to the church and he asked for prayer. He said that when people were praying, he felt something different. He came back the next week and shared with us that he had the scan and showed us a copy of the scan. And in one scan, there's a brain tumor,

in the next scan, there's not. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! So as he showed that to us, Pastor Darren began conversation with him, and Pastor Darren asked him if he'd ever received Christ, if he'd ever began a relationship with Jesus Christ. And the man said, no. And Pastor Darren shared the gospel with him, and this man received Jesus, received salvation. Now that would be a time to clap and to celebrate. Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! That pointed to Christ. These signs and these wonders, they point. So the greater miracle takes place and there's 2,000 people who come to Christ on that day. They see this miracle and what I find is so, so it's just wild, is that you've got some people, 2,000 people who see this miracle and they go, that was an act of God. Then you've got the most religious people who are intimidated. And they want to take out what God is. Listen, the religious spirit is always intimidated by things it can't control. And so they want. They do the only thing they can think of doing and they wanna take out Peter and John. So they imprison them and Peter and John, they're in jail. So what does the church do?

Well, they call a prayer meeting. Houston, we have a problem. Their two leaders, the top two leaders in the church have been imprisoned and they don't know what's gonna happen. So the church gathers and the church begins to pray. And the next day, Peter and John are brought before the Sanhedrin, that's the religious council, and they tell them, the Sanhedrin says, you guys need to stop preaching. You need to stop what you're doing. And I love, one of my favorite verses. I love what they tell me. They say, I got a lot of favorite verses, but one of them, it's Acts 420. It's Peter, I want you to see Peter and John's response. They say, as for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. They say, we can't stop and we won't stop. We're not going to stop. Have you ever noticed that you can't keep somebody from talking about what they love? It's like trying to stop a grandfather from showing pictures of his grandkids or a bride-to-be from talking about her wedding or a Tennessee fan from talking about Peyton Manning or that 98 season. You can't stop. We're going to talk about what we love.

Your words reveal the algorithm of your heart. You can go to your Explore page on Instagram. You can go to YouTube and you can see what you're interested in. When you listen to what's, if I hang around you long, if you hang around me long enough, we hang around people long enough, we can tell what they care about. Listen, we talk about what we love. And Peter and John are like, we can't help but talk about Jesus. Listen, what would it take to get you to stop talking about Jesus? Or maybe the question is, what would it take for you to start talking about Jesus? Because the enemy wants to do everything he can to silence our faith because Jesus is the only way we get back home. The gospel, the truth of who Jesus is. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father but to me. He didn't say, I am a way. He didn't say, I am a truth. He didn't say, I am a life. He says, he is the only way. And so with the gospel, we have the hope, the hope that the world desperately needs. And the enemy wants to silence our faith through intimidation. And think about the courage that it took for them

to stand toe to toe with the Sanhedrin, the very same folks who are responsible for Jesus going to the cross, not knowing how they would respond, not knowing if they would be beaten, if they would be tortured, if they would be locked up and throw away the key, not knowing if they would be crucified themselves. They just looked at him like, we can't stop. What you're asking us to do is impossible. We can't help it. And so the Sanhedrin, instead of roughing them up, they just intimidate, they threaten them. And so they offer these threats to them and then they let them go. And verse 23 is where we pick up in the text today. It says, and on their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. Where do they go? They go back to their own people. They go back to the church. They go to the prayer meeting. Can you imagine being, they sneak into the prayer meeting. Can you imagine the church is gathered like, Lord, please protect, protect. Would you be with, would you be with Peter? And would you be with John? Would you protect them? And the church is praying and Peter and John sneak in.

