I have been in prayer meetings, I'm sure you've been as well, where people have prayed, Lord, shake this, please. But He never did. Now, I've been in good prayer meetings, very good prayer meetings, prayer meetings that I would say has resulted in development. spiritually. But I've been instructed, and there's nothing better than going to a prayer meeting where old saints of the Lord and veterans in prayer are gathered together, laying hold upon the altar and are praying through because you can learn much by listening to other people pray. Those who know the Lord, those who have walked the road for many, many years, have much to impart to us coming through. I've been in those prayer meetings, and I've sometimes wished that the prayer meeting wouldn't end. Lord, just let it go on, let it go on, because there is such a sense of the Lord's presence. And though my heart and my mind will have been shaken on occasions, the building was not. But the Lord did shake buildings back in the days of the apostles in our text in Acts 4, and the verse 31 makes that very clear today. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken, where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And so the prayer time that is described here in this fourth chapter of the book of Acts, it resulted in a shaking, and surely with that kind of a shaking, you are definitely talking about God's power. This was earth-shaking prayer. Let's remind ourselves as to what happened here. The apostles, the disciples, those earnest followers of the Lord Jesus, they had been out and about and they had been preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only had they been proclaiming the Word, but God was confirming the preaching with signs and with miracles. One of those miracles was a lame man who had been healed. Now the religious leaders of the day, comprising the Sanhedrin, Pharisees, Sadducees and others, they were coming in and they didn't like it at all that the crowds were beginning to believe in the Lord Jesus. They were following the apostles. They had a ready audience here, and those Sanhedrin became very annoyed at that. So they wanted to stop them from preaching. but they know they can't do it because the popular mood is flowing alongside the apostles. It is for them. The people want to hear them preach even more than they have done. Folk are glorifying God because of what they've been hearing. And so we have these angry church leaders, and they have no idea what they're going to do. So they brought these two apostles together. They commanded them, Peter and John, that they would not again on any occasion preach in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now remember this was a powerful group. This was the same squad that only recently had engineered the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary. But you'll find that Peter and John stand up to them here, and in verse 19 they say, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. In other words, you men know full well what we are going to do. who we are going to obey, the cause that we are going to uphold and continue to support. Your words, your threatenings are falling in deaf ears because our mandate that is spurring us on has come to us from heaven. Now that turned out to be the setting for their prayer meeting, beginning in verse 24 of Acts 4. And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is. And when, as they prayed on this occasion, the power of heaven fell, It moved them out again into the streets, into the open, to do what? Preach Christ again. Check verse 33. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Earth-shaking power. It's what we lack, and it's what we need in this world today, in the spiritual realm, so that we're not just brushing over it and making so little impact, but actually affecting it for good, for grace, and forgot what this world needs, doesn't admit it, doesn't appreciate it, doesn't know it, but what it needs is to be shaken with the power of the preaching of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and that should be our prayer and that should be our desire. That it would awaken this world again to the glorious truth that He is alive. That our congregation, that our city would experience this kind of power. Do we not? need our lives, our homes, our church to be shaken and have the power of Almighty God rest upon them. On the back of our recent week of prayer, beginning of September, I want to reinforce some lessons that were underlined then. But come to the surface again in Acts chapter 4, and I want to trace out how an early congregation of Jesus Christ engaged in this earth-shaking prayer. So we're highlighting three elements this morning. More could, I'm sure, be highlighted. We're taking three, and we're dealing with this prayer that is so powerful that it literally caused, by God's presence there, the building to vibrate in which they were meeting. First of all, we'll notice the perspective on prayer that shakes earth, the perspective on this prayer that shakes earth. Notice where the people were coming from here. Very important that when we pray, we pray from a proper perspective. And we have that in verse 24, and when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, Thou art God. which hast made earth, heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is." So where are they coming from? What is their angle of approach here as they come to God in prayer? Well, they see Him and acknowledge Him as Creator. To begin with, a lot of people we know have problems with miracles today, and we have television programs going into various biblical records of miracles, and they try to explain them away in some kind of a naturalistic formula, and they say, well, you know, this is what the Bible says, but here's what really happened in the natural world, and so they take the supernatural away from the miracle and reduce it to a merely natural occurrence. People have problems with miracles. And if we have any difficulty with miracles, then just get into Genesis chapter 1 verse 1, accept what God says there, and we'll have no further trouble with any thought of a miracle in the beginning. God created the heavens and the earth. Get past that. Accept that. The rest of the Bible is going to be plain sealing. You'll have no difficulty accepting any of the miracles that are related in Scripture. And these apostles here, they put everything into proper