23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.  24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God.  “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.  25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: “‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?  26 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.’  27 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.  28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.  29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.  30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”  31 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.  32 All the believers were one in heart and mind.  No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.  33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.
- Acts 4:23-33, The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House) 1984.

In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:

How important is a mother?  Can you remember a time in your childhood when you fell down and skinned your knee?  After the initial shock, the pain caused tears to slowly well up in your eyes.  When that happened, where did you go?  Who was able to console you?  If you are like me, the only one who could make the pain go away was mom the medical doctor.

How important is a mother?  Do you recall a morning when you were getting dressed for church and realized that you had a problem?  Maybe it was a tear in your dress.  Maybe it was a button missing from your shirt.  Who came to the rescue?  Who was able to fix the problem?  If you are like me, it was mom the mender.

How important is a mother?  When you were growing up, did you ever struggle with a problem that really bothered you, the kind of problem that just wouldn’t go away?  You couldn’t think about anything else.  Who helped you think things through?  Who listened?  Who cared?  If you are like me, again it was mom.

As you know, today is a Mother’s Day.  A God-fearing mother is a precious gift.  It is good for us to recognize the important role our mothers have played in or lives.  It is good to remember the influence mothers have had on our lives.  Without our mothers none of us would be here today.

A loving, caring mother is extremely valuable, but moms are still human.  There are injuries that mom is not able to heal.  There are clothes that mom will never be able to mend.  There are some problems in our lives that even mom can’t solve.

The good news is that we have someone besides mom who cares.  Christians know that there is someone who can solve all of our problems.  When we are discouraged, when our faith is weak, when we have nowhere else to turn, we can go to God in prayer.  Based on the words of Luke in Acts this morning, let’s use the disciples as a model for Christian prayer.  Through these inspired words of Scripture, God encourages us to…

I.  With confidence because the Lord is faithful to His Word

II.  With boldness because the Lord’s will is always done

Before we can dig into the text, we have to know a little background.  It all started the day before.  Peter and John were on their way to the temple to pray when they saw a crippled beggar sitting by the temple gate.  Peter showed compassion on this man and healed him in the name of Jesus.  Immediately the man began to walk and jump around even though he had been crippled since birth.  Everyone who saw the miracle was amazed.

Peter saw this miracle as an opportunity to share the good news, so he began to talk to the crowds.  But while Peter and John were still speaking, the priests and the temple guards arrested them.  That kept the disciples quiet for the time being, but it wasn’t a permanent solution.  They couldn’t keep Peter and John locked up forever.  They couldn’t deny the miracle either.  The healed man was undeniable proof of God’s power, and the people of Jerusalem praised God because of it.

In order to prevent this news from spreading any further, the Jewish leaders resorted to intimidation tactics.  They kept Peter and John in prison overnight to send a message.  Was their preaching so important that they were willing to risk their lives for it?   The next day the disciples were ordered not to speak in the name of Jesus.  The threat behind their words was unspoken, but it was clear.  Keep quiet or else. . .or else you might end up like just like Jesus.

At this point we pick up the text.  "On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them" (23).  Peter and John went straight to the disciples with their good news. They wanted to tell the others how God had used them to perform miracles and preach the Word.  But they also went back to the brothers to find strength for themselves.

The threats made against Peter and John were real.  The cold prison cell where they had slept was real.  Peter and John needed encouragement, and what could be more comforting than the support of fellow Christians? The Jewish Sanhedrin, the highest court in the land, ordered them to stop preaching, but the disciples were not about to obey this gag order.  In order to stand firm against these powerful enemies, they appealed to a higher power.

They prayed: "Sovereign Lord, you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them" (24).  The disciples found comfort in the God of Genesis chapter one, the Lord, the Creator of all things.  God is far more powerful than any earthly king or kingdom.  God made the world out of nothing and he alone sustains it with his mighty hand.

God may be the all-powerful Creator, but that does not stop his sinful creation from opposing him.  David prophesied a thousand years before the birth of Christ that many people would reject him.  But why?  Why would sinful human creatures plot against the Lord and his Anointed One?   David asked the same question: "Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?" (25)   In other words, what chance does anyone have to overpower Almighty God?  The obvious answer is none.

Unfortunately, David’s prophecy still came true.  The Jews and Gentiles, the chief priests and elders joined together with Pilate against Jesus.   They rejected the Lord’s Anointed One and the free forgiveness he offered them.  And when Jesus died on the cross, they honestly thought that they had won.  The Jews got rid of Jesus and the threat he posed to their authority.  Pilate avoided a Jewish revolt and kept the peace in the land.  All it cost them was the life of one man.  Despite the outward appearances, God’s enemies never had the power to destroy Jesus.  In their prayer, the disciples recognized that God used their plotting and scheming to carry out his will.