They sneak in the room, yes, Lord, protect them. Yes, can you, and so they interrupt the prayer meeting. The very thing that they were praying for, they find that God has answered. And then look what happens next. They share with, it says, they share with the, they share with the other disciples. They share with the church about the threats, about what the Sanhedrin has said. And so they share the threats. And what does the church do? Verse 24, it says, and when they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. So the church just goes right back into prayer. They take their desperation to God. This is what you're gonna see about the church in the book of Acts, is that the church is a praying church. In the book of Acts, over 31 times, we find that the church pray, that prayer is a first response, is the first response. When something good happens, they pray. When something bad happens, they pray. When they need a miracle, they pray. When they've experienced a miracle, they pray. Church is a first response, not a last resort. Can I ask you a question? Okay, thank you, I will. Yeah. When you consider and think about your life, is prayer a first response?

or is it a last resort? Is it the steering wheel that you hold on to every day? Or is it more of a tire tool in the trunk that you go to when there's a problem? What do you do? Or is it even where we go when there's a problem? I mean, it's just thoughts to consider. Where's the first place we go when there's a problem? We Google it? We go to AI, chat GPT? Where's the first, we go to YouTube, do we go online? Where's the first place that we go when there's a problem? Do you obsess about it and just turn it over and over and over in your mind? Do you talk to friends or you talk to neighbors, talk to strangers, maybe even before we talk to God? What does it look like for us to be a people where prayer is our first response? It's one of the reasons that we offer prayer every week down front. It's one of the reasons that we have a prayer wall at crosspoint.tv slash prayer, a prayer wall where you can post prayer requests and where you can pray for others. Because listen, when we work, we work, but when we pray, God works. And it's in that place of prayer where we have access to the presence and power of God. Prayer is the most powerful and effective force on the planet because it's through prayer

that we see the hand of God move. God do things that we can't do. There's this moment in that movie, Apollo 13, where they're in trouble. In fact, mission control has figured out that carbon dioxide levels are rising. And so these astronauts, they need a filter or they're gonna die. The problem is they don't have a filter and so they have to make a filter. And so mission control gives them instruction, guides them through the comms about how to make a filter. And they use duct tape and plastic bags and cardboard and a sock. And they kind of just bring it all together to make a filter that saves their lives. See, God knows the things in our lives that have taken us out. He knows the things that are slowly killing us. And it's through sitting with the Lord, it's through prayer that God can put his finger on things that are slowly killing us. Out of his love and out of his kindness to us to call us back to him. I don't know about you, but I've had places in my life that started as like this low-grade anxiety that grew to this full-blown worry. And it wasn't until those places of prayer that God put his finger on things. And he said, Kevin, will you trust me in this?

Will you trust me in this? But it's not until we get still enough in prayer that we realize what's going on in our hearts. And where we bring those things to others and ask, will you pray for me? Here's what I've learned about myself is that when I don't bring problems to God, it's usually either one of two things. Either it's, I've got God wrong, bad theology, or pride. I've got God wrong in that I think he's too busy or that he doesn't care. Or pride in that I can handle this, I've got this. It's usually one of two things. It's usually they're a bad theology or that I understand God wrong or it's pride. I want you to think about this. Could there be anything more prideful than prayerlessness? I'll tell you who doesn't pray, Satan. Satan does not pray. And he will do everything he can to keep you from bringing your cares to the one who cares for you. Because he wants you to feel like you're 200,000 miles from home without communication with your heavenly father. He wants you to feel like you are without God, which sounds like hell to me. And it is. And God invites us into this place of prayer in an Acts. Prayer is a first response and not a last resort. The church comes and they bring their requests together. And what we're about to see together is the first prayer,

in the first recorded prayer in the book of Acts in the early church. And what we see in this prayer is the theology of how they viewed the sovereignty of God and the suffering of this world. And then from this, we're gonna see some handholds. We're gonna see some truths that we can apply to our own lives. And at the same time, we're gonna find that hopefully you'll receive some oxygen from the truth of God's word and from the prayers of the early church that will guide us in how we... You want to know how to pray, get around people who know how to pray. And so as we get around and we enter into this prayer, that God would give oxygen for the places that we're hope deferred, that he would give us a fresh breath of his spirit. Verse 24, we pick up with their prayer and they began, sovereign Lord, they said, you made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father, David. Why do nations rage and people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one. Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city

to conspire against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness, stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. And after they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. And let's walk through this prayer together. And the first thing I want you to see, if you're taking notes, first thing I want you to see is they start with God's sovereignty. They begin with the sovereignty of God. They start with the sovereignty of God. That word sovereignty, that's king language. It means the one who is authority over all, who rules and reigns the earth, who governs everything. And so they start with the sovereignty of God, that phrase, sovereign Lord. What's interesting is that's a name or a title that's used in scripture when somebody is facing a situation that's uncertain, something that's beyond their control. It's like Abraham in Genesis chapter 15,