perspective. Here's what their reasoning. This Sanhedrin that have called us before them, this council that has forbidden us to preach about Jesus Christ, now this council has power. They have authority. They have muscle in Jerusalem here. But, and here's how they kept on the thread of reasoning, while they have power and they have authority, but God Thou art the Creator. They have limited power. Thou hast almighty power. We have at our disposal the God who holds the forces of nature in the palm of His hand. Lord, look at these people. They've threatened us, but they're mere creatures. Thy Lord, Thou art the Creator. And what they simply did was look beyond the mere visible to the God who is invisible. Now I don't know today how big your God is, but this I do know. You'll never pray an earth-impacting prayer unless you pray it to a God who is a big God. So what was their perspective? They said, Why should we worry about the little details? Because you have made it all. Why should we care about the creature when we have respect to the great Creator? That's part of their perspective they had. They saw God as Creator, but also they saw Him as controller, not one who Genesis 1 and simply made the universe, kind of wound it up, let it get out there and spin in whatever way it wanted. But not only did He make everything, He maintains everything. By the same word of His power, Colossians 1, the verse 18 and 19, and we read on here into verse 25 through 28 of Acts chapter 4, God made everything and then this God said something, who by the mouth of thy servant gave it, hath said. Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ, full of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed. Both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. What are the disciples doing here? In this earth-shaking prayer, do you see what they're doing? They are actually praying Scripture. What they're quoting here from verse 25 is Psalm 2. They're quoting Psalm 2, and they're saying, Lord, effectually, what is happening today in our eyes is what You said would happen. in prophecy. In Psalm 2, you said the people would reach. You said the kings and the rulers, they'd rise up against the Lord and against His Christ. That's exactly what you said, and what we're seeing is precisely that. They are doing what you have predicted they would do. But everything they do is circumscribed by very strict limits. Because in verse 28, they note for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. And so these disciples are saying, Lord, not only are you the creator, but you're the controller of all that is happening. When they prayed that prayer, they were actually looking back to the darkest day in their lives. They were thinking of the cross. They were looking at Calvary, the day when all their hopes were kneeled to that cross and shattered at their feet, and they felt everything is over and died and lost and gone, and they saw Jesus die. But then they have all this evidence He has risen again from the dead. With their eyes they saw Him ascend into heaven. They knew for a surety now, with all of these scriptures being fulfilled, everything is on course exactly as God has intended it, precisely as He has planned it, and there is nothing, nothing that puny men or women can do outside of the permission of God. All the time. Those circumstances would have led them to conclude otherwise. All the time, God was working out His own will. God was accomplishing His plan in this earth. And sometimes our back is against the wall, and our hopes are shattered, and everything that we have lived for seems to crumble to powder at our feet. Remember, though it's hard to see at the time, God is still in control. He is still dictating. He is still orchestrating events. Men are only able to do whatsoever God's hand, God's counsel determines before can be done. God is still on the throne. And so, in the early church, as they come to They have a very clear focus here. God is the creator. He has made everything. He is the controller. He's in charge of it all. And in praying down these lines, they are coming to prayer from the right angle. And that's the way we have to approach prayer too. They saw God also as conqueror of all things. That second Psalm that they're quoting from, is one that tells us that despite all the rebellion and the wretchedness of man, God is going to rule and reign from Zion. The Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, will reign. Well did they understand the fact that the God who had fulfilled the first part of the psalm, and who had got it right about man's rage, was going to fulfill the second half of the psalm as well, that the kingdoms of this world were going to become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ. Jesus would be installed as ultimate King because He was the mighty conqueror. Next time you have a difficulty or problem, follow this advice. Look at your problem, yes, ascertain what it is, but then gaze on God. Gaze on God. He is the Creator. He is the Controller. He is the Conqueror. Fix your energy and your attention upon Him, and then you'll begin to pray earth-moving prayers when you're conscious, this is the kind of God that I am praying to. And so we have this quoted four times expressly in the New Testament, twice in the book of Acts, twice in Hebrews. And the message, therefore, is being quadrupled as it comes our direction. Yes, there will be enemies against Christ and His kingdom. When we're standing for Jesus, we will get opposition, but He will triumph. So we come to the second item today, the perspective on prayer that shakes earth, but the purpose for prayer that shakes earth. We may come in from the right angle in terms of prayer, but we need to pray with a proper purpose, or we'll not have a powerful result. And notice the purpose of the prayer. We read about it, verse 29, and verse 30 of Acts 4. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and, here's the prayer, grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word, by stretching forth thine hand to heal them, and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus." What's the purpose here? Well, it fans into three. Threefold purpose. They desired, first of all, to express God's Word. Verse 29, look at it again, "'And now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may preach thy word.'" Lord, we're under pressure. The enemy is up on its hind legs. They're giving all kinds of threats. They're telling us what's going to happen to us if we do this. Lord, here's what we're praying for. Give us boldness, that with all boldness they may speak Thy Word. Question, what got these men into trouble in the first place? What brought them before the Sanhedrin to begin with? They were speaking God's Word. That's where the trouble came from. What are they praying for then? Are they praying, Lord, give us a bit of wiggle room here, and give us an escape route here, or give us an exalted position in the community here, or give us some ease and comfort or prosperity, or give us privilege here? No, they just prayed for boldness. just prayed for courage. They said, Lord, we know we're headed for trouble. The very thing that has brought us into trouble, we're determined to keep doing. So there will be more trouble for speaking for your name. Lord, just give us more courage to do it again. In pleading that God would give them boldness, to express His Word. They're showing commitment, and they're displaying courage. What would happen if we went out, and with this kind of boldness, even if it's going to get us into Share the Lord Jesus, a boldness that isn't arrogance, a boldness that isn't ignorance, a boldness that isn't a brashness or a rashness or a harshness, but the power of God resting upon us in our witness for Jesus Christ that gives that witness credibility and gives it authority. Boldness. How do you get that kind of a boldness? Well, I don't think we need to go outside the passage. to discover where their boldness came from, and therefore where we could get ours. There are pointers here. Boldness is obtained through, first of all, fellowship with the Son. Look at verse 13, now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled and took knowledge of them, because they worked out where the boldness came from, that they had been with Jesus. How am I going to be bold in today's society? I need, first of all, to fellowship with the Son of God. That boldness again, and we have another mention of it here, verse 29, you will see it, came through faith in the Father. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word. They're praying for boldness here, and they're praying because they're confident, they're praying to the right person, they're praying to the God who can give it, They have faith in the Father. So that boldness comes through fellowship with the Son. It comes by faith in the Father. It also, if you look at verse 31, it comes through the fullness of the Spirit. And what do we read there? And when they had prayed, the place was shaken, where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with boldness. That's how you get it. through fellowship with the Son, faith in the Father, by the fullness of the Spirit." So they're looking here to express God's Word. Give us boldness to do that. And another thing, another purpose, they wanted to extend God's hand, to extend God's hand. Look again at verse 29 and 30, "'And now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy Word by stretching forth thine hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus." What they're saying is, Lord, let your miracle working power flow through us. Lord, not only allow our mouth to be your mouth, but may our hands be your hand. Christ is in heaven. That they well knew, but they were saying, Lord, stretch forth your hand. What hand did he have? Their hand. And the Lord Jesus Christ, yes, he has gone to heaven, but still he has a body on earth, and that body is his church, and we are to be his finger and his hand, reaching out to a world that is perishing. Do we know what Martyr's Memorial Free Presbyterian Church should be doing? Nothing more and nothing less than what Jesus Christ would be doing should He be here in the flesh. And if He were here, He would be doing miracles of grace. In John 14, in verse 12, He said to His disciples, Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go on to my father." The Spirit would be given. Power would be received. Buildings would be shaken. People would be healed. Souls would be saved. Greater and abundant miracles of grace and of glory. And the hymn writer had it right when he said, you are the finger of God today. And if we're not operating as that, we're not acting as we should. This wasn't a prayer for ease. This wasn't a prayer for comfort. This wasn't a prayer or a petition for wealth. Here was a prayer, Lord, we want to express your word. Lord, we want to extend your hand. They also appealed a third purpose here to exalt God's Son. Have another look at verse 30, by stretching forth thine hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done by the name. of thy holy child Jesus." They weren't looking for the plaudits of men. They weren't asking that Peter and John should be known. They weren't saying that the church of Christ on earth should be lifted up and its name appear in lights here, but that this would be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus." We have got a prayer here in the name of Jesus. What does it mean? Because many people haven't a clue what it means to pray in the name of Jesus. Does it mean that when we come along to God and we have our little shopping list, we stretch it out and we itemize it all, we go right down all the lists on the shopping there, and then we just tie going to the very end in the name of Jesus Christ? Some people imagine that by merely superimposing Jesus' name on the end of their prayers, that's the kind of little religious dust that makes their prayers acceptable to God. It's not. Do you know what it means to pray in the name of Jesus? It means to pray with His authority for His glory. It is His name. For His praise, that's what they are praying for, that signs and wonders may be done by the name of Thy holy child, Jesus. Let our name be mud, that Christ would be exalted." The prayer that John the Baptist prayed, he must increase. And if he's going to increase, then correspondingly, I must decrease, John 3 and 30. The kind of prayer that shakes the house is a prayer that says, Lord, we want to express Your Word. Lord, we want to extend Your hand. Lord, we want to exalt Your Son. And that was the kind of prayer that God was so delighted to pray to hear prayer prayed back then and to answer in power. And we need to make sure that those are the kind of prayers we pray, rather than, Lord, help me with this little issue that I have