Have you ever tested the trust of a little child?  Children are the perfect example of blind faith.  You can tell them just about anything and they will believe you.  They have little reason to doubt, little reason to suspect that you are lying to them.  They think that adults know everything. It is not until kids get a little older and wiser that they realize that grown-ups don’t have all the answers.

When we are dealing with God and his Word, God wants us to trust in His Word the same way a young child trusts an adult.  Jesus tells us that unless we have faith like a little child we cannot enter the kingdom of God.  With God, there is no doubt that his Word is true because he is always faithful to his Word.  Jesus came in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.  Jesus made good on God’s promise to save us.  We can approach him with confidence.  We can be sure that he will hear us.

Prayer is a great blessing.  Prayer allows us to communicate directly with God. The refrain of the hymn, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus (CW 411)," encourages us to "take it to the Lord in prayer."  God himself tells us to ask him for help.  If God encourages Christians to pray, and he does, then why don’t we listen to him?  If prayer is powerful and effective, and it is, then why do so many take their problems away from God in times of trouble?

Some people, even Christians, take their problems…into a bottle, thinking that the short-lived feelings of numbness will make all their troubles go away, at least for a while.  Some people take their problems…out on others by lashing out in anger against the ones they love the most.  Some people take their problems… and store them deep down inside where they fester and boil and destroy from the inside out.

Where do you take your problems?  Do any of these destinations sound familiar?  When you are in trouble, is prayer a first priority or a last resort?  If our prayer life is sick, then there is a pretty good chance that our spiritual life is not too healthy either.  Spiritual sickness can lead to spiritual death.

God gives us the ability to pray.  God invites us to share our lives with him.  God wants us to talk to him.  We can pray with confidence because God is faithful to His Word.  When we bring our requests to God, we can also pray with boldness because God’s will is always done.

The disciples prayed boldly.  They were not afraid to ask God for everything they needed, but they did not make any outrageous demands either.  First, they asked God to "consider" the threats of their enemies.  Under such intense pressure, they could have asked for so much more.  They could have asked God to deliver them from their enemies.  They could have called upon God to strike them down, but they didn’t.  Instead they prayed: "Enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness" (29).  They prayed: God’s will be done, not for them, but by them.  They didn’t ask God to remove the danger that threatened them.  They only asked for the power to preach boldly in the face of that danger.

They also asked God to perform miracles through them.  This request wasn’t selfish either.   When Peter healed the crippled beggar, many people saw it and were amazed.  That miracle opened the door for Peter to preach the gospel to a large audience.  The disciples were only asking for the same opportunities to share the good news and give glory to God.

When the disciples finished praying, it didn’t take God long to answer.  The place where they were meeting was shaken by an earthquake.  They were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word boldly. The disciples cried out to the Lord and He answered their prayer.  And "much grace was upon them all" (33).  God continued to shower his young and growing church with love. Grace, undeserved love for loveless sinners, led God to send his Son to be our Savior.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and we are his sheep.  The Good Shepherd knows us.  The Good Shepherd protects us.  Two thousand years ago, the Good Shepherd gave up his life for us.  We know his voice.  We trust in him completely.  We pray to him boldly.

The Bible is filled with examples of people who prayed boldly to God in their hour of need.  Moses cried out to God and the Red Sea was divided.  Hannah asked the Lord for a child and she was rewarded with a son, Samuel.  Daniel prayed to be delivered from the lion’s den and the Lord spared his life.

These are just a few examples, but they have much to teach us.  If God rescued an entire nation from certain destruction, if God opened a mother’s womb to have a child, if God saved a man from wild beasts, he can certainly help us today.  Don’t ever think that your requests are too trivial or unimportant.  There is nothing too big or too small for God to handle.  God tells us: Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you" (I Peter 5:7).  We can pray to the Lord with boldness because he hears us and his will is always done.

If you look at the big picture in Acts, it is not difficult to see the hand of God at work.  Peter and John began by preaching about the resurrection of Jesus.  The Jewish leaders threw them into prison to force them into submission.  They hoped that their threats would hinder the stop of the gospel.  How did their plan work?  Let’s take a closer look.

After Peter and John were released from prison, they went back to the brothers and prayed.  God answered their prayer and filled them with Holy Spirit. "With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus" (33).  The threats did not stop the gospel.  Actually, the adversity caused them to preach the Word more boldly than ever.

We face all sorts of challenges in our lives, but we don’t fight our battles alone.  If you remember only one thing from this sermon, let it be this: As a dearly loved child of God, you can take your problems to the Lord in times of trouble. You can pray with confidence because God is faithful to his Word.  You can pray with boldness because God’s will is always done.  Amen.