when he and Sarah are childless. It's like Jeremiah, he uses it in Jeremiah 32, when Jerusalem is under siege. Or Ezekiel 37, when God calls for an army, but Ezekiel, all he can see are dry bones. See it again in Acts, when the church faces persecution and in Revelation, when martyrs long for justice. What I want you to see is they didn't start with their problems. They didn't start with their troubles. They didn't start with their feelings. They didn't start with their fears. They started with who God is. They didn't start with why God, they started who God, with who God is, with his sovereignty. Man, I don't know about you, but sometimes I can just rush into the place of prayer and forget who I'm talking to. But sometimes it's just good for us to pause and remember who we're talking to. I went to Israel a few years back and I showed you a picture of the stairs, the temple stairs. When we went there, I was talking to the guide and I said, hey, why are some of the stairs, why are they not universal in how they're crafted? Why are some stairs tall and one stairs not? Why is there no rhythm to it? He said, oh, oh, oh, that was to slow people down so that they couldn't rush into the presence of God.

Man, how often do we just rush into the presence of God? Rather just stop and remember who we're talking to. Listen, God's sovereignty is our sanity in a crazy world. That God is sovereign. Creation helps us slow down and see the sovereignty of God. Verse 24, it says, you made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. Listen, God is sovereign over creation. God made it all, he owns it all, he rules it all. He sustains it all. God made it all. When we look at creation, it declares the glory of God. If you and I were walking down a beach together and we found a watch that was in the sand, nobody would pick that watch up and go, look what the tide has created. Look what has been made by the randomness of the tide that just pulled and, no, the intricacies of its design would declare an intelligent designer, that there is one who has fashioned and made and formed and put this together. Creation declares the glory of God, that God didn't just make it, but God sustains it. God keeps it going. That there is not one square inch of creation that is outside of his love and care. Next, they pray scripture back to God. They pray scripture back to God. It said, if you spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father, David,

I want you to see the theology of the early church. They understood that the word of God was inspired, that the word of God was authoritative, that the Holy Spirit spoke through the authors to give us scripture. And so when you pray God's word, you're praying God's will. When you pray God's word. We're praying his word back to him. And we don't pray God's word to remind God of his word. We pray God's word to remind us of his word, to declare the promises of God. And so they pray this scripture back. Man, aren't you so glad that God has given us his word, that he hasn't left us to ourselves, that he hasn't left us to our own presuppositions to figure this thing out, that he hasn't left us to Twitter or X or whatever you wanna call it, or Facebook. He hasn't left us to TikTok. He hasn't left us to YouTube Shorts to try to navigate our way through life. He's given us his word. He's given us his truth, that we can know God's voice. Man, there's so many people that are looking to hear in a supernatural way. Turn to weed or mushrooms or psychedelics. With that stuff, you're picking up the phone and you don't know who's on the other line. The world is longing to hear. And we, as followers of Jesus, we have the word of God.

God has spoken and he gives us his inspired word and the Holy Spirit speaks. And when the word and the spirit come together, we hear from God. And so when we encounter his word, we pray his word. They pray Psalm chapter two, they pray it back to him. They say, why did the nations rage and the people's plot in vain? The kings of this earth, right? The people's plot in vain. The kings of this earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one. They pray Psalm two. And Psalm two is this beautiful Psalm. It's this wonderful Psalm, powerful Psalm that declares that God is sovereign over history. That God is sovereign over history. Man, if you ever feel like the world is crashing down, read Psalm two. If you ever don't know what to do, read Psalm two. If you ever feel like the future is in somebody else's hands, like your future is in somebody else's hand, read Psalm two. Psalm two shows that even the enemies of God can't thwart his purposes. Even they play into his hands. And if you're struggling with prayer, I just wanna encourage you, get in the Psalms because the Psalms are recorded prayers,

