Continued Boldness



Acts 4:23-31
23When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.
24And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,
25who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain?
26The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
27for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
28to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
29And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,
30while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
31And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

One of the misnomers about Christians is that we believe once we turn our lives over to God we will be care-free and happy forever. Of course that is ridiculous and anyone who has been a Christian for more than 10 minutes knows this just isn’t true. In our reading for today, we find Peter and John helping the new church understand their place in the world. It’s not an easy place as the Lord of Glory Himself experienced while on the earth. But all of it – ALL OF IT – was God’s plan. And that plan was carried out by all the people of the earth; government and religious leaders, Jews and Gentiles. None are innocent. But in the face of the facts the early Church Fathers still prayed vehemently “to continue to speak Your Word with all boldness”. It’s a hard prayer to pray because we want life to be easy.

I confess that I am not a very political person. But sometimes I think that maybe that choice makes Satan happy as it keeps my mouth shut. So today I’m going to stick a toe in the water and create a little ripple. Some of the headlines in the U.S. (although not enough) are pointing to an atrocity that is taking place against Christians in our world right now. As a people group we are being targeted and killed in Iraq and other places across the Middle East. This is nothing new. But with the new uprising that is occurring in Iraq, the deaths are mounting. As a part of this war effort, ISIS is marking the homes of Christians with the symbol below. It is the letter “N” in Arabic which stands for Nazarene. If your home is marked with this letter, you have been targeted for death.


If you want to learn more about this war against Christians, you can look at the blog I’ve cited below. This guy does a pretty good job of explaining the situation. There are alarming pictures out there of men, women, and children being ruthlessly killed simply because they belong to a Christian family. I won’t share those pictures here. Needless to say, they are shocking and will break your heart. No one, Christian or Non-Christian, deserves that.

http://davemiers.com/arabic-nazarene/

May we join in the words of our text for today asking God to make our witness bold even when faced with suffering and tragedy. God will provide His presence even in the face of trial and that is all we can ask.

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