here. Or, Lord, you know, I've got a sprained ankle and it's giving me gyp and all kinds of problems here. Or, Lord, help this thing or help that thing. Now, that's all very well and good in its proper context, but those aren't the kind of prayers that are going to shake any house. They're not the kind of prayers that are going to make God move in mighty revival power. And it could be the case that we are asking God to do things for us today, but we don't really have His glory in our hearts and in our minds, so we need to examine. What way do we pray? Lord, give me boldness to express your Word. Give me courage to extend your hand. Give me a motivation to exalt your Son." So we've touched on the perspective. God is creator, controller, conqueror. We've dealt with the purpose, the purpose that God's Word would be expressed. that His hand would be extended, that His Son would be exalted. Then finally, we have the perspective on prayer that shakes earth, the purpose form, the power of, the power of prayer that shakes earth. Three things happened that you could notice here when they prayed this kind of prayer. In verse 31, for example, you'll find the Spirit was received. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken. When were they assembled together? And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. and they spake the Word of God with boldness. So the Spirit of God was received. Remember, they had already prayed it. Lord, help us, give us the boldness requisite to express your Word, the boldness we need to extend your hand, the boldness we must have if we're going to exalt your Son. They have prayed that. Well, that helps us understand why, why they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Do you and I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Sometimes we do. Maybe to have ease or ecstasy or luxury or whatever it is, and God is not interested in that. The reason why so many are not filled so many times is because they're looking for a kind of a hocus-pocus, feel-good kind of glue that we have, something to benefit ourselves. And that's not praying. And that's not God honoring. Not praying, just playing about. The Spirit was received here. Unity was achieved. Look at verse 32. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own. That's got my name on it. Not at all. It's commonly owned. And they had all things common. What would happen if we begin to pray a prayer like this, that God's Spirit fills all of His children, that everybody is of one heart and of one soul? Can you imagine the unity, Psalm 133 style unity that would fall upon the church? Living not for ourselves, living not to push out and float our own boat. pack into it every luxury we can, but living for the glory of Christ, which will involve living to the good of others. We're told today that we need a 21st century church. And I know where some well-meaning people are coming from when they say that. I mean, this has to be updated, that has to be changed, and all the rest of it. And people, I'm sure, are beginning to panic when they see that, looking back in the census figures, The free Presbyterian denomination back in 1961 began small with just over a thousand members. In 1991 it had reached its zenith with twelve and a half plus thousand members, but in 2021 it had dropped down to 8,400 plus members. So it was back to sort of mid-seventies level just a couple of years ago, and people are beginning to wonder and worry, what do we do? How do we get away from this? How do we go forward? How do we expand again and not further contract? We need to be a 21st century church. Well, when you sit down and examine it, and when you look at Acts chapter 4 here, what we really need is a first century New Testament church that can operate very well in the 21st century. Lord, grant us thy spirit. that unity will be achieved, that we will go forward conquering and conquer. We might try to be wired through organization. We might even become rusted through our tradition, frozen by formalism. But do you know what we need? We need to be melted together. by the Holy Spirit of God." When there was this prayer, there was unity. So, the Spirit was received, unity was achieved, and do you know what happens when that occurs? Well, watch it. It's wonderful. The gospel is believed. verse 33 of Acts 4, "...and with great power give the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all." That's what we're looking for. And it follows, as night follows day, the gospel was believed. When we start living this way, when we begin praying this way, people are going to believe what we preach. The apostles here are unable to witness concerning Christ, and they do so with great power, and there's no enemy could daunt them. There's no fear that could haunt them. They became His witnesses, promoting not themselves, but publishing Him. How do you become a real witness for Christ? The only way you'll do it, a witness for Him, is to be a witness of Him. You need to meet Him in the quiet place. You need to meet Him with your Bible open before you. You need to meet Him in prayer. You need to see Him there as He is, revealing Himself to you. You need to witness Him, see Him, before you can witness effectively to others about Him. Fancy programs, training classes, seminars, all very good. They can teach you how to witness, give you some of the little do's and don'ts that should make for effective witness, but they won't make you a real witness. A witness is someone who has a personal experience with Jesus Christ, and they're just going out and telling others what they've seen and heard themselves. Now, if I haven't seen anything of Christ recently, in my quiet times, if I haven't heard anything much from Him recently, I've nothing fresh to give to anybody else, and people will detect right away the witness is stale. It's stagnant. Why did God shake this place? He did it because they had seen Him as He was. They had got a proper perspective. They had seen the Lord, Creator, Controller, Conqueror. They had put their eyes on Him, and it didn't matter, therefore, how many enemies they had. Keep your eyes on Jesus. And then when you pray, pray with purpose. Lord, here's what I want to do. Express your word. Lord, here's what I want to do. Extend your hand to those in need around me. Here's what I want to do. Exalt your Son. Pray that kind of prayer, and the Spirit is received, unity is achieved, and the gospel is believed.