the saints who are in really hard times. They weren't written on a beach somewhere. They were written in the valley. And these Psalms become an usher for us, a guide for us in our prayer, in our communication with God. You know, when the church, they believed in the sovereignty of God, and that can be easy to believe. That truth can be easy to believe when you just escaped from prison. Don't you see, this is the same truth that they held onto when Stephen is martyred. Same truth that they held onto when they faced persecution, the sovereignty of God. And then they view their suffering as part of God's larger story. They view their suffering as part of God's larger story. They understood. It's one of the things I so appreciate about the gospel is its honesty with the suffering of this world, and our pain in life, that the pain is real. And the suffering is real. And the Bible is honest about that, that none of us make it through life unscathed. And the Bible makes it clear that God is not the author of suffering, that suffering is a byproduct of the fall, of sin, and that we live in a broken, fallen world, plagued by sin and death and disease

and sickness and disaster. And suffering was never God's intention, but God is good. He's infinitely good, which means that He meets us in our suffering. We are not alone in our suffering, and that He can redeem our suffering. And that He can heal our hearts. And He can take the suffering caused by sin, both the wrongs that we've committed and the wrongs that have been committed against us, and use it for His good and for His glory. The second best example of this is Joseph. Remember Joseph in the Old Testament, Genesis tells us the story. He's 17 and God gives him a dream. His father gives him a coat, which causes his brothers to feel all kind of jealousy. And jealousy will lead you to do things that you never imagined you would do. They take him and they throw him into a pit. They fake his death, take his coat, cover it with blood, take it back to their father, and they sell Joseph into slavery. He ends up in Egypt in slavery in Potiphar's house, and Potiphar's wife makes a pass at him and Joseph resists her. And in doing so, she's offended. You gotta be careful with the fence.

It'll lead you to jail. You gotta be careful with the fence. It'll lead you to do things. She accuses Joseph, and Joseph is thrown into prison. He's put into prison for years. But God gives him this capacity. or this ability, this gift in prison to interpret dreams. And Pharaoh has a dream, actually has a series of dreams, and Pharaoh tells his wise men, his interpreters, he says, I want you to tell me my dream and give me the interpretation. So he gives them an impossible task. And they're like, nobody can do that. But then somebody remembers there's a guy named Joseph, a young man that's in prison and he can interpret dreams. So they bring him to Pharaoh as their only hope to save them. And Pharaoh tells Joseph, says, I want you to give me my dream and give me the interpretation. Joseph said, I can't do that, but God can. Joseph gives him his dream, tells him what he dreamed and gives him the interpretation. And Joseph gets a promotion. He goes from the prison to the palace. He goes to second in command over all of Egypt, the most powerful nation in the earth at that time, Joseph is second in command.

Well, a famine takes place. And so Joseph's brothers have to go to Egypt, from Israel to Egypt to get grain. So they show up in Egypt looking for grain and they don't even know, it's been 22 years. They don't recognize that the person that they're talking to is their brother. Joseph stands there before them. And at the moment when he reveals who he is to them, they're afraid, you'd be afraid too. They're afraid, they think they're gonna die. But Joseph tells them this, Genesis 50, 20, you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. And it was through what Joseph experienced that the nation of Israel was saved, that the family was saved, that they were saved from the famine. And this is just a preview, this is a trailer for what's to come with Jesus. Because I told you that's the second best example, the greatest example of this is Jesus on the cross. So what they say in verse 27, it says, indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.

You need to know God is sovereign over the cross. Man, the apostles saw it firsthand, that what appeared to be the worst day, that Jesus was crucified, that Pontius Pilate, the Romans, the Jewish leaders in the crowd, everybody was against Jesus, but God was working for our redemption. Jesus is the true and better Joseph. Betrayed by his brothers and those closest to him, falsely accused and condemned, thrown into prison, and through his suffering, he became the salvation of the people who rejected him. It's God's sovereign hand at work. Listen, it's not just that God is with us in our suffering, it's that Jesus came and that he suffered for us. And he suffered for us that all who put their faith in him will one day suffer no more. In the new heavens and the new earth, that we will be with him and he will wipe the tear from every eye and all things will be made new. Have you put your faith in Jesus? Listen, there's not another way to get home. He is the only way. And so these disciples, they saw how firsthand God could take what was the worst day that they'd experienced the crucifixion and lead to the best day, which was the resurrection. And the power of the resurrection

is what leads them to do what they did next. And we see this at verse 29 and how they prayed and they prayed. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. Here's what I want you to see. Did you see that? They didn't pray, Lord, Lord, remove our threats. They didn't pray, Lord, remove our opposition. They didn't pray, Lord, Lord, Lord, save us from those who are against us. They prayed, God, would you give us great boldness? Look, what you see is they prayed for courage, not comfort. They didn't pray. They prayed, God, give us boldness. Give us courage. Give us the grace to show up brave and true. They didn't pray for an easier assignment. They prayed for the strength to be faithful in the assignment that they had. And God has given us all an assignment. And can I tell you why I think we're at risk in the American church is that we can give up the mission to pursue comfort. There's a book called Mission. And it talks about how any organization, any business, even people, team, church,

how over time we can go from being white hot for the mission to pursue, to turn inward, to pursue our own comfort and serving ourselves. But the gospel reminds us that you can suffer without love, but you cannot love without suffering. The cross reminds us that it is impossible to love without sacrifice, without suffering. And so as the church, that we would suffer in small ways and in big ways, that the world would know that Jesus is the only way, and experience his hope for the salvation of souls to get them home. I was running with my friend yesterday. We don't run real fast these days, but we were running. And we ran by this house, the most beautiful house I'd seen in a while, and there was a barn out in front. And I told him, I was like, Rob, that is a beautiful house. See that house? And I saw that barn. I just had this thought, 100 years from now, it's not gonna matter if they lived in that house or if they lived in the barn. That this one life will soon be passed, but only what's done for Christ will last. It's what drove these disciples to go, no, we need courage. We need boldness. And so we have a record of their prayers, praying for courage.

Can I ask you a question? If there were a record of your prayers this past week, and my prayers up on the screen, would it be that we prayed more for courage or that we prayed for comfort? That we prayed more for resilience or that we prayed more for rest? That we prayed more for safety or that we prayed more for strength? Because you can tell a lot about where somebody is if you listen to their prayers. And my prayer is, God, would you help me? Would you help me resist from turning inward? And that I would have courage to be brave and true for what you've called us to. And so they pray, God, give us great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. They pray for the very thing that got them into trouble to begin with. Healing that man is what stirred up all this, what got them in jail. And they pray, God, would you do it again? Because it led to 2,000 souls coming to Christ. God, would you do it again? Verse 31, and after they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. The ground was shaken.

And that's a prayer meeting right there. The earth trembled. I think that was God's way of saying, amen. That was God's way of saying, I love that prayer. That you pray for courage and you pray for boldness and he filled them with his spirit. How many of us need a fresh feeling of the spirit of God? Be filled with his spirit, have courage and boldness to declare his word and the movement continue. Now I wanna be part of a movement. But movements require courage. Those who would say, God, fill me with your spirit. Make me brave and true. That's your question? Is there any way, is there anywhere in your life where you have drifted from the mission? Where you've created a shadow mission that's different than God's mission for your life? Where you've been escaping from the assignment rather than living in the assignment with courage and boldness? Another question, where is their hope deferred? And you need to declare a fresh God, my hope, my trust is in you. That Jesus is, even in the midst of hope deferred in life, Jesus is our longing fulfilled. Your longings can be fulfilled in Christ today. And pray for you in that. And then we'll stand and sing for a moment together, church. Father, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for your truth. I thank you that you haven't left us alone to ourselves and you haven't left us alone. So God, would you pour out a spirit of prayer and supplication? I pray over every card that has been laid down, the altar today. God, I pray for freedom today. I pray for freedom from where anxiety and fear and worry has dominated. Lord, I pray that you would increase the waterline of faith in every heart. God, that you would give courage and boldness to declare gospel and that Jesus, that your movement would expand, God, would expand through us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Would you stand with me? Let's sing together. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine ♪ ♪ He's been my fourth man in the fire time after time ♪ ♪ Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood ♪ ♪ And what He did for me on Calvary is more than enough ♪ ♪ And I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail ♪ ♪ He will never fail ♪ ♪ I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail ♪ ♪ He will never fail ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪

♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him, God ♪ ♪ He's my Savior, the one who will never fail ♪ ♪ He will never fail ♪ ♪ That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him, God ♪